27 Days to Go: $1 Remake

I found today’s lovely piece at Goodwill!  It came home with me from my trip to Charlotte!

Day 27 – Before

The floral fabric was totally fun, but look at that collar!  I love the idea, but this was an organza material that was flying all around as I walked!

The collar, the collar!

Also, check out how sheer it is!

Pretty much see-through!

Let’s make this cute!

I started off by taking off the collar!  With my seam ripper, I removed the seams holding the collar down on both sides of the neckline.

Collar Time, or lack there of…

I was left with two of these that are going into my fabric stash as we speak!

Collar off!

I followed the strings at the neck and trimmed them off of the neck.

String Trim!

I’m going to use these as new straps!

Dress Straps!

Now, the body of the dress was big on me, so I measured myself and began to pin the sides of the dress to mark my lines for sewing.

Pinning my sew area!

Ultimately, I’m going to cut the sleeves off of the piece to make this sleeveless – you can cut them now or cut them after you sew (which is what I did).

Once the pins were set, I cut the top of the dress in a horizontal line.  I’m going the same route as the one I would take if I was going to make this strapless.  I’m cutting and pinning everything under to prep to sew down.  I’ll add the straps when the sewing machine comes out!

Top Tweaking!

I sewed the body, the top of the dress, and attached the straps in place!  After my time with the sewing machine, I trimmed off the sleeves…

Trimming the arms off!

…and did a little pinch and cinch action at the bust to give the dress a little more romanticism!  Remember how sheer it was?  I decided to wear a half slip that went to a little above my knees along with a black bandeau top.  It’s super feminine, no longer see-through, and I totally love it!

Day 27 – After

The top of the dress feels like an old ballet leotard that I had in my rotation with skinny straps and a little bust pinch!

Top ECU!

It worked for daytime…

I Heart This Dress <3

…and transitioned into the evening with the addition of my denim jacket and a pair of forest green heels!!  I was back at my alma mater (USC!) tonight for a mentor gathering/dinner.  What fun to be back on campus…it was like I was 18 again, except it wasn’t raining like crazy (I rained like cats and dogs when I was there for El Niño), and there have been way more buildings constructed (I tried going a ‘usual’ route until I realized there was a construction site in my way).

Nighttime!!

I got to hang with students – including my lovely mentee – and alums alike, nibble on awesome Mexican food from El Cholo, and reconnect with some old school pals, which is always awesome!  Oh, and taking a pic in the parking structure gets thrown in the mix too.  I brought my camera around with me everywhere when I was in school and many nights started and ended with parking structure pics.  Had to recreate for good measure…