I bought this jersey for two dollars. It was giant and frumpy and high necked and long sleeved, but it was in good condition and I love the pattern. Tiny aqua diamonds on a black background. This totally fit with my polka dot type obsession. The fabric was a stretch knit-like a winter jumper.
This is a close up of the fabric :)
What I did to it...
I cut the sleeves off down the seams.
I grabbed a singlet that fits well and pinned it on and cut around it (except I made it was wider at the sides as this was not nearly as stretchy as a singlet). I did the same at the back, making it a racer back, than sewed the side seams together. I had the sleeves left over-and they have a lots of fabric in them. I cut the sleeves on the bias and sewed them together to make bias tape and used this to edge the neckline and the sleeves. Then I tried it on Anne and it fit beautifully. Great, I was halfway to my party dress!!
Next I cut up a piece of black two way stretch fabric folded in four-to make one of my circle skirts. I overlocked the edges and pinned and sewed it to the skirt where I wanted it to sit. I had to be careful to use a stretch stitch as I didn't put a zip in and couldn't have it break where the waist seam joined.
I had some aqua fabric in my stash, I cut long strips of this and sewed them end on end to each other then sewed them to make a giant long skinny loop and turned it inside out. I gather stitched it and pinned this gathered fabric on to the neckline where I liked, then hand stitched it down. I think its looks really pretty. This fabric has the same colour as the dots on the singlet piece.
The dress now looked a little unbalanced, with the ruffle at the top and nothing of colour further down,. Plus the edge of the skirt kept rolling, so I made another long gathered tube of aqua and sewed it on to the bottom.
I loved how such a simple idea looked so effective, and even better, apart from buying the sweater, all the other fabric was already in my fabric stash.
I wore this dress to my friend's birthday. Now all I need is to go dancing so I can wear it because it's really swishy and the skirt flares right out when I spin.
