DIY Tie Back Dress

Hello.  My name is Katie and I'm a sucker for Instagram sales.  It's true.  I have bought so many dresses from different "closet clean-out" sales... let's just say that I had to ban myself from looking at those anymore.  I got this dress from a friend on IG-- you might actually remember it from this post.  Here's a little secret: the dress is too small.  That's the thing about buying online, you can't try it on first!  I was wearing it under cardigans and just leaving the back unbuttoned during chillier days, but once summer came around I had to say bye-bye to the dress... until I found a solution.

Here's the dress before.  I know, I know... it's gorgeous and if altering wasn't necessary, I wouldn't have done it.  The little pearly blue buttons are so pretty.  Anyway, here's what I did:

First, I removed the buttons and then stitched up the button holes with a zig zag stitch.  I chose a fabric and cut six 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 strips.  I then folded each one in half and stitched all the way around, leaving one end open (make sure your strip is inside out at this point).  Then I flipped them right-side out and positioned them onto the dress.  I proceeded to stitch them to the edges of the dress, and then I was done!

When you tie the knots they make sweet little bows up your back.  You could either wear this with a bandeau underneath (learn how to make one right here!) or you could use my other solution for backless dresses.

Happy stitching!