Simple Red Dress

I wanted to sew something easy, so I picked this dress pattern. I decided on creating the shorter version of the pattern, but it still required a good amount of fabric. Looking over my fabric stash, I chose a red textured fabric that I had bought a long time ago. It wasn’t a fabric I loved, so I thought it would be a good test for sewing this pattern for the first time.

I tried to alter the pattern beforehand because I thought my measurements didn’t quite coincide with the envelope sizing. However, I tend to like my garments to have less ease than the envelope sizing, so in the end, I had to undo that pattern alteration because the garment was looser than I wanted. So that added some unnecessary time to my sewing.

Other than that, sewing this dress was fairly quick as there weren’t any complicated sewing steps. In the end, I quite liked my dress. I wanted a red dress (but I never seem to find one I like when I’m thrift shopping), so it was nice to make something that I wanted. I like the simple cut of this dress—which makes it quite versatile.

Thrifted for $3.01

I bought two clothing items for a total of $3.01. First is this awesome aqua blue wool sweater. I love it. It’s so 1960s to me. It had some damage to it that I probably spent about an hour fixing. First, it had some small stains on the front and on both of the sleeves. I used some dishwashing soap and worked the soap into the problem areas by hand. Eventually, the stains came out (although this photo is from before I got the stain out). I have no idea if I damaged the sweater at all, but at least it looks better. I also noticed the neckline had a section that was fraying, so I used some thread to close the edge.

The second item I got was this Australia hoodie. I just liked it. It’s comfortable and cozy. 

And a coworker gave me this vintage tape measure that he thought I would like—so cute!

Things I Didn’t Buy 19

Here are some 1950s ads I saw in a Life magazine. I thought this Pan American ad was interesting using Norman Rockwell art.

Here’s a Magnavox ad.

A Du Pont ad.

A Rexall ad—I just like seeing the toys from back in the day.

And I really like this Peter Pan Little X girdle ad. Super simple and graphic.

Revamped: White House Black Market Dress to Skirt

Shortly after I bought this White House Black Market summer dress at a thrift store for $3.50, I altered it. It was my initial plan from the beginning (as I do not like wearing strapless dresses). I wanted to do it sooner rather than later for two reasons: it’s summer now so I could wear it, and if I lost momentum and set it aside—I might never get around to doing it.

First, I marked on the dress where I wanted to cut it. Then I took out the zipper. The dress was well made so it took a bit more effort to take it apart.

I cut the skirt portion off. At first I thought I’d use the zipper that had been part of the dress as the zipper in my skirt. However, it was an invisible zipper, and I thought that a normal zipper would be easier to put in the skirt (as it already had a seam). Lacking a regular white zipper, I used a black zipper. I sewed the zipper to the skirt. It had a lining that I attached to the top of the skirt and around the zipper.

Ideally, I wanted a white waistband. However, I didn’t have any white fabric that matched exactly. And it would have really bothered me to have the pure-white skirt fabric next to an off-white waistband. So, I decided to use some black fabric I had instead. I cut out and sewed the waistband to the skirt. Then added eyes and hooks to the waistband and I was done.

This took me about 8 hours to do as I am not a speedy sewer. Overall, I’m happy with the skirt and think it turned out well.

Thrifted for $23.50

I went thrift shopping and the clothes happened to be half off (which was awesome), and I bought quite a few items. This velvet and gold purse is so cute. If I don’t use it as a purse, I’m sure I could use it as a box. I bought it for $4.

This Stuart Weitzman gold purse is so cute; it’s simple with an interesting shape. I got it for $4.

I got this black Cynthia Rowley dress for $3.

I also got burgundy and black versions of the same Petite Sophisticate sweater for $2 each. I like the knit detail around the collar, and thought that both of these would work well with skirts.

This White House Black Market dress has removable straps, but I don’t like these types of straps, and I don’t wear strapless dresses. That being said, I loved the skirt portion of the dress with the black embroidery—it’s floral without being too girly. So I bought this dress for $3.50 with the intention of making it into a skirt.

I bought a white pair of Ann Taylor Loft capris for $3. I was pretty happy with this purchase, as I wanted more summery clothing. I also got a black Ann Taylor Loft T-shirt (not pictured) for $2. I’m always less inspired to buy T-shirts since they’re so plain. However, I was glad to buy this one not only because I needed it, but also because the T-shirt was made of thicker material that made wearing a camisole underneath unnecessary. I cannot tell you how annoyed I am by the thin fabrics women’s T-shirts are made of, and how often I am bitterly disappointed by T-shirts that are abysmally low in quality and ill-fitting. You’d think getting something basic like a T-shirt would be easy, but it’s not. [Sigh.]

$16 at an Estate Sale

At an estate sale, I got this record book for $3. I have no need for it, but I think it’s awesome. I love the cover. It’s unused, except for the first page that was torn out.

The owner of the home was a weaver, so there was a loom and lots of yarn and supplies at this estate sale. There was a box of woven “scraps” that were varying sizes that were really interesting to look at. I didn’t need it but I bought this scrap for $3. I just loved the color. I have no idea what to do with it.

I also bought this green and white blanket for $8. I’m guessing the owner had made this blanket…there’s no tag on it. It has a little bit of sun damage, and truthfully green isn’t my favorite color, but I like the pattern.

And finally, I bought this travel book that I thought was super cute for $2. I like the simple cover with the interesting type. It’s broken into sections. The first part has information about the U.S. and traveling and general tips. There’s a large section to log your travels.

It has things that we wouldn’t use now, like the information of the ship you traveled on, or a place to list all the people you’ve written letters to.

It also has maps in it, which are cool.

Quote: I Prefer a Pleasant Vice to an Annoying Virtue.

Things I Didn’t Buy 18

I liked this College Typewriting cover that’s very simple.

This Volkswagen book was intriguing.

I liked this Singer Sewing Book.

And I liked this Money Management: Your Budget booklet. It had cute illustrations and useful information.