She Finished the Black Dress and It Came Out Fabulous!!

I was stunned at how great this came out! Leenie has some mad hot skills!! I (Mom) bought a few very inexpensive dresses for her at Ross and she used the bottom of one to make sleeves for this one. She is also going to use part of it to extend the hem. I know I am biased but to me this doesn't look like an alteration at all--it looks like it was meant to be this way!!

She has finished making the practice version of her purple Winter Formal dress (out of cheap fabric, using one of the cheap Ross dresses as a pattern) and it came out great, so stay tuned for the finished purple one.

Satin Dresses from Target and Charlotte Russe

It was a no-brainer to add a black satin border to these dresses since there was already black satin at the waistline.

Grey Knit Dress from Ross

Before: This dress was a real bargain at Ross

but was two inches too short.

After: In an amazing stroke of good luck, we found the exact same fabric at our local fabric store, so I just let out the hem of the dress and sewed a two-inch band of fabric to the bottom. (I actually doubled it so there is no stitching showing.) You could also do the same technique by buying two of the same dress if it's really cheap.

Closeup of two-inch band sewn on.

Gold, Grey and Cream Dress from Forever 21

Before: Cute but too short and too low-cut.

After: Leenie sewed a grey border to the underskirt

and wore the dress over a matching grey tank top,

finishing it off with chic grey boots.

Closeup of new underskirt.

Closeup of how it was sewn to existing underskirt.

Add an Insert to a Plunging Bathing Suit

Before: The V-neckline of this otherwise modest bathing suit

was too low for JuJu.

After: We sewed a folded piece of white lycra purchased from the

fabric store, inside the bodice of the suit. We brought the suit

with us to the fabric store to help us decide what color

of lycra would look best.

Closeup of inside of suit, with alteration.

The Plan for the Dresses

Leenie is going to use fabric from one of the dresses to make sleeves and lengthen the other ones.

Winter Formal Dress "Ingredients"

We picked these three dresses up at Ross for about $15 apiece. Leenie is taking one apart to use as a pattern to sew a purple dress for Winter Formal, and will reconstruct them to make two modest dresses.