Oooh!! An upcycled sequin dress

Oooh!! An upcycled sequin dress

• 3.15.2012

That's right, an upcycled sequin dress!  It was a top when I bought it at TJ Maxx for $7, post-holiday clearance, I think.

Anyway, I bought it for the sequins, because I've been craving them so!  Since around Christmas, when everyone was nuts for sparkles and sequins for New Year's Eve.  I never got any around then, but they're still in!  In fact, not that long ago I got an Express catalog for early spring and there were sequins all over it, too:

Express

So yay, they're still in for dress-up.  Anyway, I cut apart the top, taking off the arm, neck, and bottom binding, and then was basically left with two very short "T" shapes, almost rectangles.  You can see my "tutorial" here for taking apart a garment and turning it into something else.

Because the sequins were sewn onto basically a tan net, very lightweight and sheer, I gave the bodice and skirt a lightweight tan cotton interlining, and lined the bodice with a separate twill.  It worked really well; the bodice stands up for itself, you could say, and the skirt is drapey but obviously not sheer!  And you can't see any of the seam allowances through the outer layer, because of the interlining.

I used McCall's M5849, my good ol' standby, for the top, and miraculously was able to cut the skirt out of the rest of the fabric.

Ta-da!!

Oh, I should note.  This was THE MESSIEST project I've ever made!  Sequins flew everywhere as I cut!  And I used paper scissors, rather than my nice fabric scissors, because I didn't want to dull them on the plastic sequins, but oyyyy, this was a messy one to cut and sew.  I also used a leather needle on the machine because I broke a regular one.  It is possible to sew through sequins, but it's not easy-peasy!

But now I have something with sequins, at last!!

Oh, and the center back zipper was NO FUN to put into the sequin fabric!  I had to trim sequins off the center back before I put it in.  Again, messy project.

So, my tip for working with sequins?  Have a hand vac nearby.  Seriously, these things are still all over my house.  But, the dress is lots of fun!