Guest Post: Callie from Coffee and Cardigans

Happy Thursday lovelies!  I am having a wonderful time on vacation!  This morning we are going on a sand dune ride!  Today we have the very lovely Callie she is very very sweet!  She loves to thrift and to update the items to fit better in her wardrobe!  Make sure to stop by her blog and say hello!

Hello! I'm Callie from Coffee and Cardigans. I was so excited for the opportunity to play guest blogger while Stacia is on vacation - lucky girl! I blog on a budget and I also shop on one too. That means plenty of trips to the thrift stores and DIY and sewing projects galore. But one of my favorite things is reinventing old thrift store items into something new and modern. This old dress is the perfect example!

I picked up this dress for $4 at a local thrift store in my town. It was too big, too long, unflattering, and had oversized pockets, but I knew that the old thing had potential. That's the trick when you're looking for old items to reinvent: consider all the possibilities. So the dress came home with me to meet my scissors and sewing machine.
So how did I transform this old thrifted find? I altered the length of the dress and created a short hemline. I removed the pieces of the dress that didn't work, like the shoulder pads and awkward pockets. I also changed the shape of the dress by removing the elastic waist and awkward gathering. I also repaired a few broken buttons and torn seams. Other ways to change up an old garment could be shortening the sleeves, adding embellishments, changing the neckline, or adding elastic to the waist. This is what my final product looked like after some creative snipping and stitching:

I was really excited about the shirt dress this turned out to be. It was super easy to belt and wear with flats for a casual day-time look. A huge thank you to Stacia for letting me share this fun project! Enjoy your vacation, girl! Have you ever reinvented or transformed an old garment?