Day 148. 217 days and $214 left togo.

Funday, Sunday has arrived! It was gorge today, so yes…the sundress is coming out. Sleeveless, check. Floral, check. Paired with some sandals, it’s time to let that warm, sunshine in. Today’s felt like an apron – there was the high-ish neck, the A-line fit, the pockets, however I was not going to be playing in the kitchen this Sunday. Oh no friends, I’m taking Sunday off

Day 148 - Before

I wanted to make it a little more fun, so shortening up the dress was the first thing on my agenda.

Au revoir too long dress!

I cut about six inches off of the bottom of the dress and gave the raw edging a brand new hem. That extra material above will come in handy, but we’ll chat about that in a few.

Next, it was imperative to fix the neck. I was not into the completely straight neckline and wanted to open it up a bit, so I cut the center an inch or so to give it a mild V neck. Pinned it under, stitched it up and we were almost done.

New cut!

Now being that the dress was still a larger A-line style, instead of bringing it in and sewing it up, I took that extra material and tied it into a pretty bow around my waist. Easy cinch and I’ve got another piece that I have a very large crush on.

Day 148 - After

I love my newly crafted Sunday dress. It enjoyed a little bit of thrifting before really not working in the kitchen and heading to someone else’s. Yes, the kitchen of Umami Burger was visited. Just checky…

Chilis and cheese? Sign me up.

The seriousness of this Hatch burger full of four styles of green chilis and their house cheese was a sight to behold. And lemme tell you, each and every one of those bites was savored as if it were my last. A little addition of some Belgium Allagash and some of Mr. Hitachino from Japan…

Hello Owl.

…and the meal was complete. I couldn’t have even come close to that in my kitch.

Cannot move. Must sit. Food coma.

And what followed was a nap that lasted about three hours, yep three hours. The blend of the warm sun and the delish eats and libations just makes this gal sleepy. Perfect Sunday Funday.

Day 147. 218 days and $215 left togo.

When I saw this lovely dress, I had to have it immediately. It was a little retro and had a 50s vibe which I was totally digging. The blue/green palette was soft and super femme, so in my thrift bag it went.

Day 147 - Before

I loved the fabric and the floral pattern, but the one ish that you can’t see above (and that I didn’t see until I got home)…HOLES!

HOLES!!

That’s right, there were two rather large holes along the seam of the waistline. They were equidistant too – it was like I was working with twins! I think I was blinded at the garage sale for a moment by the soft fabric and was brought to Venice (not CA, but Italy) on a bicycle, drinking wine overlooking the Adriatic Sea, and by the time my dream had ended I was already back home and washing my newly purchased, and hole-filled, piece. What to do?? I pinned the holes together on the inside of the dress and sewed down brand new hems.

Take that holes!!

After the waist was tackled, I got to the length, as I didn’t really like where it was hitting me at my calves. I wanted to shorten it up just a smidge, so I measured out six inches and pinned down where I wanted my new hem to lie.

Taking it up!

A little sewing and trimming followed and I was left with some excess…

Extra, extra!!

…which I decided to turn into a matching sash.

Prepping the new sash

I pinned and prepped the fabric, got to sewing, and had a brand new belt to accompany my fab new dress. Now that dream that I had earlier…it’s like I picked it back up and continued from where I left off. (Don’t you wish that happened for real?? I can’t even tell you how hard I try to “finish” dreams after being awoken by early am texts from people who get up before 8 or my from my upstairs neighbor doing what sounds like marathon training before the sun rises. I will end up having my dance off with Justin Timberlake and finish my make out scene on Mad Men with Jon Hamm at some point, fyi)

Day 147 - After

With all this Italy talk, it came to me that this ensemble was totally reminiscent of Gwyneth Paltrow’s character Marge Sherwood from The Talented Mr. Ripley. Completely obsessed with her wardrobe throughout the movie, this one in particular I adored and felt was slightly similar.

Gwynnie love

With all this movie talk, guess where I ended up going? That’s right, the movies.

I kind of wasn't pretending to be scared, a little...just sayin'

Now, I’ve never had this EVER happen before, but I feel the need to share, as maybe one of you out there can feel me. Doing a late night screening of Kick-Ass at 11:15, of course we ran into those chatty/obnoxious/clearly wasted kids sitting in front of us repeating lines and shouting gems like, “I could do that too” after people jump across buildings in the movie.

Highly doubtful that you're superhero worthy, kids in front of me...

I’m so sure, but in any event they simmered down (ie. passed out) before I had the chance to tell them to shut their faces Now we’ve all experienced this right, but how many of you have had those kids proceed to puke on themselves in the theater? Before it turning into a Stand by Me moment we jetted to seats in the complete opposite end of the theater along with the folks in the surrounding four rows. I immediately grabbed my roll-on perfume from my purse and shared the jasmine scent so we could remove any odor remnants. Just another Saturday night…

Day 146. 219 days and $216 lefttogo.

On the agenda for tonight was some hand crafting, and I’m not talking about sewing! Myself and four others signed up for “Friday Night Furniture Assembly” featuring pasta, wine, some Snickers Turtle Pie, and putting together a dining room set full of six chairs and one very large table. I couldn’t wait, as a mini-hiatus from the sewing machine was a little treat. Still working with my hands, sans the accidental pinning myself multiple times in an evening, was exactly what I was jonesing for.

So, I went for something that just required a little bit of cutting.

Day 146 - Before

It’s a bit of Gone With the Wind (no hat and clearly less crinoline and hoop skirt action) – with the lacey trim, pastel color and pleated skirt, I felt for a moment like Scarlett. Then I realized this was an old nightgown and not a costume and that we were also in the 2000s. I loved the pleating on the spandexy fabric and in all honesty, if that material was a bit less forgiving, then I would have kept it as a dress. Unfortunately, everything showed through and trying to find an undergarment that would not be crazy noticeable was going to be an issue, and let me be the first to say…I have a lot of undergarments.

Trim, trim, trim

I loved the lace part, so the only thing I wanted to change was the length. Like I said before, I didn’t want to keep it as a dress (no thank you, lines of any kind!!) so I decided to go shorter. I took it up to my knees and had a great new top almost ready to wear. Now it was super billowy and was shapeless, so I grabbed a navy sash and tied a loose bow around my waist. I then pulled a bit of the material out from under the sash to give it some texture and body.

Day 146 - After

I have to say, I really enjoy the jeans underneath. It’s still long enough to work as a bikini cover up if I really need/want to ever try it as a dress, but I seriously doubt that moment will arise.

Back to the manual labor and the chair I was determined to finish. I feel like I’m rather good at following directions and putting things together – I can rock out some IKEA furniture (thanks to years of practice), and that paired with my borderline brown belt map reading skills, I’d be successful in the completion of my task.

Putting final touches on my chair!

After my ratchet wielding hands tightened up all those screws, the chair was ready to be tested.

Sitting on the chair I handcrafted, kinda

Now, I’m not gonna lie – I was keeping my fingers crossed that my chair wouldn’t collapse. Luckily it didn’t and no bodily injury…today. I’ve got a small bruise on my wrist, but just part of the job, right?

TGIF! Happy weekend friends

Day 145. 220 days and $217 left to go.

Now, it’s the finale to Project Runway tonight friends, and yes, I’ve watched and know who won. Unlike some people who exist on our Facebook pages who like to tell the world what happens in real time (I mean seriously, I rely heavily on my TiVo and rarely watch anything live) on say LOST, 24, Top Chef or any of those actiony-event or game shows where spoilers really suck when you haven’t watched yet – I will keep the winner to myself, as perhaps a few of you may have passed out before Klum said Auf Wiedersehen to the two non-winners. Let’s just say that CLICK HERE FOR WINNER had a piece that I was obsessed with and I’ll have to try to recreate myself at some point.

So, to my challenge for the day…this navy/white dress below…

Day 145 - Before

First thing’s first – those silk flowers, WHAT?!? Yeah, they had to go! Can I just mention – they both had pin backs on them but they were actually sewed down to the dress as well as being pinned? Somebody did not want these suckers to come off and honestly I have no idea why!

Next I unbuttoned the top three buttons, folded the excess material under and pinned down the new collar.

Fold down that collar!

I sewed a brand new hem on my brand new V top! Now came the skirt…

Goodbye skirt!!

I took a seam ripper and undid the navy material that was attached – the pleated material balled up above will find itself turned into something along the way, a shrug perhaps? We’ll see. Oh, and there was something else that needed to get undone…

SP's

Shoulder pads! I mean, this dress just SCREAMED shoulder pads, didn’t it? Next time, we’re going to play a little game of “Pads, No Pads” and you guys will have to make the executive decision of whether or not they’re a part of the ensembles. Until then, these SP’s came out and the new shirt was pret-√°-porter.

Day 145 - After

The drapey sleeves ended up being my favorite part of my new boho shirt. They were still big, however I loved that I could adjust how they fell on my arms. I have to say how I’m even more pleased with how this came out, as my first inclination was to perhaps save the pleats and form a skirt from this dress.

Close Up!

Little trade secret…on shirts that may be a bit too low-cut, or made of material that will move regardless if it’s windy or not outside, Topstick is a life saver. Made for keeping toupee stuck to those heads who wear them, it’s also a gem to make sure your shirts stay in place without any accidental flashing. And, clearly I pressed down a little too much on my right side (left looking at it above), as there’s a little spot where it’s sticking quite well to my chest. Better safe than sorry, right?!