Little Black Dress

What do you do with all those cool clothes you never wear? I have a closet full of treasures, treasures I never wear but are too good to throw out.

Like my little black dress, the one I was going to wear everyday when I moved to Paris.
It was time to bring out the inner designer and come up with a new and better use this ignored dress.

Turning a dress into a top is really easy. Just cut off the bottom. 

 After I hemmed the bottom edge, (with my new Overlock machine!) I removed half the fabric up the neckline and put in an elastic band. Now it doesn't slide of my shoulders all the time. (Probably one of the reasons I didn't wear it so often. )

Finally I decorated the shoulders with big, white bows. What a pretty top! It goes with skirts, jeans, anything at all really.

The transformation of the dress doesn't stop here. The bottom bit I cut off got attached to a black sweater that had shrunken in the wash. 

To make it a bit more interesting I sewed on a row of mother of pearl buttons on the back. 

Finally I attached a strip of lace at both sleeves. 

Not bad for a shrunken sweater and an unused dress.