Miss Revlon Dress Makeovers

As you know from this post:

Miss Revlon Doll Makeover

I had two dresses that needed

a clean up and restoration. 

This blue and white stripe dress

AND

This satin wedding dress.

(photo from the eBay ad)

The wedding dress has

what looks like a water mark reaching

half way up the skirt.

It also has really bad holes.

I put both dresses in a cold water soak.

The blue stripe is made from a strong cotton fabric

so I washed it with detergent first then

some Dawn dish soap.

The wedding dress was just soaked with a little Dawn.

Here is the stripe dress ready for pressing.

I was not able to brighten the white as much as I'd hoped,

BUT LOOK AT IT NOW!!

Marylou and her dress are both refreshed and restored!

I am SO happy with how this dress came out.

I think Marylou is happy too.

I made Marylou's hat from a 4" drink coaster.

I push my thumb into the center to make a 

slight conical shape, and then decorate!

Next is this wedding dress.

You can see the water mark and ALL the holes!

What am I going to do?

The first thing I did was remove all the 

embroidered embellishments.

This was harder than I expected.

They were not sewn on! They were clamped on

with these clawed faux pearls!

No wonder there were SO many holes!

When the embroidered bits were all off

 they left behind lots of little holes.

Whenever I do a dress makeover on a

vintage dress.  I ask myself:

"If I do this will it make it worse?"

This was definitely a NO!

SO! My next step was cutting away the worst

 parts of the skirt that I decided 

were too damaged.

The dress will now be tea length.

After playing with the dress and trying

different ideas I knew the collar 

and sleeves had to go too.

I also brought in the bodice on

 the sides for a better fit.

Want to see the dress now?

HERE

IT 

IS!!

I am SO pleased with this wedding dress!

And the blue striped dress...

WAIT!!

A Bonus Dress!!

A box arrived just as I was finishing these first two dresses.

I won this lot of doll clothes on eBay.

So many cute possibilities here.

BUT, look at the top right corner...

That's right a Vintage Miss Revlon 

"Kissing Pink" hearts dress!!

This is where the tag used to be.

The back closure is raveled.

The sleeve elastic needs to be replaced.

And, sadly there is a tear in the skirt.

I carefully removed the old elastic.

I used fusing tape and covered it with 

parchment paper to press it.  

This created a nearly 

invisible repair to the chiffon.

Much better.

After all was stabilized, I set the dress to soak 

with a red t-shirt to bring back some

of the pink color that had faded.

Next morning I hand sewed some

 new elastic in the sleeves.

AND THEN 

THE

DRESS

WAS READY!!

Marylou couldn't be happier!

Here are some Before and After pictures

Marylou in her blue stripe dress

Marylou in her wedding dress

AND

 Marylou, Queen of Hearts

Happy Thanksgiving!

 We want to wish you all 

A Blessed and Happy 

Thanksgiving,

 From all your friends at 

The Savage Pea!

A Pleasant Surprise!

 Do you ever just wake up wishing you had a fun project, 
but you had no fun project to work on? 
Well, I woke up feeling like that this morning. 
 I could always go thrifting and hope I might find something, right?
I decided I had no choice, but to go thrifting.
I went to the first big thrift store and didn't find anything.
I got in the car and instead of going along my usual route
to the next big thrift store, a little voice said,

"Go to the little shop up the road."

It's so small I almost never find anything there!

"Go up the road."

So I did, and guess who I found?

This MISS REVLON!!!

She was SO dirty, and

looked SO sad.

Oh dear, so dirty.

Her hair was a tangle and very stiff.

So, I gathered my cleaning crew

and got to work.

Magic eraser for skin and 

synthetic hair shampoo

for hair.

If any girl needed a SPA this girl does!

Just her forehead clean.

OH MY! So dirty.

Sometimes only an old toothbrush 

will get the dirt out.

BUT! only on areas with no paint 

and avoiding the eyes!

Lathered up!

From head to toes this girl

was scrubbed!!!

She was so exhausted from her spa day she fell asleep.

After her nap she got some lingerie,

and her lips and cheeks repainted.

I am also retraining her bangs to lie flat.

I am using this finishing spray

I saturated her bangs and pinned them 

down and left her overnight.

Here is the back of her hair.

Not great, but MUCH better than before.

Her hair is very long!

**About this time a package arrived!**

I had forgotten I won this bid.

We'll call her doll #2.

Here she is, looking pretty good,

very clean at least.

Uh oh, not so good, but I was thinking I 

could give her a pretty wig.

THEN!

I noticed one of her legs was an 

inch longer than the other.

One of her legs has been replaced

with one from a larger doll.

SIGH

This was too much for me.

Sadly, doll #2 will be resold for parts.

BUT...

She came wearing this satin wedding dress.

I can never pass up a chance to do a dress makeover.

It's got some really bad moth holes.

I think this is a dress for a 21" doll.

That means I could take off some 

of the skirt length that is damaged.

SO! the stripe dress and the wedding dress are soaking.

While we are waiting want to see my 

Thrift Store makeover doll?

HERE

SHE 

IS!

She has borrowed a gown until

her own is refreshed.

I am SO happy with this lady!

Before and After.

Close-up before and after.

I had planned on being VERY

disciplined about reselling this doll,

but then she whispered to me 

that her name is 

Marylou.

Marylou's Dress Makeover