How to alter an old blouse into a sundress top

This is one of the many tops that I haven’t used for a very long time. I actually got bored of it but, at the same time, I dreaded the thought of getting rid of it either. So, I thought, why not alter it into something wearable inside the house?

Since my sewing skills don’t lie (yes, I don’t have any formal training!), I don’t want to do a horrible thing and toss it out of the window. However, I took comfort in the fact that the blouse has a dark, printed material so I wouldn’t worry about my newbie-not-so-straight-stitchings! Lol.

So okay, here’s the blouse I was talking about, a short-sleeved version of the Indian tunic (kurta), except that I already cut the sleeves off before I took this photo:

From this…

… to this! It’s perfect for the hot weather here 🙂

I may sound like an apologist for saying this over and over but — really, I’m just a trying hard DIYer so please excuse if the end result doesn’t look that much 🙂 I actually based this on Heather Ross’s sundress pattern. But instead of a dress, mine ended up as a top because of the  original length of the tunic and I just left the slits on the sides as they are. With the current hot weather here, it is just perfect!

I’m not so much of a tutorial maker myself but, if you are interested, I created a slide show  below documenting the steps on how I altered the blouse.

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And so, this is my first attempt at altering my clothes. I had fun, really, especially with the shirring part. It’s actually my favourite part.

Sewing demands a great deal of skill, expertise, and patience. I have a completely renewed respect for the dressmakers and admiration for people who choose to remake their own, after doing this myself.

I also want to thank the countless talented dressmakers and crafters out there who selflessly shared their tutorial videos online for free. Keep them coming. They’re very, very useful for people like me.

And this is my entry for the following weekly parties:

Hey there, I’m back online

So, drumrolls, please ^_^

First, let me just say that I am so flattered that two of my favourite artistic and creative people in the whole wide world, IMHO, have responded to one of my blog posts. I can’t stop grinning ear to ear when I read the comments of peggy APLseeds and the sketchingbackpacker, aka, the lovable Kuya Robert, here. They are two of the five talented Alejandro siblings; the “Pe” and “Ro”, respectively, in PAPEMELROTI, my favourite hobby/specialty shop in the Philippines. If that doesn’t make you excited or if you don’t know what PAPEMELROTI is, then, you must be living under a rock, lol.

Oh, but wait. Because of the lack of posts here you probably think it was I hiding away under a rock somewhere. That is not the case. I’ve been remiss the past few months because my Internet has been in and out of commission and the electricity was out several hours in a day every day during the summer (that’s April-May here on my side of the world).

Anyhoo, so what’s news?

Well, my husband bought us a vintage Singer sewing machine –  how cool is that? I just wanted something basic to use for general sewing for hemmed skirts and pants. But I also have this secret dream (well, not anymore) of making fancy bags and wallets and passport sleeves as well as altering thrifted dresses, especially vintage ones 🙂

Here are some pictures I took while we were looking for The One:

Vintage sewing machines. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many shops here in Phnom Penh selling them.

Janome brand. I like the pastel colour 🙂 Notice the knob.

Now these are the type of Singer machines that my grandmother and aunts used when I was younger. One of them was passed down to my Mum.

There are a lot of other brands available at the shops and they come as pedal-powered or electric ones. It’s literally a block of shops selling vintage sewing machines! And here’s the lucky one we brought home, it came with a new sewing table (not the original wooden table or case).

My first Singer sewing machine.

I love everything vintage and this is a cool machine. It is still in excellent shape and runs well. It came with free needles and bobbins and other stuff that I don’t recognise (but my husband does) so I’m all set except that I’ve never done any major sewing with a machine before.  But, I can teach myself how to and there’s always the dependable YouTube for video tutorials.   I’m very sure I’m going to have fun using this.