Updated Dress

A few years ago, I wore a green dress to my then-fiance's graduation. It was a little too big, and I spent too much of the day adjusting it to stay comfortable. Eventually, the dress made it to my mending pile, and I started working on tweaking it to make it more wearable. My first two attempts mostly concentrated on shortening the straps from the shoulder seam, and more or less didn't work right.

A few months later, I came across another outfit I'd bought for attending a graduation - a black, grey, and yellow shirt. For whatever reason, I tried the two ex-graduation outfits on together and (though you can't tell from my face) I liked the two together.

Still with the dirty mirror...

Although I could have worn the two layered (as above), I've never had much success with layers. The underlayer always rides up and eventually needs adjusting. So, with the thought that I hadn't worn them in two or more years so if I ruined them I could throw them out without feeling bad, I started merging the two into one.

I started by cutting the sleeves off the shirt and attaching them to the dress. Which I got to do twice, since I accidentally attached the sleeves inside out. Both sleeves. I am now a great deal more familiar with my seam ripper. Once I'd attached the sleeves, I thought the v-neck needed a little more attention - so I cut the bottom off the front of the shirt, flipped it over (so the original hem was at the top) and attached it to the dress lining with a bit of hand sewing.

At least I'm smiling this time!

It's a little hard to see the differences between the before and the after here - I should have asked my husband to take some photos for me. I haven't had a chance to wear it out yet, but I'm looking for a reason. I am attending another graduation coming up in May...

I'd love to wear it with black tights/leggings and my boots, but I don't know how to summer it up. It's a little shorter than what I usually wear, but I don't have enough shirt left to add a floral border at the bottom. Would a black or yellow lace trim be too much? Hmm. I guess I'd better start playing around with accessories.