...and DONE.
It has been a long couple of weeks. Working on the Redbird Vintage business takes up way more time than I originally thought it would. Getting kids ready for the new "school" year is exhausting. The amount of work one has to put in to send a child to Mom's Day Out and Pre-School is crazy. From all the forms to making sure they have the right thermos...just all these details that I never even imagined. Then the kids got sick, didn't go to school and all the crazy last minute gotta-have-the-perfert-thermos shopping went to waste because I could have just ordered the stupid thing on Amazon. The point of all this is that I have an excuse for taking over 2 weeks to get this follow up post completed. I know you were all waiting, holding your breath to see the results (results that I'm pretty happy with).
It always amazes me how much of a difference can be made in just a hem change. Dresses that I otherwise wouldn't have been caught dead in take on a whole new life by just shortening them up a bit.
70's Maroon Super Deep V-Neck Mini Dress
When I first saw this dress I was totally in love. The material is thick, the color is amazing and I really like a low neckline. It had a TON of material folded up on the bottom (almost like it had been a maxi dress and someone had already tried to shorten it) but the main issues were random holes/burn marks all over the place. A shorter hem was an easy fix and, in my humble opinion, makes the dress a bit cuter & more fun to wear. This dress is currently in our shop at www.redbirdvintagebox.com and you'll be able to purchase or request it in your box on September 25th.
Altered dress with a shorter hem and no more holes*
Hawaiian Floral Print Maxi Mumu Dress
My plan was to keep this dress and take it Florida with me. I pictured myself sipping pina coladas while wearing it, giving off that perfect "totally carefree and cute at the beach" vibe. I don't know why I can't accept the fact that I CANNOT wear crazy prints or florescent colors. I really need to accept it because the heartache I felt when I tried this dress on after the alteration was immense. The fit was perfect. Perfect length, perfect sleeve, perfect fabric but the colors and pattern were TOTALLY wrong for me. I'm super happy with the way it turned out. I could just dye my hair blonde so the colors would look better on me. Something to consider.
Altered dress with a shorter hem*
Light Blue & White Lace Dress
I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep this dress but it still didn't alleviate the sadness I felt when, after FINALLY getting all the spots out and getting it washed up I ended up shrinking it about half a size and it no longer fit me. It's probably better that way. Less temptation. This dress was the hardest to finish up. Besides the spotting and the hem it also had small rips/holes in the lace and patching that up proved to be way more difficult and time consuming than I had originally thought. It still needs to be steamed/ironed out but I wanted to post a quick photo so you could see the results.
Altered dress with a shorter hem & no spots or holes*
80's Navy Striped Sailer Mini Dress
This one got a bit out of hand. It has ended up being my favorite, although I'm way too old to wear a hem this short. I kept finding more and more holes, which made the hemline shorter and shorter until finally the end result arrived. I'm too self conscience to post pictures, but I paired this with a pair of suede knee high stiletto boots and it was SO CRAZY CUTE! If I was still in college I would be wearing this immediately. I really feel like the worst part of everyday 80's fashion was the hemlines. Almost every 80's dress I've ever come into contact with instantly becomes cute when you lop off the bottom 5 inches. This dress will also be available in the Redbird Vintage Box & Shop on September 25th.
Altered dress with a shorter hem & no spots or holes*
One of the things I love most about collecting/finding vintage clothing is the alteration process; taking something that would otherwise be thrown out and bringing it back to life, giving it a new & more modern look. I'm finding that with everything else we've got going on the time it takes me to finish each dress is just astronomical. I've found an awesome seamstress to help out who is just as excited about Redbird Vintage Box as we are. Working with her will allow us to really tailer certain clothing items to an individual's taste/body type and I'm really excited to see all of the results.
I'll be writing more about Redbird Vintage Box over the next few weeks, but if you haven't checked it out already, you should at www.redbirdvintagebox.com. You can also learn more about what we're doing via our Facebook Page, Pinterest & Instagram. We would love for you to Like, Pin & Follow our social media sites and please give us feedback as to what you like, don't like and would love to see more of.
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