Refashionista: Adding lace straps to a strapless dress

I love the look of a strapless dress as much as the next gal, but I find them rather uncomfortable. I simply don't have the boob-power to hold them up, and the constant pulling and adjusting feels awkward and annoying. So, I find it's usually best to add some sort of straps to a strapless dress. I've added ribbon straps before, but now it's time to turn to lace, one of my favorite materials to work with. 

 This is a dress I bought at a thrift shop last year. The first adjustment I made to it, was to make it about 2 sizes smaller. At first, like always, I thought I'd leave it strapless, but after wearing it for a couple of times, I realized, I really needed some straps for comfort. So I came up with the idea of adding venice lace straps. It's unbelievably simple, and so pretty. 

Here's how to make your own:

 First, find the center of the front bodice, and the attach the the middle of the two lace details on that mark and pin the lace to two sides from there until you reach the spot where you want the strap to be.
Sew down the lace from the front.

Now fold the corned of the strap, pin and sew. Then put the dress on, and measure the length of the straps. Add seam allowance, cut, pin to the right place on the backside of the dress, and sew them in place. All done! So. Simple.

 Now this dress is so much more comfortable. Also, the straps kind of dress is down a bit, so I'm able to get more wear out of it as I don't really have a lot of formal events to go to, and a strapless dress seems a bit too much for the every day. But, with the new lace straps, I feel I can pretty much wear it whenever and wherever. Without pulling it up every 5 seconds.

Have fun fixing those dresses!
xo Hanna

Refashionista: Adding ribbon straps to a strapless dress

As much as I love strapless dresses, they are a bit hard to wear. First, there's the comfort issue. We all now they tend to slide down if they don't have proper boning in them. Second, a strapless dress might be a little overdressed to wear every day. But, as I have very few parties to attend to, it would be a total waste to let this gorgeous dress just sit in the closet for the rest of the time. So, I came up with the idea of adding ribbon straps.

I must confess that these didn't turn out super comfortable, mainly because the center ribbon was a bit too wide and I need to experiment more on the angles of the ribbons, and maybe they need to cover each other more in the front. But, I love love love the back of this dress now. I mean, it makes me want to walk backwards.

If you like it too, and would like to give this ribbon strap thing a go, here's how I did it:

1. I started pinning the ribbons to the dress on the dress form. If you don't have one, don't worry, this can also be done without a dress form, you'll just need to pin the ribbons in the back, then put the dress on, and adjust the fit and length of the ribbons in the front.
2. Once I was happy with the position of my ribbons, I marked a line on the ribbons along the edge of the dress, so I'd know how to place them when I started sewing.
3. Before sewing the ribbons to the dress, I sewed the front part of the ribbons together so that the outer ribbons were slightly covering the middle ribbon. This helps to keep the ribbons in place when moving your arms.
4. Finally, sew the ribbons to the dress, and you're done!

I'm loving my revamped dress! It's so much more comfortable this way since I don't have to worry about any boob showing accidents (lol). 

Simple summer maxi strap dress

I have a confession to make - I'm a fabric hoarder. I know, I know, you're probably saying that all seamstresses are. And maybe you're right, but sometimes I feel that I just can't let a fabric go. I'll second guess every project I have in mind for that fabric and hesitate whether it's the right one. And so it sits sadly in my fabric pile for years.  This fabric is one of those sad ones. Although it's been sitting on my shelf for only a little over a year, it's really at least 2 decades old, probably 3+. I got it from my Grandma.

There were so many times I wanted to use this fabric. I love the colors and the print, and I always thought it'd make a great dress, but I couldn't decide on the design. Every once in a while I'd take it out and looked at it, and put it back.  I didn't dare make anything from it, because then that would have been it. Sounds ridiculous, right? But, some fabrics simply are more special than others.

I took it out once more about 3 weeks ago and decided that it was time to let go. I knew I wanted to make another maxi dress because I love wearing them during the summer, and I thought this fabric would be perfect for summer, but also great for layering during fall. I didn't even use any pattern, although the Saltspring dress from Sewaholic was a big inspiration. So, if you want to great a similar look, that's a great pattern to use.

I used bias binding to bind the neckline and create the straps. And I used elastic to define the waistline. It was a real quick sew, only took me a few hours to complete, and I've been wearing it a lot these past weeks. I love it so much that I seemed to have forgotten I also own other dresses. But, I guess that's how you know the project is a success.