Day 253. 112 days and $113 left to go.

You look lovely in all of them.Keep them coming!!

Hi there! I love your blog, and your dresses! I am curious though, how much time do you spend on customizing the dresses? It would be fun if you could add that information to each blog post.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers, Karin

A sweet dress indeed.

I just discovered your blog. What a great project and your creations are amazing!

You do look very Charlotte! That is a very sweet dress. I hope you had a good day wearing it!

LOVE your blog – just found it and am totally in awe of your skillz.
this dress is one of my faves.

Super Lindo!

This is a GREAT dress – one of the best yet!

so cuteee!!!!

LOVE what you did with this!!! Great job!

Carissa
http://copiouscouture.blogspot.com

Really lovely. Another winner.

Very cute!!

Love the floral!

It already had your favorite neckline built in

super cute!

love it!!! You are amazing…

That is a great dress! I love the fit, and it looks great on you.

I really, REALLY love this one. So cute.

Gorgeous dress….love it! xx

As time goes on it’s clear you are getting better and better at your designs and honing your fit! Your skill and expertise is
improving as you go!

Adorable as usual!

I love that everyday I log on I get to see something new. i’m a young mom with two young kids and this blog is one of the hightlights of my days.

This is the most beautifull dress that you ever made in this site! I love it!! Sorry about my english, i’m brazilian, and looooooooooooove so much your creations!

Adorable! One of my favorites, for sure

That’s perfect! I’ve been wanting a dress just like this, the cut and style and pattern!! Super cute

saw you on yahoo today! I love this dress! What an awesome idea for a blog!!! So fun!

This is super cute. I love it!

This dress is cuter than Charlotte’s! Really, really beautiful dress, and I actually think you look like Audrey Hepburn in it! I would totally buy this if I saw it at Macy’s for a wedding or something like that! Way too many exclamation points, but this dress makes me excited I’m a mom with 2 kids, also, and this is inspiring me to learn how to sew – thanks for sharing this with all of us.

Day 253 was, by far, your most ingenious reinvention! I hope to see you one day on Project Runway with your cute little figure and your wow fashion sense, you’d knock their socks off! I wish you gave sewing lessons, though–clothes for my size (plus) are woefully bad (ill fitting, billboard-sized flowers or prints, crazy color combos–burgundy & orange???). Keep us the awesome work. I hope to see you one day on top of your own fashion empire.

I would buy that. Adorable!

I lovee this dress! I think this is the best one yet! Greatt job with your project, hope u finish in time…

just found your blog…am really impressed with what you’re doing,keep sewing!!

OMG!! I saw you on yahoo today as well, and I am so amazed at your skills!! The only thing I can sew is a button, and I have to wrap the thread around a gazillion times to make sure it stays!! You must really save some money on some cute outfits!! Keep up the awesome dresses!! I am bookmarking your page and I’m coming to visit every day now!! You are awesome, ummm how much would you charge for a custom dress?

I just saw you on yahoo today, you are amazing….and your outfits are awesome ….keep the great work and that beautifull smile in your face
good luck

Do you have something in mind when you pick the dress or just find the ugliest dress you can? Im curious.

Here’s one all the way from the Philippines, awsome work! I wish you were here so we could team up and sell your dresses. Seriously. They’d be perfect for this beautiful tropical country. Keep up the good work!

I love your imagination. I have been saying this for years that so many of these fashion finds are in hiding at the thrift stores etc. In fact one of my “use to be” favorite shows was Project Runway and I said that a wonderfully creative challenge would be for the to go into a thrift store with 20bucks and then see how creative they really are. You would beat em ALL!

Oh wow!!! So inspiring! I love to sew and make many things, but from scratch, and of course the material alone can be expensive! You have wowed me and that is not easily done! I sew so much for myself, my daughter and for others, and this has given me a new light! Several months ago I thought let me just go to Goodwill and see what they have because I needed to go to a wedding and I bought 2 very large skirts in corresponding colors to cut up and make a dress from. They were both bridal satin and I really thought for me to get what I like and to fit me correctly, this would be the greatest…. Unfortunately, someone convinced me that I did not have the time and I ended up buying a dress that I really didn’t like on me. I had to go buy material to go with the dress and made a jacket for it and changed it up a bit (I like for my clothes to be original if you know what I mean). I ended up spending so much on it!!!! I feel so liberated and empowered by your blog, its not even funny! Keep up the awesome work!!!

Amazing! I love your dresses…. two words Creativity and Proactive. Keep up the good work.

Just found your site. Totally awesome and unbelievable. You are very talented!!!!! Keep up the great work. We are all jealous of the cool clothes!!!

Love your blog i just had to comment!

Nice work your doing with these dresses keep up the good work!

I love all the different ideas you have done with the dresses.Can’t wait to show this to my daughters. There always praying,eating and having fun sewing..thanks for the great blog.

I found your blog from yahoo news. You have done a terrific job, I am very impressed by all your work.

I loved your creativity. Keep going.

The thing that I am seeing after checking out several of these is you are getting larger sizes and that give you more fabric to work with, a good idea but not something a “larger” girl can do.
Keep up the good work

I love all the different styles!

You should have a tv show! In today’s economy, there are tons of ugly-butt clothes out there that could be redone into something cute, wearable, and most of all done economically. I don’t even sew, but absolutely loved this! You are very creative… this would make a great tv reality show.

AMAZING!!! Totally adorable. Today, August 18, I read about your blog on Yahoo! and i had to check it out!

WOW!!! I just have to say that you are VERY creative. I wish I knew how to sew. I’m only 4’11 1/2 and 96.4 lbs so it’s really difficult for me to find anything in the stores to fit me right and on top of that I’m 34 yrs. old and I work in a law firm so I can’t really get away with the JR. department much anymore.
Seeing the clothes that you have created has me wanting to learn to sew more than ever. Hmmmm wonder if there is a book “Sewing for Dummies” lol
Thanks and keep up the awesome work. I am going to bookmark your website so that I can keep coming back. BTW I was wondering, what size are you? Reason I’m asking is to see if I could fit into a few of your creations and if you would be willing to sell any of them.

Marisa,
You are definitely a very talented seamstress. However, I can’t help but notice that for the majority of outfits, you’re taking a dress meant for a very large woman and making it more petite. This seems to prove only that small girls make things look better than big girls do (which the worlds anorexic super models have already shown us). I wonder if you would be able to transform an ugly dress for a large woman into a beautiful dress for a large woman- rather than resorting to simply sinching in the waist, dropping the neckline and raising the hemline. This is not meant as a dig against you- just a curiosity regarding your talents. Good luck with the rest of your project.

I love your blog! I love to sew, but mostly I play with colors and patterns in the baby quilts I make for everyone who is expecting here in the English Department. You have been such an inspiration to me! My son’s (Arthurian themed) wedding is coming up and I was afraid of tackling a long Renaissance style dress! Now I’m looking forward to the challenge! ps Saw EPL Monday night with a girlfriend and loved it!

I am fascinated by your amazing talent to transform old garments into beautiful modern chic designs. I’m sure you will go far with this kind of talent.

Saw you today on Yahoo, What a terrific project and really cute dresses,
I will be watching every day now to see what you are doing, keep up the great job !

oh my gosh! You actually have really cute after dresses! nice job!

Love the site! I can’t wait to try the cake mug!!!

You’re making me think I should have taken my Fashion and Fabrics lessons more seriously…lol! I love this dress a lot! It suits you too.

I love your designs.ITS RECREATION TIME!e-mail me please.

I’m so glad you were featured on Yahoo! I love your blog!! You are so creative. I love what you have and are doing.

I just found you and love this blog. Great idea! You are inspiring with your creations. Can’t wait to see the next one.

You are so cute!!! I love what u r doing with the old clothes, such a clever idea! And i really like the way they r turning out….i would wear them! keep up the good work!

Will you marry me ?……..

I love your idea, the fact that you thought of it planned and carried through. I also love the creative artistic aspect of your endeavour. Just totally love it. Your dresses tend to be awesome, and for the most part reflect my style. I would buy your do-overs.

I love it! I’m so glad to know there are others out there making thift store finds into jewels of the closet. I’m a Queen-size woman with very little budget but I can sew. I love men’s clothes : big shirts, Hawaiian printed swim trunks (great for shorts!), big T-shirts. My habit is to trim down , or take off, the sleeves to get more fabric. Then I open the entire side seam and use the fabric for panels to enlarge the shirt. Once it’s sewn together and hemmed, you don’t even see the side panel, just a great Big Shirt Tunic like they sell in Roaman’s catalog for $40! And I can get the shirts for 50 cents! My current fave is a deep royal blue Ford Racing shirt – 50 cents and it still had the tags on it! It’s now short sleeve and gorgeous. It’s the most beautiful blue you’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a lemon yellow and a pale lilac and they’re both men’s shirts. Sorry, my comment is that, you’ve got a LOT of excess fabric now. When you’re done with the 365 dresses & days, and before you do the charity sale; whip up a crazy quilt using 365 squares from ALL of the outfits! Instead of going to the hassle of backing and padding behind your quilt top: at the thrift store get a solid color quilted BEDSPREAD. Flip the spread top down – this is now your backing, and the quilted padding is sewn in place to the bedspread top. Just lay your quilt top in place, safety pin it down and run the seams with the sewing machine. You can do the edges by hand. Voila! A remberance quilt with all of the fabric represented. I’d also love to see this as a book – 365 dresses & a quilt. The last chapter can be the auction and quilt sale! And it would be great to see the before and after pics side by side in each Day’s chapter. Great sewing!

I love it! I’m so glad to know there are others out there making thift store finds into jewels of the closet. I’m a Queen-size woman with very little budget but I can sew. I love men’s clothes : big shirts, Hawaiian printed swim trunks (great for shorts!), big T-shirts. My habit is to trim down , or take off, the sleeves to get more fabric. Then I open the entire side seam and use the fabric for panels to enlarge the shirt. Once it’s sewn together and hemmed, you don’t even see the side panel, just a great Big Shirt Tunic like they sell in Roaman’s catalog for $40! And I can get the shirts for 50 cents! My current fave is a deep royal blue Ford Racing shirt – 50 cents and it still had the tags on it! It’s now short sleeve and gorgeous. It’s the most beautiful blue you’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a lemon yellow and a pale lilac and they’re both men’s shirts. Sorry, my comment is that, you’ve got a LOT of excess fabric now. When you’re done with the 365 dresses & days, and before you do the charity sale; whip up a crazy quilt using 365 squares from ALL of the outfits! Instead of going to the hassle of backing and padding behind your quilt top: at the thrift store get a solid color quilted BEDSPREAD. Flip the spread top down – this is now your backing, and the quilted padding is sewn in place to the bedspread top. Just lay your quilt top in place, safety pin it down and run the seams with the sewing machine. You can do the edges by hand. Voila! A remberance quilt with all of the fabric represented. I’d also love to see this as a book – 365 dresses & a quilt. The last chapter can be the auction and quilt sale! And it would be great to see the before and after pics side by side in each Day’s chapter. Great sewing!

you’re amazing! eat your cake and pray for me to get better at sewing!

you’re amazing! eat your cake and pray for me to get better at sewing!

I am so glad yahoo did a story on you. I Love your dresses, they are really great. I think I may try shopping around and try to come up with new looks. They are Awsome…

Hey is this an inspiration from Julie and Julia movie..one dish everyday Vs one dress everyday !

GREAT JOB!!!! I totally wished we lived close to one another, cuz I would love for you to make me a “done over” wardrobe. At the end of the year you should put the clothes you dont want online to sell. To take the idea further, you could offer your sewing skills to others in your area, that want to do the retro makeovers,but dont sew. You could make some bucks there too!

I love the dresses and your blog….I wish I had the talent and self control to only spend $1 a day on making a custom outfit. Maybe soon you’ll be discovered and you’ll have a new awesome career in your future. Good Luck, and I will be one of your regulars on your blog, I am excited to see your new styles to come.

You are truly creative, in a unique way! I just wonder where do you get those intresting dresses to make your own creation? keep up the great work, and congrats!

Hi!
I just learned about your project on Yahoo!
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/60/turn-ugly-dresses-into-nice-ones-for-1.html Very impressive!! What a great idea too!! Keep it up because you’re keeping a lot of people (including people who only *wish* they could sew, like moi!) entertained! =) Thanks so much!!

You are awesome, and your blog just put me in a great mood.

Coming from a sewing family (grandmother, great aunt, aunt, mom) I am in great admiration of your skills. My mom sewed many of my best clothes to fit my small size and our small budget. How often have I admired the fabric of something dirt cheap at the second-hand shop, only to be turned off by the cut of the dress?! I really like how you get around the shoulders not fitting by just making it sleeveless! As a petite sized woman, and handy with a needle, I have many times adjusted waists and shoulders from a standard size down to my petite (5’3″) size. Not easy but so rewarding.

YOU GO GIRL!

Hey Marisa, I saw y0ur article on yahoo like prolly a gazillion other peeps..I found it so inspiring for anyone trying to get out of a rut like you were or even looking for a hobby..I guess I fall under the both category lol But Anywho, I love your work and it most definitely gives me the motivation to take up sewing so I can make less visits to the mall and have an outlet for my creativity Keep up the good work!
Nice job on the abreevs btw…another personal goal of mine is to create an abreev dict since I tend to shorten just about every word there is lol
Tiffany

Looks like your have fun!! keep it up….

I just found your blog, and I must say this is really inspirational to me. I am a single mom of 3 and am always looking for ways to save. Thank you and the dresses are cute!

This girl rock!!! Good imagination and good skills. Now a days that’s the stuff!!! Now for my skills hehehe that is not the stuff. I wish I could do stuff like that!

I think what you’re doing is AWESOME!!! You are extremely creative; you really have a gift. I wish I could sew…I would SO do this!!!

I would like to see some impressing photos of you to publish at my new web site that would be dedicated for the ladies & fashion & entertainment…
If you are interested in please drop me an email…
It is great what you have done!

cheers

I officially want this dress! You should make a business out of this hobby. Like, someone sends you their measurements and a picture of themselves (so you have an idea of their body’s proportions). They pick a couple of examples of your work so you have an idea of what they like, and then TADA! you transform something for them and they pay you!

Think about it…

I also seen you today on Yahoo and am greatly inspired by what you are doing. I haven’t done any sewing in along time but seeing what you are doing to those nightmare dresses is amazing! Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing more of your masterpieces!

This dress is so adorable. I just took a class last year at my high school called designing housing and clothing. I now have a new found liking for sewing, and I can really appreciate what you are doing. I think it’s a fantastic idea. Where does one find those originally hideous dresses? You really do make them into cute, stylish fashion.

LOVE your outfits. GREAT job! So inspiring. An awesome green way and fashionable way to revive something that is blah to WOW!

I love your dresses! You inspire me! I never thought about making new clothes out of old ones, I have been loosing weight and now I know what to do with my old clothes when I am at my target weight! I can’t wait to get started! you really should work in the fashon industry, you have so much talent and an eye for good fashion! Thank you so much for the inspiration!

I feel in love with this one. I’m amazed with everything you’ve created but this one gotta be my favorite)

This is by far one of my faves. Absolutely sassy and darling on you!!

You totally rock.
I love what you did.
The determination and patience you have is amazing.
God Bless and Good Luck.

Wish I knew how to sew, design and re-do clothes. You are so cool!!!

Amazing, what a talent you have. Fun stuff.

Wish i could be that creative!! love the looks!

You have the COOLEST blog! I love what you do. Forget AE and Hollister– your creations are awesome! I can’t wait to tell my daughter about your blog… I know she’ll love it too. Both of us love “creating things out of things” and this is the ultimate !

Oh my goodness. I adore your blog. Quite impressed with it. Kudos!

LOOOVVVVEEE this one. Great work!!

you are awesome! and so talented!! i think u should open your own boutique and tk older clothes and make them suitable for todays styles:) You’ve found your calling:)

I love your work! You have done a really great job with all the dresses!

You’re great! I wish I could sew my own clothes. God bless you

This is so thrifty!! I love it! Your designs are very good!! Cute dresses!!!

I love this! What a great idea. Men have hobbies (golf, cars, etc.), but so many times women forget that we need that “thing” also. I’m wondering if you would consider making one of your dresses into the new “Maxi” dress fad. They are so expensive, but yet so simple.

wow, just wow.. I just discovered your blog right from yahoo front page! I really admire your work and the new outfits are so cute and so stylish, if I had your talent my closet would be a small heaven amazing.. I love your blog!!

Hi! I saw you on yahoo also…you are amazing! You def. should be selling these! I think maybe you should try to get the attention of a fashion school, maybe get a 100% scholarship…I just read on Yahoo that an AA degree in fashion design can pay about $30 an hour. Good luck! I look forward to seeing what else you will create!

Love dress from Day #262. Totally reminds me of Molly Ringwald’s dress from Pretty in Pink. Great idea… intriguing blog…can’t wait to see what’s next.

This is a great idea of yours. I completely admire you!
You are SMASHING darling!!!

you are so talented..what a blessing to it is to me to see how you “keep on keeping on”
Blessings to you!!

Great alterations. You go girl! Love the concept too.

Not that great, all you’re doing is buying huge dresses and taking them in, or cutting off the sleeves, or hemming the bottom, I have no sewing capabilities and even I could do that. But, as it is, you should open a boutique, you can turn ashes into gold, it seems, and tons of people would pay for your thrift store remakes. Despite sounding so cynical, you’re accomplishing something, and that is not trivial.

Hey me and my mom just died we liked,no not even we loved it.It was so amazingly awesom I loved it.bye

OK…I am so into this blog that I stop myself from looking to see the next post. I am now going to start hunting for ugly dresses to see what I can whip up! I do sew occasionally, but have never thought to do this….. she rocks!!! Can I say brilliant???????????????????????????????????

OK…I am so into this blog that I stop myself from looking to see the next post. I am now going to start hunting for ugly dresses to see what I can whip up! I do sew occasionally, but have never thought to do this….. she rocks!!! Can I say brilliant???????????????????????????????????

your a true inspiration to this generation of materialistic glitz and glam. bravo

Wow! I love your blog. Just clicked on it from Yahoo news, as I was intrigued. What a fabulous idea. I’m amazed at the before and after pictures. Its very inspiring. You should sell some of your dresses on etsy or online somehow!

I’m loving this little outfit. Best blog ever I’m addicted lol. Too cute, and so easy to make!!!!

WOW!!! All of your creations look awesome… I wish I had those skills. What a great way to make the best of the time at hand… BRAVO…

Have a great day!

Your article on Yahoo said you were looking for something to make you happy and get you out of the dumps; that you were looking for inspiration. Ironic how it works, but you seem to have found that in yourself and in the process made others smile and feel inspired.
Your dresses are beautiful and I love your blog! Thanks for sharing!!!

You did an amazing job!!!

You go Girl! I’ve been saying we need to get back to basics for a long time & get creative! I’ve always been inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder & her Little House on the Prairie books (I’m originally from Kansas) & very fortunate to have grown up next to some wonderful women who made do (that’s why I enjoy crafts so much)!

I absolutley love this one you are too cute

I’ve sewn for over 40 years and I’m so glad to see someone young using thir skills! Please keep it up-I’m watching with baited breath. Thanks for the enjoyment and good luck.

Absolutely love Charlotte and your retake on this dress!

Absolutely adorable! It looks like a high-end summer dress. Great job!

This is probably my favorite dress that you’ve sewn!