Altered State: Prairie Dress

Here's the before and after on this week's alteration project. Before we do anything, let's talk about the crazy look on my face in the after photo. Maniacal smile, demonic look in my eyes...let's just call this me getting into the Halloween spirit, shall we? That sounds better than me just looking like an idiot!

Exorcism complete...there's my normal face again!

This look is so twee with the tiny flowers, lace collar, and ruffles, it almost makes me want to puke. I think the little deer pin I stuck to the necklace just really puts it over the edge. Don't blame me, blame the Belle & Sebastian Spotify station I've been listening to this week! The leaf charm on the other side is actually a vintage clip on earring that I only have one of. Let's face it, clip on earrings hurt too bad to wear anyway...

Whatcha Wearing?

Vintage dress & bracelet from Buffalo Exchange 

Tights from Gap / Shoes from Payless

Necklace from some mall store a million years ago

This alteration was much simpler than last week's. I just cut off the cuffs since the sleeves were much too short on me and added elastic to give it a more purposeful 3/4 length instead. I took the buttons from the amputated cuffs and used them to replace one missing and one worn out one on the front of the dress. I considered shortening the hem by about an inch, but decided against it in the end. I think it looks better right at knee length now that I've seen the pics, so I'm glad I didn't go through the trouble of altering that.

I'm linking up with

Two Thirty-Five Designs

 and

Fashion Friday

.

Altered State: Floral Secretary Dress

Here's the before and after. I think it's a definite improvement, how about you? The simplest changes can make all the difference!

All I really did was cut and hem the bottom to a shorter length, and give the dress short sleeves. Often times I'll take the sleeves off of vintage dresses entirely, but I really loved the puffy shoulders on this one. Adding elastic and making short sleeves seemed like the best way to keep the shoulders, but update the look. It's the first time I've tried this, but I think it really worked out well!

Whatcha Wearing?

Vintage dress from an estate sale

Tights from

We Love Colors

Hat from Buffalo Exchange

Belt from Crossroads Trading

AK Anne Klein boots from Beacon's Closet

I wore this out to happy hour on Saturday and it felt so perfectly fall. It's already hot out again, so I'm glad I wore this while I could. Hopefully there will be plenty more cool days coming up to remix this dress into other outfits!

I'm linking up with

Thrifters Anonymous

,

#YOLO Mondays

,

Steppin' Out

,

Rolled Up Pretty

, and

Real Girl Glam

.

Altered State

secretary dress from an estate sale / pink dress from Buffalo Exchange

Right about now, you might be asking yourself why I'm dressed like a sister-wife. Well, these are a couple dresses that are about to go under the knife (err, scissors) to become better suited for everyday wear. I've been altering vintage clothes for myself ever since I got a sewing machine 10 years ago, but I've never documented the process before. I hope you enjoy seeing how these turn out in the end! Oh, and I tried to make these photos look especially drab so that the after photos would look even more awesome, infomercial style...