Except when I gave birth to my first daughter, these hopes and dreams received new life. Oh, it's been a long time coming, but she's finally four and interested in playing dress-up. And her momma has a thing about playing seamstress, so fueled with the best coffee in the world, I decided that today was The Day that eight years of lugging these dresses around would finally start to pay off.
Quick note on my sewing machine: It is an older machine gifted to me by my mom when they downsized last year. I've used it a couple of times now, but each time I have had to call her for some reason because it isn't working properly. Picture the two of us on the phone, her trying to remember using the thing (it's been awhile since she was regularly cranking out Halloween and school play costumes) and me trying to compare it to the portable model I had before, which is at least a couple decades newer in age. No, neither of us has the manual. Today I apparently couldn't thread it, despite having successfully done so several months ago. How many Grovers does it take to correctly thread an old Kenmore? Two, people. Two. And their iPhones.
So naturally I was looking for a "before" photo for each dress. It's not like I was going to put them on at this point, after all. You guys, I had to scroll so far down in my Facebook photos, I could practically smell their servers smoking as my page slowed and slowed. Suffice it to say, if the last time I wore these dresses was that long ago, the odds of me ever fitting into them, let alone looking age-appropriate, are slim to none (and Slim left town, as my dad would say). And here I was, in all my skinny, unmarried glory:
Yeah, no full-length shot of this one. Sorry!
Happy (dating) anniversary to us!
Let's just say I took the "va-va-voom" out of this one for my son (yes, my son) to wear for dress-up.
There's not too much to tell about the pink and white halter dress. I took in the back and stitched down the extra fabric instead of cutting it off, so that it can grow with her a bit as she gets bigger. And I took in the halter so as to hold the dress up appropriately. Oh, and stitched closed the bust so that it isn't hanging off of her awkwardly. Stay tuned for the "after" below.
The red dress, though, I am excited to show you. It is a really nice stretchy, clingy fabric (hey, why do you think I wore it for our anniversary?) and used to be a wrap-style dress with a silver ring closure, seen in the photo. My first step was to deconstruct it completely, to see what shape the actual fabric was.
This was better than I could have hoped for - vaguely cape-shaped already, and the halter style gave me ties for the neck. I just needed to remove the silver ring and then close up the seams. Also, I took in the center seam so that it wouldn't be SO big around his neck, and I stitched right up the outside edges to eliminate the ragged and irregular fabric that resulted from the deconstruction.
Removing the ring, I had to cut through several layers of seams. Notice the poop on my thumbnail. Yup, poop. Not mine (that goes without saying, right?) I noticed it while texting Joel, obviously after I took this picture. Sigh.
It got ugly, y'all.
But it was nothing a quick pass through my correctly-threaded sewing machine couldn't fix!
The headless seamstress models the almost-finished cape.
In the above photo, I hadn't taken in the center seam at all. You can see how wide it is; this would fit, well, around a grown woman's back. Once I took care of that, though, this little man was over the moon for his new Superman cape!
(Seeing it on him, I think I will go back and straighten the outside edges just a bit more. I thought the slight corner might be cool but it just flaps over his shoulder not as cool-ly as I had hoped.)
"Ok guys, look like a superhero and a princess!"
She insisted I didn't need to shorten it because Cinderella's dress drags on the floor behind her, too.
Notice that Isaac's cape matches his Lightning The Queen socks.
Notice that Isaac's cape matches his Lightning The Queen socks.
I can't get over how the red dress made the PERFECT red cape, with the way it hangs and drapes and such. Also, I didn't try to do anything fancy, but I think the shape of his neckline turned out pretty cool for a cape. And I like the gathers in the back of her dress. They are caused by my stitching down the extra fabric on the inside - the dress is a sheerish layer over a white slip, so they didn't sew perfectly smoothly. Accidental ruching. I guess I'm kind of an amazing seamstress.
So, there you have it, my first refashion attempt! I have some pieces in my closet that I'd like to try to refashion, and I'd LOVE to do an all-out thrift store refashion from like a caftan or something. As a friend told me recently, though, the first step is just to get in there and try it. This was a confidence-building project, for sure, especially since I wasn't going to be too picky about the final product as dress-up clothes. My next project will either be to alter a clunky brown cardigan, or update an old formal gown for more casual wear. We shall see!
What projects have YOU been inspired to attempt lately? Does being stuck inside make you want to get creative, just to break the monotony?
What projects have YOU been inspired to attempt lately? Does being stuck inside make you want to get creative, just to break the monotony?
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