Dress Rescue 3: Purple Velvet Dress

So, I kind of lied to you when I said that this would be last Monday. Not intentionally, but I was doing schoolwork and other important things (What? TV Tropes and the ridiculously pointless yet addicting games on Neopets are very important things to me), and so I just kept on forgetting to do this post. I'll try and do two a day for the next week to make up for it. I know, I am a Bad Blogger. *hangs head in shame*
Anyhoo, now that my self-flagellation is done, here is the candidate for Dress Rescue #3. This is a very boring dress in a very lovely fabric. It's in dark purple velvet for heaven's sake! (If you're starting to notice a pattern in my fabric obsessions, give yourself a cookie.) But look at the style:

(Apologies for the white cat hair fuzzy on the front of the dress; I didn't notice it until after I loaded the pics and I'm too lazy to redo them.) Snore. Yawn. There's nothing intrensically BAD about it, it's just so...blah. This fabric deserves a better dress! I mean, it's dark purple velvet with blue undertones, for Heaven's sake! VELVET! And PURPLE!!! The picture really doesn't do it justice:

This one has boring long sleeves, a boring cut (although I do rather like the rounded neckline), and is just generally...mundane.
Except for this rather bizarre seaming that bisects the front of the dress for no good reason:
And it, hits me at that very unflattering mid-calf length that makes my legs look short and stumpy and generally unappealing. (I'm sure that someone somewhere out there has legs that look fantastic in mid-calf stuff, and more power to 'em, but for me this length is like Kryptonite of the Legs.) So, how am I going to rescue this one? I actually love the neckline, so I'm keeping it as it is, but I'm going to sprinkle it with little tiny rhinestones for a little flavor. I'm going to cut it off at just above the knees, and restructure the sleeves so they're elbow-length and flared. I also have a little purple/blue lace hanging around that I may or may not use. It all depends on if I like it better simpler (unlikely) or want to do it all fancy as is my wont.