liberty granny dress remake

I am starting with an apology. I forgot to take a photograph of the before dress found at a value village thrift store. I almost always purchase any thing I find at a thrift store made from liberty of london tana lawn cotton. This was no exception. It was a handmade shirt dress in a beautiful colorful print and it was completely lined. I even loved the persimmon colored vintage buttons. The only problem was it was about a size 20 and it was shapeless. One day I was either bored or brave and I decided to cut it and made myself an adorable summer swing style jacket. This past weekend while in the libertizing mood I turned my attention to the large piece of fabric remaining. There was plenty for a skirt and I would still have a large remnant. 

My daughters and I loved the liberty high waisted gathered APC skirt in the most recent issue of teen vogue ( yep I look through the pictures of each and every issue, I confess). I had never shirred fabric before although I did find the essential elasticized thread in the bottom of my sewing basket. I think we used to use it for beaded necklaces when the children were younger. I googled how to make shirred clothing and found this totally awesome tutorial. It worked like a charm. Now I am brave but not brave enough to potentially ruin a lovely piece of liberty gold so we decided to test it out on a vintage pillow case first. 

The result was an adorable 69 cent summer skirt.  The liberty went just as smoothly and since the pillow case fit perfectly we knew the what width of fabric to use.

She has had that little harmonica since she was a child :)

I have a few more thrifted liberty dresses that I might be creative with. Next time I will promise to take a before picture.

Comments

[kate]

Wow! So good on so many levels--the recycling/refashioning, the lovely finished project, the courage and creativity that created it, and, of course, the lovely liberty-ness of it all. Thank you for being such an inspiration!

[michele (maryland)]

Margie: FANTASTIC!

[Melissa de la Fuente]

Okay....where to begin? With your absolutely gorgeous daughter(who looks like she belongs running through a field with a crown of daisies in her hair) :) Or, your beautiful re-dos! I adore both(the pillow case skirt is stunning too) You just amaze me Margie...always.(even the tiny little embroidered snail on the bottom? wow)
xo
Melis

[Patricia]

And you make upcycled clothes, too! That shirring is wonderfully done, and I love how the whole ensemble turned out.

[Rachel]

The skirts are wonderful, it was a great idea to practice on the pillow case!

[Erin]

This is gorgeous! I've been wanting to make a skirt like that for awhile now, but with pockets. Do you happen to know the width of the pillowcase you used?

[danica]

so first, i love your blog and flickr stream so much! and second, did you see today's verse on verse daily? and is it the inspiration for your blog name? i think it's one of the most beautiful poems i've ever heard:

http://www.versedaily.org/2009/resurrectionfern.shtml

[joanie]

Fantastic in every way. I didn't know there was a Teen Vogue, if it was around when I was a teen I probably would have needed a second job!
I love the shirring. I have been wanting to try it on some jersey I have had hanging around (it's not nearly as lovely as your Liberty thrifted piece.) And your model is gorgeous as is her necklace :)

[arounna]

given clothes a second chance is always a great idea and with Liberty fabric to boot.

xxx

[Mathyld / encore petite]

I love the fact that, just like me, you find hard to cut into beautiful fabric !
I think we should all consider joining the TLA (Tana Lawn-holics Anonymous) ;)

Now, I have to work something out with the pile of Liberty's Tana Lawn shirts (in huuuge sizes) my mum used to buy at the 1€ flea market !!!

x x x
___mathyld___

[melissa]

now i'm going ot be on the look-out for old liberty-fabric clothes at the thrift store. i love the re-make. and what a beautiful daughter you have!

[Cialis Online]

some people think that this type of dress is totally outdate, but in it own way is sexy, I mean this type of dresses allow to us as men, you know use our imagination.

[fashion suits]

Hello cialiS,

Don't ever think that the dress is outdated, in fact it's vintage theme is really awesome. It looks better than the other dresses out there so you got nothing to worry when it comes to fashion.

[dresses]

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