I've had this dress for aaaaaaaages.
I got it several years ago at a local boutique. It wasn't particularly expensive, the label says "juillet," it's the sort o thing one might find at Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters. And yes. It does have Siamese cats all over it. The meesers are actually not the problem for me -- I kinda like 'em. I'm always mindful of not turning into Crazy Cat Lady, but this fabric has always worked for me because the dress itself was not particularly cutesy, and, well... I think it's kind of hilarious. It usually takes people a moment to realize what they're looking at, and then they smile, too.
So I've worn this off & on for years, although I realize now that it's always been too long.
And post-weight loss it's also way too big, so it's been hanging neglected in the closet or a while now. I pulled it out last weekend when I was on my DIY rampage and decided to see if I could do anything with it. I have always liked the asymmetrical shoulders and the fabric is a nice lightweight-but-not-transparent cotton (it's basically calico), so it seemed like something worth putting a little work into. The waist is a bit big, but if belted it's not noticeable. I did need to get rid of a bunch of the length and wanted to cut down on the volume of the skirt. I thought about just hemming it, but realized with an a-line that full the shorter length was just going to make it look even wider. The dress has a side zip that extends to the hip, so I didn't think narrowing the skirt was going to be easy or practical.
And then it dawned on me: bubble skirt!!
That's more like it. I cut three inches off the bottom of the dress, turned up another couple of inches to make a casing, then threaded some 3/4" elastic through there and voila! Probably my simplest re-do to date.
I just love this now -- I still maintain that the bubble skirt is an underrated silhouette, provided it's not huge & shiny like something Debbie Gibson wore on tour in 1985.
So what do you think? Let me know!
Images: Style Spy
13 comments:
Wow, it's a completely different dress. And the belt is a great addition!
I love prints with animals on them, but it's so hard to keep them trendy and/or whimsical rather than silly.
It looks a thousand times more updated and cute. Well done!
Great looking update! Very cute.
Excellent re-do! It now looks very current, and looks great on you.
Love it!
eight hundred times better. Love it!
just don't turn into one of those cat ladies who put the stick-figure cat stickers on the back of their...oh wait.
Dangit, Plummie! That is satire!!! Scathing, biting, bitter satire!!!
Yep, yepyepyep. It went from being borderline suburban to really frinking cute. I like it.
Word verification: "prock": a contraction of "pretty" and "frock"?
HUUUUGE improvement! Before the makeover, I was trying to think of a nice way to suggest you just throw it out!
Wow! Great change!
In my humble, uninformed opinion, this dress would have been better off gifted to a fun aunt than ruined by this re-do. Yuck. No offense, of course.
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