Craft, Thrift, or Die: I will definitely sink

It's like the tattoo or maybe a picture shared on Facebook; the image of an old-timey anchor along with the words, "I refuse to sink."

Look, I know it's not supposed to be literal, but the picture and words just don't match for me! If you've got an anchor that refuses to sink, then you've got a crap anchor and soon you won't have a boat.
August is almost almost over and that is sad because it means I can't really wear my nautical themed stuff. (It's the law.) I guess I was too lazy to do a proper "before" picture.

There it is on a hanger what do you want from me I must have been busy. I got that at Goodwill over the winter from what I can recall. I seemed to remember a certain dollar day when I said, "fine, I'll do something with it for a dollar." Here's a closeup of the bodice.

While researching dresses from the company "Lanz Originals" on Etsy, guess what I happened to come across?

Well, look at that. It's by a cool vintage dress label and WHERE'S MY LITTLE SWEATSHIRT/ JACKET?!
I knew this was going to be a nautical-sailor themed dress that I have such a fondness for. So, when summer came around, I pulled this out of hiding. I decided that I hate square necklines, so I did that thing I always do where I pinch a little gather in the center of the bust area. I'm pretty sure I took a picture, but I did this months ago and I'm just know realizing summer's death is imminent and need to post about this asap. No time to search through all my pics, you'll have to wait until the end.
Look at how full the bottom of this thing is:

I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but decided not to mess around. I just cut about 2" off the bottom for the sash. It wasn't fraying so I didn't hem it. Corner cut. Now scroll up a bit and look at those odd little sleeves.
God damn it, I need to keep my pictures better organized! You'll have to imagine how those pointy ends this dress called "sleeves" made it look like I had wide shoulders. I cut them off, but don't worry I did hem the armholes.
So, I was getting somewhere. I went through a bunch of appliques and buttons to look for some sort of boat/anchor to add. That way there would be no mistake that this dress was nautical. I rememberd that several months ago, I pulled this out of the bins at the Goodwill outlet:

Cool, a sexy Halloween costume! Everyone knows that when you wear rubber gloves and dig an item from a large bin of undesirable castoffs, said item should be laundered immediately. Unless...

I want my $.70 back. Can't wash it in any way? I'm guessing the cheap blue dye would run over everything else. I figured I could use it for spare parts. I was reminded of something I've seen when browsing vintage nautical dresses.

Look at that wacky, waving mannequin. See how there's a large anchor right up at the top? Maybe? I seam rippered the gold applique off my costume. Here's a preview with the bodice with the bust gather and anchor.