Straw into Gold- 80's Dress Slashed!

I know the title sounds a bit scary. And I admit that what I did was a bit scary. I took an old 80's dress that had been found in a bin in the garage and that I showed to you earlier in the article "Spinning Straw into Gold" and I cut it up! As it was, it was outdated and screamed old, fusty and maybe a little dicked in the knob (an old English phrase that means not quite right in the head!) So to remake this I had to go all slasher film and cut it in half. What I ended up with was a very nice blouse and a skirt.


Measuring from the shoulder to the hip to make my cutting line in chalk. This line is slightly curved due to the volume at the hip. I chose 23 inches as the length. Dress is carefully folded in half to make the marking and cutting easier.



The cut has been made! There is no turning back now. I evened up any unevenness in the edges and made the front a little more curved upward as a design element.

The finishing now is surprisingly easy. Just a simple shirttail hem for the top. Press the edge up 1/8 of an inch twice and stitch in place. Done! For the skirt I serged the top edge and then folded it over elastic I had stitched together. So easy and done in about 10 minutes.

I am thinking I may still add elastic to the sleeves of the blouse. I haven't decided on it for sure.


New blouse. I like it with my skinny jeans.


New skirt. It has lots of styling options. I think it looks great with my silk skirt worn under it as a petticoat.

I can think of many other ways to wear these two new additions to my wardrobe. And to think that I was going to give this dress to Goodwill!

Pel

Friday Finds Nov. 20th

I swear it is totally exhausting sitting up all night and day trolling ebay and Etsy for awesome bargains. I was so tuckered out from my exertions I slept all day Friday and then of course I had to shop on Saturday. That left today for writing :)

Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending upon your view) I did not win all the auctions that I had bid on this week. I am sure that Tom would have lost his mind if I HAD won them all! I did however win this sweet little dress that originally sold at Anthropologie. It is now mine *happy sigh*


Maeve Dress from iheartcinnamon on ebay. $37.84. I love how I can layer it for Fall and Winter and also wear it by itself for Spring and Summer.

Another ebay winner:


Cashmere Sweater from dertonr on ebay. $9.99. It looks perfect with my pencil skirt.

On to Etsy.


Navy Floral dress from Vintage Threadz. I cut the sleeves off and added elastic. I thought it made the dress more versatile. I plan on doing lots of different layering with this one.

From Anthropologie.com


Berry Bush tights. Such a pretty colour and pattern. I couldn't resist, though at $18.00 I will have to be very careful with these. I think they will look pretty with the Maeve dress, don't you think?

I won a couple other things (sweaters!) that did not come in the mail yet and Tom kindly let me shop at Ross and Forever21 so I will have a very robust Friday Finds for you next week, plus I have been sewing so look for an article on Monday detailing it and possibly Wed. if I can get the dress I am working on done. Wish me luck as Tarah is also sewing a dress and needs to have it done by Thanksgiving! Nothing like the two of us fighting over resources, LOL!

Pel

Dream A Little Dream

I was up late the other night and bored so I flipped through the channels on TV and a show caught my eye that said Shoes by Sam Edelman. Now I don't usually watch HSN since their clothes are not my style and the hosts just annoy me, but shoes. I would stand in the pouring down rain to see shoes. Most of the shoes were not my style but one pair of boots. Oh this one pair of absolutely, gloriously, smack down gorgeous boots came on. They were called Granny Boots and came in black or brown leather.


I fell in love with the brown. So in love that I dreamt about them. I even envisioned in my dream the outfits I would wear with those boots. Now I can not afford these boots. They are $349.00. So not in my shoestring budget. Le sigh.

I found a similar style at Clockwork Couture


They only come in black, not brown as I really want, but the price is an easy to swallow $39.95. I am going to keep looking. Somewhere out there is a similar boot in brown that wont break the bank.

Here is a look at an outfit I put together just like the one I dreamed about.


I wore a pair of high heeled platform boots I already had. They looked cute, but weren't the granny boots I wanted. Tom was appreciative of the look at least ;)

Pel