Thrift Store Upcycle - The Checkered Dress DIY Tutorial

Today I will be showing you guys how I transformed this not-so-hot checkered dress, into a dress that I will wear throughout the summer. I picked this dress up at Goodwill for only $4.99. The popular checkered pattern caught my eye, and I thought maybe I could give this dress new life.

The first order of business was to get rid of the shoulder pads that were in the dress! I did this by simply cutting the thread that held them to the dress.

Afterwards, I cut off both sleeves and made sure to keep the sleeves (I will later use them to make the ruffles).

Next, I turned my dress inside out, and folded down the raw edges of the sleeves twice (white dotted line). I then pinned my fold in place, and sewed along the edges.

This step was optional, but I wanted my dress to fit snug on the top part, and loose on the bottom half. I did this by sewing a triangle shape from the armpit to a little below the waist (white dotted lines). It is important that the triangle is extended long, so that there are no harsh edges when the dress is turned right side out.

Since I didn't have extra material to create a long strip, I had to use the sleeves of the dress. If you wanted to create a ruffle on a shirt, dress, etc. then you would want to cut a strip of material 3-4 inches wide and about 15-16 inches long (the length and width depends on how long you want your ruffle to be). I cut my sleeve into three pieces (red lines). I did this by cutting the bottom. Then I folded over the top part and cut along the white dotted lines.

The bottom strip of the sleeve was already hemmed, so I hemmed the other two pieces of the sleeve (white dotted line). I folded down the edge once, pinned and sewed. I made sure to try and make all three pieces have about the same width. I then sewed the three pieces together (red lines).

To create the ruffle, I sewed along the raw edge of the strip I created. By hand sewing this part I was able to pull on the thread, and the strip bunched up (creating the ruffle).

I repeated these steps to the other sleeve, and ended up with two ruffles.

I took one of the ruffles, folded it in half, and marked where this line was (red line). I pinned where I just marked to the very top part of the dress. Then I continued to pin the ruffle to the sleeve part of the dress. After pinning, I sewed along the edges. I repeated these steps to the other sleeve of the dress using the other ruffle.

The dress had a front slit that I didn't like so I decided to eliminate it. The red line is where the sewn stitch stopped (and where the slit started). I continued to sew all the way down the dress (white dotted line).

I wanted my dress to tie in the back instead of the front, but the front had the slits of where it used to tie.

I folded the dress inside out and seam ripped along the sewn edge that bounded the top and bottom part of the dress. This detached the top from the bottom of the dress. I then cut out the part of the dress that I didn't want to see (white dotted line).

I had to piece the dress back together. I did this by first sewing around the zipper, with the dress right side out. After this was complete, I turned the dress inside out and placed the top and bottom part of the dress, pinned, and sewed all around the edge of the dress (white dotted line). When I got to the sides of the dress, I cut a slit about 2 inches down and placed the tie of the dress inside the slit. I folded down the slits and sewed along the edge.

I wanted to have two side slits on the bottom of the dress. I created this by measuring 11 inches on one side, and cutting the side of the dress. This created the slit, so I then folded down the edges of the slit twice, and sewed along the edge. The dress was inside out when I did these steps.

The dress was a little too long for the look I was going for, so I cut about 4 inches from the bottom. I folded down the raw edge twice, and sewed along the edge.

And I was finished!