Dress Up That Dress DIY

I had this dress in my closet for a while, and I've never worn it.  There has always been something missing from it, and it had to be shortened. Never getting around to remedying this, it sat between other dresses I never wear... So I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and make a matching belt with a little added "je ne sais quoi".  The fabric I cut off to hem the skirt, was used to make the belt.  The only thing that went in the trash was some extra fabric that made up the lining.

If you have a dress that needs a little something, and want to try this out yourself, here is what you'll need.

-About 4-6 inches of matching fabric.  Depending on how thick you want your belt cut your fabric accordingly.  I wanted a belt that was about 2 inches thick, so I cut about 4 inches to make the belt.

-Any sort of embellishment i.e. vintage buttons, feathers, lace, brooch, whatever your little hearts desire!

-Hot glue gun, and 1 one glue stick

-Two snap buttons

The first thing I did was cut off a few inches from the bottom of the dress.

Then I removed the lining from the cut off piece.  This makes it less complicated to fold over and make a belt.

Once your remnants are all cleaned up, fold both sides over to meet in the middle and iron.  Then fold in half and iron again. This gives you a clean edge on both sides. 

Pin down the side that needs to be sewn, and then sew straight down the one side where both sides meet.  After sewing down the pinned side, I sewed around all the other sides to give the belt more stability.

I chose to use a peacock feather and an old copper button to add to the end of the belt.  Before gluing your embellishment down, position it on the belt. Once you have determined where the embellishment is going, start gluing!

I added my feather and button to one end of the belt. 

This next step will depend on how long you made your belt.  I made mine 1 1/2 times longer than my waist, so I could add extra snaps to secure the belt and have it lay nice and flat around my waist. 

And that's it!  You have a smashing belt that adds instant interest to an otherwise simple dress.

This was really very simple and only took about 1/2 hour to do.  This makes me want to problem solve the rest of my clothes that sit unworn in my closet.  Now I just need somewhere to wear my new dress to!