DRESS-FIX: FROM SLEEVES TO POCKETS

One of my favourite clothing revamps is to turn sleeves into pockets!

If there's a piece of clothing in your closet that you for one reason or another have not worn in some time there comes a moment when you need to take it out and decide if you should do something about it or pass it on.

 I have a dress originally from Shabby Apple that I have not worn for almost three years (since Dag was a baby, oh man, how was he ever that tiny!!), although I like it.

It used to have long sleeves, but I always found that a bit hard to use, so I eventually chopped them off into short sleeves to solve the problem. I did not sew the edges of the new sleeves but folded them up and over with curtain tape for a seamless, folded finish. However, the sleeve was rather puffy and puffy sleeves make my arms look huge, so I did not end up wearing the dress any more than before anyway.

 But, as it is summer and as I have been coveting different striped shirt waist dresses here and there I decided to make this one totally wearable and awesome again! This by taking the sleeves off and turning them into pockets! This is something I have in line for a couple of other dresses too.

(If you wonder why I keep going on about pockets this and pockets that it is for practical reasons -  phone and car keys when out with a toddler and moving around in and out of the big house on the farm. Nothing beats clothing with pockets when you tend to wear mainly skirts or dresses)

 So just open up the seams and remove the sleeves.
Fix the edges around the sleeve holes.

 Cut pockets of the old sleeve.

Pin them in place - this was the hardest part here as the skirt is pleated; to get the pockets nicely over the pleats without ruining the shape of the skirt.

Sew them in place and voila! An almost new wonderful summer dress!


Wooh!

However, although I can be rather sciccors-happy my advice before revamping or cutting in any clothing you have is to think twice about it; I have sometimes made quick choices on what I wanted for the moment without thinking what was best for the garment itself, and then later regretted it. Obviously you can't always win as fashion and your own preferences change with time, but you can give everything a good though first.