During my secondary school days, my favourite day was Wednesdays. It was the day I had the whole flat to myself after school, and it was when I would put the record player on full blast and not only belt out, but dance to the West Side Story songs - don't you just love Leonard Bernstein? The most memorable scene for me is when the Shark Girls dance to "America".
I love the twirly dresses of the 50s, and it just so happens I have this size 14 polka dot dress from the Fashion Revolution Day clothes swop. I was going to adjust the bust and waist to make it fit me, but in the end, I cut the dress in half and made a twirly 50s skirt! Will be wearing this at tomorrow's Halloween party and at the Singapore Environment Council vintage-themed party! I'm ready to Mambo!
I purchased a 2.5" black elastic band and sewed it together to fit my waist line.
The tricky bit was fitting all the fabric from the new skirt into the elastic. I needed a lot of pins to pin the skirt into place. The key is to ensure that you have the seams of the skirt on opposing sides pinned down first before working on the centres and then quarters. As the elastic band fitted my waist and secondly because the waistline of the dress was much larger, I did not need to stretch the elastic band whilst sewing.
With the top part of the dress, I was thinking of a bikini top, but then realised I am never going to wear it! So, I ended up making pockets - very useful for us ladies!
Each pocket was made from one bust of the top. The bust was folded in half to create a pocket! I then carefully ripped the seams at the side of the skirt and inserted the pockets. I handsewed the pockets instead of using the machine.
I'm ready to twirl! I'll show you the pics of me wearing it after the party :-)
Love this tutorial. I am a big fan of 50's fashion definitely the best for dancing in.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your compliment. Will be uploading a photo of me in the skirt soon.
DeleteLove your new skirt, Agy!!! Making the top part into pockets is a fabulous idea.
ReplyDeleteI do love a mambo skirt! Great post!
ReplyDeleteWow! I wish I was better at resizing clothing... you even added pockets, how cool is that? I love to blast music and dance to it... did it much more often before I had kids, but I need to do it more again! Thanks for linking up with us at What Wives Wear! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Agy, Thanks so much for contributing to the linkup! I hope you danced the night away!
ReplyDeleteLove the colors! Thank you for linking up at Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party!
ReplyDeleteLove your new skirt Agy!!! Great idea with the pockets! And I had to laugh - I used to put my mum's West Side Story record on loud and sing and dance along too!! :)
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