photo by the amazing Drew Beck

I made this dress years ago and, like so many of my projects, I found it sitting in a box a day before my photo-shoot, waiting to be finished and shown off.

It had always been a little big for me, but 4 years later, no worries, I seem to have gained enough weight that it now fits perfectly….who would have thought I’d be happy about that?!

It is based off my ‘going out top’ that I got from Forever 21 (online) about 6 years ago. It was a black halter top with these stupid ties attached to the sides. I.HATE.HALTER.TOPS. So I’m not sure how I ended up buying this, but boy am I glad I did. Once I got it in the mail and got to try it on for the first time, I had a brilliant idea: what if I cut the weird ties off, cut open the halter strap and sew the ties on to those…..thereby making a cool adjustable top that crossed in the back and tied in the front under the bust, and MOST importantly, would no longer be hanging heavily and uncomfortably from my neck.

Once in design school, I learned how to make patterns from existing pieces of clothing and decided that this top would make a really cool floor length dress. I found a beautiful, amazingly soft cotton jersey in a lovely dusty rose color and got to work.

I still have the pattern for this dress (never throw away a pattern!!!) and I know how to grade it up or down in size and can make it in any color you might want and I can find as well! It would cost around $150 to make, including materials. Please contact me if you are interested in me making you your own!

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

This is the back view (sorry its on my dress form, but it wasn’t finished for the shoot). It can be adjusted and worn in many different ways and the straps being open as they are allows for a lot of adjustment in fit.

To see more of the great works of Drew Beck please check out his page.