Hello everyone! I wanted to post an upcycling tutorial for you on how to turn an old nightdress (or you can use old bedsheets if you prefer) and transform it into a halter top.

1. First things first I sketched out the design I wanted and the patterns by drawing a large rectangle, two isosceles triangles and two smaller rectangles for the straps, accompanied by the measurements.

2. I cut out the patterns from the fabric. I made sure to make the rectangle longer in order to double layer it later on.

3. I ironed the longer sides of the triangles down and sewed them down.

4. To pleat the triangles I crunched them down (the shorter sides of the triangles) and pinned and ironed them down to stay in place to create a gathered effect so it would stay in place on the body and stitched the pleats so they’d stay in place.

5. I took the large rectangle and pinned the triangles towards the centre of the rectangle with a slight gap between them.

6. I sewed the triangles to the rectangle together with the two front sides of the triangles and rectangle facing towards each other so it would look more seamless towards the end.

7. I folded the remainder of the rectangle over to sandwich everything together and sewed the open end (the longer side) closed.

8. I sewed one short end of the rectangle closed, turned the top inside out and folded the other short end of the rectangle closed, ironed it down and sewed it closed. I then ripped the stitching used to keep the triangles in place.

9. To make the straps I cut out two small rectangles (10 cm wide, I wasn’t too strict of the legnth), sewed along the longest side (making sure they were inside out), sewed one short end closed, and used a pencil to turn it inside out and sewed the other end closed, repeated the process for the other small rectangle and sewed onto the triangles, completing the halter top.

I hope you enjoyed and were able to follow this tutorial as I’m terrible at explaining how to do things, and hopefully I’ll have more upcycling tutorials in the future, I’m really sorry I haven’t followed through on that before as my sewing machine was giving me trouble, but I’m hoping to do tutorials that don’t require a machine if you might not have one.

I’ll talk to you all soon

Fiona x