Project Makeover Fugly Dress!

This morning I woke up with a clear sense of purpose! Well no, I woke up grumpy and groggy like every morning. But once I was properly awake, I had a clear sense of purpose!

A dress arrived the other day which I had purchased on Ebay for super cheaps. It looked a bit nanna-ish in the picture but I figured it was only a few dollars and I could probably do something with it. When it arrived, it wasn't quite was I was expecting! It was really a sack with buttons on the front. Everything about it was just so wrong. It was too big, the "waist" was super low, the skirt was too long. The whole thing was about as unflattering as a dress gets.

So I had a think about what I could do with it, and decided to spend today trying to actually do it. I'm pretty sure I've said before how inexperienced I am with sewing, so I'm learning every time I sit down at my machine. But I'm actually really enjoying it and it gives me a great sense of accomplishment once I actually finish something. There is definitely room for improvement with this dress. The bust area is still a little loose, some fabric in the front folded over while I was sewing and I didn't realise so I went straight over it, so I probably need to do that part again, and I'm not completely happy with the gathering at the sides but I was sick of fiddling with it tonight so its staying that way for now. However, as I said, I'm still very new to this so I'm still happy just to end up with something like what I was aiming for!

Here's the dress:

Before and After

And here it is as part of a complete breakfast... um, outfit!

Please excuse the bra straps, I don't even own a strapless bra! The shame!