Ways to recycle a dress... need ideas

I've had a tiered Mexican sundress for about 5 years now, and recently one of the strap's plastic hardware broke from being so old.

It's kindof a frilly looking dress, and I'm trying to think of a way to recycle the dress into something funky and new.
I don't want to make a skirt out of it because wide skirts look awful on me.

The tiers are each about 3 inches thick and range from about 1 yard to two yards in length. The fabric itself is mostly black with a really colorful floral print with a lot of turquoise, white, pink, red, yellow, and purple.

If you have ideas as to how I could recycle this dress into something new and preferably wearable, please let me know. I can't think of anything.

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7 replies since 19th February 2011 • Last reply 19th February 2011

Reply #1:

Maybe you could use a black tube top as a base and add one of the ruffles so it goes around your arms but hangs off your shoulders? Here is a pic to show what I mean.

Or maybe something like this?

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Reply #2:

Hm... I kinda like that first idea. But there are probably 10-12 tiers that I can use, so making a top like that first one would ony take off the tip of the ice berg... but I suppose it could use matching accessories. Thanks for the ideas!

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Reply #3:

You could make one of those bustle skirts that everyone here loved so much a while back, make the back part longer maybe, and try to keep the original color configuration. Then wear it with that 1st top. Seems like a fun outfit in my head. But my head is a tad bit crazy, so...

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Reply #4:

If you like stripes you could flatterned the ruffles then cut each into 2 strips along the length. Sew contrasting strips together to create a workable fabric. I like the idea of making an inverted V design with the strips for a skirt. The skirt wouldn't be too full and you would probably have enough for a top as well or a small bolero to go over a top.

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Reply #5:

Hm... I might try the skirt idea. I'm going to be making a lot of skirts for the spring and summer, so one more won't hurt (especially since I don't like pants, lol). If I had long enough hair, I'd make some scrunchies, but I just got rid of my pigtails a couple months ago Happy

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Reply #6:

Could you post a picture of the dress? That would help me get a better idea of what can be done with it.

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Reply #7:

I don't have a picture of it, and I couldn't find anything like it on Google...
But the skirt of it is a tiered circle skirt.

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