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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Totally recycled dress time! Don't worry, it turned out well.


Sharing a dress today made totally of recycled materials--a true upcycle, I guess. Not in a scary way. Not wearing pop cans or anything. Nope, this is a simple dress I made out of a white blouse I've had in the "to upcycle" pile for literally years, and out of this dress, which I made and never really wore.

I felt bad about never liking the dress, so I figured, might as well reuse the parts that I can and make it something I do like. I basically just had to take out the zipper and put the skirt on a new bodice! And I did save the old bodice fabric; maybe I'll use it for linings sometime.

For the new dress, I used a pattern but cut the blouse strategically, reusing the center front and back details. I did remove the buttons and sew the placket closed before I cut--important steps. Here's the "before" on the blouse... I took this photo in 2010! Been waiting for something to do with it.

And, I used my old fave pattern McCall's M5849.

Here it is!

(Forgive the messy hair.) You can see, though, the center back pleats I salvaged.


Ohhhhh, summer dress weather. You never fail to inspire. Simple dresses like this one are perfect when it's super hot out!

(P.S. OMG--is this the third colorblock bodice/skirt dress I've posted this week?!!? It totally is! Weird! It just worked out that way. They are fun!)

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