Another Woman's Trash Is This Gal's Treasure!

I can't believe it's almost been a year since I posted anything! About a month ago, I wanted to go shopping for a pretty dress to go with a pair of riding boots I got back in October for my birthday. (I've been hooked on the show Nashville and I love the style of the character Scarlett...boots and short flirty dresses) Except, I didn't really want to spend alot of money. Where did I go? Goodwill of course! I love love love that store. Especially my local goodwill. They have tons of clothes. And every week they have a sale where certain items are only $1. That's right. $1!!!! Sometimes I let myself splurge on the regularly priced $5 dresses. Especially if I love the fabric and have a vision of what the dress could be. I took my daughters with me (bad idea). They were NOT in the mood to stand around while I searched the dress racks for hours. But I did find a perfect dress for my boots that day. YAY! I altered that dress and I love it. I ended up getting a great response from alot of my facebook friends on my cute little dress and it sparked an obsession for refashioning more dresses.
 So I made a few more trips to goodwill.
 Lets just say, I'm gonna be wearing only dresses this summer. Now I wish the snow would stop and sunshine would start because I'm chomping at the bit to wear my "new" clothes.

Here they are:

Dress #1 (Where the obsession started)
This dress was $5 and 3 sizes too big.
Here's how I fixed it...
1) It came with a belt (but it also had those string belt loops...I cut those off)
2) It had an invisible side zipper and I really didn't want the headache of taking out and putting that back in, so I took it out and left it out.
3) I took it in evenly on each side.
and
4) I cut off the bottom to the length I wanted and hemmed it.
Now it's perfect! I just wish I had a brown cardigan so I could wear it right now!

Dress #2 :
I look like a school teacher from the olden days in the first picture. (yikes) But once I removed that awful collar and football shoulder pads most of the ugly was gone. After that I:
 1) removed the sleeves and sewed the edges on the armholes.
 2) Sewed the edges around the neck from when I removed the collar.
 3) Took up the shoulder seams a tad so the armholes weren't too big.
and
 4) Cut quite a bit of fabric from the bottom and hemmed.
And now I have a dress that I would totally wear out and feel good in.
This was a $5 splurge dress...I told you I had a vision ;D

Dress #3

I fell in love with this dress because of the retro look and the fabric is beautiful. But I don't do long sleeves on dresses. I just don't like the feel of it.

So I:

1) Removed the sleeves with a seam ripper and sewed the armholes.

2) Put 2 darts in the front to make it more fitted. You can't really see in the before picture, but there was a very thin belt...I got rid of that.

3) Shortened the dress and hemmed it.

and I was done! Now I have a cute "date night" dress.

This dress was $5.



Dress #4

When my boyfriend took the before picture, he said "How are you gonna make that dress look good?" To which I replied, "magic." lol

And to be honest, I didn't have to do much.

1) I removed the sleeves with a seam ripper and sewed the armholes. (Are you starting to see a pattern here? haha)

2) I cut a little off the bottom to shorten it. Then I hemmed it.

and

3) I made a belt from the fabric that was taken from the bottom. The dress was missing the original belt that was supposed to cover the elastic waistline.

The best part is, I already had jewelry to match this dress!

This dress was $5.

Dress #5

This dress was waaaay too big on me. My 10 year old said it looked like I could be pregnant with tripletts in this dress. The whole time I was fixing this dress, I referred to it as the "triplett dress".  I love the color.

1) I took the dress in evenly on both sides.

2) I brought up the shoulder seams because the armholes were much too big for me.

3) I shortened the dress and hemmed it.

4) I took leftover fabric from this dress and from dress #2 and made a cute fabric flower pin.

Best part...This dress was $1!!!!

Dress #6

I love gingham!  I remember women wearing dresses almost exactly like this in church back in the mid 90's. This dress was also too big for me. 

1) I took off the small collar that was on this. Then I sewed the seam.

2) I removed the sleeves and sewed the armholes.

3) I removed the 3 decorative buttons.

4) I shortened the dress and hemmed it.

5) I made a belt from the leftover fabric from the bottom and sewed it to the front of the dress. It ties in the back.

6) I made two strips and cinched the shoulder seams and tied the strips into knots.

Now it's a super cute summer dress. This dress was $5.



Dress #7

The fabric on this dress is so feminine and soft. The colors are pretty, too. Sage green with light blue, yellow, and peach flowers. The before picture looks like a nightgown. This one fit, but it was still too loose.

1) I shortened the dress first. Then hemmed it.

2) I removed the pockets and sewed up the seams. I'm not a fan of pockets in a dress...I think they are pointless and who needs the extra bulk on the thighs, right?

3) I removed the buttons. I had to get crafty on this part, because those buttons were functional and had buttonholes. I sewed the flap together.

Then (and this is my favorite part...)

4) I made a ruffle and sewed it over the flap of buttonholes.

5) I noticed that it was still too loose. It almost looked like a maternity dress. So I put in 2 darts under the bust and it was just right.

I also made the fabric flower in my hair. I used the leftover fabric from this dress and fabric from a vintage sheet I bought at a rummage sale over the summer.

This will totally be my favorite dress this summer. It is so comfortable! And it was only $1. =) 

So that's it for now. I went to goodwill this past Saturday and I have more dresses just waiting to be beautiful. =)  I will post more as I finish them.

***If you have some time, swing by my Zibbet shop and take a look around!***

http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

Thanks! =D