The Revamp of Hand-Me-Downs

One of the best things that comes with awesome family nearby is hand-me-downs.  Sadie tends to only wear clothing for 3-6 months before she outgrows them, so it is fabulous to receive a new bag of goodies from my sis-in-law every few months.  My sis-in-law is always gracious enough to smile a my quirkiness and didn't flinch when I asked if I could restyle some of the dresses she gave me.

Price breakdown:
Hand-me-down dress: Free
Thread
Ribbon (from my remnant bag)
FREE!!!

The dress before alterations with all its fabulousness!

Off with the collar and sleeves!

Next, I stitched around the new sleeveless dress and collar and sewed a ribbon around the bottom of the bust.

What else does this dress need?  A pretty flower!  This awesome instructor at Joann's gave me a simple idea for creating a rosette:

Hand stitch long stitches in diagonals along your ribbon.

Pull the thread tight to create the ruffle of your flower.

Wrap the newly cinched ribbon around itself to create a flower design and thread through with a needle.  I added a safety pin to the back so that Sadie can wear the dress with or without it.

And finally, the big reveal!

AFTER!