While at a blogging event (Apricot Lane) a few weeks back, I scoured the clearance section (as I always do) to see if there were any fun pieces. And I was lucky enough to find long-sleeve midi sheath dresses for $9 each. I bought two; one in charcoal grey the other in an ashy brown. It was obvious these were meant for fall and winter, but I quickly saw how easy it would be to transform those dresses into something a more seasonably versatile.
I haven’t done a thing to the grey one, although I might shorten the sleeves on that one. The ashy brown one fit well, but the color looked terrible on my lifeless pale skin. I dyed it a deep purple, really the perfect color for all seasons. I could pair it with browns for fall, blacks for winter and bright hues for spring and summer. The dye job didn’t turn out as solid as I would’ve liked. I think it might be related to the fact that I didn’t wash the new dress before dyeing. It’s almost uniform like a tie-dye, but it’ll be interesting to see if it will even out with wear.
I shortened the sleeves and in an attempt to bring up the hemline of the dress, I added three pleats across the chest.
The pleats were trickier than it might seem. I had to be very particular with measuring and steaming in order to get all of the seams straight, and I needed a stretchy straight stitch. I found that the stitch with three stitches like this: ||| worked out the best.
This dress is perfect underneath my shear tops. I love that I can wear it plain, under crop tops or shear tops.
Outfit details:
- top: Ruche
- belt: thrifted
- dress: Apricot Lane
- shoes: c/o Blowfish Shoes
Great redo! At $9 each I would’ve bought two as well! Can’t wait to see what you do with the other one.
So super cute!!! I love that color, too!
What a great color. Love the dress with the sheer top. Cute shoes!!
LOVE the color!!!!!!
my mother is THE dyeing expert. seriously. I’d let her dye me if that could be possible. but, to the point: whenever she needs to dye some large piece of fabric or garment, she just does it in the washing machine. she lets the machine fill with a little bit of water, stops it, adds the dye (dissolved), and puts whatever needs to be dyed in there. then, she just pushes the “on” button again. I think she uses the normal process of the machine, and of course, she does not put any laundry soap.
yes, it takes quite a bit of water, but if you do it once in a while when you need it to get something evenly dyed, it’s the best way to go. I hope this little story helped!
how do you do to have such cool ideas ??????????? :-)
oh, i love purple! and that looks really pretty under the sheer top!
i love how you paired the purple dress with the peachy sheer top! great use of layering for two starkly different (and awesome!) outfits.