Why did I buy this?

So I spotted this hideous dress at Sal's the other day:

and was equally attracted to/repulsed by it all at once.

First, I've been obsessing about ruffles lately (more on this in a future post perhaps),

but more so, ugly as it is-- I thought it was a potential cheap/bad shimmery dress that I could turn over quickly for New Years this week.

What clinched the deal for me was actually the unique craftsmanship.  The person who made this 

dress did not have much in the way of sewing skills, and they did not have any ruffling attachments.  Not only is much of this dress hand sewn (crude hand stitching with blue thread all over the place inside), the ruffles are finished with wire and electrical tape!  

How craftastic is that?

Yards and yards of crude ruffles made this way! They laid wire down along the fabric's raw edge, and then crimped over the electrical tape as though it were a sticky-backed bias trim.  (And let me tell you, it did not behave like bias, and did not stick well to the cheap metallic fabric at all.  I spent about 90 minutes glueing, primping, shaping, fixing it.)

This amazing piece of unique modern folk art is now available for purchase, for a mere $30.

Happy New Year!