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Polo Dress Redo {Make for Mom Series}

For day four of my summer wrap up week, I am bringing home the post I wrote for Shaffer Sisters’ Make for Mom series they ran earlier this summer.  I love those Shaffer ladies.  They have a great dynamic and I really enjoy their variety of posts.  They also have been doing a link up party every Tuesday this summer so you should check out the inspiration over there.

Before I start the original post I wanted to update and say I wore this dress ALL SUMMER.  It was a great, comfortable, and most importantly successful redo.  Now on to the post:

********************************************************************************
When I was thinking of what I would “Make for Mom” I decided to go through my closet and find something I don’t wear anymore and make it wearable.  Lets be honest, now that I am a mom there are a few items in there that my child-bearing hips are not meant to wear, hehe.

One of which is this old polo shirt dress.  I’m still happy with the look of a polo shirt on my body shape, but the bottom half of the dress is rife with issue.  The length is too short, there is pulling in between the snaps from the bust down, and the shape is completely unflattering.  This was a perfect candidate for a remake.

I started out by deciding how high up I wanted to cut the bodice.  Then I just drew a chalk line and used my rotary cutter to cut between the snaps.

To fix the gapping between the snaps I decided which was the last snap down that I would use and sewed the sides shut below that point following the pink lines on the cut bodice in the above picture.

Since I wanted a more flowy skirt I went for this poly blend I found at JoAnn Fabrics.  There is a tiny strip of silver metallic thread in between the stripes, so in person it is a lot less “Ernie” from Sesame Street, hehe.

I turned the fabric to the bias (diagonal stripes in this case) so the drape would be better for my shape.  In order to decide how wide to cut the skirt waist, I measured on either side of the width of the polo bodice (in the picture above, you can see that I hadn’t cut the skirt off the polo yet) and added a bit for seam allowance.

This was all sort of on the fly, so I don’t have exact measurements.  The good thing about this type of fabric however, is that it is so forgiving once it’s sewn together with the way it drapes that I’ve found being exact isn’t so necessary.  I simply cut a sort of wide A-Line shape from the top of the waist down to a maxi length on one side.  I don’t have a picture of the next step, but I just folded over the cut side at the center point of the waist measurement, and used that shape to cut the same angle on the other side. 

In order to get the shape I was looking for, I thought adding a gore at each side seam would do the trick.  So I simply cut two long triangles from the leftover bias fabric.  The only thing I thought about was that the length should be roughly the length of the skirt panels I’d already cut AND that the top of the triangle should come to a narrow point (the bottom right hand corner in the above picture) since I didn’t want to add any width at the waist which is where I would insert the gore.  Again, I didn’t use a lot of precision since I wanted this dress to be casual and I knew this fabric is forgiving.

I don’t have any pictures of the next few steps since I was trying to get it sewn quickly while my daughter was napping, but here’s a quick rundown.  I used my serger for all the seams, but you could use a stretch stitch on your regular machine. 

I unpicked the seam on both sides of the polo bodice about two inches from the bottom so that I could attach the skirt.  Then sewed the back bodice to the back skirt panel with right sides facing.  Then did the same for the front bodice and skirt panel.  At this point I tried it on to make sure the fit would be correct with the length of the bodice and to be sure I wanted to include the gores.  The side seams weren’t sewn yet, but I could still approximate the fit.  Then I sewed one gore to each side of the front skirt panel, starting with the tip at the new seam where the bodice and skirt meet.  Then I matched the other side of each gore up with the corresponding back skirt panel and pinned.  Starting at the point on the bodice where I had pulled the stitching I sewed the final seams, closing the bodice seam opening as well.

This is the back of the final dress.  You can see that I haven’t finished the hem yet.  Since it’s a knit, it won’t fray so I could leave it as is, but I’ll probably do a simple roll over hem or something like that.  I’m having trouble deciding so I’ll leave it as is for now.

And here is the front.  If I had taken more care, I could have made the gores have a different stripey shape, but you’ll see that once it’s on my body and the skirt is draped that it doesn’t really make a difference.

It’s hard to show in a picture just how flowy the skirt is with the help of those gores.  The dress is very comfortable to wear and a huge step up from the original.

I’m really happy with this Polo Dress Redo.  I think it’ll be great for the casual BBQs and birthday parties that abound this May.  Thank you Shaffer Sisters for having me and giving me the push I needed to make something for myself! 

August 15, 2013 10:00 am Ajaire Leave a Comment Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. 1

    Shaffer Sisters says

    August 15, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    ๐Ÿ™‚ Love ya. I am so glad it gas been good for you.

    Reply
  2. 2

    amy mayen says

    August 16, 2013 at 12:33 pm

    I'm glad you posted it, I didn't see it the first time! This will transition into fall really well. I'm gonna check out the blog you mentioned:)

    Reply

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callajaire

Mother. Wife. Sewist. Not necessarily in that order.

Ajaire Parello
Once again this baby surprised us. Yesterday morni Once again this baby surprised us. Yesterday morning she just started counting to ten on her own ๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜† She was star struck watching herself on the camera so she didnโ€™t go past five here, but in person she rolls right past ten and tries for 11 and 12 ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
You guys, this girl is having a real hair moment. You guys, this girl is having a real hair moment. After waiting literal years for her hair to grow in, itโ€™s now turned into an 80โ€™s rocker look with how spikey it all is on top and the extra length in back๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜† 
But we LOVE this Journal Jumpsuit from @jennuinedesign and she LOVES wearing it to jump on the couch. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜Sheโ€™s a real talker these days so I had to use the Story Teller cut file, also from the Lounge Library collection.  Check out @projectrunandplay for the details on the sale on this pattern this week only!
Fabric is a lush French terry from @knitfabricdotcom and the contrast is a solid from @wolfandrabbitfabrics 

#projectloungelibrary #projectrunandplay #journaljumpsuit #jennuinedesign
Have you seen the mini season of @projectrunandpla Have you seen the mini season of @projectrunandplay details yet?  Iโ€™m super excited about everyone sharing more of the Project Lounge Library collection and the freebies weโ€™re offering!  First up is this perfectly sized book tote from @jennuinedesign. My girl LOVED the one I made from the second she saw it Christmas morning!  The cut file design is also from the collection as well as her nightgown ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
Thereโ€™s a whole Percy Jackson collection inside there along with three other (heavy) books, so itโ€™s a nice sturdy tote that holds plenty!

https://projectrunandplay.com/product/book-bag/
#dbcanininoni #designsbycallajaire #jennuinedesign #projectrunandplay #freepattern #pdfpattern #projectloungelibrary
One of my favorite things is giving and receiving One of my favorite things is giving and receiving Christmas cards. ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•
Well itโ€™s not as many books as Iโ€™ve read in pa Well itโ€™s not as many books as Iโ€™ve read in past years, nor did I reach my (what I thought was an easy) minimum goal of 50, but then again all that was set back in January before I knew Iโ€™d have very little time to myself for 3/4 of the year ๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿคช 
I read lots of different genres, including a few oldie juvenile favorites to preview for or read alongside my daughter. ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•
Some were book club reads and some were suggestions from Instagram friends, but I really enjoyed them all. Of course the new Louise Penny was my favorite ๐Ÿ˜

#goodreadschallenge2020 #goodreads #readingchallenge2020
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
Just a reminder that 2020 wasnโ€™t all bad ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿฅฐ๐Ÿฅฐ #topnine2020 #bestnine2020
We had a really nice Christmas with lots of cuddly We had a really nice Christmas with lots of cuddly fabrics and family. And this baby figured out how to ride her new scooter right away!  Looking forward to what 2021 has to bring! ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•
Happy Christmas Eve everyone! ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐ŸŽ„๐ŸŽ„๐Ÿฅ Happy Christmas Eve everyone! ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐ŸŽ„๐ŸŽ„๐Ÿฅ๐Ÿฅ
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I've always loved making. At an early age I started cross stitching and sewing and I taught myself to knit and crochet during college. When our seven year old daughter Bean was born I was filled with all sorts of inspiration, so now I find ways to manage my crafty time and treasure those moments. Though sewing is what I'm most passionate about these days, there's something about the portability of yarn crafts and embroidery that keeps drawing me back in.

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