Category: Repurpose

A little math lesson:

6 week post-baby body+Carribbean vacation=nothing in your closet fits.

The Hubs and I had been planning on attending the wedding of some near and dear friends in the British Virgin Islands since February of 2009. When I turned up pregnant that fall we quickly did the math and discovered, to our delight, our little bundle of joy was due exactly 6 weeks before our plane took off.

As April drew nearer and my belly kept swelling I started to panic about what I was going to wear. I knew I’d be surrounded by plenty of other women who hadn’t just given birth, but I didn’t want to be the dumpy Mom. So I raided my closet for something I could refashion and feel good about myself in. I spotted this dress I bought on eBay years ago and have never worn. It just never fit me right.

I spent a few minutes examining it, holding it up to myself, and checking out the stitching on the inside. Then I cut the top off, turned the raw edge down once, and sewed. That was it! There was existing elastic in the waist that I left and it fit like a comfy dream!

I was out running errands with just the baby last week so I decided to swing by my local Goodwill. Toddlers and thrift stores just don’t mix so I don’t get in there as often as I’d like. I found a few steals and as I excitedly made my way to the register, something caught my eye, and I turned just in time to see this bright yellow smashed among the women’s skirts. I couldn’t resist investigating and to my delight, I pulled out this fabulous skirt!

The $4.59 price tag turned me off and as I hemmed and hawed at how much I thought Sofie might like it, I decided to bite the bullet and pay the nearly $5 (hey, that’s a lot by thrifting standards!). But when she rang up my purchase I almost squealed with glee when she took $2.30 off the skirt!!

I came home and couldn’t decide exactly what I wanted the dress to look like. Even as I was taking it apart I was bouncing ideas off myself, struggling internally. Finally, I decided I wanted to try shirring and figured this would be a golden opportunity. So I did some quick math, cut my pieces, and away I went. 45 minutes later I had this little beauty for my little beauty! She’s in LOVE with the dogs and I’m in love with the whole thing, especially for $2.29!