Mexico, One Dress At A Time

Resale shops are a source of endless inspiration for me. It's a little like panning for gold, sometimes all you find is rock and then sometimes you find that wonderful little gem that makes the trip worth the time. I recently visited a favorite shop and as I turned the corner to start down a new isle, there this store hung, just waiting to be placed on a rack. The original tag was still in the dress, so it had never been worn, probably bought by a tourist on vacation as it also said that it had been made in Mexico and it was in English. I looked at the dress for a bit before I decided to make it mine.

The lace is really nice and I was very attracted to the embroidery. The dress had a horrible white taffeta lining that really detracted from the overall appearance.

As you can see, I paid $12.00 for my little purchase.

So once home, what should I do. At first I thought about just taking off the top and making a skirt...boring! The embroidered strips are sewn to each strip of lace, so taking the top portion of the dress off was really quite easy.

Rather than a skirt, I made a dress. A much better use of all the fabric and not as boring as a skirt. All I did was take the top portion of the original dress off. I opened up the side seam and then pinned the tube to my bra and then pinned in the fit. A zipper was put into the side seam and I took two strips of the lace and pinned them to the top of the dress to create straps.

Just to let you know how lazy I can be, I did not add a lining. I had a  slip that worked just fine. Good enough and less work!

I love my little $12.00 dress, well $12.00 and about two hours worth of work.
All that's left of the original dress is the very top portion of the bodice and the sleeves. I think I may make a drawstring bag out of the sleeves. Leaving the sleeves to languish in the drawer seems such a waste.
Check out your local resale shop, you never know what you'll find!