This dress totally brought me back to the 90s. A little bit Reality Bites. A little bit Kelly Taylor. A little bit not right to be worn in its current state in 2013.

I mean there was even a dangly pearl charm at the neck, attached to the lace!!

I'm not going to let this dress stay in the box with all my Melrose Place VHS tapes. It's getting remade!! (PS, that box o'tapes got donated a bit back but yes, they definitely existed.)

I started by cutting the dress in two pieces.

The top will be used somewhere, however today we're focusing on the bottom. Skirt time! Now there was an issue...there were a few missing buttons. I crossed my fingers in hopes to find a secret button or two stitched to a tag inside the piece and when I turned the dress inside out?? I found a button!!

I called in for the replacements, taking that found button along with one from the top of the piece to put in the empty spots.

After the buttons were attached, I stitched the top of the new skirt to mend the raw edges.

I want to make this a bit of a gathered waistline, so I took a piece of the excess fabric and stitched it to form one long fabric strand...my new belt loops!

(The gathered waist was an idea that I took from one of my fave skirts from H&M. I totally used it as the inspiration piece!)

I trimmed the fabric into four pieces and pinned each one around the waistline.

I stitched my loops in place...

...put on a vintage belt, some thrifted gold heeled Charles David sandals, and my vintage Dooney & Bourke purse for a little "woo for springtime" sidewalk dance!

When the sun was shining, it was glorious, however those little gusts of wind caught me off guard.

I was inspired by this weekend's reader creations to really put together something fun for the warm weather en route. In LA we saw 70 degrees which was a total treat, and as I'm starting to feel better I was actually able to enjoy it.