I’m pretty happy how these turned out!
All from a pair of REALLY old almost vintage sort of cotton knit culottes from the 80’s – they belonged to my cousins and were hand-me-downs until the the elastic wore off and no one bothered to replace them that I took over. And even then, it sat ages in my wardrobe. I had even tightenned the elastic but after awhile, I kinda got sick of it coz I’m really not into culottes so during my recent raid, I knew it was destined to be a recon.
It was meant to be Arianna’s but you’ll see why it’s not.

Looking chic in her new-old shirred bareback dress [Note how the bodice fits her so nicely? It would have strangled Arianna! *lol*]
What I did – a non-pix tutorial:
1. From one half of the legs [it's a 2 pattern pieces pants, iykwim], I took off as long as I wanted the dress/tunic/top to be, measuring it from the bottom so I didn’t have to bother hemming it up.
2. Then [stupidly] trimmed both sides to give it a bit of a shape, which I think I shouldn’t have bothered with anyway since with the shirring, you can’t really see the shape. Then I sewed 6 rows of shirring at the top and joined the side seams.
3. For the straps, using the same fabric from scraps left behind, I folded [right sides together] 2 pieces of 47cmx4cm into half and sewed one top and side steams together. Into an ‘L’ shape so to speak and using a pencil, I pushed it through the sewn strap so that I could turn it right side out. Then I just handsewed the other open end, tucking the raw edges in and stiching it up. Lastly, attach the straps by also handsewing them to the bodice. For this dress, I attached it 3cm away from the side seam, I think 4 or 4.5cm would be better. But it’s up to your personal preference of course.

And you’re done!

A backview of the dress
Despite measuring [a sleeping baby], I think this dress is a little long but I was thinking that longer is better so she can grow into it. Also, if the shirring gets too tight, I can later on unpick it and turn it into Arianna’s design [coming up next].
Will be uploading Arianna’s one as well once I’ve taken pix of her in it.
TFL….Happy Upcycling!