Pretty Woman Dress

I saw this dress last week at Salvation Army when I stopped to pick up some uncut sewing patterns for the Social Canvas show. It immediately reminded me of the dress Julia Roberts wears in Pretty Woman, shot in 1990. For only $2.49 cents, I couldn't not get it! With just a few alterations, it is perfect for 2011!

Before: sleeves are way too puffy! The skirt is too long. Easy solution: remove the sleeves, sew up those raw edges with bias tape. Shorten skirt! And it was a little too "blah" with all those polka dots and nothing at the waistline.

The back side. Before and after. Shortened. Sleeves removed.

Now in shortening this dress, it was a piece of cake. It just so happened there were two layers to the skirt. Notice the second one? I just cut that right out, taking about 4 " off the length and allowing more movement in the skirt. The lining with that second skirt attached was a little constricting. No sewing required!

Thanks to Matt for taking the before pictures for me. Too bad I can't steal him to take all of em.

And it even has pockets!!

My favorite part about this reconstruction was the added trim at the waist. I used vintage floral bias tape to sew up the sleeves and I had a ton left over. I was going to just add a vintage belt to the dress but I thought I'd try something new. I used the remaining trim and permanently sewed it to the waistline, by simply top-stitching it. Then I hand sewed a little bow and attached it to the side.

It's available for sale here, in my Etsy shop.