Polka dot bubble skirt

I picked up this blue polka dot dress at a yard sale a while ago for like two bucks, I had no idea what I was going to do with it,but there was just so much material to work with. Plus I like polka dots :-)

The voile dress came from the Rose Bowl swapmeet and cost a little more, about ten dollars.

Add ingredients and come out with:

De Young Textiles

I recently returned from San Francisco, and I had such a great time up there and can't wait to go back. While I was there, I visited the De Young museum, where they have a textiles exhibit.

This first piece is a bark cloth skirt. It was made in Polyneisa from the bark of Mulberry trees. It was created in process of soaking, scraping and beating the bark, then later dying, painting or stenciling the fabric. This particular piece was hand painted.


Next is a man's robe from Nigeria in the mid 20th century. it is made of cotton and native silk using a plain weave. The robes were worn to indicate wealth, social status and political authority.



This is a mens ceremonial wrap from the Igbo people in Nigeria. Made from cotton using a plain weave.


This is a ceremonial dance skirt from the Republic of the Congo Kuba people. This Skirt dates back to the early 20th century and is made from Raffia, wool and cotton using a plain weave as well.



This textile is from the United states 1930-1939. It is a screen printed cotton.


Lastly, not really textiles but I found it to be pretty interesting, is a string bag from the Upper Sepik mountain people in the 20th century. This bag was created using string, feathers, pig tail, shell, gum and rattan.



There was so much more to see and I have many more pictures, but unfortunately I cannot post them all or it will take up the whole blog!

I found this fabric in the Fashion district in LA for two dollars a yard, it's really nice, lightweight and comfy. I ended up using about two yards for this dress, so in the end I got a cute dress for about four dollars! And I still have some material left over. The fashion district is a great place to find great deals, especially if you're willing to look.

Hey everyone :-) My name is Keri and I am a fashion student in college. My mom was raised thrifty and so was I, whats better than being unique, stylish and saving money at the same time? I've always loved going to the thrift stores and flea markets looking for my own unique hidden treasures. I've been sewing since I was young, so revamping things has always been in my to do list. The dress in the following picture is made out of two mens button up dress shirts. I saw the green one and fell in love with the color so I grabbed it and a black one as well and designed and constructed this dress: