Prairie dress refashion

This little house on the prairie dress called to me from the rack and, because the stars were smiling on me, it had the appropriate tag color for that week’s $1 day.  I threw it in the washer with my other purchases and it came out of the laundry smaller than it started.  Did the previous owners only wash it on cold, or they never wore it, or what?  It still fit around the waist, barely, and I set it aside while I figured out what I wanted to do with it.

Several months later on a day off work, I made myself a ladylike dress with a ’50s silhouette.  I think.  Late ’50s, early ’60s, yeah? “Mad Men”?

My changes:

— Removed the sleeves and shoulder pads
— Cut off the lace collar and changed the neckline
— Raised the armhole, shortened the torso, and removed some excess blousiness by taking a couple inches off the shoulder
— Shortened the skirt.

I used a power drill to add a new hole to the belt to wear it at my waist, and hot glue to reinforce it where it was coming apart.  Might be time to buy myself a new belt, I’m thinking.  My first instinct was to drill the hole while wearing it to make sure I did it in the right spot.  This is how people end up in the emergency room with an accidental drill hole through their abdomen.  Luckily I had the second thought of marking the spot with a pen and then removing the belt before using power tools on it.

I wore it to a casual Saturday dinner date — the very tight waistband was (fruitless) encouragement to be reasonable with the Thai appetizers.  Spring rolls, fried sweet potatoes, tofu cubes and peanut dipping sauce…

June 6, 2011. Tags: $1 Thursday, before & after, clothes, completed project, Goodwill. Pictures, Projects, Words.