Your old '80s prom dress with the enormous bow may not appeal to you daughter when her time comes, but there are lots of creative things you do with it to extend it's useful life. Here are a few:
Throw a "Mom's Prom"
This one assumes you and your friends can still get into your dresses. Send the kids off to the prom and party retro style. Plan a casual event at someone's house or a true replica prom complete with band, dinner, pictures and a rented venue. "Mom Prom" events are frequently thrown to raise money for local charities.
Make Reusable Gift Bags
This is a simple project for even the most sewing challenged. Cut a swath of fabric roughly twice the size of the bag you want to make. Then double it over with the pretty side hidden. Sew up the sides, and then flip it inside out to reveal the pretty side to the world. You can sew in a drawstring at the top, if you want or just finish the top with a hem then use a ribbon to close it after you put the gift inside.
Think about all those fabulous silks, satins and velvets that could be under your tree this year at Christmas. How impressed would your friends be if you brought one of these to the next baby shower or birthday party? The best thing about them is that you can use them again next time (or the recipient of your gift can). They will cost you almost nothing, and you won't have a bunch of paper to throw away after the celebration.
Make Decorative Pillows
This one is about as involved as the gift bags. They work best when your prom dress happens to match your decor, or maybe your little girl's bedroom. Cut two identical pieces, turn them inside out. Sew around the edges leaving a hole about the size of a quarter. Turn inside out by pulling the fabric through the hole. Stuff with pillow fluff (available at any sewing shop, or reuse the fluff from old pillows). Sew up the hole and decorated with ribbons, buttons, sequins, etc.
Donate It To a Theatre Group
Your local High School probably has a Drama Department or there may be a Little Theatre Group in your town. Theatre groups usually have access to seamstresses who can transform an old prom dress into a ball gown for a period play or a tutu for a ballerina. Most are thrilled to have free raw materials to work with.
Us It As a Halloween Costume
Put on a plastic tiara and you can be a princess - even Princess Diana if you have an '80s prom dress and a short blonde wig. Black dresses can become witch costumes, and sexier dresses can be shortened to make devil or vixen costumes.
Use Them in Scrapbooks and Other Art Projects
Prom dresses are often bedazzled with rhinestones, sequins, beading, buttons and bows - all things that are useful in crafting. Cut pieces of fabric can also be used to decorate picture frames, scrapbook pages, and collages. And they make great quilting squares.
Throw a "Mom's Prom"
This one assumes you and your friends can still get into your dresses. Send the kids off to the prom and party retro style. Plan a casual event at someone's house or a true replica prom complete with band, dinner, pictures and a rented venue. "Mom Prom" events are frequently thrown to raise money for local charities.
Make Reusable Gift Bags
This is a simple project for even the most sewing challenged. Cut a swath of fabric roughly twice the size of the bag you want to make. Then double it over with the pretty side hidden. Sew up the sides, and then flip it inside out to reveal the pretty side to the world. You can sew in a drawstring at the top, if you want or just finish the top with a hem then use a ribbon to close it after you put the gift inside.
Think about all those fabulous silks, satins and velvets that could be under your tree this year at Christmas. How impressed would your friends be if you brought one of these to the next baby shower or birthday party? The best thing about them is that you can use them again next time (or the recipient of your gift can). They will cost you almost nothing, and you won't have a bunch of paper to throw away after the celebration.
Make Decorative Pillows
This one is about as involved as the gift bags. They work best when your prom dress happens to match your decor, or maybe your little girl's bedroom. Cut two identical pieces, turn them inside out. Sew around the edges leaving a hole about the size of a quarter. Turn inside out by pulling the fabric through the hole. Stuff with pillow fluff (available at any sewing shop, or reuse the fluff from old pillows). Sew up the hole and decorated with ribbons, buttons, sequins, etc.
Donate It To a Theatre Group
Your local High School probably has a Drama Department or there may be a Little Theatre Group in your town. Theatre groups usually have access to seamstresses who can transform an old prom dress into a ball gown for a period play or a tutu for a ballerina. Most are thrilled to have free raw materials to work with.
Us It As a Halloween Costume
Put on a plastic tiara and you can be a princess - even Princess Diana if you have an '80s prom dress and a short blonde wig. Black dresses can become witch costumes, and sexier dresses can be shortened to make devil or vixen costumes.
Use Them in Scrapbooks and Other Art Projects
Prom dresses are often bedazzled with rhinestones, sequins, beading, buttons and bows - all things that are useful in crafting. Cut pieces of fabric can also be used to decorate picture frames, scrapbook pages, and collages. And they make great quilting squares.
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