Thrift Store Inspiration

I stayed up until nearly midnight last night helping a friend hem pants for our co-workers. I guess I must have missed my sewing machine. I pretended that I wasn't behind on laundry and dishes and drug out the little feller to do some refashioning today.

 refashion [riːˈfæʃən]

vb (tr)

to give a new form to (something)

I had a blue dress that I bought from a thrift store last fall to wear as a swim suit cover up in Jamaica. I loved the print and the varying shades of blue. I thought the ruffles might iron down flat, but they never did, It was a little big up top, and too short for my preference so I didn't end up taking it. It has sat in my closet, but I just haven't been able to give it away yet because I just love the ombre blue color. So today I decided to give it a  makeover. 

Here it is looking a little frumpy, and coming close to giving you a view of me that (until I am a celebrity) no one would care to see.  

I removed the ruffles and elastic from the front, folded back down the top hem and sewed the sides to fit my waist. It still has elastic in the back the front is smooth and flat, instead of the "bubbled" look it has now. 

Here is the after. Much better! This skirt will be perfect for summer. 

I mentioned that I bought this dress for my Jamaica trip. I highly recommend you buy thrift store dresses to wear on vacations, especially if you are traveling out of the country or flying to a beach destination. It's easy to find casual beach dresses any time of the year. Goodwill here usually has them for $4.00 and other thrift stores can be even cheaper. It doesn't even have to fit perfect, because you are wearing it over a swim suit. I even cut down on my packing by wearing one to dinner (dressing it up with jewelry and cute shoes).  Then I wear it again the next day at the beach as my cover up. It doesn't matter if it's a little wrinkly or gets sand or sunscreen on it and you get two uses out of it. When it comes to traveling home and you've bought too many souvenirs, you can just leave the dresses behind or have the hotel donate them without worrying about the money you spent on them. 

Here is a fantastic little dress I bought for $2.00 at a thrift store to take on our trip. It's too low cut to wear alone, but works perfect as a cover up. It even has cute pockets that worked great for my camera. I did bring all my dresses home from this trip and hopefully I"ll get to use them again soon!