Prom Dress Re-Design

Many times I create a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes in my head and then can never find the real thing. I have passed this gene onto my daughter.

As the window of opportunity passed for ordering a prom dress or finding one that Little Miss could deal with, we found ourselves (as always) scrambling for something. "Mom, I think I'm just going to have to settle." Well, yes, my dear. Prom is in 2 weeks and we have today.

We drove to the nearest mall, found a bridal store that guarantees that they will not sell the same dress to anyone at your school, and sifted through the meager 30 dresses left in their inventory.

We found 2-a beautiful blue one with a price tag of $500 and this one.

The zipper was ripped, the clasp in the back was missing. But the price tag reflected the defects with a big red slash through it.

"Ok, baby girl. Let's put our thinking caps on. We CAN fix this." We proceeded to dream up the ways we could alter this into perfect.

Unlike Cinderella, I don't have any little mice to help me. But that big bow had to go. Cutting off anything from a piece of clothing could have disastrous results and the budget of dollars and/or time just didn't allow another purchase. (And the bow was attached to the back seam of the dress--yikes!)

Go big or go home, right?

So off with the thing, with the help of some really sharp scissors.

After a few tries, (ahem, a satin sash dyed gone bad) she settled on a piece of silk ribbon we made into a belt and an old brooch from a box of junk jewelry.

Fixed the clasps and the zipper. And hidden by the mane of hair, I fashioned two lacey straps from lace hem tape.

The results? Lovely. {And a happy daughter not needing to constantly pull up her dress.}