~thrifty thursday~{a dress form re~do}

Today's thrifty Thursday project is similar to the one I did a couple years ago here.

I sold that one and have missed it ever since, so when I saw this ugly dress form at a thrift shop, I snatched it right up!

Here is the before:

Covered in neon yellow felt with bright red paint.

~oh my~

Even the ugly trim was falling off.

I paid $19.99 for this.

I'll show you how it went from 80's bad to modern chic!

This is the after:

First things first.

You must have old sheet music.

I have a stash of this. I pick it up at estate or garage sales whenever I see it dirt cheap.

I prefer the darker sheets that appear to have more age to them.

However, I mixed in sheets that were more white and I like the contrast.

A paper cutter always comes in handy. I use mine for everything.

Cut strips of vintage sheet music.

I made most 2" wide, but made some 1" and 3" for variety.

Cut a lot.

Get a pencil and start rolling them up.

This will cause them to curl.

You want to roll them up almost to the end but leave about an inch.

Here's a tip: they don't have to be rolled perfectly. In fact, you want some really tight and you want some really loose. Some rolled crooked, that's OK. You want them all different.

Thank you to my sweet Cody who rolled a bunch for me.

Roll more than you think, like a hundred or more.

{it really does go fast}

Then take it outside and spray paint it black.

I also lightly went over the yellow felt.

Looks better already right?

Get your hot glue gun heated up and begin at the bottom of the body form and glue on strips of curled sheet music, around and around. It will soon start to look like a skirt.

Go about waist high, and when you think you are done, add more, filling in any gaps, and maybe adding more at the bottom to make the skirt longer and more full.

I suggest a low temp glue gun for this because certain sheet music can be very thin and you don't want to burn your fingers.