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!

Vintage Gowns and Baby Dedications

My little niece wore an heirloom gown for her baby dedication this past Sunday and she was absolutely breathtaking. Had to share these precious photos from her special day. So grateful that her parents have taken this step to dedicate her to God and ask the family and church to support and pray for them through this process of raising her into a Godly woman. 

Vintage Pink Lace

I bought this dress at Goodwill for $5 about two years ago while I was pregnant with Capri. It didn't fit at the time, but I knew it would after Capri was born, and I envisioned it as a cute party dress with just a few adjustments.

I hemmed it up to knee length, tore off the sash and all the lace around the top. Then, I used the discarded sash to create the halter neckline.

This is now my second pink lace dress that I've refashioned. Remember this one? 

This bag is a hand-me-down from my Grandma. The bracelet is from a local antique store.

The pearl drop earrings are vintage as well. 

West Side Story

Found this dress at a local thrift store. Almost immediately I saw its potential. Who wouldn't like to wear all this bling? I just needed to bring it up to date . . .

First, it needed hemmed up a bit so I just cut off the bottom layer of the dress.

Next, I tore off the sleeves.

Then I tore off the shoulder pads, raised the shoulder seam a tad, and tacked the armhole seam under around the shoulders.

The only thing missing was an event to wear it to.

Right in time, some dear friends offered us greatly discounted tickets to see West Side Story.

I might have been slightly overdressed, but it was an awesome night out, and I got to enjoy one of my favorite musicals ever LIVE in really amazing seats at a fraction of their cost!

I think my Friday night out with my man in this snazzy dress made me completely forget about losing my catalytic converter last week. Oh wait, I just remembered.

Dress thrifted and refashioned by me - $8

Pumps - Sam & Libby for Target - $12

Blazer - Goodwill - $3

Clutch - Goodwill - $2

Earrings - hand-me-down

Happy Monday everyone!

My Vintage Easter Dress

A couple of years ago I found the dress below at Goodwill. I loved the lace and the icy blue color and just knew I'd be able to make it wearable. Underneath the dress was crinoline that was starting to rot, so that was the first thing I took off. Then all I did was hem the dress, cut the lace to match the hem and pull the bow off. It looked like this. I never ended up wearing it, though. 

I finally decided I had to get at least one wear out of this dress before lace goes out of fashion. I added in a few more darts at the waist and it was good to go.

This dress also just so happened to match what the rest of my family was wearing for Easter Sunday, so it was perfect!

Princess Dress

Goodwill vintage find. I'm in love!

September Wedding

 

Yesterday was one of those days. Everything I touched either broke, or messed hurt me back. I got a really bad burn from my curling and for most of the afternoon had lost my phone. And then once I found my phone, I couldn't get the pictures to not be blurry. Then on the way to the wedding I found myself with one of the worst headaches I've ever had (thankfully, I rarely get headaches and have never had a migraine, so this one wasn't as terrible as what some people get, but still!).

 

By the time of the wedding, everything started to go much better. My cousin-in-law was absolutely stunning, and the wedding was flawless.

 

I tried this dress a couple of different ways before I decided on the look. Which way do you like it best? With black gladiator sandals and the black leather jacket?

 

 Or do you prefer the dress with red suede pumps?

 I pinned a vintage brooch in my hair to cover some stray bobby pins.

 By the time we got to the reception I took my hair out and wore it down.

 I ended up wearing the nude pumps and also brought my leather jacket in case the evening got too chilly.

 Also wore my retro black and red shades.

 The photo booth at the reception was a lot of fun. We had these dry erase boards we could use to give advice to the couple or say congrats. You pasted one copy of the photos in a photo album for the bride and groom, and the other you got to keep yourself.

Such a happy wedding!



Asymmetrical and Gold Thread

This dress was pretty easy to alter. This fabric felt like a stiff chiffon and was surprisingly very easy to work with. I decided to do an asymmetrical hem to follow the line of the empire waist which scoops low in the back. My big mistake was that I didn't measure the hem length while wearing the dress. I just eyeballed it. The front of this dress came out quite a bit shorter than I had hoped.

 After hemming both layers, I cut off the arms and stitched the edges under to leave a clean seam in front.

 I LOVE the way the back of this dress turned out! So fun and flirty!

 I think the asymmetrical hem brings this dress totally up to date, but the dress is still completely one of a kind!

 I love having this dress in my vintage collection and my husband thinks it's great. Now to find an event to wear this to! 

 What do you think about the dress makeover? Would you wear this?

Vintage Scalloped Lace

 

Remember this dress? So all I did was cut the netting off around the edges of the scalloped lace to shorten it (took forever), and then hemmed the lining underneath. I had to cut out the tulle underneath because it was getting too old and didn't lay properly. I really tried to save the tulle!!

 I'm so glad I didn't have to cut the sleeves off or mess with the neckline or bodice, I thought it was just perfect as is!

 I also took the bow off the waist and had to belt it because the waist doesn't fit me properly.

 I tried it without the belt, and it just bunches up in an unflattering way.

 Maybe this picture gives a better picture of why it needed the belt.

 If I stand up real tall and stretch my torso out, then it looks ok without the belt, but I prefer anchoring the sweetness of the dress with the belt.

So what do you think? Is this vintage dress modern enough to pull off for a wedding or other special event? Or even church on Sunday?