Black and White

I love black and white stripes, prints, geometric shapes, etc!  I always seem to be drawn to them when I visit the thrift shops.  Check out these fun retro black and white numbers from the 60's.  I love them!

Well, the other day at the thrift shop, I noticed a 2XL dress that was really speaking to me.  It was saying, "Come on, for only $2.50 you can pick me up and make a retro-inspired mod dress!"  I couldn't ignore the voice, so I purchased it!

I loved the black and white striped pattern.  I didn't love, however, the fit, the bulky gathered skirt, and the uneven sewing on the waistband.  I put my 60's playlist on and dedicated the evening to sewing.  After a fair amount of tweaking, I was happy with the results.

It was little cold outside, so I wore it with boots and my black wool jacket.

See what I meant about the waistband?  It was completely uneven before.

I was able to cut a new one from the extra skirt fabric.  I think it's much better now!

Every mod dress needs some big, white, mod sunglasses!

Here's a brief tutorial of what I did.

I began by detaching the sleeves, the waistband, the skirt, and since the shoulders needed to be raised, I unpicked part of the neckline.

I put the bodice on my dress form and began pinning where it needed to be taken in, which was the sides and the shoulders.  I also took in the front and back bodice seams.

Once the shoulders were taken in, I restitched the neckline and facing.

Once the bodice fit the way I wanted it to, I recut the sleeve openings for a better fit.

I placed a gathering stitch along the top of the sleeves to give it some wearing ease.

After taking in the sleeves, I reattached them to the bodice.

I cut a new waistband, added interfacing, and then attached it to my bodice.

Next step was to cut the new skirt which was also sewn to the waistband.

Once I was happy with the fit, I finished the inside by lining the waistband.

All that was left was reattaching the bottom half of the invisible zipper in the back.

I'm happy with my new retro-inspired mod dress!

Thanks for looking!

I like to link to these great parties!