Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Craft Room: Heart Back Dress (No Sew)

Happy Thursday Darlings!

It's DIY time again...

So the thing is - I had this lovely little ivory and plum dress from Modcloth that returned to me pretty badly stained in the back after I lent it out.  (It's ok, stuff happens).  Anyhow, as I only got several wears out of the dress myself and the stains covered a pretty large area and were stubborn as a moose and just wouldn't budge after numerous washes, treatments, and natural stain removal methods, my only hopes of salvaging the dress were to make a cute little cutout where the stained area was (not so bad, eh?).  Better yet, there's no sewing involved - so it's a pretty easy feat for anyone to take on :)

This is what I used to do just that:


First steps:

1.  Determine how large you want your heart to be and cut the shape out of your card-stock (I used a thick page from an old magazine)

2.  a.  Measure across the back of the dress and mark the center, and place your cut out heart accordingly.
     b.  Trace around the heart with your fabric pencil.
     c.  Cut that baby out.  (It's easiest to cut up the center and then around each of the sides.)


 Next steps:

3.  On the back of the dress, around the heart, place your HeatNBond and iron on.



4.  Place your bias tape directly over your HeatnBond and iron on.



 *** If you wish to leave the cutout open on your dress, you can stop right here.  I happened to have the perfect vintage floral material that matched the dress to a tee, so I decided to use that to fill in my heart and not leave my back exposed.  I'm quite a bosomy gal anyways, so an opened back is really not an option for me.  

Final steps:

5.  Turn the dress inside out and repeat step 3 with the HeatNBond around the heart on the inside of the dress.

6.  Iron on your material (measure it first to make sure you have enough to cover the cutout), then cut the excess around the edge of the heart.  (If you are super brave you can cut the heart shape out of the material first and then iron on, however I don't always trust my cutting skills, so I opted to do it the first way).  


Ta-Da - you are finished!  It's a million times cuter on - so I shall have to do a proper post with it once the weather warms.  My sad little hanger and less than flattering indoor lighting is just not doing this beauty any justice.  


That's all for now darlings!  Hope your holiday season of decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, and party going is simply as sweet as a sugar plum!  

Talk soon!


Love Bunches, 


24 comments:

  1. what a fabulous idea, marisa! it looks adorable!

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  2. No sewing required? Even this seamstress likes the sound of that!

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  3. Marisa! This is so darling and you make it looks so easy! I have a pile of dresses I was going to try to put on ebay but I might have to try this on one of them! I love the "old dress" you chose too- it's very cute :)

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  4. This is SO CUTE, I seriously love it even more than the original and it was already quite adorable! I have never used bias tape or heat n bond before, but it sounds like two things definitely worth investing in!
    Also wanted to let you know I got your black collar dress and my sweater back in the mail yesterday, thanks so much! The dress is SO cute and I can't wait to wear it to my work holiday party next week! It did have a few white spots on it in the back and front though, so I am just going to try to sponge wash it a bit- I figured because the delicate pearly collar machine was is a definite no-no! It will be returned to you in tip-top shape, thanks so much for lending it to me!!!

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  5. How creative. So glad you were able to save the dress and make it even more unique!

    PS Sorry I still have your skirt! Being able to take photos has been crazy due to weather, but I'm hoping to get it off to you this weekend.

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  6. This is such an awesome idea. You are a DIY queen.

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  7. How cool! I saw the "no sew" tagline and thought that was too good to be true! I'm definitely going to have to try this.

    Rachel

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  8. This is a perfect idea! I always get stubborn stains (Thanks to my lovely son) and cant wear them, or get rid of them.

    Thanks for sharing!
    ~Ama

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  9. Such a perfect idea, thank so much for posting!
    -Kati

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  10. excellent idea, you're so inventive. I'd be terrible at applying the bias tape, need a bit of practice with that xxx

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  11. you are very clever marisa darling! that heart cut out on the dress is really brilliant and makes the dress so cute and unique!
    love and kiss,mary
    http://www.maryloucinnamon.com/

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  12. This is such a great idea! One of those ideas where you look at it and think "wow, this is so simple and so great why did I never think about this before?" haha. You know what I mean? I will definetly try to copy this! Not only for dresses but also for Tshirts or sweaters.
    Have a wonderful weekend dear Marisa!
    xx

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  13. Great save my friend! I might like the after version better than the before.

    Loulou

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  14. This is so cute!! You'd never know you did it to save the dress. I love the fabric you found! Can't believe it's no see too! Too good to be true.
    -Jessi
    haircutandgeneralattitude.blogspot.com

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  15. Hi, Marisa! How have you been? What a great idea to fix a dress! :D I hate it when you lend things and they don't return them the way they should be. But you're right, things happen.

    Hope you're getting ready to have a wonderful week! ;D

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  16. Beautiful DIY, it is so you !!! Lovely !
    http://selenite.weebly.com

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  17. I love this! Such a great tutorial, I'm definitely trying this with my friend! Awesome post!

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  18. Aaah girl you rock!!!! I def got lost a bit with thisbut that's expected with me and DIYs.. What an adorable dress way to go!

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