I am an avid collector of vintage dresses and regardless if it will fit me or not, I rarely pass up a bargain-priced retro frock at the thrift shop so I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out the quick and quirky fixes necessary to make my ever-growing dress collection wearable.
Take a peek at how to update a vintage dress and make those less than stellar frocks at the thrift shop (and hiding at the back of your closet) fit like a dream!
Start with a frumpy frock – I’ll share how to refashion the belt too at the end of this post!
The lining of this dress was less than stellar…
so I grabbed my seam ripper and carefully removed it.
Snag a dress with your ideal length and place on top of the retro dress with the shoulder seams and collar lined up.
Mark the length + a couple of centimetres of seam allowance.
Cut off the excess length, if the dress is made from a non-fraying fabric you can simply leave the raw edge as is and wear!
Hem up the shortened dress.
Enjoy your fab new to you dress!
I also replaced the boring collar button with a pretty vintage one.
Check out how I transformed the belt into a lovely hands free bag right here:
Continue your passion for refashion with my Confessions of a Refashionista e-book series:
