New life to an old dress

[flyinpurplemunkiez]

So I had this Gunne Sax dress that I bought off eBay. It's ancient but I thought it was really pretty (for some odd reason I think there is nothing cuter than a Little House on the Prairie looking dress with a pair of chunky combat boots). Sadly it was too big in the chest area. I kept telling myself that I would fit it someday while it sat in my closet unloved. Well I recently hosted an EGL (elegant gothic Lolita) tea party in San Francisco and needed a dress. I looked at me Gunne Sax and realized it looked a lot like a longer, less poofy sweet Lolita type dress. This gave me the needed motivation to resize it (among other things). I took of the straps because they were too thin for an egl dress and they were too long anyway. I removed the bow because it was also too thin and I wanted to add a larger bow (ran out of time but I’ll probably end up adding it later). I used the fabric from the bow to make new straps. I resized the top part so that it actually fit me. I then removed the skirt from the top part. Since the bottom half of the skirt was more decorative and had more fabric I cut it off and made it into the skirt part of the dress, pleating the fabric as I went. I also used some of the scrap fabric to make a head piece and a choker. I wanted to replace the pearl buttons with heart shaped buttons but ran out of time. Now that I’ve bored you to death here are some pictures:

Before

(I’m the one on the left and) my friend Lizz (on the right) is wearing the dress I’m talking about:
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=felicity869&pid=118597
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=felicity869&pid=118595

After

 
I'm on the left, obviously:
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=felicity869&pid=223028&sid=FGK93egNP4

Four from the right:
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=felicity869&pid=223038&sid=DNO62izFI9

Three from the left:
http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=felicity869&pid=223032&sid=jvO95sxMT7

Most of my pictures came out crummy and you can't really see the details. Here are a few pictures taken by other people that came out little better:
http://www.teammisaki.org/Lolita/image_28.html
http://www.teammisaki.org/Lolita/image_26.html
http://img60.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img60&image=EGL_11.jpg
http://img10.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img10&image=EGL_15.jpg
http://img10.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img10&image=EGL_16.jpg
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wuffie_chan/detail?.dir=3e27&.dnm=80ec.jpg&.src=ph

Any comments, compliments or suggestions for improvemnet are all very welcome

[Gurl]

  I love them after because they remind me of walking in the middle of the road at midnight when it's raining just to creep the neighbors out...

[Zombie_Teeth]

Oh man. You did an awesome job! I like that a lot, wicked change to that dress!

[Lothruin]

I'm not really the EGL type, but maybe that's because I'm as ancient as that dress.    Anyway, I still think it was a lovely and innovative way to recreate the dress.  It would look really cute with the ruffled lacey wrist cuffs I crocheted last night.  (For some reason I was inspired by some EGL fashions, and made up a pair of extra-ruffled lacey wrist cuffs, and they turned out quite well, I think, though I now need to find a home for them.  I was going to post them and a pattern here as soon as I get pictures if anyone's interested.)

[kyou]

Awesome lolitaness!

[flyinpurplemunkiez]

Thank you all for your nice comments.

I'm not really the EGL type, but maybe that's because I'm as ancient as that dress.    

You are not ancient You're only 7 years older than me and that is in no way old, ancient or anything along those lines. Anyway, dresses are like cats, they age differently than people. 30 years for a person is nothing while 30 'dress years' are forever and a dress that old is lucky to still be alive.

It would look really cute with the ruffled lacey wrist cuffs I crocheted last night.  (For some reason I was inspired by some EGL fashions, and made up a pair of extra-ruffled lacey wrist cuffs, and they turned out quite well, I think, though I now need to find a home for them.  I was going to post them and a pattern here as soon as I get pictures if anyone's interested.)

I too was thinking it would look nice with some wrist cuffs. I still have loads of extra fabric from it that I could use, once I have the time/motivation to do so. Can't wait to see the ones you made.

[madebykris]

I cannot believe how awesome you all look, I'm so jealous of your awesome Lolita fun.  Those pictures are really nice, too.  I love seeing what people can do with reconstructions.  Excellent job!

[thatredhairedgirl]

Okay, um, how did I not become aware of this lolita thing that you speak of? Especially since it involves getting dressed up in those awesome outfits! Could someone please enlighten me?

[PixieSkull]

Damn I love those pictures! You are ALL dressed so well, I wish I could dress like that. Alas, no similar clothing to be had.

I really do like that dress, I've been eyeing this old dress for a while that's very similar, so I can understand your feelings towards it.

[kash]

wow those pics are so harajuku- ish lol.... i love the dress!