How to Refashion a Maxi Dress in to a One Shoulder Top

I like the after much more

Today’s Maxi dress refashion is number 2 on my list. You can see my list of Maxi dresses that need to be refashion in this post. I cleverly named it Maxi Dress Fix you can check that out if you like.

This is how my dress looked before

So this dress has a little story behind it. I saw it a few years ago on the clearance rack at Wal-Mart for only 3$. It was way to big for me at the time, so I snatched it up with big plans for the fabric, I was going to make it something way cooler. However it slowly worked its way to the very far back of my very deep closet. 

Then last year when I was pregnant and nesting cleaning out my closet in the middle of the night.(I was looking for something that would fit, anything) Then lo and behold; the 3 dollar Maxi...and IT FIT! I was so excited, it was a perfect fit, not to mention very comfy. I wore it the whole 3rd trimester. 


Now the dress is bit stretched out in the bust and it is not flattering on me at all. You know what that means...Time to chop it up!


Enough of the chitchat! Lets get going!

I am going to show you how to make a maxi dress into a one shoulder top. It is very easy and fast, with very little sewing. So let's get started with Maxi dress #2. Step 1 Get your supply's together You will need a maxi dress that has a smocked top Scissors
and either Needle and thread or sewing machine Step 2
Chop the bottom of the dress off! In order to measure it right you need to first lay the dress out. Next use a top that you like the length to measure with. Lay the top on the dress. Line the bottom of the top up with the bottom of the smocked portion of your dress. (I found this very hard to describe, so look at the photo below for better directions)

Cut the bottom of the dress of(we will use that later)

Step 3

Try on the dress, upside down(with the smocking around your waist). Then pull up one side to make a shoulder and pin it. I made mine about 5 inches, but you can make your sleeve as long or short as you like. See the photo below, that is the small part you will have to sew.

The top of the dress will now be the waist of the one shoulder shirt.

Step 4 Sew that short straight line. My dress did not need a hem, depending on the fabric of your dress you may choose or need to hem the whole thing.

Well that is it, your all done!  I told you it was easy to make your old maxi into a new top!

So what do you think of my new top, do you love it?  I sure do!   

Can you believe that this cute little was an old maxi dress?

Here is a little Before and After shot so you can see how much it changed and because I am so happy with how this one worked out!

I hope you found this tutorial on how to upcyle a dress easy.  If you have any questions on it just message me, I am glad to help.

I would love to see how your maxi turns out, please send me a picture!  


Thank you so much for looking, let me know what you think.



I am linking up at The grant life

How to Refashion a Maxi Dress

The Easy way to Refashion a Maxi Dress

How to refashion a maxi dress so you can get more more out of it, is what we are talking about today. I am in the process of working on a whole "maxi" dress series. Because you can do so to give new life to these dresses. 

This is a no-sew maxi dress refashion

Yesterday I posted all about my Maxi Dress issues and my mission to refashion them.  If you want to see all of them you can look at yesterday's post called Maxi Dress Fix.  So today I refashioned number one on my list of dresses to fix, as promised.  I am going to show you how I did it, in case you also have a bunch of out dated Maxi dresses that also need a face lift.

Step 1
Get your supply's
Maxi Dress
Scissors
Some pins and chalk will help

Step 2
Fold the side seams together, then lay the skirt down.  Then pin the bottom together to keep it lined up well. Next make one long diagonal cut.  If you need to use chalk to help you can... as you see from the photos I changed my mind regarding my chalk line.

One diagonal cut from front to back

Step 3
I had a left over strap that I removed from my project last week.  I just laced the strap trough a hole that was in the top of the dress.  It was part of the design, you can see in the photo below.  Then I just tied it around my neck.  If your dress does not have a weird hole like mine did, you will have to attach the new straps with needle and thread.

See how I was able to add the neck strap without having to sew

Step 4
I used the remaining part of the skirt that I cut away as a head band.  I thought it might help cover the spots that I am now balding, I don't know if it helped.  I have this new theory I try and use ALL my scraps.  No scrap left behind!

So this is how it turned out! What do you think? I think I will get much more use out of it now.

My new dress

If the headband is not for you, or maybe your dress wont let you easily add a neck strap, cause I know how much the thread and needle can suck.  Then I came up with a second option for you.  In this option I did not add the neck strap and I used the cut away portion as a little shoulder shawl.  I like this option also.

Well what do you think?  I think it both ways of wearing the new dress both turned out great! I like it so much more now.  I think I will be able to wear it more now, because it looks less formal. I hope you enjoyed this refashion, please let me know what you think.  I hope you will give this maxi dress refashion a try on one of your outdated dresses.  Send me a picture of what you come up with.