Upcycling to Reuse a pretty Rayon!

 

I made a couple of items in August, and cleaned my sewing room a bit. But I really did take a bit of a break! So here is the first thing I made last month. PatternReview was having an upcycling contest, and I had lots of ideas for complicated projects that would be really cool... but what I really needed was a light summer top. 

And, I had this old McCalls 7115 dress that I made way back in 2016 -- never wore it, but saved it because the fabric was so lovely, and had good memories attached. I bought this at my first PatternReview weekend in Chicago, and so really wanted to reuse it. I thought that I'd waited long enough so I found a top pattern in the stash that would fit onto the odd shaped pieces of the unpicked dress and just went for it. 

I chose Simplicity 2147, an easy pattern that I've had in the stash for a long time. It's a yoked top, which means I could fit it onto my fabric. It also has a nice pleat detail at the yoke, even if it's kind of hidden in this print. It does make the fit quite nice, though. 

I laid out the pleated part of the top on my remnant skirt & both front and back fit widthwise -- I just made the top the length of that original skirt & used the existing hem. It's a bit shorter than the "tunic or minidress" description of the pattern, but as I am also quite short, it's not that different! 

I cut the yoke from the dress bodice & so had to incorporate the button placket from the dress into the front yoke. After I finished I decided to stitch on 2 buttons from the dress to give it a little extra touch. They are nonfunctional.

So while I didn't get around to a complicated upcycle, I am very pleased with this one. It was great to finally reuse this dress, and I have worn this top three times since I finished it. It's light and comfortable, and I feel pleased that I finally made something from the disappointing dress. There are a couple of other items in my stash which could probably use the same treatment. Maybe I'll upcycle something else soon!