Hmmmnnn…not too bad.

It doesn’t look all that bad, does it?  I’m a bit bummed about that, as when I bought this dress, it was flippin’ huge.  But since I’m too poor to I don’t usually dry clean anything (no matter what the label says), a wash and dry did my shrinkery for me!  :)  This doesn’t make for a very dramatic transformation though, now does it?

Don’t worry.  I’m about to do something nifty.  :)

I took a cue from The Pixies and worked like a Wave of Mutilation on this dress.  :) First, I cut off the bottom hem.

Snip!

Then, I lopped off one of the shoulders.

More snippage!

Then I lopped of the other one, just a good bit higher.

The lady has gone mad!

Okay…so what was that all about?  I’ll tell ya!  :)

I pinned the shoulders back together, with the raw edge facing the outside.

See where this is going yet?

Then, I stitched ‘em down, leaving about 1/2″ of fabric for all to see!  :)

Whirrrrrr!

I think it looks pretty flippin’ cool!  :)

Have I mentioned that I’m a sucker for Teal yet? :)

It’s a little difficult to see that shoulder detail in the above pic, so here’s a closer look:

It’s subtle…but nifty!

I rocked my new dress at a lovely Memorial Day Brunch hosted by this delightful lass:

Her Quiche is da bomb, btw!!! :)

Amy cooked up a completely amazeballs meal for her lucky pals!

Noms! :)

We heart Amy! :)

Ready for more noms! :)

I’m such a lucky girl to have such awesome friends! :)

Such a fun afternoon! :)

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend as well!

Cheers!

My wit is clearly floundering today, folks!  ;)

I must admit, I love the print and the pale lavender hue of this dress!  Perhaps it’s the Pisces in me.   Hmmmnnn…

Anywho…this dress was going to need a bit of work before it was ready for an evening hanging out with friends!

I began by chopping off that bottom hem.  This will end up being (you guessed it) my sash.  :)

Filet o Fish!

Then I got to pinning!

Nice & Fitted!

A good bit of sewing followed.

Whirrrrr!

I cut off the extra fabric and chopped my new dress t0 make it short and sweet!

Chopping the Fishies!

I hemmed the bottom edge, pressed the whole shebang, and now I have a fun dress for supping with friends!  :)

Supping with the Fishes! ;)

Chillin’ with Phillip! :)

Phillip looooves Max! :)

The charming hosts!

Igor isn’t as licky as his brother! :)

Cheers!  :)

It’s there! I promise!

Coolness would be really appreciated today, as temps have climbed into the 90′s.  Now, the heat isn’t such a terrible thing as there are such things as Air Conditioning and Cold Beer…unless you’re stuck in an empty restaurant parking lot with a dead car battery for a couple of hours.  :/  By the time I got home, I only had a few minutes to do today’s refashion and still get to a Roller Derby Double Header on time!

Soooooo…I made a nice sideways chop!

High meet Low! :)

I had absolutely no time to mess with a proper hem, so I grabbed this guy:

There shall be no fraying!!!!

I applied my Fray Block to the outer edge of my raw hem, and tossed my new tunic on over my fave pair of silk shorts!  :)

I’m kind of obsessed with High/Low hems right now. Can you tell?

While out and about, a pal showed me this!

Whoah!!!!! :) :) :)

That’s right, folks!  I’m in the June issue of Columbia Metropolitan magazine (not available online just yet)!  :)

And yet they gave the cover to Dawndy for some reason. ;P

I was especially excited to see the Carolina Wreckingballs play, as they are the first Men’s derby team to form in my area.  :)  I was less than excited when a friend of mine got injured.  :( He’s a tough cookie though, and stayed to support his team…even with a broken collar-bone!!!

Gordi refashioned a sling out of a hoodie!

After my Day o’ Derby, I headed to Art Bar to celebrate the birthday of one swell fella!

Hollar & Harper! :)

My photographer swore this was an interesting angle. ;)

What a hectic day!  :)

Cheers!

Herm.

I never wear these.  The fit is great, but I just hate the extremely dated wash (from back when that sort of dingy look was “in”).  :/

I don’t know why it never occurred to me that all I needed to do to turn these jeans of last resort into my new faves was a bit of dye!  :)

Double Trouble! :)

You can see I’m using a dark blue mixed with a bit of black.  I really want to get these as dark as I possibly can!

I’m dyeing a couple of other things in there as well! :)

I left the jeans in their dye bath for about an hour.  A thorough rinse and dry followed.

Check ‘em out now!  :)

Stylin’ with a LBD! :)

And just in case some of you wonder if I’m hiding anything under my little black dress…

See? The dye job went flawlessly! :)

I felt quite cool in my newly darkened jeans, and even struck a hipster pose!  ;)

Dripping with Hipness! :)

I wore my new jeans for a fun happy hour at Hunter Gatherer with some fabulous people!  :)

Hiya! :)

Indulging in one of my fave vices! ;)

Cute Couple (and I dig his shorts)! :)

GroupFoto!

Pale Ale + Cigars = A Happy Jillian! :)

Cheers!  :)

Nice as in nice fabric…not so nice on me…yet! :)

I put it on backwards underneath my arms with the collar out like so:

Just like this!

Then I tied it in the front like so:

See where we’re going here?

Then, I wrapped the sleeves to the back and tied them again!  :)  In just a couple of no-sew steps, I have a delightful new summer tunic!  :)

Thanks Evan! :)

So pretty & light!  :)

Loving the warmer weather! :)

Cheers!

Jammies belong in the bedroom…and NOWHERE else!!!!

I see this all the time when I’m driving through USC’s campus or at the grocery store.  Scads and scads of young women with their hair and makeup done…but wearing loungewear in public!  Color me old-fashioned, but I think we all owe it to the people we interact with every day to look as nice as we possibly can.  By being properly frocked for my day, I’m showing my respect and esteem for the people around me (Keep in mind that most of my ideas/standards are pretty flippin’ ridiculous).  Plus, looking nice puts me in a good mood.  :)

These pants have so much potential!  I’ve gotten over my hatred of the color pink, and actually like how I look in the once-despised hue.  :)  Plus, these loungy pants are made of…CASHMERE!!!!!!!!!  :) :) :) :) :)  Hooray for luxury!!!!

I knew I didn’t want to keep these guys as pants, so I started snipping away the inner leg and crotch seams.

Don’t worry! It’s really tight-knit and it won’t fray! :)

After I snipped, I saw the reason these pants ended up in my custody:  They were riddled with teensy holes.  :/

Noooooo!!!!!!

I put the pants on my dress form, and began pinning them into a dress shape!

Taking shape! :)

Then, I stitched the pinned seams down!

A slightly different whirrrrrrrrrr angle! ;)

I trimmed off the excess material, saving one long bit to use as a sash. I really lucked out with this refash, as all the little holes were only on the fabric that was snipped away!  :)

Now those lackluster lounge pants are a pretty beach coverup dress for an awesome Karaoke Cabana Night!  :)

Loving being encased in Caaaaahshmere! :)

Evelyn likes to go out in style too! :)

Patrick looks like every mean rich guy in every 80′s teen movie ever made!

Buds! :)

BadFoto. :(

Get in the pool!!!! :)

Cheers!  :)

I’m seeing my reflection. I’m looking slightly rough…

I almost regretted purchasing this $1 frock.  I wasn’t quite sure if I’d be able to make it work.  Rather than getting mired in doubt, I got to work!

Pinning those sides!

Whirrrrr!!!

Amputations!

And lookie at that sad, hopeless dress now!  :)

Just chillin’ outside of the State House…like ya do! :)

Cheers!  :)

This is what I look like at 5am with no makeup and bedhead. Now ya know.

…and that’s it!  I didn’t like weird cross-over top of the dress at all.  It felt really stifling!

I got to snipping!

Snip!

I carefully snipped the top part away from the bottom part, right along the serged edge, so it wouldn’t fray.

For some dresses, this would be a totally no-sew refash, but I had to stitch down a couple of things before I moved forward.

Sewing off those pockets!

Stitching down that zipper!

Next, I pulled it under my arms with the bottom hem as the top, and the smaller waist as the bottom and pinned it once…

Riiiiiight there!

Then I began folding it back and forth in front of me, making pleats, like so:

Fold…and fold…and fold…and fold!

Then, I pinned that from the inside.

Riiiight here!

Alllllmost done!  I pinned one of my favorite brooches to the center of the pleated section (both to accessorize and to secure this dress even further) and that was that!  :)

Another one of my grandmother’s awesome brooches!

I wore my funky bubble hem dress to work and for an after-work happy hour showing of an terrific installation by local artist, Eileen Blyth!

Loving that funky bubble hem!

And here’s a few pics of the installation!

At the Adluh building!

This is made from salvaged metal found in the Vista.

I really wanted to take little orange dude home with me! :)

And here’s the artist!

Either Eileen is tall, or I’m short. :)

Cheers!

What’s fun about it????

Bright colors are extremely on trend right now!  But not in the form of ugly frumpy skirts!  I’m not worried.  I have no attention of leaving this skirt as-is.

First, I made a couple of cuts!

Chop!

Chop #2!

Then, I got to pinning!

Pin along the bottom!

Pin a strap!

Time to put it all together!  :)

Whirrrrr!

Attach that Strap!

And will ya look at what I have now?  :)

It’s a Skirt Bag! :)

Cheers!

Has the word “lovely” been redefined recently?

Talk about a BOGO!  :)  I’m a huge fan of this fun tropical print and the lightweight fabric of this thing.  I’m not such a fan of the frumpy cut of the dress or the not-so-hot layering action!

Time to get this dress ready for a warm & beautiful day!

First, I cut the dress off near the top, right where it starts to get narrow.

Making the cut!

Then, I hemmed the resulting raw edge!

Whirrrrrr!

Next, I cut two strips from the back of the jacket.

Strip #1 and Strip #2!

I stitched them both into tubes…

Tubular!

…and turned them right-side out!

Just like this!

I pressed my tubes, and pinned them onto my dress to make straps!

From Strips to Straps!

View from the back!

I stitched my new straps down, getting really excited about how this dress was turning out!  :)

Stitch that Strap!

I hopped into my fab new frock and out the door to catch a performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)!  Thankfully, there was no rain, and the show went on!  :)

At Finlay Park! :)

Lovin’ that drapey back! :)

As you can see, I grabbed a leftover scrap to wrap around my head for a driving scarf (I drive a convertible).  :)

It started to get a bit chilly, so I donned a cozy cardi in a complimentary color (such a sucker for alliteration!), as I began taking notes for my review of the show!

Pen & Paper at the ready! :)

Theatre-Lovin’ Pals! :)

Cheers!