Week 49: Oscar Sunday!

Happy Oscar Sunday eve!! Today was such an exciting day working with E!…

Me & my pally Ross! (PS, sorry for the blur screen shot - I literally took it from the TV)

…that I thought it would be fun to showcase the bridesmaid dresses that were made for my segment. I still have my final ensemble for Oscar Week which I shall post tomorrow, but tonight I thought it would be fun to show the outfits that I created for my Fighter sister gals Jenna Lamia and Dendrie Taylor.

Jenna’s before looked like this:

Jenna's Dress - Before

It was slightly reminiscent of Little Bo Peep Barbie, if I do say so myself…

Little Bo Peep Barb!

I’m thinking about the bride who chose this number for her poor bridesmaids to wear.  Probably themed and probably included bonnets and perhaps some sheep?

I needed to change the color stat and thought a shade of blue would be lovely, so I grabbed RIT Dye in Navy and got to work.

Dye time!

I used the washing machine for this one and let it go.

Dye me!

This was a piece that I ended up dyeing two times.  After the first go, it was a shade of navy, but on the lighter side.  I dried it and grabbed my seam ripper to remove the ruffle that was over the shoulder.  I loved the flutter in the front of the dress but the shoulders had shields protruding on each side of them and I wanted to remove those immediately.

Seam rip that sleeve!

After removing, I put the dress in dye bath two to darken the shade up!  Once it was re-dyed I took it along with me to my local fabric store – International Silks & Woolens -  and began to match it up with some ribbon and thread.  I went home after scoring some gorgeous velvet ribbon and began pinning in place.

Velvet waist!

Now for you sewers or non-sewers out there, you have some options.  You can stitch, safety pin, hot glue, or do what I did and use Stitch Witchery – a fab non sewing adhesive tape that you can put down between layers and iron on.  It sticks and it’s fabulous!!  I tied a little bow in front and let the ribbon hang and I was finito!!  Let’s hop to Dendrie’s dress before I show the final ‘after’ shots.

Dendrie's Dress - Before

Here’s a little close up of the top of this dress so you can see the beadwork that’s come undone…

;

I mean...

As is, this really isn’t anything you can wear again with the way the beads are scattered – some on, some off, some hanging – so I decided to just get rid of them all!!  With patient hands and a big bowl for them to fall into, I began to remove…

Off with the beads!

This wasn’t just a process that took a few minutes to complete – I decided to break this up over a few days with The Bachelor, Top Chef: All Stars and a little bit of Glee playing in the background to keep me going because once the beads were off, I had to pick out each thread too. Whew, but I must say, when it was done, it was lookin’ good!!  Grabbed RIT Dye in Evening Blue…

RIT's Evening Blue!!

prepped a bath on my stove…

Stove Bath!!

…and dipped the top going for a shade of cornflower blue.

Cold Water Rinse!

Once the dress was dry, I took the matching velvet ribbon picked up on my trip to gather findings, and along with more Stitch Witchery, affixed the ribbon to the dress.

More Stitch Witchery!!

Once the sash was attached, I took more ribbon and a vintage-looking brooch and pinned both to the front of the dress.  During the fitting, the dress was a little short on Dendrie so the bubble-style hem at the bottom got tweaked.  I began to take apart the hem which ended up giving me about two inches more material because the black fabric of the skirt was attached to an inner liner.

Seam Ripping!!

Just did a little re-hem action and it was complete!

I grabbed the dresses and headed off to the Roosevelt Hotel where all the E! action was taking place!!  Was escorted past check-in..

Check in!

and brought up to the Wardrobe Room…

Racks of gowns!!

…where dresses for all the models taking part in the day’s festivity of segments (Burlesque fashions, bathing suits, Black Swan-inspired dresses, the perfect undergarments…) were housed.  Steamed my dresses and headed over to the Hair/Make Up room where Carly Ryan glammed me up and got me camera ready!

Make Up Chair!!

The girls arrived, got suited up, and we all headed down to set…

Le Set from the balcony above!

…which was created in the lobby/first floor of the hotel.  We got mics, scurried into our places, and went live!

And, the after shot of the girls looking Oscar glam…

Lovely in shades of blue!

Stunning – I simply love how they look and it was really thrilling to see other people wearing some of my recreations!  What a pleasure it was getting to work with the both of them too – I was completely in awe of The Fighter and I was lucky enough to get to spend time with some of the heart of the film.

Post-segment Trio!!

I changed back into comfy clothes, packed up my stuff, said goodbye to my gal Carly and thanked her for giving me glammy makeup which I secretly didn’t want to wash off…

Love Carly!!

..headed back out to the valet to grab my car, and scooted off away from all the melee of Hollywood Blvd!!  On my way home I drove past something that made me jealous that I wasn’t going to the same destination.

In-N-Out Truck!!

An In-N-Out truck that was probably heading to a party that was serving the delicious burgers as a snack to it’s guests.  That’s literally my dream – to have a fun shindig (i.e. my wedding) and then have a food truck arrive to serve up late night eats to my pals. Mmmm!!

I got home, took off my shoes, watched more of the pre-show and then headed over to SR & MR’s place for an Oscar viewing party.  No In-N-Out, but the spread was just as drool-worthy.

Yummers!

We discussed the dresses – LOVED Mila Kunis’, Penelope Cruz’s and I was totally on board with Amy Adams’ blue sequined number – and even had a little fashion display of our own that was most definitely not planned.

Where's Waldo!

We had a boisterous Oscar evening with shouts, hollers, clapping, aww-ing (Colin Firth’s speech) and even a few boos, but that was just when the DVR skipped and went backwards to re-show Gwyneth Paltrow’s Country Strong performance which none of us were keen on listening to more than once.  I mean, where was Cee-Lo Green tonight?  (That was meant in a non-literal sense because he was physically on Jimmy Kimmel Live post-Oscars.)

I was happy to get home and cozy up in PJ’s after a long and amazingly fun day!  Hope you all enjoyed your Oscar night whether you watched or just enjoyed the final day of the weekend!!

Final Oscar Week dress tomorrow along with a little rundown of what I wore today!!