The Green Dress // From Boring to Lovely

Hello!

I have a fun outfit to share with y'all today! Recently I played piano in a friend's wedding, and needed to wear certain colors. So, Mom and I went shopping...and it was a rather discouraging event. Store after store after store. Really?! How hard should it be to find a sage green or tan dress? In September! They are fallish colors, so one would think that you'd find them just about everywhere, but no! It couldn't be that easy! :) Until.....

.....at Dillard's.....on the clearance rack { <3 } ....we found this:

...for the lovely price of $16!!! I was so excited to have found something in the right color, the right size, not too short, no plunging neckline...I would've paid good money for that dress, but $16!!! This is exciting! Relieved to have found something, I didn't stop and consider how perfectly boring the dress was until a couple of days later. Then I realized it was going to need a little help! :0 Did I mention that it wasn't too short? Obviously, you can tell that from the picture! ;) 

So, I got out my scissors and commenced to amputating a great deal of the lower portion of the dress.

 

After measuring, marking, cutting, pinning, going to great lengths to make sure it was straight, re-pinning several times, and finally sewing up a new hem, I had a dress that I was much happier with! 

Now for the fun part!

To dress it up, and eradicate any last traces of boring... 

....the belt was a definite must. It breaks up the "plainness" of the dress. 

....it needed a little brown sweater....
(also on clearance!) 

...and of course a little bit of jewelry is always fun. :)

Totally did not get a picture of the shoes....

But, anyhow, here it is: 

I was so excited to see how this outfit came together. It was a lot of fun, and even though I had to put an hour or two of work into it, I didn't have to spend much money, which is worth it to me. 

I also discovered that the big piece I cut off of the bottom could be used as a scarf!

I hope that this is encouraging to some of you. There are definitely a whole bunch of ways to spice up your wardrobe a little without having to spend lots of money or lower your standards.

// Outfit Details //

Dress: Dillard's, Jones New York, $16

Sweater: Cato Fashions, $13

Belt: Kohl's, $10 ?

Shoes: Shoe Dept., Hot Cakes, $18

Necklace: Local gift shop, $25

Bracelet: gift

Hope y'all have a lovely day!

Keri