Next Friday is the Barrister's Ball a.k.a "Law School Prom," a lawyer-training benefit thingy that I suppose trains baby lawyers to give away lots of money and take full advantage of an open bar, all while wearing pretty clothes. As the owner of my very own law student, Steve, I need to conjure up an outfit for the event (sigh) without shopping. Luckily, I picked up this fantastic vintage gown at the Philadelphia Aids Thrift Store for $20 before I started this whole masochistic no-shopping ordeal.
I loved the dress at first sight. It has sparkly beading, luxurious fabric, and touches of Audrey Hepburn's "princess" moment in My Fair Lady . It's hard not to love long, creamy, ivory silk twill. Trying it on revealed the cut of the dress to be a little more Pat Nixon than Jackie O. Like lots of vintage dresses, the cut was odd-feeling. The armholes are tighter than they are usually made today, and the normally flattering boat neck simply capsized! Bummer.
I bought it anyway, seeing some potential in the seams for a more modern, spunky, short frock. As you might expect, I have a few thrift store "project" pieces like this that have found their way to the back of my closet over the years. By few, I mean more than I could ever count or imagine. It's hard for me to see potential in something and turn away from it. "No potentially fantastic garment left behind," that's how that goes, right? If it weren't for this self-inflicted torture, god only knows when I may have retrieved this gown from the closet and added the five hours of hand-sewing required to turn it into my first masterpiece.
(Hi, here I am in the dress hemmed just above the knee.)Point is, five hours later, I have a dress for Steve's "Prom." This is what I did.
1: Hem the dress to a more suitable length.
If you look, you will notice that better clothing tends has a wider hem. It adds a little weight at the bottom of the garment so it hangs better. I figured that the top of the dress was going to be the main attraction, so it shouldn't be too short or I would look wipe all the class away from my pretty dress.
I pin the dress to the desired length before I do any cutting.
I start at the center back, where there is a seam to help guide my pinning.
Finally, I cut a good 4" longer than I actually want the dress to be, leaving lots of room for a nice wide hem.
I use a very (let's say "casual" and know I mean "messy") casual blind stitch around the new hem to hold it in place.
Next time, I will take more pictures along the way so you can enjoy each and every time-sucking, finger-pricking step.
2:The new neckline
The dress already has the strip of pearl and rhinestone beading and a low, u-shaped back. I plan on altering the high boat neck to a pretty, more flattering v-neck with a sort of faux-collar that looks a bit like the folded corners of a book. This only works because the dress has a seam down the center front, and is fully lined in the same fabric. Noticing this important detail was one of the reasons I bought the elegant but dowdy dress in the first place. I'll spare you all the dirty, hard sewing details of the construction because I didn't take any pictures of the process. Pictures next time, I promise.
Here is my final product, a kick-ass dress that fits perfectly, channels Jackie and Audrey, and still looks contemporary. I already have gold snakeskin peep-toe slingbacks and medium sized chandelier earrings to accessorize. The complete look will require super-straight, blown out and ironed hair. I am a week away from the ball, so more pics when I've actually pulled off wearing a re-vamped 50 year old dress from the thrift store to a benefit. Cheers!
