This is my mom’s dress from the 70′s that I recently pulled out of my old bin of dress up clothes from when I was little.  I’ve wanted a maxi dress for the summer, but never really found one that I loved in stores.

Erica – Before

What will Erica do to make her mom’s dress work for her?

I revamped this by replacing the dead/stretched out elastic and sewing up a few holes!  The dress was huge and sloppy before, and just replacing the elastic made it fit perfectly!

Erica – After

Voila–a way better maxi dress than any I’ve tried on!  The elastic cost a whopping $0.75.

Way to repurpose that piece of your mom’s, Erica!  It’s the quintessential summer dress and I think you should totally rock it with hat in the lower left corner of your after shot!  Can’t wait to see what else you dig up from that bin of dress up clothes!

Happy Weekend, friends!

BEFORE

I wasn’t sure if it was a pillowcase at first, however once I held it up I saw that it was a tube dress of sorts…just one without any straps and a wonky top portion!!

I’m a burrito!

Time to get this Memorial Day weekend-ready!!

I started off by trimming the bottom portion of the dress!

Going a little bit shorter…

Since the waistline fell at a weird spot on my body, I decided to create one that really fit!  I turned the piece inside out, pinched about an inch of material above the gathered waist, and pinned this area right where the matched the gathering.  Basically I’m making a little pocket of space where I can add some elastic!

Cinched and pinned!!

I sewed down the area at the waist…

Hello Singer!

…got my elastic…

Elastic!!!

…took out a few stitches from where I just sewed to put the elastic in…

Taking out a few stitches…

…and then started putting in the elastic!  My trick with adding or replacing elastic at the waist is to take a safety pin to guide the elastic all the way around.

Elastic waist time!

Once the elastic made a complete revolution around the waist…

Got my ends!

…I sewed the edges together to secure!

Stitchin’ edges

I created a little bit of shape at the neckline, added another cinch & pinch move at the bust, and then stitched some white elastic straps to keep this puppy in place!

Straps & cinchin!

From weird pillowcase-y/tube dress to fun new sundress!!

AFTER

I was going to use the same black elastic that I used for the waist as my straps, but made a game time decision and went with the white to match the daisies.  I might go back and replace with the black before I re-wear this weekend

Thin straps!

To give it a little bit of edge, I added a vintage RJ Graziano bangle, my studded black Steve Madden bag, and my aviators…

Black purse, black bangle!

…with a pair of almost brand new Joseph Campbell wedges I got at Crossroads after I traded in some old clothes.

M’accessories

I have a few BBQs this weekend and I will most definitely be wearing this to one of them!

Can you dig the sunshine!!

Oh and PS, I have to prepare a dessert for one of the get-togethers and I’m thinking about something fruit based.  Anyone have any awesome summery/fruity dessert ideas?  Would love to hear from you guys while I do some Martha Stewart/epicurious/Pinterest sorting!  I’m going to add whatever I find to my Must Make Sweet Treats board on Pinterest and hashtag them – #SummerBBQDesserts - so keep me posted on your thoughts in the comments below or on Pinterest/Twitter using the same hashtag!

TGIF!

Same exact fabric!!

Today I was shocked yet again.  I saw a garment on Krowe NYC’s etsy page that looked extremely familiar.

Krowe NYC’s vintage animal print

Could it be??

I think we’ve got a dead ringer!!

My kaftan!

This was a Krist Gudnason piece that was submitted to me by reader Pam and posted on February 1o, 2o11.  (Click here for a post refresher!)  I mean, check out the side by side!

Now it’s really Noah’s Ark!!

It looks like I have more of the mauve material up top and am without the extra purple panel at the bottom – might have just been one of the variations in the Krist Gudnason collection that year.

I hope this starts happening more frequently now…if you guys ever come across pieces that look super similar to ones I’ve done, totally shoot pics and send them my way!  There will totally be a reward  This could be the most fun, real life game of Flea Market Treasure Hunters if you ask me!

I’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning and have been coming across things I forgot I had!  It’s like finding money in the pocket of your newly washed jeans…that never fails to get me excited, no matter how much it is!  I came across these coral-colored wooden beads in my sorting and since I haven’t worn them in eons – I barely remembered that they existed – I figured they’d be a lovely complement to these fun, floral, costume earrings to giveaway!  (The earrings are brand new, BT-dubs…)

Win Me!

To enter, leave a comment below with something that you’ve found while you’ve been spring cleaning that got you super excited or something that you’ve lost that you just can’t remember where it went!  Maybe it was something that you had no recollection of having, something that ended up getting left in your possession after an old roommate/significant other moved out…or something that just simply vanished.

I remember I had this brown cardigan with a monogrammed “M” on the front of it that somehow just disappeared.  I think I have klepto ghosts in my house sometimes when I can’t find something.  It’s like, really ghosts?  Can you just give me back the remote?  OK, the ghosts don’t really exists…just my way of blaming something else for my momentary absentmindedness

Also, for all of  you guys nearby or in Oklahoma or with family members in the tornado areas, I send all my good thoughts, prayers, and love your way

BEFORE

…and scooped it up when nobody was taking it.  I just love the pink and green combo and wanted it to be mine!!

Too big!

I feel like the print should have little whales or anchors on it just mainly for the color!  The dress was just a little too big, so all I wanted to do was make it fit…here goes a few adjustments to do just that!

I started with the length first!  It hit me just a smidge lower than the knees and I wanted it a little shorter.  I cut off around four inches from the bottom…

Shortened Length!

…and then prepared a new hem!

New Hem!!

Now the body of the piece was just too bit for me as well.  I loved the scalloped edging (and scallops too, mmm, if anyone was wondering) and wanted to get rid of all the extra space right at the arms.  When I tried the dress on, I pinched about an inch on each side to take in, and set down my pins.

Adjusting!!

I stitched the hem…

Sewing the new hem!

…and then stitched the body…

Losing a few inches up top!

…and made two final adjustments before slipping the piece on!  I retied the thin pink straps to make them a little shorter and did a little cinch and pinch action at the bust and safety pinned this area in place.

Pinch & Cinch!

I put on my new dress and it fit perfectly!!

Balance action!

I love the new length too!  It’s not a huge difference, but I like that you can see my knees!

Shorter & more fitted!

There was a breeze in the air and the dress just moved so effortlessly.

Short & Sweet

It’s the perfect summer dress!!

Vintage Fun

I love that it works dressed down with flip flops on a Sunday afternoon or dressed up a bit more for a meeting or a get-together with gals for dinner.

Weeeeee!!

Who’s got two thumbs and wearing this dress again today because it’s going to be about 83 degrees out??  Yep, you called it

Happy Monday, friends!