Craft(y) Project: Improved Thrift Store Dresses

A couple of years ago I got a couple of outrageously horrible floral dresses from the early 90's at the always-interesting treasure cache know as the Savers on Camelback. When the closets of the hipsters, rich older people, trannies and prostitutes in that area all combine they manage to form something akin to the Voltron or Captain Planet of fashion. It's pretty neat.

At any rate, I finally got around to modifying these dresses to be a bit more flattering at the beginning of the summer, and what I did basically requires no sewing skills, so maybe it'll inspire someone else to do the same.

Alright, here's the first dress. Just ghastly, isn't it? I don't know why it would even occur to someone to make something like this, much less wear it. It's like a horrible neverending flood of... Wait, that's not even floral. It's blueberries. And the blueberries aren't the blue part, they're pink. What the hell? It's also from England, just in case it wasn't quirky enough for you already.

So here's what I did to it. I took these pictures in a hurry and before I finished the edges and sewed darts into the bust, and I don't look very good in them, but I'm sure you get the idea. The puffy shoulders were the best part, so I retained those.

Here's the other one, what I assume to have been a bridesmaids' dress. It made me feel like I was going to an over-the-top garden/tea party in 1993.

 

And here's what I did to this one. I know it looks like I tried in these pics, but they took two minutes, seriously. I look pretty pudgy and the zipper's not even laying flat in the back picture, so don't judge too harshly. 

There was a piece of stiff ruffled mesh stuff in the shoulders making the puffs stand up, and I was going to retain those, but ended up getting rid of them because they were too awkward. Instead I just cut out the shoulders and made the opening in the back smaller. I tried to make it into a heart, but that proved to be too difficult for me and it wouldn't keep its shape when worn. Also the pearls aren't attached, they're just two oversized necklaces I decided to wear in an unusual way.

Today I also helped Ale start to make an old dress of her grandmother's into something short, strapless and cute. Instead of pitching old clothes, try to reinvent them - it's really fun and rewarding.