DIY Fun!!

 
Hello Lovelies, 

Yes your DIY diva Cherry is here ready to over haul a dress that you previously saw on our post "A Thrift store Romp!" Often you will find few dresses with fabrics that are interesting but the dress may need few nips here and there. I know, I know its a lot of work and frankly for something you are spending your hard earned chips on you dont want to work that hard on it, well I say that its the nature of the beast when buying vintage and Trust me I am with you and most of the time but sometimes its little things such as sleeve extraction, hem, or taking in the waist. as stated before these things are part of shopping in thrift stores or buying vintage in general, it wouldn't be worth it if it where easy right? Now a little disclaimer, I am not a professional tailor, therefore, the major work or the things that are impossible for me to handle are done by a professional tailor with whom I enlist to help. But that does not mean that I can not do little rehabs on a dresses here and there that needs my attention, that is where my handed down sewing skills come into play.

 For instants, lets put our focus on this dress. This is not the style I would prefer for myself but I fell in love with the print. It must have been made in the late 80's early 90's no doubt someone's mother or grandmother loved this little number, that's the fun with buying any vintage there is alwaus a story to be uncovered these garments have history and I love that aspect of it. I saw some potential in this dress for example, the pleated skirt is just heavenly when it falls around a well positioned petty-coat. There wasn't a whole lot I had to do to make it suitable to my specific needs, I removed the shoulder pads to compliment the dress better. After making this change, I tried the dress on to focus better on what I liked and disliked about the dress.

 I figured if I remove the sleeves and maybe the dress would look better sometimes less is more and in this case, less fabric in the arm region balanced out the dress better.   

The picture on the right indicates how the dress looks like after the alteration.  After the alteration I tried the dress one more time and to my amusement it did the trick and the dress looked so much better that I decided nothing else had to be done. Sometimes, just a simple adjustment can do the magic and the dress may look like its new again. Since I do not like to waste any left over fabric I always try to find a way to recycles these materials that could mean making a hair accessories, perhaps a bow of some sort or maybe I'll send it to my friend at "Rambunctious Creations" to make me something special. I will keep you posted!!! I know! I know! It does not look like much on the hanger but check out the finished products here!  

Hu? Did I tell you or what, a  fabulous dress right? Even though the sleeve area was the only place that needed some major work, the dress holds up don't you think?  I personally feel like I need a bigger pettie coat to make it poof a little more but all and out I think it was a great find and it looks great. Then again I'm bias because I just love the darn thing, now I thought I would do a simple rehab before I do something more challenging with a more tricky problem dress with redeeming features. This is just to show you that not all the dresses are jem's but with a few redeeming features, a little elbow grease, creativity and know how these dresses can be something great again.  

Well that's all for now my Lovelies and as always keep it classy!!