The dress (or Longtop) was prior to spice up a free giveaway of the Greek fashion magazine ELLE. The fabric is elastic and the dress is very comfortable to wear, but unfortunately also quite boring. Since I recently had purchased some colorful T-shirt materials, I thought that they would fit perfectly with my Greek dress. The idea was born and during the work, I got the inspirations on how to design the patterns.
Since I am often asked for Do-it-Yourself Ideas for Beginners: This project is very simple and only takes out a little snipping and braiding and some imagination. Or you can follow my step-by-step instructions 
Material And Tools – For This DIY Project You Need
- Boring dress or Top (best in solid colors)
- Approximately 12 to 15 cm Jersey fabric of 1.50 m wide (1 meter costs from EUR 4, -)
- Cutter (sharp knife, a pair of nail scissors will work as well)
- Optionally Sewing kit
- Scissors
- Cutting board (as a base, if you’re working with a cutter)
DIY Tutorial: The Step-By-Step Craft Instructions
The cuts in the dress and the running of the bands determine the pattern on your dress. The cool thing about this technique is that you can arbitrarily pull out the bands over and over again to braid them in a new way. So it is left to your imagination how you want to wear your dress and how often you are modifying it.
DIY Step 1
Cut from the fabric five about 2.5 cm wide strips.
DIY Step 2
Expand the strips of fabric. The T-shirt fabric curls a little bit and thus the cuts are no longer visible.
DIY Step 3
Now put the cutting board into the neckline and make two cuts about 2.5 cm wide just below the shoulder seam. Between the two sections is about 5 centimeters of space.
DIY Step 4
Pull all 5 bands of fabric through the two cuts and let them hang out with a length of about 35cm (see picture).
DIY Step 5
After another 5 centimeters make four very small holes and pull the first 2 bands each through one hole, take band No. 3 + 4 together through the third hole, band number 5 is purely in the fourth hole.
DIY Step 6
Make the next cuts after only 2 to 3 centimeters. Here you make two rows of five small holes each with a distance of 4 cm. The bands are drawn normally through the first 5 holes. In the second row, you cross the bands: band No. 1 through-hole 5, band No. 2 through-hole 4, and so on. With band No. 3 you round the other bands from the lower side and draw it finally through hole 3.
DIY Step 7
In a distance of 3 centimeters make 3 small cuts and pull the bands 1 + 2 through the first hole, the band No. 3 alone through the 2nd hole and strip 4 + 5 through the 3rd hole.
DIY Step 8
4 centimeters of space. Again make 5 small holes and pull through all bands normally.
DIY Step 9
After about 6 centimeters clearance again make 3 cuts. Pull bands 1 + 2 through the 3rd hole, bands 4 + 5 through the 1st hole, and draw band No. 3 again from the bottom round of all other bands in the 2nd hole.
DIY Step 10
2.5 centimeters of space. Following the rounding of the neckline you make the next hole a little higher. 5 cuts – the bands are drawn trough normally.
DIY Step 11
Space about 8 centimeters, then make at a distance of 1 cm 2 x 5 cuts and draw through the bands. Therefore, you now should be reached on the other shoulder seam.
DIY Step 12
This step, although not strictly necessary, but recommended: For the weight of the hanging strips at the beginning does not widen the first hole too much, I have sewn together with the five bands with the dress. DONE!
Fashion DIY “Spice Up An Old Dress” – Final Result
