Now I totally hearted this little dress when my hands grabbed it from a big ole pile of stuff. Yes, it was slightly Shirley Temple, but I tapped danced my way out of this pile sale with it in my bag of dollar goods!
Day 61 - Before
I tried it on and because it had an elastic waist, it fit me like a glove. And the best part? The belt that was made for it actually came with it! This is a first friends – no makeshift belting action! There were two big issues though. One, the shoulder pads!! Again with the matching fabric foam enemies…gross me out!
The sPad
I handled this sitch stat and cut ’em out.
Peace out pads!!
Now that the heightened shoulder problem has left the building, all that was needed was a little length tweaking. I cut some of the bottom off to make it knee-ish length and it was ready to go! Now, the polka dotted pattern was bold and that collar was a statement all on its’ own, so I wanted to mellow it down a bit. Going for less ringlet Shirley Temple and more retro librarian 🙂 I decided to take one of my fave cardigans, a “vintage” (circa 2005) Trina Turk number, roll up the sleeves, put the matching belt on top of it along with patterned tights and boots.
Day 61 - After
I actually loved the back even more…
Day 61 - After (From the back!)
Was very proud of this end product. I even got complimented coming out of the grocery store tonight…they must have seen the bottle of vino popping out of my bag. This was a baking, boozing, blogging Friday eve for me friends. The best way to close the week!
Hope all your weekends’ rule! xx Marisa
New Dress A Day 
This might be my favorite one yet!!! I LOVE the belt over the cardigan and the tights! Hot hot hot! And it sounds like you had a perfect Friday night to boot!
Totally perfect Friday 🙂
I am LOVING your site and hoping I can gain some creativity from it!
This dress looks a LOT Annie-ish to me and SUPER cute!
You are SO right Sonja – Annie, for sure!! The sun totally came out for this dress 🙂 I’m so happy you’re enjoying my blog! The creative juices will totally be flowing in your direction!! xx Marisa
dang that is too cute! You need to sell your clothes after you wear them! To me.
Ooooh, yes , way more your blog than mine, but why dont you start ebaying them once you’re done with all your clever creations? surely not everyone needs 365 new pieces of clothing in ONE year …!!
I was planning on doing a big auction at the end of the year and partnering up with a charity to donate proceeds 🙂 We’ll see how much room I have, as I may have to start auctioning off earlier than planned!! xx
Love it all!
I check this every week and it gives me a crafty hit of inspiration!
Oh, thanks for checking it out Chris!! Love that this gives you a little hit of inspiration 🙂 xx M
Definitely my favourite dress so far! I have a serious case of op shop envy
Oh, I’m so glad you like this one Jane!! Op shops and thrift stores can be totally hit or miss…but it’s awesome when you find an amazing gem in a batch of not so hot pieces!!
This is such a cute little orphan Annie dress – beautiful!
I just started reading your blog since I saw it on Yahoo! a few days, ago, and the urge of commenting on your photos has been too great (I started from page 27 actually). I’ve cracked as you can see. I love this dress, kinda gives a modern school teacher vibe. XD
Purest Classic! I love it! 🙂
P.S. Polka dot….. Ladybird…..Shoulderpads as a black bag decoartion….
I’ve just found your blog and have been enjoying poking around in your earlier posts. What a great idea and I love what you’ve been coming up with! I do wonder: what about all of those funky, patterned shoulder pads? Are they corralled somewhere? Do you have a plan for them? Should you come up with a mini-contest asking your readers for ideas? (If I had ideas, I’d share them).
Thanks for adding some sunshine to my days!