Day 236: Little House on the Scary Dress

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

If this dress was a person, I would shoot it in the face to put it out of its misery!  :/

Seriously...put me out of my misery!

This seriously looks like something from Little House on the Prairie!

Ugh!  I began my dubious quest to refashion this monstrosity by removing those sleeves and that ridiculous collar!

I'll be honest...I really wanted to just rip this thing to shreds!

Ah! That's better!

Next, I threw the newly disarmed dress into my machine with some black dye!

Dye! Dye! My Darling!

Since this dress is made of polyester, I knew it wasn’t going to take much of the dye at all.  This dress wasn’t going to end up anywhere close to black, but it wouldn’t be quite so pink anymore!  :)

After the dress was done with its bath, I pinned the neckline and the armholes back together.

Pinned and prepped!

Then, I stitched it all back up!

Whirrrr!

Now that dress is looking WAY better!  Whew!  :)

I wore my dress to work for a beyootiful 80 degree day!  I even got to put the top down!

Convertible = Joy!

That night, I headed to a rehearsal for the play I’m costuming!  :)

Whew! Good save!

Plans 1-8 just didn't quite work out...

Hot Rehearsing Action!

I can’t wait to share more about this show as it progresses!  :)

I’ve been so flippin’ busy lately!  Thank goodness for the cheap-o deliciousness that is Little Caesars Pizza!  Without them, I might starve!

Hot and Ready! :)

Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Day 235: Bad Day/Good Night Dress

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

It’s been a while since I’ve encountered a frumpy housedress.  I was actually pretty excited when I found this one!

It's so comfy!!!

I had a rough day today, and wasn’t in the mood for a lengthy refashion process.  I wanted to get to Karaoke Night (and a drink) ASAP!

Not to worry!  This dress will be refashed in a dash!  :)

First, I carefully cut off that pretty patterned bottom part of the dress.  I had great plans for it!

Snnnip!

Then, I attacked the rest of that rather unwieldy length!

Chop!

I grabbed that pretty patterned piece that I cut off in the beginning and used it as a sash for my brand new dress!

A cute & easy refash!

I was happy to run into several of my fun friends!

Don't we look fierce? :)

It's Nick Danger Dunn! :)

As it turns out, all I needed to recover from a crappy day was a little Karaoke Therapy!  :)

...and check out my awesome footwear!

Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Day 234: Fat Tuesday Top

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

When I first found this awful yellow dress, it left me feeling anything but mellow!

Fella said I look like I belong in a rumpus room!

The first issue I had to address (har har) was a couple of stains on the bottom half of the dress that I couldn’t get to photograph for the life of me.  Rest assured, they were pretty obvious in person and appeared to be of the coffee persuasion.  I decided to just lop that part off and make this dress into a top!

Lop (You thought I was going to say chop, didn't you?!)!

I put my future top on my dress form and pinned it, taking it in about 3″ on each side.

Pinned!

Then, I ran each side through my machine!

Mood Light Sewing!

I wasn’t really feeling the original neckline at all.  I used my seam ripper to remove those 3 functionless buttons…

You have no function and must be removed!

and gave that middle section a quick snip to turn it into a much more flattering V-neck!

I grabbed that bottom cut off section, and snipped off the bottom hem.  Check out how pretty and lacy it is on the inside!  :)

Pretty!

I used this cut off scrap as a sash to cinch the waist of my cute new tunic!

They call me Mellow Yellow! :)

I wore my new top to the Original Pancake House for a tasty Fat Tuesday Breakfast Dinner with the Fella!  :)

NOM!

Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Day 233: Out of the Dark Dress

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

For some reason, when I attempted to take the “before” pics of this dress, the flash on my camera refused to go off.  It’s as if it didn’t want anyone to see this extremely unattractive dress!  :)

Don't worry! This dress will be coming out of the dark in no time! :)

I love the funky contrasting print on the shoulders of this dress, plus it has pockets!  I’m less than fond of those funky shoulder pads, the length, and the fact that I’m swimming in it!

I decided to take this dress in from the back so I could hold on to those side pockets.  It’s all a part of my national “A Pocket is a Terrible Thing to Waste” campaign.  ;)

It kind of looks like a fin at this point.

I then ran my fin through my sewing machine!  :)

Taking it in!

I lopped off the fin-like appendage, and attacked that dress’ length!

Chop!

Next came a new hem!

Pin it! Sew it! Be done with it!

After a quick press for my new seam and hem, my new dress was all done!

Whoa...a little short, eh?

This dress is definitely on the short side!  Luckily today was a holiday and I didn’t have to work.  My new dress was a fine length for whipping up a tasty dinner for my neighbors.   :)

The secret's in the sauce! :)

I made pork, roasted asparagus, and gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce!  T’was delish!

Food Porn! :)

Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Day 232: Brunchtime Dress

Posted on February 19, 2012 by

When the jumpsuit meets culottes, nothing good can come of it!

This ain't pretty, folks!

This piece is all sorts of lameness.  :/  I got to work on de-lameifying it!

I unpicked the crotch of this silly thing with my seam ripper.

Pick! Pick! Pick!

Then, I chopped of the legs!

Chop and Chop!

Then I closed up the front and back seams where I unpicked the crotch earlier.  :)

Pinned!

Stitch it up!

I cut off the extra material from the front and back seams, then I got to work on hemming my new dress!

Yay! A new hem!

I turned the dress around so the zipper closure was at the front.  It could be worn either way.  :)

Ready to head off to brunch!

It's like a salad in a cup! ;)

NOM!

Cheers!  :)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Day 231: Mardi Gras Dress

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

When I saw today’s dress, I knew it would be just the thing for a Mardi Gras Celebration!  :)

...as long as it was a celebration in the 80's. :/

I love the gold hue, and the luxurious silk fabric, but I wanted something cute and fun to catch a parade with friends…and this wasn’t it!

I decided to completely lose the top part of the dress.

Chop!

I left just enough of the fabric from the top part to fold over and pin.  Then I stitched it down.

Sewing right along the orginal seam!

Now I needed straps for my new dress.  I whipped up two fabric tubes from the leftover sleeve fabric…

Strap Tease!

and pinned them to the front and back of my new dress!

Pinned!

I stitched them down, and was all done (after a quick press!)

Whirrrrr!

I slipped on some purple tights and green accessories, and was ready to meet up with my pals for pre-parade cocktails and pizza!

Ta-Dah! :)

Pre-party wine tasting! :)

Pals!

Pizza!

Phillip whips up some tasty cocktails! :)

We headed off to watch the parade…but never quite found it!  :/  We ended up traipsing all over the Rosewood neighborhood, laughing at our lack of parade tracking skills.  :)

We'll be our own parade! :)

Sometimes life is the parade. :)

Happy Mardi Gras, everybody!  :)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Day 230: No-Sew Cocktail Dress!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

Today’s dress was delightful in that it was made of silk, and had an awesomely tacky print.  :) It was less than delightful in that it was of a hideous shape with one shoulder pad.  :/

One Pad Wonder!

What follows is perhaps the best no-sew refashion I’ve ever lucked out on!  :)

I ripped out that solo shoulder pad…

Later Tater!

Then, I wrapped the arms of the dress around my waist and pinned the bust to keep my new dress from slipping off.  :)

Pinned & Secure!

Now I have an awesome cocktail dress…perfect for a fun Friday night!

This took all of 2 minutes, folks!

Loving my awesome Cindy Saad necklace! :)

While out, I ran into a couple of fun friends!

'Ello Cat! :)

It's the always amazing Clark Ellefson! :)

I finished the evening with a tasty KC Hotdogs veggie dog!  :D

NOM!

Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments