Up-cycling a dress

[Daisybell1]

I got a bargain today in my local charity shop - a debenhams evening dress for 12.99. It needs some alterations to make it fit but I'm wondering about how to vamp it up a bit...

It's sleeveless so I'm wondering about making some capped sleeves maybe? I can knit and crochet so maybe some lace? Any ideas?

I usually find changing up the neckline gives it an entirely different look. Sometimes I add a peter pan collar- it's bang on trend.

Sleeve wise- it's usually just easier to layer. What about a crocheted shrug?

I have several patterns for shrugs, that's a great idea.

The neckline is a fairly deep V made by crossed material across the front - would adding a collar work?

For a deep V with a twist at the front you don't want to mess around with it too much or it could get overly fussy. You could consider lace embellishing a 'modesty' panel for underneath. It can be a very sweet look.

You could also have fun with the skirt shape, if it's long enough I like elasticising the bottom and pulling it in for a puffed out tulip effect. (It's not for everyone lol!) Or you could add a couple of darts to make it more streamlined?

Now I did wonder about a lace edging - what about one which matched the shrug?

Darts in the skirt could really work, I wondered about whether it's currently too girly, and whether to slim it down a bit... Or slim and then fishtail?

Fishtail could be fun and if you don't like it it's easy enough to bring back into a pencil skirt shape.

I'm not a matchy person so I'd probably not do both together with the shrug and lace. Each to their own though! Adding lace won't alter it permanently so it could be an idea to look into.

There's also the old adding a belt for structure tip as well. Can completely alter the way a dress looks.