Muumuu to Maxi Dress Refashion | Thriftanista in the City

5.02.2019

Muumuu to Maxi Dress Refashion

You definitely should not make a habit of buying thrift store clothes that don't fit properly. Since I sell a lot of what I find, I don't try things on in the store anymore. I picked up a vintage muumuu dress in Palm Springs not knowing if it fit or not because it's fish fabric. You can't so no to a fish dress. I ended up having to downsize and refashion into a simple maxi dress.

Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.


The silhouette of the dress reminded me of a dress I already owned. In fact, I was wearing that dress when I found fish muumuu at Goodwill. That may have influenced my decision to buy this dress without knowing the size. It's a one of a kind handmade especially for Vickie Keith so there was no size tag to see if it was ballpark my size.

Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

It is not. The bottom is fine. I love a sweeping maxi but the top part was just falling off of me. Here's what I did to easily downsize this muumuu to a more fitted maxi. By the way, I do love muumuu dresses. I wear them all the time. I would have walked right out of this one as is though.

Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

Muumuu to Maxi Refashion


Cut off the sleeves. They were my least favorite part of the dress so I used my seam ripper to take this off immediately.
Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

Take in the sides. I could have fit and pinned on my body but I opted to use the inspiration dress as a template.

I lined up the shoulders and made sure the center backs were lined up too. Then I traced one side with chalk to create a stitch line to follow. Sewed along my line.
Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

I folded the dress in half and traced the other side using the sewn side as a template. Finished and cleaned up the raw edges.
Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

Since the neckline was so wide I opted for an off the shoulder look. I like that I was able to still maintain the muumuu style of it while adding a pop of shoulder for a little skin show.

Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.


Thank you Vicki Keith for donating the awesome dress that was specially made for you!

Refashion and downsizing of a vintage thrift store muumuu to a chic summer off the shoulder maxi dress.

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