Prom Dress Make-Over!

If you're the Mom of a daughter who is going to Prom this year, you may have noticed that there are practically ~NO~ dresses out there that are modest. They are either strapless or have spaghetti straps.

Finding a modest dress is pretty much impossible unless you order it from an online store or search for one on Ebay. Most of the online stores that Jillian and I had found were over-priced, so that left Ebay. Still not much to choose from that she liked.

Having limited funds, we decided to shop for a dress that was immodest and then give it a make-over.

In the past, she has gone to 2 formal Christmas dances. We found a dress both times that needed altering. Luckily she chose dresses that were either black or had black on it. So we were able to just buy a black shrug to cover her up. I sewed it onto her dresses. Both still looked adorable. See?
Anyway, for Prom, she wanted something other than black. We found an adorable bright pink dress at JC Penney that was, get this.....over HALF off! We only paid $39.99 vs. over a hundred dollars for a dress from other stores in the mall.

So this dress had a spaghetti strap that went around her neck. Not modest at all.
Because it was so pretty, sparkley and *cheap*, we decided to snag it and deal with the immodesty somehow.

We didn't know what we could do with a bright pink dress. No shrug was going to match perfectly. Cripes, I couldn't even find a pink shrug anyway. We also didn't think that a black or white shrug would look as nice as something that was the same color of the dress. So I searched online for alternate ideas. Boy, I love the Internet. How did we ever live without it many moons ago?!!

I found a website, ModestProm.com. They had several ideas to alter a Prom dress. The pattern I chose to use is here.

So easy! Or so I thought. No, actually, it was easy, but I'm not much of a seamstress, so I lacked confidence thinking I might not be able to pull it off.

With help from my Mother-in-law, who sewed the edges all the way around the 2 pieces (thank you again for that Mom!), and a few tears of my own because I thought I might not get it done in time, I was able to accomplish the task.

Here are some before and after photos. Please excuse the immodest looking one that is just for demonstration purposes.



Presto change-o.
Though the sleeves weren't perfect, I believe it actually made the dress look better. Plus, I'm really proud of Jillian for making the choice to be modest in the first place. She gave me no arguments (even 2 years ago she didn't) and ended up looking beautiful. Of course I had to make a digital layout based on her "choose the right" choice. :)

I suppose I better give a shout out to our friend Sharon (who just had a beautiful baby girl last Thursday!) for doing Jillian's hair. She did an excellent job and must have been tired that night because she did 2 different girls hair for Proms in one day. All while standing for hours when she was 9 months pregnant! Sharon rocks! Here's a photo of the back of Jillian's hair.

Cute huh?

Now if dress makers could only raise that bust-line a bit! -sigh-

Trash Ties

I found a cutie pie product! Trash Ties are awesome! What a cool concept! We all know what a trash tie is. Wire and plastic that seals the bag for us. Bread ties work the same. How about putting one or two in your hair?!


Ok, ok. You wouldn't really want to put a plastic trash tie in your hair. But these little cuties work on the same concept, but are made with fabric and bendable (wire?). They come in several colors and 2 lengths. How cool would it be to use it as a headband? To tie up your pony tail? Check out the website for a gallery of gorgeous hair-dos using the Trash Tie.


I can just see some of the YW in my Ward using these in their up-do's. Can't you picture it in your darling daughter's hair? So easy to twist it instead of a elastic band snapping you. Check it out! I'll be putting my order in soon!


I hope the lady who invented them doesn't mind me taking her pictures for my advertising plug. When I see a cute or unique product, I always feel like I have to share it...and these are awesome!

I want that!

Every so often I receive a catalog named, "Solutions- products that make life easier". I never actually order from it (one of these days I will be able to justify spending dh's hard earned cash), but I have a wish list that is getting longer by the minute. Here are a few things that caught my eye in the most recent catalog:

Who loves the corner and side brownies?! ME! Spend $39.95 (ouch..see? just not justifiable), on this Edge Baking Pan, and you get 'deliciously chewy edges on every piece' . It includes a mini spatula for serving. Gee...that makes the high price worth it. It's a frivolous item, but I still want this pan! Maybe some day LTD Commodities will come out with one that is similar for less than $10.

Now this is something to splurge on. It's pretty AND functional. It's a Candle Warmer Lamp for $29.95. You can, 'Enjoy your scented candles without smoke or fire danger'. Just place your jar candle on the warmer and the bulb melts it from the top. The frosted shade reflects the candle color. The description says it can extend the life of your jar candle. It's metal with a black finish. I like it! Especially since I love to light my fall candles this time of year. I can smell the pumpkin scented Yankee Candle right now. Mmm.

And last, but certainly not least...the Non-stick Oven Liner. I've always wanted one of these. Just place the reusable non-stick mat on the bottom of your oven to catch spills. Unlike foil, the durable mat won't slow cooking or reduce browning. Seems like it would be easy to clean and useful! It can also be cut to size. They sell a toaster oven size too. For $24.95, I'll again wait until I see it somewhere else a bit cheaper. I hate cleaning my oven so it stays on my wish list.

So..... that's just a few things from this catalog that I like. ....along with a gazillion other things! They also have a website if you are interested http://www.solutions.com/

Happy shopping!