my bargain dress

Anybody else out there like to browse around in TJ Maxx/Marshalls, searching for the crazy clearance items that are almost like them paying you to take things out of their store? I'm the girl wandering around muttering to herself, trying to figure out if three dollars is too much to pay for a picture frame with a scratch on a corner or no glass. (My husband would say yes, indeed, it IS too much, seeing as how we have no less than 40 picture frames [I just counted] propped up against the walls of our dining room, waiting for me to put them somewhere that makes sense).

But wait. This post doesn't have anything to do with picture frames. Notice the title. It says DRESS.

So, I was wandering around TJ Maxx this summer, hoping to find a dress to wear to a wedding in September. It's not that I didn't already have any dresses. I have a few. But none that were really wanting me to wear them to a wedding. Well, one would have been great, but that dang zipper won't go all the way up…what's up with that??

I have tried on a few dresses in TJMaxx by one particular designer/studio and really really liked the graphic design patterns of the dresses, and the fabric that drapes perfectly, and the colors and the styles…but just never wanted to spend $40 on a dress that I didn't really need for anything. Does that make me cheap? Frugal? Whatever. I couldn't do it.

But then…on the clearance rack…for no reason I could see…was one of those dresses.


You can see the "original" price here (I don't know where on earth they actually sell for a hundred and eighteen bucks!). You can see the great color combo, the great fabric pattern design, the fun understated ruffles…oh, and the plunging v-neck that threatened to expose my belly button for all the world to see!! Who wears these things like that?? I mean, really? Is that necessary? Drives me batty, sometimes, the secrets girls don't keep.

Moving right along. Do you see the clearance tag here? That says $10? That meant I had to try the dress on to see what could be done about it. Turns out it pretty much fit perfectly everywhere else.


And there was a double ruffle going all the way around the neckline, so I could do some discriminate snipping, and use the extra to fill in that crazy vee.


It took a little bit of sticky stuff to keep the ruffle together while I sewed it in place, and it's a good thing it's ruffley, so I didn't have to have it all perfect and everything, but I was quite pleased with my $10 bargain dress + an hour or so of effort. And I already had the perfect accessories (bought on clearance another time, another place, of course!)


And just so you know I do smile. I just didn't think my head was going to be in that picture when I took it! Here's me and my sweetie at the wedding. Don't we coordinate nicely? :)