Quick change

I realized I hadn't posted in a while and was feeling something new was in order for the weekend.  So Saturday night I picked out a dress that I knew I could do something with quickly.

I was given this dress sort of as a hand-me-down.  It was pretty just as it was but I've talked to you before long dresses on a short lady.  It just doesn't work out well.  Plus, it's kind of boring and needed a little sumpin' sumpin'.

The first thing I did was cut the skirt in half.  That is actually all I did to the dress.  The fabric won't fray and didn't need hemming so I just cut a straight line across the skirt at the length I wanted.

As I mentioned, thought, it needed a bit more.  So I decided to make a flower I could pin to the dress.  I pulled out the yellow skirt that provided the sleeves for a recent project.  I just love the color!

I cut out a strip of fabric and proceeded to create a flower.

I sewed a brown button in the center of the flower then pinned it to the dress.  It was the perfect dress for a very hot Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Score!

I've never owned a pair of designer shoes.  It's not a big deal.  There are plenty of people in the world who have never owned a pair of shoes, period.  I haven't been sad about the fact that I've never dropped more than $50 on a pair of shoes.  Actually, I'm quite proud of my thriftiness.  Which brings me to my next point; I now own a pair of designer shoes...and I paid $3.00 for them :)

Last Tuesday I spent a day at the beach all by myself.  It was absolutely wonderful.  The relaxing day that I needed.  After leaving the beach I stopped at a thrift store in Costa Mesa because, well, that's what I do.  I saw I sign stating that all shoes were $4.00.  I saw an adorable pair of flats that were in great condition.  I could tell they were real leather and very well constructed so I tried them on and they fit perfectly.  I took them up to the cash register to learn that they were actually $3.00!  (This story just keeps getting better, right???)

When I got them home I looked inside the shoe and saw this logo:

Looked pretty fancy.  I'd never heard of Sigerson Morrison before (I really don't know many designers) so I decided to google the company.  What do you know?  They're a big deal!  I couldn't find a pair of Sigerson Morrison shoes for less than $150.00.  Now I'm even more excited about the fruit of my solo beach day.

I want to go thrift store shopping in Costa Mesa all the time now!  I can only imagine what other treasures Orange County people will get tired of and donate to the local charity so I can spend 5% of what they did originally.

Nifty and thrifty

I just realized that today's outfit cost me a grand total of less than $10.00.  That's including the shoes which I got on clearance at Target about 3 years ago for around $7.00.  I picked up the dress at a garage sale on Saturday for $1.00.  The belt was a free hand-me-down.  I even made the hair clip out of scraps from other projects and the earrings were refashioned from another pair.  Not bad!

I'll explain the dress process.  This is how it began.

I knew immediately that I needed to get rid of those Lady Gaga style shoulder pads.

And this hole needed to be mended.

I took care of those two things in about 10 minutes.  I put the dress on and knew it could still be better.  It was a little loose around the waist so I took the waist in a couple inches.  Then I got an expert opinion from my husband and decided the sleeves needed to go.

The whole process was pretty simple.  I didn't have to do any hemming or make any major changes.

I think the hair clip topped things off nicely.

It was the perfect get-up for a sunny, afternoon baby shower.

I made sleeves!

I'll just start by telling you I'm really proud of this one.

It began as this dress which I bought at a thrift store for $0.99

It actually fit me perfectly but it wasn't my style.  What drew me to the dress was the adorable print.  You can't really see in the picture but it has cute little flowers.  I'm a sucker for a floral print.

For a long time I wasn't sure what to do with the dress.  Then I came across this blog post at Cotton and Curls.  I've been following this blog for a while and this lady is brilliant!  I was totally inspired by her post because our dressed looked so similar.  I decided the dress needed to become a top!

So the first thing I did was cut the dress in half.

I cut it just under the seam that connected the skirt and the bodice.  Then I cut the skirt into the shape of a sleeveless top.

I created a seam to connect the front and back of each strap and I removed the zipper from the back and sewed that part together.  After that I had to start getting creative.  I didn't want my top to look exactly like the Cotton and Curls lady so I pulled another skirt out of the closet.  Can you guess that I did with this?

I cut strips out of the dress to make sleeves.  

Hey kids, can you spot the puppy paws in this picture?

This is where I was so proud of myself.  I've never made sleeves before.  I wasn't quite sure what I was doing but decided the top needed ruffly, yellow sleeves.  So I pinned them and sewed them and they came out beautifully!

I finished the neckline just by sewing along the edge to prevent fraying.

I am pleased.  I wore the shirt to work and showed everybody who I thought would care...and maybe a few people who wouldn't :)

Stripes!

I don't typically get into wearing red, white, and blue for "American" holidays but I this new top worked so perfectly, I couldn't resist.

It started as this horrifying dress:

See, even my face was afraid.

This dress screamed 1990s.  And not in a good way at all.  The 90s had some redeeming fashion qualities.  There were a few grunge styles that I can still appreciate.  But I'm pretty sure this dress was worn with white platform flip flops at some point.  I can't really get on board with that.  

So, needless to say, the dress needed a change.  I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do.  First I cut off the top.

   

Then a folded over the raw edge and made a new hem.  It was still a little bit loose so I added some elastic to the sides.

I wore it on Memorial Day with a belt and red shoes.  It was a great American outfit.

No white platform flip flops here!