When my friends and I decided to plan a surprise birthday party for two of our favorite gentlemen who have reached a certain *ahem* landmark age, we went with a (playful) funeral theme. This meant I needed something black, but not too severe for this fun fete!
Sadly, the only thing I had on my refashion rack was this vaguely nun-ish number:
This dress needs your prayers, folks. :/
As I wash everything before I work with it, I was sad to see that cute collar got some very noticeable black on it. :/
Bummer. :/
At least I had those lovely pearly buttons!
Isn’t it adorable?
To get started, I removed a shoulder pad. Yep. Just one. Apparently the previous owner for this frock had one muscle-y shoulder and one weak one. ;)
Flying solo!
See those lame side tie thingies in the first pic? Yeah…those went buh-bye as well.
It’s for your own good!
Next, I carefully snipped off that discolored collar. Normally I would use a seam ripper to do this, but I knew I wanted to deepen the neckline on this one.
Sssssnip!
Next, I grabbed my seam ripper and got to work on those sleeves…watching the worst TV show of all time while I picked them off.
I hate it, but I can’t stop watching it. Grrrrrrrr!!!!
Under the Seam Ripper
Despite being incapable of sentience, these sleeves are far smarter than any of the inhabitants of Chester’s Mill.
All this snipping and ripping left me with a bunch of raw edges to pin down, and that’s just what I did!
Fray no more!
I stitched my new neck and my new arm holes down.
Whirrrrrr!
This dress was still too blousey for me, so I got to that reshaping/tailoring bit!
Shaping up!
Stitching those new sides!
I trimmed off the excess fabric, then did one more lil chop!
Temps are in the upper 90′s here, folks. Length just won’t do!
I stitched a quick hem, then sewed those two side tie thingies together to make a mini-sash!
Just a quick lil whirr!
Just like that, I was ready to run out the door to a wonderful party for two wonderful fellas! :)
I dunno…that guy behind me doesn’t seem to dig it. :/
The Birthday Boys! :)
One of these things is not like the others…as in somebody didn’t follow the “funeral” dress code.
It’s a cupcake explosion!!!
Hmmmnnn…There’s that guy again…
Cheers!
First off…
WOW.
Can I just say that again?
WOW.
One more time.
WOW.
In case you missed it, this little blog has gone viral…and not in that “Please don’t sneeze on me.” kinda way. From Tumblr to Imgur to countless awesome other pages to Reddit and Buzzfeed, the world is digging eco fashion in a major way! :)
Thank you to everyone who has been sharing this blog over the years. I got a little misty eyed when I saw all the new “likes”, followers, and comments (Well…at least those that weren’t calling me fugly scum anywho). Seriously. THANK YOU. :) I’m sending you all virtual hugs right now. :)
I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate all this new press than with a new refashion! :)
I’ve kind of hinted about this but…there’s this guy. This guy has kids. This guys took his kids thrifting after telling them about my blog, and they picked out a few pieces they wanted to see me refashion. This one was picked out by his 8-year-old daughter, whom I shall only refer to as “Z”.
Remember Gauchos?
Okay. I hated gauchos when they were in style and I’m certainly not any more fond of them now. Although…this pair had an interesting detail…
Ermagherd! It’s a POCKET!
Let’s all pause for a moment to contemplate the location of this pocket. I can just picture someone saying, “Oh wait…hold on a sec while I reach all the way down my leg to get something out of my pocket!” I decided I needed that pocket right where it would actually come in handy. I turned these gauchos inside-out and hopped in one of the legs, like so:
See where I’m going with this?
I used a safety pin to mark where I needed the new top of my future dress to end so it would stay up on me.
Riiiight here!
I took my future dress/current gauchos off and pinned it in a gradual line from where I had initially marked it with the safety pin.
See?
I stitched along the pinned line…
Whirrrrrrr!
…and now I have a sassy new cocktail dress!
Sassy!
…and it still has a pocket! :)
Pocket Power!
I think my frock looks every bit as nice as this one from Dressale.com!
My much less expensive dress enjoyed a celebratory glass of champagne with some of my favorite gals!
Thank you for being a friend! :)
It’s a bob convention! ;)
I’ll drink to that!
Original Price: $109
Z’s Price: $1
Savings: $108!
Cheers!
C 
Here’s a nifty $1 polyester dress I scored at one of my favorite of all thrifty places. :)
Don’t you love that blue hue?
This is such a simple one, folks. It’s mind-bogglingly easy, and requires NO SEWING AT ALL! :)
I made a few chops…
Chop, Chop, AND Chop!
That’s it.
So Simple!
What this refashion lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for in style! I truly love this one and plan on wearing it again and again and again! Since the polyester is of a very tight weave, it’s never going to fray either!
Oh hai, Erin. :)
My new dress was just the thing for an evening checking out art and having drinks with friends at First Thursdays on Main!
All the lovely ladies dig art!
Isn’t Faith’s wig fabulous?!?
But wait…who is this mystery man?
Cheers!
