Have you ever bought something online and when you try it on it looks NOTHING like the picture? I guess I had it coming when I saw this cute dress for only $19 on Romwe.
Expectation.
Reality.
Not only does it have no volume, but it looks like a bad 80’s polygamy dress (why do all frumpy dresses remind me of polygamous, is that rude?). You can’t really tell in the photo but the fabric is suuuper thin and cheap as well. Like I said, I should have known it was going to be horrible quality for such a low price.
Because it was so cheap I didn’t feel bad cutting it up and try to salvage it. I was actually excited to practice my refashion skills on it knowing if it messed up I would only waste $19.
The first thing to fix was the sleeves. I cut off the three-quarter sleeves to be short-sleeves with a slight angle/curve since 1. it would be much more flattering on me and my wide shoulders, and 2. the sleeves straight across still looked dumb and frumpy. I got the curve by pinning and trying on, pinning and trying on multiple times until it looked just right and then measuring and replicating it equally on the other side.
Then just serge and sew! I am not very patient with sewing, especially tiny little hems so it isn’t perfect but it was good practice. Here is after!
The left is process with pins in, the right is after finishing. I think the makeup and curled hair makes most of the difference! 😉
I thought I was going to have to cut down the neckline but it actually looked great after just fixing the sleeves, so it only took one simple step to fix this dress, how awesome is that?!
Now it is one of my favorites and I’m sure I’ll be wearing it all summer because of it’s thin and airy fabric. So all in all it’s a win!
Have you ever had high expectations for something you bought online that just totally failed in reality? What did you end up doing with it? Hopefully this inspires you to take out something in your closet that doesn’t look quite right and just cutting it up and winging it until it works. If I can do it, you can!
