New Dress a Day: The Ultimate DIY Guide to Creating Fashion Dos from Thrift-Store Don'ts

by Marisa Lynch

GO FROM THRIFT-SHOP CHEAP TO RUNWAY CHIC EACH AND EVERY DAY!   Based on her wildly popular blog of the same name, guerrilla seamstress Marisa Lynch shows you how to easily (and affordably!) transform your wardrobe from frumpy to fabulous! With just a snip here and a stitch there, your basement bargains will rival anything in designer collections. Yes, with a little imagination—and DIY tools like needles, thread, and safety pins—you too can update an outdated castoff. Inside you’ll discover how to   • ace the sewing basics ( safety first!) • create DIY designer look-alikes • cut Flashdance-inspired sweatshirts • make an old, tired muumuu a smashing must-have • give bridesmaid dresses a second life • dye your way to a vibrant new wardrobe • whip up accessories in seconds • style the same dress seven different ways   Complete with colorful before-and-after photos, fun sidebars, and even a groovy sewing song playlist to get you in the zone, New Dress a Day proves that you don’t need a sewing machine or a big budget to turn unfashionable trash into stylish treasure.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sewing, Crafts, Fashion, How To, Reference

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good in theory, but overall I wouldn't wear 90% of the items she refashioned.
If anything, it is a happy, quick read that encourages people to be creative and have fun with fashion.

I have to admit though, some of her projects made me cringe. The DIY Chanel logo dress was especially appalling! It was a lovely red dress before, and she could have updated it with something better than gaudy, gold stencils of "C"s that didn't even remotely resemble Chanel! LOL

This book can be surmised in two sentences:
1) To update a dress, simply cut off the sleeves and shorten the hem.
2) If that doesn't work, dye it.

I think better DIY projects can be found online, and for free (i.e. rather than buying this book).

[Martha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yet another good-blog-monetized-into-a-poor-book.

As with every other book in this new genre, the author is a hip, likeable young woman who faces adversity and redefines herself through crafting. OK.

The photos are worse than useless, c'mon, get a second light to show that JLo knock-off. Put the brown "pink lace dress" against a contrasting background. Its very difficult to examine the garment.

The sewing instructions are nonexistent. The challenge of sewing through 2 layers of velvet and 2 layers of lining is ignored, leading a new sewer into frustration.

The book is best at costumes and accessories where cheater fusing, like Stitch Witcthery, is acceptable in place of real sewing needed for daily wear.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

How useless. There is very little actually-helpful information here.
1) She talks about finding items at thrift stores and such, but there is no discussion of what to look for or how to look-- how to see the potential in an item, what to look for in different types of material or different cuts of clothes.
2) She says vague things "take it in as needed" but doesn't give instructions for how to do so (except one instance where there are semi-helpful instructions for how to take something in under the arms).
3) The styles she models really only work because of her body type. It is socially acceptable for a very thin person to wear something that is flowy and has little definition, because it accentuates how thin she is ("see, it falls from my shoulders and touches no part of me on the way down!"). That type of style is generally unflattering on people of other body types.
4) Many of her DIY methods won't stand up to a full day of wear, much less actual wear-and-tear of repeated use. She suggests using packaging tape to "hem" a dress. Yeah, so long as you never intend to wash it or wear it again. She advises you add "straps" by safety-pinning (!) ribbon, lace, rick-rack, etc., to the front and back for your top. Anyone with anything to cover knows that's a recipe for disaster. Extra danger if you're likely to have small people barrel into you at waist height. One safety pin and a bit of ribbon won't even hide a bra strap, much less withstand the loving attacks of young ones. Maybe it works if you're just going to stand around and look waif-ish all day; I wouldn't know.

[Kori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't say this was the "ultimate" guide, although I managed to pick out a couple of good ideas. Primarily, the author''s method of 'updating' old dresses consisted of just cutting things off. I'm thinking this book was mostly a chance for the author to dress up and take pictures of herself. I admire the concept of what she tried to do, but the directions weren't very clear, and a big problem: "after" photos were not done well enough so that you could get a sense of what the 'new' dress looked like. If you can't see what it looks like, whay would you try to make it?

[Melissa Massello · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've read Shoestring for any length of time, then you know how much I luuuurve Marisa Lynch of New Dress A Day — and how excited I am about her blog turned book, just released last month. I can't think of a better gift for people who like to make old things new again than her ultimate guide to making fashion dos from thrift store don'ts.

Read my interviews with Marisa on Shoestring and over on Boston.com and grab copies of her book (for everyone on your list with a sewing machine or who's ever wanted one). Look out for me in the sidebar on swap parties!

Featured in Required Reading: Self-Reliance, Sewing, Sharing & Swapping on ShoestringMag.com

[Kateyoung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a Christmas gift and I absolutely LOVED this book!! Marisa's blog is one of my favorites and it's really charming in book form. The cute note pages in the back, with areas to doodle is one of my favorite parts. All the references - CLUELESS, especially - makes me want to hang out with her all the time. I definitely recommend, especially for the non-sewers because she goes through so many different ways to update thrift store clothes and stuff from your closet.

[Katie M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just started reading Marisa's blog and picked up her book because I thought what she was doing was so fantastic. I absolutely loved the book!! She has such a fun voice that makes me want to sew along with her. I'm a beginner sewer and I appreciated all of the no-sew methods she offered. She really gives such amazing inspiration on how to take throwaways and craft them into cool pieces. Highly recommend!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Marisa and her blog is fantastic. I was so excited for the book!

That being said, I almost rated it only 4 stars. Some of her "after" pictures do not do a good job of showing the finished project, and I think shd could have used a better editor.

But, because I know how truly awesome she is and that she is crazy crafty, it's a 5 star book.

[Maura Burke]

Fun blog, but the book was a bit of a letdown.

[Jonquil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a diy guide; a tiny book with tinier, poorly-lit pictures that are virtually useless as a how-to and underwhelming as updated fashion.

[Alex]

I'm not rating this because it's like a time capsule from the early 2010s and feels a bit like judging my teenage self from my grown up perspective. Would I recommend this to literally anyone? No. But I remember reading Marisa's blog when she was 3 months in and being captivated.

I do wish it was a combination of essays on the process of making a garment a day, and some reflection on lessons learned, etc.

[Niquole Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled across Marisa's story after she was featured in a Glamour Magazine and quickly rushed to my laptop to oogle her site. Love the site, and upon seeing there was a book, put it on hold from my library and waited.

I was so excited for to arrive and when it did I rushed to the library and then back home to plop down and tear through the pages. It contains some useful information and tricks on how to change horrid thrift store clothes into cute outfits.

What wasn't so useful was the after pictures. I really rather see multiple after pictures instead of (usually one) where you can only see part of the dress. Especially with the Pink bridesmaid dress. I loved the picture of it on the floor but would have really loved a full frontal/back shot of the completed dress instead of a side view.

Marisa has a knack for explaining things quite well, and I did like the process pictures (I'm a visual person) it really did help explain some of the steps that were still a little confusing.

Glad I didn't buy this, I made notes of things from it that I'll use but I think I'll keep checking out the site for more stuff.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to agree with another reviewer: some "after" pictures left much to be desired. A more general critique would be that I wish there were a lot more pictures, period.

I haven't tried anything yet, but I really like that she made this book work for people who don't own a sewing machine and aren't really uber crafty.

Something that disappointed me: most of her designs centered on shortening a dress or mumu or whatever, but when you look at the final picture, she clearly did a lot more (like created a different neckline, etc.). That's probably not a big deal for crafty people, but for me, I was like, "Wait, what? How did she make THAT happen?"

Overall, cute and fun, and I hope to be successful in reworking a thrift store find sometime. In the meantime, enjoying her blog!!

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

refashioning thrift finds for non-sewers and beginning sewists (teens and young adults)
This is about as basic as you can get, with instructions for stitching by hand, by machine, leaving edges raw, or securing with (packaging) tape. In addition to the basic changing hemline/adding a belt instructions of the first chapter, later chapters in the book also give ideas for changing necklines and tips for dyeing fabric.
This probably wouldn't cut it for an older/more experienced audience that is used to more tailored/refined fitting, but for aspiring fashion designers and young experimenters, this might be perfect.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

totally fun ideas that could be adapted to any thing you find at the thrift store. She gives some great tips and step by step on how to do it. While it might be hard to find the exact thing she uses, you get the idea and with a little imagination....It was also helpful in that now when I go thrifting I am looking at everything, even the OMG WTF is that clothes in a new way.

[Melissa Dally · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extra star for enthusiasm, LOL. Overall, I think I would have liked this better if there were pictures of all the dresses she made and more details on what exactly she did. Sometimes the "after" pictures barely showed the finished product.

This gives me some ideas as I lose weight and need to transform my dresses into things I can still wear.

[Gaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may not like all the garments featured in this book. The author shows how thrift store finds can be turned into modern spiffy garments. I have done this myself and often combined two garments to make one. I don't like all she shows in this book but if you sew and are on a strict budget, it is worth picking up.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what it says about me that I thought half the things looked better before... what happened to that red Chanel dress should have gotten her banned from all vintage shops in the tri-state area.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved all her 80's references and how cute she made some pretty awful dresses!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book with a lot of ideas for ways to reuse thrifted clothes.

[Kim Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much more. The author has a great idea. Taking cheap (like $1) thrift store items and turning them into dresses. She even has progress photos her working on the projects.

But, by focusing on her favorites and fashion trends the book is quickly dated. It was printed in 2012 & by 2019 most of it is meh. There are some cute projects. Taking dress that's at least 2 or 3 times her size she makes a office friendly wrap dress that stands the test of time. And turning a turtleneck dress with a sequined detail that was really very bland into a sexy asymmetrical dress with one shoulder bare and the other covered in a long sleeve.

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've not read the author's blog but I think the idea is a lot of fun: a new XXX a day is a great creative challenge. Unfortunately, most of the items are very simple changes in length, changing hemlines (pants to shorts, maxi to mini), and plenty of the directions call for fairly temporary solutions like Fray Check. The photos are too small to see much and I would have preferred to see the before and afters side-by-side. The author's writing style is breezy and comedic and all in all this is a quick, sunny read.

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a cute book. I read it on my Kindle eInk reader. I wish I had read a paper version with full color. There are a lot of pictures in this book and I would have loved to see them larger and in color. As it was, I had to click on several of the pictures to zoom in on them. If you already do a lot of sewing and alterations, then this book might be too easy for you, but it had a lot of fun ideas. Some repetition, but the outfits were different. Fabulous book for a teen, young adult or someone on a budget for creating cute new items for their wardrobe.

[Rachel Vryhof · Rating 3 out of 5]

As many others have stated, this is a disappointing follow up to a great blog. I haven't followed her in years, but I am looking at getting into sewing and remembered Marisa making it seem accessible so I found this book at the library. It might work for some basic inspiration, but it's a little light on good technical instruction and even lighter on good photos. Given that creating a sustainable wardrobe is important to me, I want to be able to wear my clothes for years so her no-sew instructions are not helpful. Good for getting the gears turning, but I'm glad I didn't purchase this.

[Shanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this out from the library, so didn't read it cover-to-cover, but could be a good reference for someone trying to alter their clothes at home. Marisa is true to herself with the writing-funny, witty, loves sewing! She shows very specific themed garments in the book but the instructions could easily be applied to other projects. Might have given 5 stars if I'd read the whole thing.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept and helpful for seeing potential.

Unfortunately the pictures don't always show the before & after very well. Arty pictures are more fun but make it hard to see the transformation. Adding side-by-side before & after pictures with similar pose showing full body would have been helpful.

[Stef · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was difficult to tell what was even going on with some of the directions and photos. The outfits are poorly photographed -- the point seems to be to photograph the creator instead of the creations. The content was disorganized and images were so small it was hard to see what they depicted.

[Cara]

I like the idea of this book, but the actual execution could be better. For most of the dresses, the “after” picture only shows part of the finished dress, or a side view, or some arty pose. I want to see clearly what the dang thing looks like!

[Heather Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her blog. Love Marissa's blog!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Better before and after pictures would have been appreciated.
I will try the trick of cinching in a loose waistband with a decorative pin!