The Swap

Well, today's dress comes courtesy of two separate pieces.  The first I got at a thrift store for $1.50.

On its own, the dress is pretty okay.  I could have taken it in, hemmed it up, added a belt, and it would have been fine.  But I was feeling adventurous.  Plus, a friend of mine gave me a bunch of hand-me-downs and one dress was sticking in my mind.

See, he has to be involved in everything.

I really liked this dress.  Again, it was cute all on it's own but I needed something different.  So I decided what these two dresses really needed was a swap.  I began by separating the bodices from the skirts.

I was pretty nervous about this whole operation.  I've never taken apart two perfectly good clothing items.  Then the idea of putting them back together again???  I really didn't have much of a plan when I started.  I just busted out my seam ripper and went for it.

Next I pinned the new bodice and skirt together to get ready for sewing.

This was a little tricky because I was dealing with an elastic waist band.  But once I sewed them together I was amazed to find it actually worked!

This was a truly exciting moment and really encouraged me to take future risks.  Unfortunately, from the side, due to the pleating, the dress looks a little too much like maternity wear.  I'm going to have to hang it in the closet until I have a legitimate reason for a maternity dress :)

Not pregnant.

In the mean time, stay tuned for the exciting recreation that comes from the other two pieces.