Stars and stripes forever?? Kind of with today’s piece…
Day 282 - Before
This was one of the goodies I snagged at the Goodwill Outlet in Queens when I was just in NY. It was priced per pound and actually weighed less that one lb, so I’m just going to round-up to an easy $1.
It was a dress, but it fit really strange. It was big on top and then came together at the knees, but it just looked too awkward. I am going the top route to get rid of the tightness at the knees.
Cutting it short!!
I trimmed off the bottom of the dress first – already I was happy with this first, big step!
Next I wanted to give the neckline a little extra vavoom, so I began turning it into a V. I trimmed a slit down the center of the top, pinned the edges under…
V time!!
…and sewed them into place!
I next wanted to take off the long sleeves. It was warm out and I didn’t really want to look just like my friend…
Where are you Waldo??
I took my seam rippers and began taking the sleeves off at the seam.
Taking off the sleeves!
Now that I was without the long sleeves and going for more of a cap look, I took in the top a few inches…
Sleeveless!!
…paired it with jeans and a belt and had an outfit perfect for some vegging.
Vegging or ice cream cone-ing…whatever tickles your fancy.
Day 282 - After
Sugar cones with cappuccino chunk froyo?? Sign me up… I think that I was in sugar overload as I passed out on the couch just minutes later.
Zzzz...
Didn’t get to catch the last few minutes of the Boise State/Virginia Tech game due to my slight narcolepsy. Thanks to my kind and adoring sibling for taking the shot of me in action. Just lovely waking up to a flash in your face.
New Dress A Day 
the pictures didn’t go through!
Refresh a few times and you’ll get to see! 🙂
You are now officially my favorite person! I’m from Boise, so BSU is my home team. Go Broncos!
I love this top. The dress was cute, but really was an odd shape. Well, done.
So, are you thinking about what you are going to do for an encore when your 365 days have expired? Any new projects in the works? Looking for suggestions?
very cute. i would have turned it upside down and used the tight bottom part as the top of a strapless dress. just cut the arms and neckline off and put a quick hem on. just an idea 🙂
xoxo
that’s what I did with a hot pink and blue plaid top my daughter discarded. it had a banded navy blue bottom. I cute it off to make a swim skirt. my friend said it was the cutest thing she’d seen. i didn’t hem it. i love the stretchy waist band that I could adjust lower when my back was to the sun.
Great job girl, that top is faboulous!! I love it. You have a good eye and you are so creative.
By the way, Claire your idea too would have resulted to a lovely dress.
fantastic! Ilove stripes and this transformation is great!
This amuses me as I live in Australia therefore it’s “Where’s Wally?” Your blog is very inspiring and goodluck for the next 83 days! I can’t wait to see what you create next. 🙂
Love this top! xx
Love it. Although it looks like it may have looked cute with just a belt and maybe some adjusting of the top.
Oh my goodnes, I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your blog! It is AMAZING! I love what you are doing!
I so looove what you do. First saw you on yahoo and tried following your day to day clothing adventure. It was a bit late, though, so I have to backtrack all your “opus” to day 1 ..but it’s all worth it.
It has also been my hobby to transform different kind of stuff from trash to something useful (kind of a challenging work to do) but may I say your work are just fabulous and awesome….you inspire me to do and think ideas a lot more….thanks Marissa xoxo 🙂
Heehee. My friends like taking pictures of me napping in various places.
You are such an inspiration for me. I’ve always wanted to learn to sew (using a sewing machine) and I never learned. After subscribing to your blog, I am stoked to finally learn! Great job!
Hey! I’ve been religiously checking your blog for the past couple weeks (but haven’t commented). I think what you’re doing is AWESOME and super inspirational. My Mom’s an amazing seamstress (she made mine and all my sister’s prom dresses and bride’s maid dresses and I almost had her make my wedding dress) but alas, I’m only good for my chintzy looking curtains and rag quilts (in other words, I only sew straight lines and do all that I can to break the rules of sewing because to stick with the rules requires extra work and I don’t have the patience for it).
But you’ve really inspired me to be a better seamstress and you’ve taught me that with pennies I can make a whole new outfit. All I have to do is TRY.
Thanks again! And I can’t wait to see more of your creations.
One question: whatcha going to do once the year is up? Are you going to do this all over again or find a new project?
Thanks for the cute top design ~ Great way to start the day over here in Lancaster, PA! (Love our Goodwill Outlet Store here!)
Looks like you needed a little extra rest ~ Hope you are energized now!
Love the top with the v and cap sleeves. I had no idea that something so pretty could come from such a strange looking dress! I liked Claire’s idea too. Did you have enough fabric left over to make a little top rather than a dress?
LOVE!
LOVE IT!
Oh, this one’s a gem! Very cute on.
❤ this one! I would definitely wear it. 😀
The dress seemed very ’80s to me. Dolman sleeves, tight through the body. At one time I had a similar dress in red with huge shoulder pads!
I hope your putting a book together!! These are really cute dress and shirts!!
May I suggest that you start to make bottoms with some of your excess material so that we can see an entire outfit made by these finds. It’s really rather easy to make any dress or top into a loose tank to wear with a belt and jeans, which we’ve seen you do a lot lately. Maybe some darts instead of a belt would be nice.
Hi,I just love getting you new dress up lift,
what are you going to do when the year is up?
hope you start over- ha,well I do look for you e-mails,
and I send them to my daughter,and friends,,
keep it up ,you can do any thing,,,GOOD LUCK IN LIFE,,
I love this top; best I have seen in the month and a half (that’s when I discovered this site). Good job!
Great job, love today’s creation!
This is one of my favs. Love the color and the shape when you were done!
Too funny! I used to have a dress just like that back in the early 80’s, we wore them with leggings and ankle boots and a wide hip belt and let the top kind of blouson over the belt. Very new wave! Your top conversion looks great!
I liked this one! Good job! not to crazy about the belt though….I think it would look cute without the belt too
i Really like this one. The colors are very flattering on you as well.
i love the shirt it ended up into but i don’t think this was a dress in the first place. i think it’s a long top that was meant to be loose at the top and hip-hugging at the bottom. the kind you scrunch-up/gather in folds at the hip, just my opinion, i could be very wrong. =P
but i do love what you made it out into in the end…. thanks for ‘wow’-ing us on a daily basis! =D
I love this one on you! I think this is my fav! 🙂
I agree…those tops were poular in the 80’s…worn with tights or leggings….not really a dress…more like a tunic to start with.
poor thing, the last few minutes of the BSU/VTech game were the most exciting. 😉 Cute top! one of my favorites that you’ve done.
Love what you did and love the color on you. Wonderful, and you are adorable.
wow this one is really great. i saw a huge mumu at the goodwill the other day and i stood staring at trying to see what you would see. i never saw it. so i didn’t get it. i did get my daughter a fab orange paisely almost halter dress with a slit on the back part. just needs a little taking in and it will be great. thanks for all of your inspiration!
This one is awesome! Fantastic imagination. Keep up the great work, girlie!
http://www.verityclothing.wordpress.com
Love this. Cracks me up to see that dress because that really “in” back in the day. I really like what you did with it.
Another great top–it looked great with jeans!
cute!
Really love this top on you! It seems like many tops that are “of the moment” that designers are really over-charging for. Pink is definitely a great color on you, especially the raspberry shade! Awesome (And not Waldo-esque at all!)
http://nomoclothesmoney.blogspot.com/
Cutee! I looooove it.
Hey Marisa, I just gave you a blog award… I am paying it forward.. am so inspired by your projects etc….
come over and take a look
cheerio, and keep up the great work!!!
once again you have proved that there is no limit to ur creativity i absolutly love the look =)
I’d really love to know where you shop in the LA area. I live there too and I’m having trouble finding $1 deals. I tried sending you an email but didn’t get a response from you… But I’m sure you’re very busy. Thanks for the insperation!
Greetings from Boise.
Hey lady. I’ve been following your blog for quite a while now and love it. You’ve got a great personality, a wonderful eye and some vavoom talent when it comes to sewing. I just had to laugh then when you mentioned the BSU game. Sorry you missed the end.
sew on cuteness, can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
You look so sweet asleep on the couch; what an angelic face!!! You did a really nice job on the top. I, too, had a top like this (I wasn’t so bubblicious back in the day) and wore it with dance tights – geez!!! We used to go to dance class in them, then out afterward for more dancing. What a flash from the past!!! You made the top look up-to-the-minute!!! It looks too cute on y0u!!! You remind me of my daughter. She has an angelic face, too, and is really, really tiny even after having 3 boys (size “0” – no kidding!). She also is very creative, though she is into dance, not sewing. You also have that amazing kind of smile and a great personality like she has. I really enjoy reading your blog every day.
LOVE today’s striped top – maybe my favorite yet (I didn’t find you til day 200 or so) The cap sleeves really make it look ‘finished.’ I could easily see it with a pencil skirt for the office.
I recently found your blog and I’m enjoying following your day to day adventures. I do have a questions. How long does it normally take you to make your modifications. Do you measure carefully, or do you just start cutting off hems and sleeves? From what I see, you don’t use fancy stitches for hems and such. I do mostly craft type sewing and don’t really sew clothes, so I’m a little overwhelmed to try and tackle clothing projects. Any hints/tips?
lovely as always!
I am a die hard thrift store shopper and I never thought to alter clothing the way you have until I stumbled on your site. Now, thanks to you, I have 5 new skirts in my wardrobe, 2 being former dresses and 3 were just outrageously long. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
This looks so comfy! You are an inspiration. I need to quit being so lazy and start altering all of my clothes that don’t quite fit. Love this blog! 🙂
this is cute and as I looked at it I wondered if the sleeves are stretchy enough to be used as leggings on another day-I did that in a contest, Restyle Runway that I won, and it turned out well!
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I’m in new york right now, and have planned a vintage shopping outage with a friend in hope to find some sweet and cheap finds that we can fix up. I saw you went to Queens but was wondering if you had any other suggestions?? p.s- i love your work. just got hooked thanks to an aussie friend.
too cute.
I love the ice cream cone picture. First thing that came to mind when I saw it: When in doubt, pinky out! 🙂
what a cute top. also sweet picture of you snoozing.
thanks for the goodwill info. will head over one of these days and check it out.