DIY Vintage Pleated Dress Refashioned into 5-in-1 Outfit

How neat are the pleats on this vintage number! You would think with such an elaborate print it wouldn’t work but surprisingly it does. Speaking of the print, it is exquisite!

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how I wanted to refashion this vintage dress. The pleats were a keeper that’s for sure. The top had a workable style that I also knew I wanted to incorporate. With those two things in mind, I set forth on a DIY and the end result was more than I bargained for.

Here’s what I did

1. I started by removing the sleeves with my trusty seam ripper. Doing so really brought out the style at the shoulder. Next up, I removed the elastic from the waist and carefully detached the skirt, so as not to ruin those lovely pleats. With the dress disassembled, it was time to work on the top. It was pretty straight forward. I secured the edges of the armholes and the hem.
2. The skirt/dress on the other hand required a little more effort. I had to reuse the old elastic since I didn’t have any on hand. With it being only a 1/4 inch thick, I felt it would get swallowed up so I added a row of ruffles to carry it off. To do this, I made a 1 1/4 inch wide casing, all while ensuring the pleats were in place. Once that was achieved, I made a second stitch, a 1/4 inch wide from the first for the elastic casing. I inserted the elastic, did a little ironing of the pleats and the skirt/dress was complete.
3. As for the detachable sleeves, I first cut away the sleeve caps, then also made a casing 1 1/4 inch wide.
4. To avoid restriction, I stitched the 1/4 inch casing halfway around the arm (the other half will be attached to the dress). Luckily for me, the sleeves had two side seams, which I used as a guide, to sew the casing on one side. Lastly, I inserted the elastic securing the sides to the seams. To attach the sleeves to the dress, I used a couple large safety pins.

I can already tell I’ll be wearing the off-the-shoulder shift dress more than anything. It will definitely come in handy for those oh-so-hot days, when I’d much rather not wear anything! Haha! Seeing that I can’t parade around in my birthday suit, at least I’ll be able to do away with the sleeves, if needs be. Not a bad trade off if you ask me.

Thoughts? Which look is your fav?