Make this Nautical and Pin-up Style; take one

I got this retro 80s dress from a Savers sale in the fall, and and now I'm finishing the refashion now. I think it was probably $3.50.

Oh, man, look how long it is on me. And the sleeve/shoulder area is all huge. I could tell it had a nautical-ly sailor vibe to it, but it also looked like old timey flight attendant. I did a little internet searching from some inspiration on this dress.

dresses I pinned here

 

So, I took about three inches off the bottom and removed the shoulder pads. Then I had to make the shoulders smaller, so I did what I thought would be easiest and pinned the top of the dress an inch or so smaller and sewed. I think I was supposed to do that to the armpits, not shoulders. Looks smaller though, right?

Then I got rid of that modesty panel thing that was in front. My cleavage deserves to be free!

That mystery photo sucks. It's what I did to the back of the dress. That bunch of strings went across the back of the waist, like some non functioning belt. It cinched nothing and looked out of date. I closely cut off four of the strings leaving two in the middle, thinking I'd tie the remaining two strings on each side to a bow or something. Until I decided what to do, I tucked them into my red, shiny belt.
Because I took out that boob hider thing and because the dress was too damn big to begin with, I needed to do something with the dress because it didn't button up high enough to be appropriate for anywhere. I guess I didn't get a picture, but I hand stitched that floppy collar to the dress so that it stayed in closer (not sure if this makes sense) and then I added a couple hook and eye closures that I had in my craft pile. This would make the neckline higher and make the top more fitted.

Those things kinda worked.

At this point, it looked good, just not quite what I had envisioned. I wanted that quirky, sexy look. Like that Zooey Deschanel jerk. Like Mod Cloth.

Mod Cloth dress

Ooh! I should add a little bow! Those bows around the neck really whimsy shit up! At that point, I just wanted to take some damn pics and get this project in the can (I think that's what they say when they wrap a movie). One sash under the collar. Done.
Wait for it...

I probably should've taken these pics at a time when I wasn't exhausted. I'll just photo-edit a bit...

What the hell is with my posture? It appears like I'm trying to win a limbo game in many of the shots. Why lean back so much? Anyway, I already came up with some ways to improve this. Take two; coming soon.