Thursday, August 2, 2012

A quick revamp: summer dress to work appropriate dress

 Dress from Goodwill: $4 :)++
Knee length: ++
Browns and neutrals coloring: ++++
Plunging neckline that shows off your choice in bras: :( bad bad bad
very light cotton that floats on the wind easily: not so great in super-windy Wyoming
(no joke, moderate winds can take out a cinderblock wall)


So I got 2 yards of very cute trim from the clearance bin at Wal-mart ($4 total), dyed it with tea so it wasn't harsh white to match the more natural look of the dress, and did a very poor but serviceable run of basic stitches around the edge of the liner layer to give it a hint more weight to resist flipping up. (I have yet to master basics of my new sewing machine. Those fancy-pantsy double needle tricks will come later. Probably much later.)
 Then I used a short bit to cover the boobage area. Admittedly, this is still just pined inside with several safety pins. I ran out of ooph and hooah when the heat arrived sometime in June. And I didn't have a matching thread to hide the stitches until recently. But it works, and some day I will pester myself into knocking out those final stitches. 

So there ya go- $4 almost exactly right dress becomes just right in less than $5.
(ps. If you are going to stand on your bed in order to photograph a piece of clothing that is somewhat larger, and therefore awkward to photograph, you should make sure not to stand under the ceiling fan. It has no mercy on ponytails, or dignity)

2 comments:

  1. Ya know? I can picture you with the ceiling fan...is that bad? ;-) Cool idea though...now if they only made those dresses in my size! Pattern time!

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  2. Yeah. I have 3 more patterns awaiting some oomph from me. Because fashion briefly stopped in the hey that's ok region, but has moved on again. And the only times it stopped where I like it, was from designers that charge about $1000 for a basic black jersey dress. Bahahahaha. NO. The more I try, the more I have confidence to try. (bonus secret of life for the week?)

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