My Wish Came True!

I've had opportunities this week to visit Value Village, Bibles for Missions, and Salvation Army thrift shops this week.  On Monday, it was VV.  I didn't find any fabric, or patterns, or anything to refashion, but I did get a Cleo sheath dress in a hot pink bamboo print.  It's not a Cleo Petites, but I think Cleo is geared to an older crowd, so it still fit.  I wore it that evening for Hugh's birthday party, and it was great; I wish I had gotten a picture.  Not a style I would normally try; it had princess seaming in the bust, but then a high waist seam, and was 98% cotton/2% spandex, a nice, solid fabric and well built too.

On Tuesday, Meg was upset that Lucy had gotten a purse at VV, and I had just seen a neat re-fashion of a men's polo shirt, so her and I headed off to Bibles for Missions thrift shop.  It's more like the Salvation Army, but I couldn't find a single men's polo shirt that was big enough!  I did get some "fabric".  The first item, I thought it was a sheet, in a crisp cotton, but it turned out to be a 20ft long valance!

 I like the print though.  I think I can piece together a dress, although it will be on the shorter side.   I also got a twin sheet, 100% cotton, with a nice pinks floral pattern...not the 70s floral, but a modern graphic print.  The only issue is that the side pieces of the fitted sheet are seamed on, not just notched at the corners, so this limits the usable amount.  Might end up being used for a child's dress or top.

While at this shop, I did find this plus size Maxi dress!  It's a crinkle cotton gauze, and definitely too big AND too long--you can't see it, but it pools on the ground a little!

 The extra neat thing is that it's got a wrap skirt!  So there's a LOT of fabric to work with.  The back waist seam is angled though, I guess that's to go over an ample booty.  And there is a center back seam, but that's okay, they don't show much and I'll just work with it.

 I'm thinking of sizing it down, taking off the wrap, and keeping it sheath like.  Shortening the straps to fit me will mean the waist seam will move up, creating more of an empire waist.  It'd also be neat to have a real waist seam, and a gathered skirt.  Could I use the overlay to make a new bodice, and have the resulting skirt be gathered enough?  I wonder if there is enough length to cut it short and either use that extra for the bodice and then the remaining skirts gets gathered, or maybe make a midriff band like the very first dress I made...

 There's no size tag, but it's a little too big, LOL.

Last night Lucy and I went to the Salvation Army, to search for a plus size polo shirt, and found a few things.  This dress is a little too big, mainly in the upper bodice...to get my bust to fit in the proper location, I have to pull the shoulders up quite a bit.  So, I'll shorten that, maybe keep the sleeves, and shorten it.

 The lower seams are split, so I'll lose that, and I'll lose a lot of volume, but since it's princess seamed, how can I keep that volume?  Make a waist seam anyway? 

 However, the back has a bit of detail that I want to keep.....suggestions?

At the Bibles for Missions shop I did find one polo shirt that I got, but it wasn't terribly big on me.  I had some ideas of what to do with it, but it would be fairly involved for a refashion.  So I had Rob try it on, and of course, it fit him fine.
I did find one at Salvation Army that I thought I could play with.  I don't like it as much as the one I lost to Rob, but it'll still work.

 Seems a little shorter than I thought though, I'll have to remember not to raise my arms!

I also found this Liz Claiborne knit sheath dress.  It is a heavy weight knit, so perhaps not a summer dress, but I was thinking maybe a nightgown.  I'll need to stitch down the button placket though, the edge of it is flipping upwards.  Again, the upper bodice needs some shortening.  The dress is a little snugger than I'd like, but man, it did make my booty look lovely!

I'm looking forward to doing some refashioning over the summer, I'm stocking up now since it's a little harder to shop with the kids over the summer.  One idea I want to explore is some shirring....I'm seeing it a lot on strapless maxi dresses right now.  These dresses are so long that I could probably cut enough off the bottom to make a bra-friendly bodice and move the shirring down to my midriff.  But do I want it there?  I do have one dress, in a heavy cotton knit, with a shirred bust, but it also has shoulder straps; most of the ones I've seen in the cheap store are a light woven cotton.  Yeah or nay?