Week 52: Lilah

So this polyestery/jacket/shirt came to me via Lilah in TX! “Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!” I remember being introduced to that song freshman year in college when a girl on my floor sang it a whole lot – she was from TX and by the end of the first semester I would be humming that along side “My Heart Will Go On” because Titanic came out around the same time and I was obsessed.  Yeah, that’s something I probably should have kept close to me, ie. not sharing it with anybody because of the embarrassment looking back now – my only excuse is that I was 17 and in a total I HEART TITANIC phase. We all have our phases

OK, back to the top!!  This white material is thick and heavy – too thick to wear as a top alone and too light to get away with it as a jacket.  Lilah found this in her thrifting travels and thought it would be “fun” to see what I could do with it.

Week 52: Lilah - Before

And I can’t continue without showing a pic of the back…

From the back!!

I’m drawn to these awesome roses that cover the piece.  There is this plastic/sand material glued to be stems and borders to the flowers and leaves.  I think I knew exactly what to do.  But before we get to that, this had to be my favorite part!

It's a pocket!!

Oh cute, a little pocket with a button.  Hmm, what a great spot to hold gum or a pen or anything.

Cut to…

Wait, it's a faux-cket!

Hello fake pocket!  Love that they went the distance to stitch on a button but couldn’t even make a little slit with some fabric underneath.  OK, back to getting something awesome from this piece!

Continue reading…

Week 52: Samantha

Today’s dress came all the way from Missouri, from my gal Samantha.  She sent this to me, along with another stunner that will be perfect for refashioning this summer, both coming from her great aunt’s collection.  Her great aunt passed in 2006 and this dress was something Miss S was going to redo for herself.  I got lucky as Samantha, pregnant when she sent, offered me the pieces to use. 

“I’ve been holding onto them for about 3 years now, dying to restyle them, but I am not the best seamstress and I just do not have the time.  Also, I’m pregnant, so there’s no way I’d be wearing them anytime soon if I did decide to forge ahead.”

I reaped the awesome vintage benefits of this dress…

Week 52: Samantha - Before

The material was heavy and the dress well crafted.  I’m just going to make a few small changes to update this piece and make it a little more current, but I did love this brown/beige/ivory/chestnut brown mixed palette!

Continue reading…

Week 52: Nora

Hi friends!  Welcome to the first day of year two!!

For those of you who may have missed what’s going on for this round , I’m using your donations this year and having my way with them, so continue sending your pieces my way!! (Address Here!)

Today’s piece comes from my gal Nora in Georgia.  Ooh, that rhymes   I got some lovely (in their day)  pieces from her and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one first!

Week 52: Nora - Before

Hello nautical   This definitely had some issues going on, but I had ideas of where I was going to take this as soon as I saw it. Gonna go from Popeye to Olive Oyl…

Popeye!!

…in just a few steps!

Continue reading…

Shoulder Pad Week – Finale

Shoulder Pad Week was so fun – I’m still going to be crafting more shoulder pad creations as we go, as I got lots of amazing ideas from you guys and I have lots of shoulder pads left still!!

There were so many guesses made for the amount of pads…I love and appreciate all the comments!  To give away the answers, the total, total amount of pads were 197!!!  I know a bunch of you were trying to decide whether to guess even or odd numbers, so those of you who made the odd choice, kudos

Now, to be accurate and go off of the photo…

Jar O'Pads!

…asking how many pads were in the jar, the total for that was 86 pads!  I love how lots of you took it super literal – I originally meant all of the pads in general when I asked the amount, but after reading the comments and seeing how I did photoshop ‘shoulder pads’ into the ‘jellybeans’ spot above, you guys were right when guessing the amount in the plastic bin!!

I’ll be contacting the winners who were closest for both numbers and sending some little prizes along!!

Get ready for tomorrow…new post begins the year!!

xx Marisa