Unfortunately, I have been forgetting to take photos of what I’ve been starting with so it really doesn’t help much in terms of comparison. Fortunately, Old Navy had this shot of the dress on line. Of course, the model doesn’t have my proportions — so figure shorter and more voluptuous!
One of the things I liked about this dress which was only $25, was that it had a lot of fabric that was fire safe as well as the gradient in the colors.
I combined it with a dupioni silk that matched almost perfectly and then I added appliques of a brocade silk in white on top of the dress part as well as the leg cuffs and arms cuffs. Though I don’t have a photo of just the dress without the skirt, I actually had originally intended that to be the look. However, as art will be, I decided that the dress was a little too short and then ended up adding the patch work top and skirt. I’m glad I did because, ultimately, I think they look better. The top is made of more silk than the dress itself, with just those three patches in the front under the breast. The skirt is half and half.
The other thing that 
had the costume work better without the dress is that I sewed on some vintage bracelets on top of the white applique on the dress, leg cuffs and arm cuffs. Sadly, on the dress, the bracelets broke the first time I wore it, which, in and of itself would not be a problem if I had sewed down every link on the bracelets, which I did not. You can see the bracelets here in some close ups of the leg cuffs and arm bands.
