Let’s get wacky everyday! It was 2014 and I helped design a dress for a friend wanted to wear everyday for an entire year as a challenge to raise awareness about waste. This challenge was called the Uniform Project. We designed a basic black linen shift dress that buttoned up. It needed to be able to be worn forwards and backwards for new looks.

Like in the book, “Wacky Wednesday,” I asked myself, why can’t I wear things how ever I want? There are no rules when making clothing.

I hope you enjoy a couple garments that wound up looking much better when worn backwards.

This 1960s tent dress I designed from special silk cotton fabric was my first switch around.

TIP I fully believe in salvaging things from second hand sources. I help save the environment while saving a ton of money and I get a more unique look. These two contrasting necklines were ripped from one dress.

Before

After

After really wearing the dress I realized it was also too much dress for how short I am. I cut 6″ off and what a difference it made.

Before

This fabric was donated by a friend during Ohio’s CV19 shelter in place. It was also a block print fabric which made it super unique. The fabric was so pretty and soft to the touch that I really wanted to do something special with it.

This garment had problems. The top wouldn’t stay on due to the open back and it was almost impossible to get in and out of it. If I were in an accident it would have needed to be cut off my body. I also felt the torso was just too long causing it to bag out at the waist. It was nothing like the pattern’s picture.

I decided it would make a much better swimsuit cover up. I found some cute closures in my stash so I went ahead and took the time to take it all apart, and yes, I even took the pockets off.

After

While making garments can be a lot of fun they don’t always come out as planned. There is no shame in deconstructing and transforming projects into something new and magical.

Do you have something you have made a new transformation of that worked out in your advantage?

Behind the scenes~

Have you seen my YouTube sewing tips and tricks channel?

Thank you for reading!

Tracy McElfresh

Dream it! Sew it!

 

 

 

Tracy McElfresh
Latest posts by Tracy McElfresh (see all)