Show woman domars s world outdated dresses converted into practical wearing apparel viii C atla adress D the graduation dress that has h hung in ah the closet for two three or tg even v to four years the style Is definitely do dated by now its use as a white dress Is extremely limited and yet the fabric still may be good the graduation dress Is a symbol of many of the type of clothes that clutter closets year after year 9 little thought and ingenuity however can convert them into something extremely useful dont ever be afraid to look into such a closet because the impracticality tica lity of some of your purchases may make you shudder bring out the old and the new and make them into something for use right now A bit of dye a small piece of new fabric and some re fitting and styling will do wonders for that type of clothing most odthe older dresses snow show their vintage by the sleeves length and collar line yet in most cases these are simple alterations to make and the few hours of time spent on them will give not only hours but days weeks and even months of good solid wear in a dress that you can really enjoy if the sleeves and the yoke of the dress are hopelessly outdated don dont t waste time and effort trying to change them the dress and buy a small amount of material for the yoke and sleeves to make them contrast the dress which can be dyed use completely simple lines on the dress because the color will carry most of the interest in a dress d ress I 1 convert graduation dresses made of contrasting conors colors you may want to add additional interest by ay way of an attractive belt or buttons tons down the front use leftover trimming in remodeling many mending and sewing kits contain any number of bits of attractive laces and trim that could easily be used in remodeling work lets say that you are dyeing a graduation or another similar type of garment use a dark green or brown shade tor for this tall fail or even black alack but lighten it up and make it dressy by using a bit of eyelet trimming at the neck and sleeves the very simplest type of dress la is used for this style the dress may IWA into useful clot clothing bing have long or short sleeves 0 or r even three quarter length there Is a simple opening down the front collarless ot of course adjust the trim so that it looks as attractive as possible by placing it on carefully and evenly its also possible to have gloves to match your dresses if tor for ex FR rain coat 3 f var v a al 12 i ala mla Z theres plenty of styling in rain cloak as seen in the above model with sweeping swee piner lines accented by a button on crusader hood the fabric used is reversible and two tone with a smooth satin finish on one side and on the other a new texture with the appearance of a shimmering changeable taffeta which has a water repellant finish ample you have looked over your summer castoffs ca and decided they will never be white again dip them into the dye bath with the dress and you will have a pair to match the dress you may of course add cuffs to the gloves or sew a bit ot of grosgrain ribbon trim to them tor for pepping up purposes let material style nar harmonize montze the mistake often made in remodeling Is that the style to which we change a dress is not always in keeping with the material it if you have a simple rayon or broadcloth dont seek the fussy styles because these fabrics as well as many others require a simple pattern change the style but keep the good points of the dress and make the change subtle some dresses for instance need only a sleeve and neck change in this case rip out the old sleeves and you probably will have enough material tor for a new style I 1 recently saw this carried out in a dress that had short straight sleeves they were removed and pressed flat then a wide bias strip was cut from each sleeve then new style cap sleeves were cut from the material and attached always remember that it if new material is added to the dress it should be used in at least two places so that it looks as though it belonged if you have to add some of the new material to the neck you also might like an insert in the hem or perhaps a bow or bustle effect repeating the added material there are literally dozens of ways to do this and the best way to decide what should be done is to pattern your remodeling after the new styles combine shirts blouses for current styles shirts and blouses are among the easiest of garments to remodel and they are extremely practical because of the number of suits in which women invest their money in n many cases ims ibis even possible to combine th the e good and wearable features of two to make one good blouse if you have sequins or other trim on one blouse perhaps there is another one in the wardrobe which would benefit by the addition of it especially if the first one is too worn to mend another trick which will add another article of wearing apparel to the wardrobe is that of making a blouse into a dickey this can be done very easily if the blouse has a vest effect or it if it is highly trimmed with inserts etc mens shirts that are worn at collars and cuffs are very readily made into new blouses whose original use you would never suspect it if you feel that the color should be changed they are easily dyed no matter what the fabric as long as you use a good all purpose dye that will color rayon as well as cotton or combinations of the two fabrics its very important when using shirt fabrics to select a style suitable to the fabric only the simplest plainest patterns are usually good with regular shirt material except when white fabric li Is dyed into a good solid color |