Remake: Mint & White Dress

We might have found a new color palette pair fave!

A little vanilla mint action, you could say? (Yeah, I've ALWAYS got my mind on sweets!)

I loved the essence of this dress! There were a few things that needed some adjusting, but overall the structure was fab.

I could do without the ruffles on the sleeve's edge, but we'll get to that! :)

I got my tools ready to go!

A little behind the scenes action!!

The more I thought about the sleeves, I just decided to take them completely off!

I used my seam ripper to take them both off and then pinned each new arm hole in prep for stitching.

Got the sewing machine threaded with mint thread and finished the edges!

Next it was time to adjust the waistline. The elastic that was currently there basically turned into ribbon after being there so many years - there was just no stretch at all! I removed the old and replaced with the new!

I love when it cinches like this!!

A few small changes here and there and we've got a brand new dress!

I love the ribbed texture to the fabric and I think it stands out more with the sleeves gone! 

I went neutral with shoes and paired the dress with my Aerosole heels to give it a fall-ish feel!

I love the idea of adding a patterned cardigan to go on top!

This one was all about fit and just simplifying what was already there. 

I had a chemistry teacher in high school who was well versed in telling us to KISS - keep it simple, stupid. I'm not a fan of calling anyone stupid, so let's just keep it simple, stitchers :)

DIY: Tie Dye Embellished Sweatshirt (á la Beyonce)

OK, I'm part of the Bey-hive.

Amazing Bey art by GNODPop

I love me some Beyonce. 🐝🐝🐝 I got a little inspired when I was in Paris over the summer and was peeping all of Queen Bey's Formation posters littered across the city promoting the tour.

I said to myself, I want to slay too!! So, a Beyonce-worthy top is what's getting crafted! I was feeling the French spirit while singing "I Slay" over and over and over on my trip that I thought, what if I found out the French translation for that phrase and embellished my hoodie?

Je domine means "I dominate" so  it looks like we've got our saying! I began with a thin cotton H&M sweatshirt and some sequin trim for lettering! I was inspired by a post on A Beautiful Mess using sequins...

...and wanted to create something similar!

I pinned the sequins to the shirt to hold them in place while forming the lettering and then used Aleen's Fabric Fusion to actually affix the sequins to the shirt!

But then what happens when you wear your new shirt out to dinner and you spill what you ordered on it? You get that bottle of tie dye ready to go. 

I grabbed a bottle of Tulip One-Step dye in blue (I wanted to match the navy sequins I used) and began the process by getting the top completely wet!

Whenever I dye clothes I try to keep a pair of rubber gloves on hand just to avoid dyeing of the hands as well!

Once the piece was totally wet, I folded the top in an accordion shape and added rubber bands. (These areas underneath the bands will be the portions of the top that won't change color!)

When the bands were all added, it was time to dye! I took an old baking pan and covered it in plastic wrap. (The things you do when you have to dye inside!)

With the Tulip dye, all you have to do is fill up the bottle with water and shake it to disperse the powder coloring. Once the dye is mixed it's time to squeeze onto the garment!

Love the blue! 💙

We're so close!

Once the shirt was saturated with dye, I let it marinate for 8 hours before cutting the bands and rinsing the piece out with water until the dye ran clear. Once it was dry, it was time to wear it again!! (Fingers crossed I don't spill something metallic on it next!)

Dye success!

I'm totally rocking out to Beyonce right here! (Hello yard dance party!) 

Spot be gone! Can't even see it anymore.

Such a fun way to give a simple shirt some flair!

I might need to add sequined lettering to more things now...stay tuned!

Remake: Pink Floral Muumuu

You know that moment when you get into your car for the first time after it's been sitting in the sun all morning, and the heat literally envelopes you, and you feel like you might explode? What happens when it feels that hot ALL DAY LONG? You go as flowy as possible with that wardrobe!

Hello, flowy!

This muumuu is exactly the piece for that sweat drippity kinda summer day. A few issues, though...

Ummmmm...this is probably not going to cut it as is.

It's just a bit too big for me. No need for flashing.

It's hot but not THAT hot. :)

Time to make this ready for the heat!!

There were lots of snags at the seams, but because of the sizing, things are getting trimmed and these issues will be in the leftover fabric pile!

Woo for no snags!

Next it was onto the actual cutting. Length got trimmed as well as the sleeves, and the body of the muumuu got taken in as well. 

The bottom of the dress got prepped for a new hem before moving onto the neckline!

As you can see on the bottom right, I created two seams, with about an inch of space in-between. These are lying at the new neckline. (I added part of the leftover fabric and stitched it to the back of the current neckline.) New elastic is gonna live in the center of these two seams very soon! (PS, leave a little bit of space at the end of your seam - you'll need access for the next step!)

I took elastic and added a safety pin to the end of it to push through the space between the seams! New elastic neckline, here we come!

Once the elastic made the rounds around the entire neckline, instead of stitching the ends together, I pulled them together and tied a bow. This is going to help with making adjustments for how loose and how tight I want the neck to be. 

Off the shoulder action! 

I paired this piece with some Michael Kors heels and a green clutch! It's like I'm wearing a garden!

Cheese!!

Casual, comfortable, and COOL. Three key ingredients to the perfect ensemble.

I love this dress!! Seriously. I might even wear it to bed :)