Two Recycled Dresses

Recently I borrowed a cute little book called "Little Green Dresses" by Tina Sparkles from my local library. I've been having so much fun making my own dresses that I hadn't really thought much about finding old dresses in thrift stores that I could tweak to my liking until I discovered this book.


I bought a few dresses the other day at a thrift shop in which either the fabric, print or general shape caught my eye. All of the alterations were quite simple, but I think next time I go thrift shopping I'll expand my selection to include dresses that'll require more work.

I really should have thought to take before photos (duh!) but please take my word for it that these dresses were not very cute pre-alterations. 
The first dress above was probably the frumpiest out of them all. The skirt was ankle length, the sleeves were awkwardly long but still short, and the bodice just had no shape. I cut lots off the length, took the sleeves off completely, and added darts at the bust. Much better.

This dress was actually pretty darn cute to start with but just wasn't summery enough. The length was mid-calf and the sleeves were full length with stretched out elastic at the wrists. I chopped off some length and most of the sleeves and added some cute little buttons because it was just asking for them.