Altered Dress Form

Hi bloggers, as you know I've been very into the shabby chic, vintage, Parisian style of crafting lately, and the fact that I was able to find a gorgeous piece for such a cheap price over the weekend really put the sprinkles on my ice cream.  lol.

Let me just say that whenever I purchase something to "work" on (creatively), it usually takes me months (and sometimes years) to get to it, so I was shocked at how easy and quickly I was able to transform this dress form... I think it took less than an hour. 

Sunday was my sister's birthday, and as I shopped around after church looking for a really nice purse I found this gorgeous wrought iron (almost 3 foot) dress form at Ross.  (If you follow me on Facebook, you knew about this because I posted a photo of it as soon as I saw it.  Except in the photo [above] it looks teeny tiny).  

Anyway, so as the story goes, I wasn't looking to get myself anything, but I spotted this thing 2 aisles away and ran to get it before anyone else saw it tucked away in the "decor" section.  I picked it up and couldn't believe it was only $16.99!!!  I thought for sure, it would at least be $30.  I was on the fence about getting myself a purse too, but as soon as I saw this gorgeous Parisian piece of art, I flung the purse across a shelf and kept walking... lol.  I knew I was going to use it for decor in my soon-to-come "Parisian" theme'd craftroom, but I didn't think I'd be altering it.  Maybe add a flower at the neckline and that's it, but when I started to pull out trims, ribbon and flowers I knew I had to completely change the look of this piece.  I put it on the top shelf above my "paper" section in my craft room and looked at it for 3 days.  It wasn't until I found myself with no baby for 30 minutes (while my husband went to Best Buy before they closed), that I thought I'd work on the dress form.

 

Everything you see pretty much describes itself.  The one thing I had trouble with was the cameo cabochon.  When I wrapped the semi-flat pearl trim around the neck and let it hang (as I was about to cut off the piece) I thought it looked very sassy hanging there.  So I decided I would add something at the end of the trim.  I searched in my jewelry section for things and nothing seemed to fit it perfectly until I ran into this cabochon setting that I had 3 pieces left of, but it was too big for the small pink cameo that I wanted to glue inside of it.  I was so disappointed.  I kept searching for more cabochons, but couldn't find any other smaller one to fit the cameo.  Not to mention, if I had gone any smaller the hanging piece would've been lost within all the flowers and decor on the dress form.  So that's when I put on my thinking hat and figured out a way to make the 2 pieces fit.  And as if a ray of lightening struck me from outside my window, (it was thundering yesterday in Florida - lol), a *LIGHT BULB* turned on and thought 'the same piece of semi-pearl trim I used to decorate the top and bottom of the dress form, would fit perfectly slanted inside the cabochon and act as a background to the cameo'.  A ton of hot glue, feathers and a steady hand later and VOILA!, my masterpiece was finished!!  

I don't think this is the best altered dress form out there (my sense of humor would have you think that I've become a little arrogant about this piece, but that's just the way I joke)... honestly, this is my first altered dress form and I absolutely ADORE the end product.  I have a few more dress forms in stock that I could "doll" up, but for now, I'm just going to sit at my laptop (pinning), stare at it and smile.

I hope by this post, you are all inspired to alter something this week.  Doesn't have to be a dress form, and it certainly doesn't have to be pink.  But fire up those hot glue guns and get to crafting!!

x0, Damaris

SUPPLIES

*  hot pink pleated trim

*  white goose feathers

*  giant sized butterfly broach

*  cabochon & cameo

*  fancy buttons (2 sizes)

*  I Am Roses flowers (4 styles)

*  pearl trim (semi-flat)

*  hot glue gun