Vintage Refashion

My fabulous sister-in-law is just as addicted to thrift shopping and vintage finds as I am. I've been striking out with the vintage finds lately, but she came to my rescue by gifting me with this beauty.

All I did was cut off the peplum waist (the chiffon is so thin you don't even notice that I cut it), tacked the sleeves under to make the dress sleeveless, and then hemmed the dress to knee-length.

The hem job came out so bad I had to do it twice, and it still looks horrible (you can't tell in the pictures). I don't have a "rolled hem" foot, which is really what was needed for this, but I'm pretty sure even if I had that particular sewing foot, I still would have done a bad job. I just don't have the patience for meticulous sewing - especially when it comes to fussy fabrics like chiffon!

I ended up following this tutorial for the chiffon hem.

I plan to wear this dress to our Christmas Eve church service with black tights and a little black sweater. But unfortunately, some of my kids have been down with a virus this entire past week, and then my baby and hubby came down with something hard core Friday night. I've kept a good attitude until yesterday. I had high hopes for doing some really fun things as dictated by the advent calendar we made. I wanted to make this season really special for the kids. Our plans to ice skate, sled, go out and see the lights, and all sorts of other things were not possible. Cassi and I still have not caught this bug, so we could be sick yet another week (please no!) and then I won't get to wear this dress. Boo.

In the meantime, I need to work on my attitude of gratefulness. Here are my list of pros for the week to get my mindset back on track:

1. We've had time to relax and take a true vacation since we were confined to the couch;
2. We've avoided all sugars, which is always good for our bodies, and if we weren't sick, we would probably be eating too many sweets right now;
3. We've saved money by staying home and not being able to eat as much has kept us from having to get more groceries;
4. I've gotten a lot of extra snuggles in;
5. We've gotten to watch several Christmas movies; and
6. I've not had to cook much.

Ah. Now I feel better. Here's to a better week with more time with my family to get excited for the Birthday of Jesus!