In case you haven’t heard, the holidays are nearing, so Amy and I have dedicated this On A Shoestring to party fashion. Except we’re throwing in the always headache producing fun task of altering clothing that doesn’t quite work. I mean, a lot of times, you’ll find something that’s cute but not quite your style or fit, but you buy it anyway because it’s cheap. Come on, it can’t be just me.

Y’all, this up-cycle was a challenge. I deviated from the “doesn’t quite fit” route to the “doesn’t quite look fresh anymore” route. I wanted to re-purpose a shirt that I have with a stain on it into something I could wear again. Kinda like this.

I was hoping I somehow, possibly through osmosis or genetics, would be able to nail it on the first try. I mean, I only had one shirt and one piece of fabric, so it was more than the first try, it was the only try.

Sadly, if my mom passed along any sewing genes, today wasn’t the day they decided to grace me with their presence. I’mma brag for a sec: my mom is a mad-genius crafter. She sews, quilts (by hand and machine), knits (garments! Stuff you can wear!!), cross-stitches, makes freakin’ lace by hand, and just knows all the craft things. Me? Well, I can spray paint….

My original plan was to remove where the yoke would be on this shirt where the stain appears and replace it with a fun fabric panel. I’m downplaying my skills a little. I can sew and I do own a sewing machine. But when I got to the “sew it on and hack the shirt up” stage, I froze. I didn’t think ahead to just how to do this. I sewed the hem to the patterned fabric. I stabbed myself one too many times with straight pins. And I didn’t thread my sewing machine properly so the top thread had too much tension on it and snapped.

At this point, I took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Too much work for a shirt that has been laying in the laundry room for over a year.

On to Plan B.

I had this dress in the donate pile because I’m not a ruffle person. It’s a cute dress, but I feel like I’m wearing a crumb catcher when ruffles get involved so close to my face. So I thought, “If I were going to a party and I had nothing to wear, but I had scissors and could accessorize, this is what I’d do.”

I cut the ruffles off. Both rows of ruffles.

Of course, I also added accessories because those are any cheap girl’s best friend, and tada, made this polka dot dress more modern and more me. Like last month’s On A Shoestring, tights make this outfit more than it really is. I’m intentionally mixing patterns – polka dots and plaid – but it works because the colors are in the same family and the prints are varied sizes. Then, I added a belt to coordinate with the tights and bring it all home.

I also LOVE this necklace, so on it goes to add more sparkle, which is a must for a fancy occasion.

Details on this outfit:

Dress: Hue
Belt: Purchased at Ragged Row years ago, label has since rubbed off
Tights: Xhileration at Target
Booties: dv dolce vita at Target
Necklace: Chloe & Isabel
Lack of me in pictures: weird sinus-y headache/cold thing

You’ve gotta see what Amy over at Amy and Angie did. Again, being so clever with this dress-to-skirt thing!

What would you up-cycle from your closet for a party?

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