From Rags to Riches

Recently I was asked to make a period outfit for a young lady of thirteen.

The outfit began with a trip to Goodwill where I found this checkered bedskirt

 (I actually got two of them).

As you can see Lizzy is helping with the presentation:).

I found a lovely white blouse at another thrift shop.

Here is the final result.

I made the skirt from the bedskirt and then used some blue fabric leftover from another project to make the belt.

I altered the sleeve cuffs and added some lace to the white blouse.

Altogether the price tag is low:

$6 for both bedskirts,

$2 for the blouse,

nothing for the leftover blue fabric.

I am going to make her a matching petticoat from the other bedskirt and a shawl from the leftover ruffles.

What thrifty projects have you completed lately?

What Do You See?

So what do you see?

I see a bargain!

This lovely dress was a find at Goodwill for $5.99.

But I didn't see a dress.

I saw seven black frog closures, a zipper (well you can't see that because it's on the other side:), and lining for a bodice that is being made.

Yup, this dress resulted in frog closures for future projects. These frog closures sell for about $3.50 each. The zipper sells for a couple of dollars. The fabric for lining the pagoda sleeves of my bodice would have cost a about $5. So for $5.99 I got about $35 in supplies.

The best part is that the money spent on the dress is helping others:).

New Suit

After two weeks of battling patterns Christine and I finally finished a Victorian suit for my hubby!

He tried it on for the first time today (it was a surprise) and with the exception of needing a nip and tuck to the trousers it fits well!

The pinstripe fabric was $1.50 per yard from Walmart (it took about 10 yards).

Buttons were discounted 40% from Joann's with coupons.

The vest fabric was $4 a yard from Hobby Lobby (the fabric is leftover yardage from a dress I am making).

We used a McCall's pattern for the trousers, Simplicity for the vest, and a Burda pattern for the coat.

The Burda pattern was very difficult to follow but produced a lovely coat.

Leftover fabric was used for the coat lining.

Hubby will look very nice at the next reenactment in his new pin stripe suit with hat, gloves, and tie:).

We literally saved hundreds of dollars making his suit.

It was a lot of hard work but worth it:).

Pink Brocade and Lace

Well another dress is finished and made it's debut

at our Pick Pocket Plantation tour today.

The pink, actually it's more of a mauve, brocade fabric was on the discount fabric rack at Walmart for $1.50 a yard (the dress needed about 7 yards plus the lining fabric which was also $1.50 a yard but only required about 2 yards).

I used a Simplicity pattern and trimmed the sleeves with some leftover tea stained lace from a previous project.

The frog closures ($3 for both) are also tea stained and the bodice is trimmed in a pearl trim (also leftovers).

The chemisette is an antique piece found at a local antique store for about $12.

 Altogether the dress has about $35 invested and a couple of days time.

 Don't forget to consider leftovers from previous projects when sewing a new project as it helps reduce costs greatly:).

Gone With the Budget!

Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite movies!

I am actually fluent in GWTW being that I can quote most of the film:).

In addition to being a fan of the movie I also enjoyed reading the book as well as reading books about the making of the movie.

Aside from being a big fan I also love the dresses.

Of course, my favorite is the BBQ dress.

So I decided to make the BBQ dress.

 Reproduction fabric is available but at $35 per yard with 18 yards needed another option had to be found.

And so the search began for a fabric close in appearence to the original. I decided to find a comparable green and white fabirc and cover it over in sheer white organza in hopes that it would have the same effect as the original dress.

I finally found a fabric that would work at Joann's on sale for $5.60 a yard.

The organza was also on sale and I chose to use dark green crushed velvet for the belt instead of real velvet (a difference of about $20 a yard:).

The boning was leftover from a dress I purchased at a thrift shop for $1.

I used a bodice pattern from an old Simplicity ball gown pattern and made the skirt without a pattern.

This allowed for only about 7 yarrds of fabric as opposed to the 18 yards required for the actual BBQ dress pattern (yes I have the reprint pattern which can be purchased at the gift shop at the GWTW/Marguaret Mitchell museum in Atlanta).

It took some creativity but I think the overall effect is very similar to Scarlett's BBQ dress.

Instead of spending $600+ to make an exact copy, my dress came in just under $100.

Frankly Scarlett, I saved some money!

What's your favorite GWTW dress?