For $2.45, I got my husband a pair of jeans, one almost new cloth diaper (I'm sure it was used only for a burp rag), two wool sweaters (off the men's 10cent sale rack), a black ribbon and a dress with some fabric I plan to refashion that is so ugly it shouldn't deserve to exist. This would have actually upped my price to $3.45 now that I think about it, but that's not what I was charged. The two old ladies exclaimed (literally) over the beauty of the dress material when I left my pile with them to be counted while I went to the free rack. I think they felt sorry for me that I was actually going to dispense money for the 70's horrible paisley silk thing, that they decided it should have been on the free rack and let me have it despite its "beauty."
The free rack gave me 5 white pillowcases, one shirt and one dress that is actually wearable as is, which was a pleasant surprise after trying them on at home, a prom dress for making a dress up dress
and several refashioning/use for fabric items.
Here is free item number one:
It fit, but ugh, plain and washed me out. Since it was linen, I was planning on making cloth napkins, but since it fit, why not try to make a dress I would wear?
I took that black ribbon I bought and some more black ribbon I had at home and outlined the edges of the dress. Then I googled "black vector drawings" to find a paisley pattern to copy (that 70s paisley dress was messing with my mind), but thankfully I found a non-paisley alternative. I used photoshop to print out two of the same patterns, had my hubby help me pin the papers behind the dress where I wanted them to be as I had the dress on. Then I used my auction light box (although a sunny window would have worked) to light the pattern from behind, then I used my different sized black sharpie markers to trace the pattern onto my dress.
And there you have it. My neckline is wonky, since I'm a sewing failure, but livable enough that I would still wear it out.
7 comments:
How genius to use Sharpie for this! Just think of the possibilities with all those different colors! I can't wait to try this out.
Wow MJ! This is a great idea! I love it! And I think your sewing is just fine! You've had a lot of great posts while I've been on the road! No fair..I don't hardly get time to browse right now. I'll check out the rest next time...
Boy..if there were only a thrift shop somewhere nearby..Let me dig through my purse...Ha!
clever! I like the make over on the dress.
I love LOVE it!!!
What an ingenious idea. You underestimate your sewing. It looks fine.
Wow, I'm inspired! So the Sharpie won't bleed or cause damage to the fabric once you wash it?
Amanda,
I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to write back about the washing question. I just wanted to wash it and make sure. And then I got sidetracked. I think it may have faded a teensy bit, but it was perfectly fine on the linen.
I'm going to attempt sharpie on a silk and it did look like it bled as it was going into the silk and I am wondering if silk might not be a good idea, so you may want to try the sharpie on the type of fabric you will be doing, but nope, it didn't mess anything up.
Hope you signed up for the follow up comments so you can get the answer!
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