31 Days: Color – Day 29: Blue Paisley Dress

This should be a #TBT kind of post. Except on a Wednesday. And I don’t really do hashtags.

If you’ve been here a long time, you might remember this post I did about my Thifted Hall of Fame. (My hair! Oh my goodness, I forgot it was that short.)

I love this dress. I am a huge fan of paisley, and, like I said in this post, the pattern reminds me of men’s pajamas. (That’s puh-JAH-muhz.) But even though I love it, I’ve never worn it. The length is just not all that flattering. So when I was looking for colorful projects for 31 Days, I knew that hemming this blue dress would be a good candidate.

But then I tried it on, and I realized there are some other wonky things about this dress. Like how the belt loops are really high. (I snipped them off.)

And how the dress has the same width from the chest to way past the hips, making the skirt flare in an awkward place. I might have thought that it’s just my body that the dress doesn’t fit, but I have a fairly long torso. This dress is made for a giant. So even if I hemmed the dress a few inches, it would still look weird.

So I tried something even easier. A belt.

Do you remember these metallic stretchy belts from the 80s? When I found this one at the thrift store for $1, I was so excited. I could now live out all my childhood dreams of looking like I belong on the set of Dynasty.

I added the belt, and then pulled the top to blouse over it.

Perfect proportions. Easiest 31 Days project (even beats this one).

And just for fun, I added a fur vest. Because nothing says Dynasty elegance like a gold belt AND fur.

Full Disclosure: We didn’t really watch Dynasty. We were big fans of Dallas and Falcon Crest. Friday nights meant super buttery popcorn and back-to-back evening soap opera dramas. One summer, when my brother came out to California to visit, we hunted down Spring Valley Vineyard, where some of the exterior shots of Falcon Crest were filmed. Oh, the memories.

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