What Can You Make From a Sarong?

I found this plain white sarong laying around the house and decided to make it into a dress. Typically, sarongs are 36x72 inches or 3x6 feet not including the fringe at each end. Plenty of fabric to make a variety of things. And the best part about sarongs is they come in some many colors and patterns and the fabric is like egyptian cotton its so soft. 

I made this simple sundress by the following steps:

1) I first cut the sarong in half.

2) With the first half, I sewed the sides together to desired width for a skirt then attached an elastic band to desired waist width.

3) I decided to trim off the fringe because it as tangled and ratty-looking and hemmed the bottom.

4) Next, I got to work on the 2nd half to make th top. I made the back with a simple dress pattern. As for the front, I experimented by trying to make a draped neckline reminiscent of cowl neck sweaters.

5) I attached each side and hemmed the neckline and arm holes then attached to the skirt. 

Here is the finished dress. It didn't come out quite as I expected, specifically the front neckline, but that's what I get for not following a pattern! The dress is still fun and will loan itself well to the tropical climates of Hong Kong and Bali (where I am bound for in 9 days!) since its a thin material and the fabric is lose-fitting.

After I finished the dress, I got to thinking... "What else you can make with sarongs?" Here is the list I came up with.

1) simple sheath sun dress
2) short bath robe
3) teddy
4) short or long A-line skirt
5) short of long wrap-around skirt
6) shrug
7) strapless dress with elastic over bust and at waist

Please add to it by leaving a comment! I have changed the settings so you don't have to be a registered user to post a comment!

Making a Skirt from a Maternity Top

I found this cute top on end-of-season clearance for $3 last year. I wore it once then washed it and it shrunk up rather than in. One of the reasons I bought it was because of its length. Hitting below my hip bone, it would have been good for layering. But since it shrunk, I'm not sure I ever wore it again. Another item for the closet aka black hole. 

I pulled it out again today thinking about taking it in to give it a better fit, but decided instead to make a t-shirt to skirt conversion. You can see how this top lends itself to becoming a skirt with its A-line cut.

I cut the top off right below the arm holes, then attached a 3-inch band of green printed fabric to the top for a waist band. Next step was to create an enclosure for the band at the waist. I loath sewing in zippers and the only thing worse is sewing a zipper on stretchy fabric. So I added some character by using these buttons made of recycled plastic.

Here is the finished skirt. This was a pretty simple project and inexpensive, too! The original shirt was about $3, the buttons were also $3 but I used a 40% off coupon, and as for the darker green fabric and thread, I had both of those laying around the house from previous sewing projects.

Detaching a Bodice from its Skirt: Take Two

A couple years ago, I bought this dress on clearance a Kohl's mostly because I wanted the big black belt that it came with. But I kept the dress, hung it in my closet thinking that someday, perhaps, I would wear it.

The thing is, the t-shirt top was too big for me though the skirt fit fine and every time I tried it on thinking I might wear it, I felt uncomfortable because it didn't fit right. So back in the closet it went until recently when I decided to detach the two pieces, discard the top and make a skirt out of the bottom.

This skirt had to have been the easier remake! Step 1: detach top from bottom. Step 2: buy 2 inch width elastic from the fabric store. Step 3: pin elastic in place and sew. And done!

Updating a Skirt

I got this skirt on clearance years ago at Old Navy. I wore it over the summer then buried it away in my black hole of a closet thinking I would someday wear it again. The thing is, though, its too poofy and ruffly for me and I feel too old for the style. So I put my thinking cap on and grabbed my scissors and got to work.

I decided to take in some of the flare at the bottom of the skirt. There was so much fabric that the skirt looked poofy at the bottom so I took in each panel seam by 1 inch so there was not as much flare. The photo below captures how much flare there was before I took in the panels. 

Still not satisfied with the adjustments, I decided one layer of ruffle I could handle but not two, so I cut the bottom layer off.

Still not satisfied,  I decided the pink needed to be toned down a bit. The thing is, I don't really wear pink. Yes I'm a girl but too much pink makes me feel, well, too girly.

So I have this perfectly nice skirt that came with a sash you wrap around the waist. But the skirt is perfectly fine without it and the sash just adds unnecessary layering which bunches and needs to be adjusted constantly. So I removed the sash from that skirt, see photo on left below and added the sash to the pink skirt. Its kind of GI Joe meets Barbie!











And I don't know if I'm satisfied yet, but I've had fun remaking this one!

Taking in a Dress Marisa Lynch Style

Remember my post from a few weeks back, "taking in a dress that doesn't fit?" I was inspired by Marissa Lynch's blog www.newdressaday.com so I thought I'd try my hands at a remake from a thrift store find. After a few weeks of living in couch potato-land post-surgery, I finally got to work on that dress.

I started by taking apart the top and bottom. Then tackled the skirt which was the easy part! There were a couple holes in the side seam, as you can see in the photo on the left, so I took in the skirt on that side only. Since the skirt was two squares of fabric sewed together and gathered with elastic at the waist, it didn't matter how I took it in. In the end, I took it in about 4 inches because I wanted the skirt to be loose.

Next I tackled the top. Which proved to be more difficult than I anticipated since I wanted to remake the neckline from boatneck to v-neck and majorly take in the bodice.  If your eyes are good, you can see how large the top is by looking at the pink measuring tape in the photo below to get an idea (measurement is inches).

I cut the top down the front middle and got to work with my new neckline. I made two folds on one side of the bodice and three folds on the other to play with assymetry. I also took in the sides to give it a better fit for my figure. Finally, I sewed the two pieces back together. Here is the finished product, with a close up on the bodice. The dress is navy and emerald, so this black belt won't do, but I just put it on to get an idea of what a belt would look like.