Making New Out Of Old

If you are like me and have been doing dancing for years on end, you will understand how many costumes I have hanging in my closet. And hanging is what they do best! I have so many costumes from team items that rarely get used and just take up valuable space!!! So I’ve decided to give some of them a little facelift and add some new life in to them.

My first little project is an army style leotard.

(Just a note to be, I did not make this leotard. It is just a leotard that I wore for a team item.)

Now I may have got a little gun-ho and forgot to take an image of the leotard before I started dismantling it. But the photo below shows you what it looks like after I striped all the stones off and detached the sleeves.

You maybe wondering why did I get rid of the sleeves? Really it just personal choice, and I prefer not to wear sleeves on stage, so that’s why I got rid off them. It also had the added benefit of extra Lycra, which I used to create fringing and patched a certain part up.

So what did I add??

Firstly, I added the large diamond shape Lycra under the bust with a little diamond below. This is where I used the extra Lycra from the arms to fill in a little hole. To get the desired effect that I wanted I unpicked the centre “v” to just under the bust and cut the Lycra away. Which I was then left with a small hole that need a little mending, but having patterned lycra made it easy to hide.

Secondly, I made the back hole a lot larger and more exposed, because I like those kind of backs.

Then were some pointy shoulders, with one side decorated. I did a little bit of goggling and looked at images of Female Military Uniforms from many different countries. And this is where I got the idea to put some embellishments on one shoulder, as the leotard was looking a little spacey!

And lastly I added the stones and diamantes, which one part is actually a necklace that has been sewn on.

One thing that I got rid of was the band around the waist and just sewed the bottom and the top back together. Normally I wouldn’t suggest doing this because it shortens the length in the leotards. However it was actually too big in the body for me, and really don’t think I will be getting any taller!

I didn’t want to add too much to this leotard, but if I were to add anything else to it I would add some little shorts just to finish the look.

xxx