DIY: vintage scarf dress

 

Hello, my lovely little blog! I have missed you so much!  But now school is back in session, and the little dictator is out of the house for 6 hours a day!  Don’t misunderstand, I love that little munchkin.  But we just spent 75 straight days together, 24 hours a day.  And many things had to go by the wayside, including this blog.  So don’t begrudge me some free time.

  Even with all that togetherness, I did manage to make this last summer dress.  I think I turned on a movie for her (bad mommy), and had everything but the border done before it was over.  The crochet I did that night.  So this definitely falls into the quick and easy category.  I liked it so much I am thinking of making another one for fall.  Something in dark colors to wear with tights.

  The scarves I picked up for $5 each in the Chelsea antique flea market held in a parking garage.  If you live in the NYC area and love vintage, it is a must go to.  The yarn is a cheap-y Micheal’s purchase.  So the whole thing cost less than $15 and took maybe 3 hours total.

  A little hint.  If you decide to make one for yourself, avoid light colored scarves.  Otherwise, wear a slip under it or everyone gets to see London and France. (I photo shopped my panty lines out, but you can still kind of tell. Don’t look).

supplies:

• 2 30″ x 30″ scarves
• tape measure
• sewing machine or needle and thread
• scissors
• peaches & cream yarn in cream (optional)
• size H crochet hook (optional)

 

I chose two scarves with a rose pattern.  There is really no way to take an interesting picture of scarves.

Pin them together.  If your scarves have a “right side”, pin them with the right sides facing each other.  Mark where you want you neck opening to be.  I wanted mine to be 14″ wide, so I pinned at the 8″ and 22″ mark.  Sew 2 seams along the top, ending at your marks.Now make your arm holes. I made mine 11″ wide.Slip the scarves over your head and pin at the widest part of your body, leaving an extra inch of room at each side. Pin the sides and your armholes together. I had 5 inches of room at each side, so I made a guide with tape on my sewing machine.Sew the sides and the armholes together.  Cut off the excess fabric. Now if you’re well proportioned, that’s it!  But I am sadly a pear, and probably always will be.  So my dress had a little too much fabric on top.  So I measured to where the top of my hip hit, and marked it with a pin. I marked my waist with another pin. Then decided how much I needed off the top. I made a straight line to the waist pin, then a diagonal to my hip mark.  If you do this you need to bring your arm seam in, too.

Stitch along the marks, and cut off the excess fabric.  This is a subtle alteration.  It still looks like a sheath dress, it just fits me a little better.You could stop here if you want.  This covered everything it needed to on me, and looked really cute.  But bending over would have been tricky.  I need to bend over in my life.  So I made a crochet border for the bottom.

  I used the mesh stitch to make the border and finished it with a scalloped edge.  This stitch is made in multiples of three, so you can change your number of stitches as long as it is divisible by three.  This was made for the bottom circumference of my dress, which measured  40″ all the way around.  Add or subtract in multiples of three to get the size you need.

  Start by making a chain of 141 stitches.  CH 1 more, then Sc into the 2nd CH from the hook.  SC along across the chain to the end. Turn.

 Row 1:   Ch 5, then  DC into the 3rd SC stitch.  *CH 2, SK 2 stitches, DC into the next stitch.  Repeat from * to the end of the row.

Row 2:  CH 5, DC into 1rst DC(3rd stitch), *CH2, DC into next DC, repeat from * to end of row.

When mesh stitch is the length you want( I made three rows), end with another row of single crochet. (After you reach the last DC, SC into the next three stitches.  That brings you to the end of the row).

To make the scalloped edge, CH 1, then SC into the 1rst SC.  *CH 3, then in the same stitch you just worked, (yarn over and bring up a loop.  Yarn over again and draw through the 1rst two loops on the hook) twice.  You’ll have 3 loops on the hook.  Yarn over on more time and bring through all three loops on the hook.  SK the next three SC, then SC into the next SC.  One scallop made.  Repeat from * to the end of the row. Cut yarn and tie off.

To attach to your dress, pin along the edge of your dress. I found the easiest way to do it and make sure the bottom hem was even was to turn the dress inside out, then pin the border on the inside of the dress.  Give your crochet border a little tug if you need to so it reaches all the way around.

Turn dress right side out and stitch along the crochet edge about 1/4″ from the top all the way around.  Hand stitch crochet border edges together.

I used a sleepover at Grandma’s house (the dictator, not me) to have a fun photo shoot for the dress.  I got to pretend I was a cute model type instead of a slightly round getting old housewife.  I even got to wear makeup!  My friend Jess did my makeup for me.  She’s a professional makeup artist.  It’s great to have artsy friends.  You can check out her portfolio here.  I did my own hair, which is why it’s a mess.