Monday, March 09, 2009

Finding Treasure In Unlikely Places

We found Elise's flower girl dress by being open to possibilities.

The clerk at Dillards shook her head, "No, we only stock smocked dresses for infants, and even those are pastel."

My eyes wandered to a rack of long white organza, each dress with a pink clearance tag.

Could a 2-year-old really wear a baby's baptismal gown?

For $16.49, it was worth a try.

We think it worked out beautifully.

(Photo courtesy Albertex Photography)

60 comments:

Joanna said...

You're always so resourceful!

Betsy said...

That find turned out fabulously!

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Yipee - of course, why not a baptismal gown? I love that. It's so precious. Thanks for the link love on frugal hacks. :)

Empty Nest Full Life said...

Awesome! You are truly quick at thinking of the possibilities! Jackie

Tracey said...

Beautiful! I love it when the unexpected works out so well (and inexpensively!)

celina from canada said...

ahhhhhhhhhhhh my long message got deleted when i signed in...

did same in reverse...baby was 12m ...both her uncles were getting married within 6 months...

found size 2 dress...60 for 20$ , argued with clerk, would not let baby try it on...so we did in the aisle...fit like a dream.....white satin with navy trim....

fit for both weddings and easter next year...just kept getting shorter on her as she grew....

your dd looked great...and with luck you can sell it for more than you paid (i know i did)...mine had no hair to do anything with ..so i bought a white had and added navy trim....

i think we all need to think out of the box..and remember i think kids get longer, not usually wider...

Roxie700 said...

She is beautiful. Such a pretty dress to. I know I would never have thought to look at infant baptismal gowns. I am just blown away by the way your mind works. Thank you for sharing your pictures with us.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Gorgeous!

Lora @ my blessed life said...

Beautiful! When my daughter served as a flower girl a few years ago, we also *discoverd* her dress in some hand-me-downs from a friend. It was perfect!

Tiffany said...

I love this...what a clever woman you are! The dress is beautiful and, of course, there's no guilt for spending too much.

The Frugal Countess said...

How clever! And she looks darling!

Tara @ Deal Seeking Mom said...

What a fantastic idea! She looks absolutely beautiful, Meredith.

Lori said...

So happy for you and her ... she looks so sweet in her dress.

Mrs. Darling said...

Love that gown. What a great idea!

Unknown said...

Could that little girl be any cuter? She looks like spun sugar with an angel heart. So adorable!

Tesa said...

Beautiful! What a wonderful idea!!

Michelle said...

Wow, she is beautiful! What a wonderful idea.

Leila said...

A beautiful picture of a beautiful girl!

I'm glad you did this. I

'm getting tired of those flower girl dresses with the tank top, sash, and full skirt.

I'm looking for something with little cap sleeves too...in a light green, though, for a quite tall 7 year old, so, alas, your solution won't work for me :)

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! And little flower girl is adorable.

Daiquiri said...

Well, I'd SAY it worked out! Just look how gorgeous she is!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful little girl!

Amy said...

Oh that is gorgeous!!

Workin' MAMA! said...

meredith - your baby looks like a little princess!

what a find! Frugal creativity is wonderful, isn't it? At 16 bucks! NOT BAD! Excellent find!

ps. thanks so much for your friendship - I appreciated your words of encouragement...

latrice

Edi said...

What a great idea - and your daughter looks so sweet in it!

The sizing on clothes is so crazy...my dd is 9.5 and very, very slim. Yet I see clothes at the thrift store that barely look like they would fit her and have tags that read 14-16.

Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig said...

Perfect! She looks like a little angel...

DealFinder said...

What a clever idea, although I'm curious as to what size it was! It looks so beautifully vintage, too.

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) said...

She is so pretty!

Scribbit said...

It's just beautiful! What a great idea.

Amy said...

SOOO smart! I love that idea!

Tubo Family said...

How truly precious. And I love your resourcefulness and reminder to not just read the tag size but look at the actual cut and dimensions.

Shell in your Pocket said...

Wonderful.
sandy toe

Elise @A Path Made Straight said...

Oh, my goodness. It did indeed work out beautifully! I might have to go look at Dillard's for some smocked dresses for Eliana- that is just too precious!
Praise the Lord for His wisdom, and for inspiring you with such resourcefulness!

amy said...

Now that's thinking outside the box!

Unknown said...

Super neat. Very resourceful. I always go on ebay for that stuff. Got my daughter organza full length gown with embroidery and shoulder wrap for $16. But this? This was genius!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful choice!

Meredith said...

Believe it or not, this dress is a 3 month size! I suspect they were sewn too big, and that is why so many of them were left on the racks at Dillards.

In fact, I went there a couple of weeks ago, and there were still several of the same baptismal gowns on sale.

(Note: they have also come out with a newer line of Castro gowns which are not on sale and are not the smocked style.)

Why didn't I just buy a regular dress? I couldn't find one!

It was November, and I couldn't find anything on Ebay, at consignment, or in any of my regular stops.

The fancy children's boutique had dresses with sleeves, but they were off-white--and we needed white.

Most dresses had Christmas details, K-mart quality fabric, or a Strasburg price tag. (Which I offered to buy, if the bride had her heart set on one from the website, BTW).

David's Bridal flower girl dresses were too big for a little 2-year-old.

thisisbeth said...

I was distracted by the sunny face; the dress turned out beautifully. I never would've even thought to try.

Carrien Blue said...

She is gorgeous.

The dress is sweet too, though you could put her in a paper bag and she would still look beautiful.

Wenonah4th said...

That's a marvelous idea, and I might have to reconsider what we put on our 2-year-old DD when we have her baptised after all. (We changed our minds about infant baptism over the last two years.)

On the other hand: she's also going to be flower girl for my lifelong best friend this week. The dress that my dd is wearing was purchased by the bride's grandmother, for me, when I was about 3. How's that for special and frugal at the same time?

Tracey said...

Beautiful!!

Momma Nic said...

This reminded me of the time I needed a slip for my 3 year old. She had just grown out of her old one. We did not have the money for a new slip. But I had an old slip that didn't fit me. So- using the her old slip as a pattern I made her a new one. Sewn completely by hand. I even used the fancy lace that was on the bodice. Lots of fun too. Later this same daughter when she was a young teen would go to the girl clothing section to check out the Hello Kitty shirts, to see if any would fit her. Many times they did.

debbie bailey said...

Wow, Meredith! You really got a great deal on that dress. I make handsmocked dresses just like that, and I wouldn't make one for someone else for less than $100.

Sonya --Dime Store Thrift said...

WOW! You did GOOD! She looks lovely.

Kathy said...

That photo of Elise is simply breathtaking! She is so lovely and it captures some of her spirit, too ;)

And great find on the dress! I would not have thought of baptism dresses!

Miss G said...

That is pure brilliance! Kelly

Susan said...

Just curious- was the dress short on her, or did it come down to her knees? Did she wear tights/hosiery with it? She looks so precious and excited! :-)
Susan

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

Fabulous!!

Meredith said...

The dress went all the way to her ankles (we turned up the bottom ham, as it was a little too long).

She wore white stockings from Dollar Tree (great buys there!) and white patent shoes with little satin ribbons.

Rands said...

What a great idea! I'm going to use that in looking for an Easter dress for my 2-year-old!

Angie @ Many Little Blessings said...

Oh my! She looks so beautiful!

RefreshMom said...

It is beautiful! And what a deal! A dress and a memory to cherish, for sure.

I'd like to invite you to join a new Proverbs 31-based blog event (and have a chance to win Donna Partow's new book on the topic). Stop by RefreshMoments to check it out.

DeeAnn said...

She looks like an angel.

Samantha said...

What size does she wear in regular clothes?

nancyr said...

Brilliant idea!
My sister-in-law paid $200.00 for her flower girl's dress, and then the two-year old refused to walk down the aisle!
I love reading about your frugal ideas.

Anonymous said...

That dress is gorgeous! I love the sweet simple smocked outfits (my mom made them for my boys until they were old enough to demand something different!) and they are so hard to find.

I can't believe the neck in that dress fit. It must have been huge on a 3 month old! Guess that's why they were there for the pickings, huh?

DairyQueen said...

wow! very nice. . .you'd never know!

Sarah E. said...

She is ADORABLE! What a great picture.

Terra said...

what a BEAUTIFUL little girl!

Mrs.MD said...

I agree with you, she looks beautiful in that dress and can't beat the price!

Kimba said...

Now that's just flat-out brilliant! She looks beautiful!

Kimba