Tuesday, January 22

a thrifted frock with potential...

today i have been greatly distracted from my list of 'to~dos' by a frock. this particular frock found me last night hanging on the racks of despair at my local thrift store. reasons why it caught my beady little eye and thus resulted in my distracted ways of today are as follows

reason 1: a mandarin collar
reason 2: black fabric with an itty bitty flora
reason 3: teeny tiny open work down the front
reason 4: minute button after button
(could result in time consuming fiddly business of getting dressed every day but banished this thought so as not to be put off)
reason 5: rather peachy cuffs with more minute buttons
reason 6: and the most important thing of all when coming across a thrifty find, it had potential


tres tricky to get good pics but these go someway to showing the frock and its potential
since my distracted ways came into play i have devised in my head a cunning plan on how to make my newly found frock into something wearable

plan 1: lop off at least 8 inches from the bottom to make it knee length
plan 2: darts at back of frock, just above waist band to make it fit a little better
plan 3: rustle around (quite gently and with care so as not to distress them) in my woven ribbon collection and add some detailing around the waist area to give it an illusion of a 'high waist' and less 'waist waist' band. this in turn will add a pretty detail and gives me an excuse to wear my ribbons (brilliantly cunning i feel!)
plan 4: don newly customized frock over a slip, leaving some of the buttons most risque~ly undone near the knee, to show slip peeking out. 
plan 5: add a jolly pretty vintage pin near mandarin collar 

all of this is in the hope of making the frock look less severe and matronly, for it is frighteningly so when worn just as i found it...
  
obviously having done all 5 plans it does look most brilliantly fabby in my head, however what is in my head and what usually eventually lies in my hands are quite often 2 different things. i have put that trifling thought out of my head though, for i will not let a small detail of it all going pair shaped and looking pants, put me off! no sirree! 

i see a whole wonderful world appearing before me, when i wear my newly customized frock. i see us becoming the best of friends, i see us with woolly tights, clogs and cardis to keep the chill off and in warmer climes i see us with clog sandals and a headscarf looking effortlessly bohemian and eclectic. i see us sight~seeing together in europe this spring, and before then, i see us testing out the waters together by wafting around the local grocery store, folks glancing and questioning who this mysterious and most peachily dressed woman could possibly be and not one person, no not one single soul, realizing the frock upon her bod once hung on the shelves of despair with very little hope...