Hello everyone!
How are you all doing? I had a crazy weekend of flying back and forth across Canada. (I swear this is related! Wait for it!) I got to meet up with my family and old friends after not seeing them for a long time and it was loads of fun, but I am exhausted!
The reason I flew back to Toronto was to attend a friend’s wedding. One of my personal challenges is to make a dress for myself to wear to each wedding that I attend, so leading up to this wedding I was super excited about this new project.
The “Before”
This was initially a jacket and dress set that I had bought from a local thrift store a while back for $10 CAD total (although I spend an additional $10 on dry cleaning.) I did something else with the dress but I still had the jacket lying around. As you guys can see, this is an older style jacket which is a bit big on me and has shoulder pads.* I loved the bold red colour of this garment and decided to turn this into a dress!**
*I have yet figured out how to wear shoulder pads with style, so I usually remove them haha. Does anyone have ideas for outfits that look good with shoulder pads?!
**Please excuse the background of this picture! I am standing on a chair in front of the bathroom mirror because it is the only mirror in my building haha…
The “After”
I struggled a lot with remaking this project because it turned out there wasn’t enough material for the patterns that I had. So I had to go into creative mode, ditch the patterns, and do my own thing! In the end, however, this turned out exactly the way I intended it to: an A-line with a deep V-neck. My fiancé gave me excellent design tips (he was the one who recommended cinching in the shoulders which required 8+ more hours of work but definitely gave the dress a more elegant look!)
Time spent: 24 hours+
Soundtrack: Dreams of Gods & Monsters audiobook (check out my review here!)
Cost of supplies***: ~$30 for thrift store jacket, dry cleaning, invisible zipper, and bias tape.
Achievements unlocked:
- Using bias tape for finishing armholes!
- Sewing invisible zippers like a pro!
- Basting stitches!
***Despite popular belief, it does not save money to sew your own clothes! I see dresses like this in stores all the time, which could sell for as low as $40, and technically just counting the supplies I am saving a bit of money. However even if I am being paid minimal wage for the time spent on this project, this dress would be worth more than $350. If anything, sewing taught me to treasure each piece of garment that I own. Even if the garment looks simple, a lot goes into its design and implementation. I am now a bit skeptical of conventional retailers, especially those that sell clothing for a cheap price. Sure, the workers that they hire are likely more efficient and experienced at sewing and can complete a garment in a short period of time, but even so, how low do the workers’ wages have to be for clothes to be sold so cheaply? Anyway! Conclude rant 🙂
SOPHIE LI 
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