Dress Of The Day with Angela

  Angela wearing a dickey made from a Disney Princess Dress. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I Was Cut-out For This I saw this child's dress which somebody had thrown out. The dress was way too small for me.  I wondered, where should I cut it?  I wanted to keep the face-framing, colourful collar, and the fancy front, in pretty pink lace down both sides of the central neck buttons. I cut it off at waist level. I had to slit up the sides. I had an A shape dickey with a front opening so it went over my head. I kept the skirt for later.  The Dickey The dickey left a gap under the arms. It could be linked with two sections of flat elastic horizontally  under both arms. Or simply concealed under a jacket. I looked at my cape blazers. I had cape blazers in black, red and white. Black was too heavy looking against the pink lace jabot. The red jacket matched the embroidery.  The Short Skirt The skirt was short. Yet, surprisingly, wide. Once cut off, pleats opening up. It wa...

Recycling Small Clothes Into Collars and Dickeys Many months ago I rescued a small size black garment from the tip. I washed the little dress in the washing machine. I risked damaging it, but nothing to lose. As my mother used to say, it doesn't owe you anything.  The item was clearly mush too small for me. So I cut off the top. The top had a zip at the back, but was still too small. So I a slit the sides. Vertically.  What I was left with was a dickey, or false front. In black. I realised this when I looked at a dickey I had just bought. In white. You can vary your outfits if you buy a handy false collar, just the circular collar. That occasionally leaves a gap with skin showing if you wear it over a v-neck. It costs about 5 to 7 dollars.   Buying a Dickey If you spend several dollars more, usually six to eight or eleven, dollars, you can buy a dickey, which has an oblong hanging down. But if you want to create one cheaply, or recycle old clothes, make your own. So,...