From drab to fab!

I dug around and found this old dress of mine. I was twelve years old when my mother decided to custom-order matching mother-daughter outfits. So we both had outfits in the same fabric. Quite ghastly, I never wore the dress.


Anyway, I can still wear it, and I no longer think the print is yucky and old-fashioned. In fact, I now think it's kitsch and cute! The side slit, which would have been tame on a twelve year old, looks rather racy on a seventeen-going-on-eighteen year old. So I decided to do jazz up the top half of the dress!


The twee collar and puff sleeves. As you can see, it's straining around my chest area and armholes. My butt can only almost fit into the narrow dress. Ah, my scrawny prepubescent figure.

So, after lots of french curves and eyeballing, I finally decided on what I wanted to do. I usually have a really tough time editing outfits, as opposed to creating them. There are always ten thousand and one flaws you can pick on something that someone else has done, but when you do something from scratch, every step is perfect in your eyes.


Got rid of the sleeeves, because the dress is kitsch enough without puffed sleeves to overwhelm it. Updated the look with a halterneck.


And a racerback. I have a need to show skin, I think.


Close up of the racerback part.

Yep! It's so cute and wearable now. I am pleased with myself! I still have leftover fabric from the sleeves. Maybe I can make a little bow to put on my hair. That'd be soooo cute. Hahaha.

I also bought this deliciously stripey and green fabric.


It caught my eye in the shop and I just had to get it. I don't usually wear greens, but I have learnt to embrace my tan and wear bright colours to complement it. I don't have any concrete plans on what to do with it yet. Maybe a high-waisted skirt with the stripes horizontal on the waistband and vertical on the skirt? An empire-waist top? Oh, but those are really common. Y'know, v-neck, two wide strips covering the shoulders and one rectangle below the bust. Or maybe I can make a top that aligns the stripes in a downward pointing arrow in the middle. So many possibilities! Got any suggestions? Do tell! What fun. :D