DIY: Polka dot mumu to sundress

There is something so wonderful about thrifting. It's so gratifying to find an awesome gem among racks of people's unwanted clothes. Like a treasure hunt. It's the best for DIY because it's not as scary to cut up a $4 t-shirt or dress, as cutting into expensive fabric can be. You can find some giant pieces of fabric if you dig through the long dresses. I found so many good project gems at my last Goodwill trip, that I had to force myself to only get the best one. My project stockpile is already out of hand…. So I bought this adorable floor length hooded mumu dress for $7..

It's definitely a vintage nylon-ish fabric, soft and comfy. Very easy to work with. And I'm absolutely in love with the big and small polka dots. 

I was terrified to get started because I didn't want to screw it up! So I thought I'd get a pattern just for some security. After spending over an hour staring at patterns trying to pick one I just decided to wing it! 

I wanted it to have lots of movement and flowiness with a simple silhouette. So I decided on cutting it like a tent dress, where it just angles out. The width around the original hem was the perfect amount of flowiness, angled into a fitted underarm width. I used a v-neck dress to trace the top, and made some 1" lining pieces to get a nice finish around the neck and arm holes. I also wanted to play with the sharkbite hem, since the triangular shape of the dress already creates more of a point on the sides. 

This was all a big experiment and luckily it worked out in my favor!! No major disasters. The best part is I still have the top half of the original to play with!