Way back when I was 16-17 years old or so (half my present age) I made a dress from a thrifted duvet cover in soft cotton. It was heavily inspired by medieval dresses, as I had a great love for them, and had not yet dared to take the leap into real living history. It wasn’t my best style – you go through some weird stages as a teenager, trying to figure out who you are.
Still, there were elements to this particular dress that I liked long after I’d stopped wearing poorly fitted medieval-ish dresses. I loved the colour, and rather liked the simple embroidery round neck and wrists. Even when I cut the dress up to use the material in other projects, I still saved the upper part, in some vague hope that I’d find a use for it. And yesterday, I did.
I was going through my bins of scrap fabrics, when I stumbled on the long saved dress remnants. It was waaay to small over the bust (16 years and two kids can do that to you), but the sleeves fit decently.
I also found a piece of what was once the skirt part, and thought that if I inserted a gore into each side, I might be able to use it again. As I was planning to wear it under my sleeveless dresses, the gores would hardly be seen.
As it was so short I also thought that I’d take inspiration from dirndlblusen and make it a thing – less bulk at the waist, and might make nice nursing wear if ever I have another baby.
Said and done! During the afternoon and evening I inserted the gores (extending into the sleeve, so I wouldn’t have to redo the whole armscye), cut the bottom to shape (shorter in the back and long in the front to fit over the bust), and put an elastic into a casing at the bottom.
The blouse is certainly not a masterpiece and falls firmly in the everyday wear category, but with very little work it gave new life to what was once a favourite, so all in all I’m pleased. It’s also very comfortable.
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