I found this little size 24m houndstooth dress in a thrift shop about a year ago. We were moving then too and it got packed away and I never did anything with it. I was sorting boxes this week, saw it and pulled it out. When I looked at it more closely it spoke to me and said “retro swing coooooooooat. Make me into a retro swiiiiinnnnggggg coooooat.” So, that is exactly what I did! It was oddly enough not very difficult.

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I sliced off about 5 inches from the bottom of the skirt, the badly matted faux fur cuffs and about 3 more inches up the sleeves. I took the piece that came from the skirt, cut it along the seams and used the two pieces that were on the front to make the new bell sleeve cuffs and used the back piece from the skirt (which was larger) to make the collar. I simply folded it over once and sewed it along where the existing neckline was. I hemmed up all the edges and took the bottom button that got removed and put it on the new collar. I added a button hole on the longer side of the new collar and there you go! All done. Too bad I don’t have a little girl to wear it, because it is a similar style to one that I received as a Xmas gift, only mine has bunched sleeves, normal collar and a larger houndstooth pattern.

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