9/10/12

Makeover Monday: Sweet Sweden Dress

Good afternoon! I am starting a brandy new series here on the blog called Makeover Mondays, where I will makeover a vintage or thrifted item to make it a little more modern and wearable!  I am so excited to share my very first one with you guys!  I alter many of the vintage dresses that go into my shop, usually shortening the hem to make the garment a little more modern.  I realized the other day that no one actually gets to see the garment before the alterations take place and therefore cannot appreciate what goes into it!  Most of the time, the garment is beautiful in its original form as well, but oftentimes a long, really full skirt is hard to pull off and can look frumpy on the average individual.  This is all personal taste of course, and everyone I am sure has their own opinion on what is the most wearable cut! That said, I use my own judgements on what I think would look better shortened. And here I present to you, this week's makeover!
 
 
Outfit Details:
Belt: Vintage/ Thrifted
Purse: Vintage/ Antique Store
Shoes: Thrifted
Necklace: gift
    I fell in love with this dress when I first laid eyes upon it. Now that I know how to sew (though I am for sure no expert), I love thrift shopping so much more.  It is really exciting to be able to see the potential in a vintage garment and know that you can give it a little update.  It is so fun to watch something be transformed by the power of your own two hands (well, and the power of my beloved Brother sewing machine).
     The embroidered flowers and oversized bib collar on this are amazing, it reminds me of a traditional dress from Sweden.  I decided what better accessory to pair it with than a bright bouquet of local flowers that were given to me by my roommate. Aren't the gorgeous?! I also decided to try to actually style my new shorter hair cut in a different way.  When it comes to my hair, I am definitely a shower-and-go type girl, but I figured I may as well try to figure out a few different ways style it for when I feel like making a little effort!
     On a slightly more melancholy note, one of my favorite picture taking locations in a field in front of the mountains by R's house is being made into a housing development. We pulled up and instead of an open prairie with a mountain trail, there were huge piles of dirt and heavy machinery. There is still a lot of open space in Colorado, especially compared to where I am from in New Jersey, but it is still heartbreaking to see bulldozers overtake an area of natural beauty.  As the Joni Mitchell/ Counting Crows song goes:
"Don't it always seem to go, 
That you don't know what you got till it's gone,
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"
Hope you guys enjoyed the first rendition of Makeover Monday! If you have any thoughts or suggestions of things you would like to see in the future, etc., I would love to hear them!
xo Hannah
p.s. Like the dress? It is a size Medium, now for sale in the shop here!

23 comments:

  1. Oh my , this is so pretty. I'm really tempted to buy it. If it's still there by the time I get paid on Friday, I might consider it. It must be so hard to get rid of things like this, especially when they look so great on you! By the way, loving the location and the curled hair!

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  2. love the collar on that dress, and your bag is awesome!!

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  3. What a pretty bouquet! I love renovating clothes, nice job!

    Rachel
    floralprintsandcommonsense.blogspot.com

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  4. You do such an amazing job on all the alterations for your shop! I can sew a decent hem but I def think it just takes practice to get to where all the measuring, ironing, and pinning and doing all that five times over since it's never straight seems manageable. currently i have a big box full of thrifted finds to mend... oh boy. anywho, you look amazing in that dress, wish u could keep it for your own. I love that little embroidery and the fabric looks great. such a pretty photoshoot w/ the flowers too (local, double yay!) & super cute hair.. although i'm like u and couldn't care less about doing my hair haha.
    hope your week is off to a good start!
    http://dusanabotswana.com

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  5. ahhh awesome awesome idea for a post! and i do that all the time too. i never care how the shape looks, just as long as i love the pattern. i'm not very good at sewing though, and the last dress i thrifted sort of had those flowing pleats like yours did and the hem turned out all bobbly and not straight. any tips on how to get it right?

    (such pretty pictures by the way- your bouquet of flowers were the perfect touch!)

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  6. the shorter hem makes it SO Much more modern - it really transformed it. i love them

    <3 katherine
    of corgis and cocktails

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  7. The shorter length looks great on this dress! I love your photos, the flowers and the field look so beautiful. That bag- and the whole styling of this dress- are perfection!

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  8. The short hem is beautiful. The details on this dress are so unique and lovely! It fits you like a dream. Hemming vintage clothes is the easiest thing to do. I think half my wardrobe was created that way. I look forward to the rest of the series.

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  9. AHHHH I love that dress and your hair looks amazing! I've been eyeing up a few pieces in the shop, but I have some big expenses to pay for the moment. Plan on making a purchase or two in the near future. :-)

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  10. Very nice. I love the embroidery on the collar. And posing with the lovely bouquet is a very nice touch!

    Loulou

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  11. Gorgeous! I love the embrodery. Would love to see the before and the afters on you, to see how they sit differently on a person.

    Sewing can make such a difference. I have two thrift/vintage finds awaiting sewing, but it has to wait till I can get some help from my mom! I'm not much of a seamstress!

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  12. love the 'makeover monday' idea! this dress (and that embroidery) was great to begin with, but I also loved that you made it a bit more modern and wearable :)
    Oh, My

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  13. the embroidery is so beautiful, love the difference it makes just by going shorter.

    xo erica

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  14. Beautiful pictures!

    If you follow me, tell me, I will follow you too!

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  15. Oh what a lovely idea. I shall have to make sure I check back on Mondays now!


    http://www.etsy.com/shop/prettylittletitch

    http://prettylittletitch.blogspot.co.uk

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  16. I love this and can't wait to see more! I do a lot of cutting and hemming for my shop too. Sometimes I feel bad cutting into a 50 year old dress, but you're right---some of the longer stuff just doesn't translate to today.

    Beautiful pics!

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  17. Such a great solution to many dresses I find at thrift stores - just hem them! Haha, its such an easy update to do. Love how this one turned out and your dreamy photos. :)

    Trendy Teal

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  18. I LOVE everything about this post. The dress now looks incredible and you are simply stunning. There is no better feeling than finding a thrift store gem that just needs a little 'sprucing up'! xx

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  19. 1) Your hair looks so cute! Great job! 2) You fixed that dress up perfectly! 3) I would want to hang out in that field too! So lovely!

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  20. Aaah This dress is really pretty, the detail in the collar is just gorgeous...Thrifintg + sewing do indeed go hand in hand, the possibilities are endless :]

    xoxo Mama Wolf.

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  21. Hi. New reader here. Love your blog and can't wait to see more makeovers. I do a lot of thrifting and hemming myself so I love to see how others do it.

    Gracey
    http://fashionforgiants.blogspot.com

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  22. THERE"S THAT DRESS!!!! Ah, can I tell you how bad I wish it was my size :( This was such a perfect dress makeover and both the photos and outfit are one of my favorites of yours. Keep the dress makeovers coming. It is simply my favorite thing to do as of late.

    That's a shame about the field. My community recently fought against a Target going in for the very same reason. Luckily they won - and the closest one is only 15 minutes away, so it's not like we needed another (though I love Target).

    Anyhow, you look gorgeous Hannah! Have a lovely week doll! xo Marisa

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  23. This photos are absolutely gorgeous!! I especially love the one with the flowers lined along the right side of the photo, and the rest is blurry. What a cool idea for a series too! I have a few thrifted things that are definitely too long, but unfortunately I have zero sewing skill to fix them. This dress is beautiful!

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