I finally did it-- put some of my new found sewing skills to use for myself! The girls and I went garage sale shopping this morning (there were probably 30 or more in our neighourhood), and I found this dress for $3:
(Oops. I just realised you can see my bra in this photo. I'm going to assume you've all seen a bra before and move on.)
This is a Rodier Paris dress-- quite high end, and lovely material. As you can see, it's a bit sackish on me, and too big. It's also too long. I'm trying to move out of Frumpville. You can see in the photo that there is a very wide hem at the bottom. It was double stitched and gave me the perfect place to shorten it to. I just ironed the hem up all the way around, pinned and sewed it, then cut off the excess. I took in the sides a little bit, too, between the arm hole and the pockets. Then, I used the part I trimmed off the bottom to make a wide belt. Here is the result:
No more frump! I love it-- comfy, not too long, with a little shape. Hubby took these photos. He's very proud of himself:
(Yes, I usually put my hands on my hips during photos. Not sure why.)
To make the wide belt I took the left over strip of fabric and cut it to my waist size. Then I trimmed the ends to look like the end of a crayon (can you tell I'm a mom?) like this:
I sewed the right sides together, leaving the ends open and enough room to flip it back right sides out. I pressed the seams, then I cut the original tie in half and fed the unfinished ends about and inch inside the wide belt opening. Then I topstitched over the ends and, voila, wide belt!
I know what I'm wearing the next sunny day...
Looks awesome!!
ps: On Mon May 16th, everything is 50% off at Value Village.
Posted by: eunice | May 14, 2011 at 04:23 PM
This is so cute, Lisa! Love!
Posted by: Keshet Shenkar | May 15, 2011 at 01:09 PM
Wow! Now that is a makeover! I love how it came out--so chic!
Rachel @ Maybe Matilda
Posted by: Rachel | May 16, 2011 at 10:40 PM
Great transformation! The dress looks great on you!
Posted by: Mary | May 18, 2011 at 12:31 PM
I would love to see a full tutorial on the belt. I want a belt just like that for a green dress I'm trying to cuteness up. :)
Posted by: Krista | May 19, 2011 at 05:27 PM
Way to be brave! I think the dress looks darling on you.
Posted by: Chris | May 19, 2011 at 10:37 PM
such an improvement! I love it!
Posted by: Andrea | May 21, 2011 at 12:16 AM
Lisa! I'm immensely impressed.
Posted by: James | May 27, 2011 at 03:45 AM
gorgeous colour, gorgeous design!
Posted by: Cecile | June 30, 2011 at 03:35 PM