New Hat and My First Alteration Attempt

Here is a hat I found at a thrift store in Myrtle Beach last week.  I have never had a hat with a veil on it before, so I decided to go for it.  One of the thrift stores that we went to had a lot of old hats, for some reason, but of course most of them would not fit on my big head.  I have found that various extremities of mine generally do not fit into old things, specifically my hands, feet, and head.  How many times have I encountered dainty lace gloves and failed to force my Incredible Hulk fingers into them!  But I lucked out with this veiled hat.  It looks funny with glasses, however, so I am not sure where or when I will wear this.

This black dress is something I found at the Salvation Army recently.  It was a size or two too big for me, and usually when that happens I just leave it at the store if it doesn't have a tie at the waist or anything.  But this one was nice enough as a black dress that I decided to see how hard it would be to alter it for myself.  I think it turned out pretty well. 

Before:

After:

My mom helped me pin it while I had it on inside out, and then I just took about thirty minutes on the sewing machine to take in some of the seams (two on the front and two on the back) by following the pins.  It only involved minimal cursing at the machine.  It's not perfect, but at least I have a better idea of how to do this now.  No dress need be left behind! 

Here is a closer look at the daisy pin I found a while back: