Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! Whether you’re in a relationship with someone special or a swingin’ single, I hope yours was marvelous! My V-day dress certainly wasn’t going to put anyone in the mood for fun and romance when I first put it on.
Yech! Those hideously malformed shoulder pads! Those too-short sleeves! That icky length! Plus, it was about as boring as it could possibly be!
Not to worry! I have a plan! First off, I removed the pads and the weirdo buckle-thing from the back of the dress.
Oh…check these out…
I removed those silly fake pockets from the front of the dress with my seam ripper.
That’s better! Next, I pinned the neckline into a more pleasing V.
Then, I ran the neckline through my machine.
Now that my neckline was looking much sweeter, I immediately got to chopping off the not-so-sweet length.
I pinned my new hem under, tucking away the raw edge.
I ran my new hem under the needle, and pressed all my new hems.
I still wasn’t satisfied. This was Valentine’s Day, after all, and my dress was still a wee bit dull for the fancy schmancy dinner my fella was treating me to.
Luckily, I found these guys:
I hardly ever buy buttons, thanks to my awesome tin ‘o buttons I inherited from my mom. I removed the boring buttons, and put them in the tin. I replaced them with these lovely red ones! I thought they complimented the navy hue of the dress splendidly!
I pushed the sleeves up over my elbows, tied on a sash from a previous refashion, and my new dress was ready for an evening of romance!
I even got to break out my favorite coat. I bought this for a dollar waaaay back in high school, and absolutely will never part with it (even if it only gets to come out for Christmas and V-day). 🙂
Oh yes…be sure to check back here tomorrow, as I’ll be announcing a fun giveaway that will delight and inspire one lucky reader!
Cheers!
Really love what you did with this piece. It went from frumpy to glorious… lovely and becoming! Loved the coat too. If you ever get tired of only wearing it Christmas and Valentines Day, how about giving it a bit of a dye job… nice if the fur comes off and then gets put on again when the dye is done… the best thing about a good coat, is how many ways you can wear it.
This is oh so chic!
I’ve only been following you for a few months and just saw this in the archives, but OH MY GOD. I love this so much and really felt the need to comment. I don’t know what you’re talking about saying that your earlier entries aren’t as good- you have some really choice pieces! Hope a few of them are still floating around in your closet.
I LOVE that red jacket!
What’s happening with the sleeves – are they fake sleeves or a weird shape or are you just wearing it oddly?
I’ve been playing with refashioning for a while now, but I am an impatient person and tend to get things crooked or give up too early! So I’m blog-hunting, knowing I’ll be inspired by others’ successes and hopefully I can take my time over some new ideas. Thanks for your inspiration!
A vast improvement! and I love the red coat, I have a thing for coats with fur collars (but only fake) too
One of my favorite refashions on your site! Cute-o!