Black + White Floral Midi Dress Refashion

Well, guys, it's Friday. The end to another week. I've kind of been MIA the past week because we went out to visit my sister-in-law's family in Washington and it was just a dreamy trip altogether. We were in the middle of "nowhere," 30 minutes from the nearest traffic light. And it felt so so good to get away, and bask in sunshine + family time. We filled our days as full as we could with adventures... snow cones, parades, swing sets, picking cherries, cliff jumping
(I may or may not have participated), jet skiing in the river, barbequeing, and late night talks. It was hard to come back home to reality.

Ahhh.. it was a good trip. To cure my vacation withdrawals, I knew I had to get my hands on some fabric and get creative. I have a thousand sketches and plans mapped out for refashions, but I just felt like I needed to be spontaneous. So I rifled through my refashion bin and pulled out this black and white floral maxi dress, and just dove in. It was one of those refashions without a plan... I browsed Pinterest and then let the fabric do the talking as I cut, pinned, tucked, sewed, and turned this boring maxi into a dress I am excited to wear this summer. It was a crazy easy refashion -- took me just over an hour to complete, start to finish. But I am so happy with how it turned out!

A few posts back I revealed my tried-and-true method for approaching every refashion... and it guided this refashion as well. NSLF (Neckline, sleeves, length, and fit)

Neckline - I decided to add a little interest to the plain rounded neckline, so I added a little V (I still haven't figured out what this kind of neckline is officially called).

Sleeves - The dress was sleeveless originally, so I used excess fabric to add a sleeve that hit just above the elbow. After I tried the dress on, I didn't love how that cut looked on my body, so I decided to add a "ruched" look by adding a tab that bunched up the outer edge of the sleeve. I felt like this was more flattering and added another point of interest to the piece.

Length - I have been loving midi length dresses lately, but I'm always scared that they'll just cut me weird and make me look extra short. Buuuuut I decided to go for it on this one, and I love how it turned out. I also feel like doing a rounded hem makes the midi length a bit more flattering than a straight edge.

Fit - the dress fit fairly well and seams hit me in the right places, so I just decided to change the shape by adding elastic at the waist.

I was inspired by this dress and this dress for this refashion!

You can watch the refashion below! (also shoutout to my husband who made my new intro song! He's the best <3)