Back when I started this blog, I spent a lot of time doing clothing makeovers. I took pieces I had in my closet or found thrifting and changed them to make them better. (I even did an entire month of projects like this (for 31 Days), modifying thrift store finds every day for a month.)

I haven’t done many projects like this lately, focusing more on home projects and things going on in our day-to-day lives. But I have a closet full of “to-do” projects to complete, so this weekend, I decided to dive in.

First up, this dress. I bought it years ago, and I’ve worn it a bunch, but it hasn’t gotten much wear lately. I think it’s because of the puffed sleeves (there’s elastic in them) and the ruffles. I’m getting a little older (ahem), and the style of the dress seems a little too “cute” for me.

If I take away both of these elements, I think I’ll wear this dress much more.

I used my trusty seam ripper to remove the elastic from both sleeves and the front ruffles. This gave the dress the less “sweet”, more minimalist look I was hoping for.

Here’s the dress after the ruffles were removed – complete with loose threads and tiny holes left from the threads used to attach the ruffles. The easy solution for getting rid of these? Toss the garment in the washer and then the dryer. The holes will magically disappear.

The front of the dress is left with small, distressed lines from where the ruffles were. I like how this tiny detail looks. The sleeves look better with the elastic removed, too.

It’s the perfect dress for layering – here with a striped turtleneck. I paired it with leather ankle boots – and super pale winter legs!

I’m so happy to put this dress back into rotation. It’s an easy basic that works year-round.