THRIFT FLIP - PROM EDITION
You guys have been asking us to do this for years, and we’re finally doing it! Prom season is around the corner and we know that buying a prom dress can be super expensive. That’s why we’ve decided to show you that it’s totally possible to thrift a dress, and to alter it and create your dream dress!
Today we’re going to challenge each other to create amazing prom dresses for way less money! We headed to the thrift store and got shopping!
While we were at the thrift store, we decided to try and find dresses that had a general colour and shape that we liked so that we had a good base to work with. Becky found this outrageous and super-80s mermaid style dress that fit her perfectly, but definitely needed some work. Kelsey found a dress that was a tad more early 2000’s, fit her well, but definitely still needed some help.
OK! Let’s get started.
BECKY’S DRESS
Alright! The first step in bringing this dress back from the 80s is to basically remove everything that I don’t like and see what the dress looks like then. SO, I went ahead and removed these ~incredible~ poofy sleeves with a seam ripper.
Once the sleeves were off, I went ahead and hemmed the seams where I took off the sleeves. I just did this with some simple black thread.
Ok, I think the top is complete! Next step is to deal with the bottom. I’m not loving this polka dot patterned fabric on the bottom, BUT there is this really cool and trendy tulle underneath it that is looking hopeful! So, I went ahead and used a seam ripper again to remove the polkadot fabric from the dress.
And that’s it! I LOVE how this turned out. Totally 2018 and less 80’s.
kelsey's dress
So, the biggest problems for me with this dress are the overall fit, and alter the top of the dress to fit a little better as well. I got started with the bottom hem of the dress. The dress hits at an awkward length, and so i’m going to shorten the dress so that it hits at more of a flattering length.
I went ahead and hemmed up the bottom, and to hide the hem I folded it inward and used some hem tape to keep it in place. Next, I seam ripped the slit to make it a bit higher, and used some hem tape to hide the hem on that as well!
Next, I’m going to move on to the top. I started by cutting out these awful booby pads, and the broach/decal on the front of the dress.
The dress sits a little too high on my body, so I cut off all of the straps and reused the longest straps to attach them to the dress as close as possible to the arms. This will create a more open area around the chest.
And that’s it! This dress is super pretty and simple, and a perfect timeless look for prom!
And that’s it! If you’re looking for some more prom inspo, check this blog post out where we tested to see if we could DIY our own prom hair and makeup!
Let us know on twitter who you think won this challenge, and be sure to check out the video below for more good stuff!