When dresses become mediocre Mabels

I've made two Marianne Dresses lately -- neither of which were quite right due to the high neckline and funkiness going on with the sleeves. Rather than just pop the dresses into the charity bag like I usually do I thought I should try and rescue them and upcycle them in to Mabel Skirts.

Like the dress, this fabric looks great in photos; and the garments look great on the hanger. As soon as the fabric hits my body though - blergh! The colours look awful on me...and the skirt is WAY too small so it's not a keeper.

This dress would probably be wearable if the fabric wasn't pure sweatiness - ugh, get off my body. I did drop the neckline a bit, but the stiffness of the fabric made the sleeves look like I was in some 80s band...hello shoulders! As the skirt above was WAY too small I added 1.5cm to the centre fold of the back and front pieces -- 6cm overall. This fabric has hardly any stretch so it's still a bit snug...but wearable if I suck my gut in and think skinny. It's a keeper. For now.

And here's my attempt at rescuing a RTW dress that must've shrunk in the wash (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). It's not bad as a skirt, but the shape is not as pegged as I would like. It's comfy though and I'm still deciding if it will get worn.

So, some success and some fails - my typical sewing story. My overlocker and sewing machine really fought me on these makes...skipped stiches and the like. Sigh.

I'm glad I have these three projects out of the way though as they've been my roadblock to embarking on any new projects...