Remake: Holiday Plaid

Happy post-Christmas/pre-New Year Monday!!  I hope everyone is enjoying some time off, some time with friends and family, or perhaps some time away!  I was able to spend Christmas (and a little time offline) with my family in the south and now am ready to ring in 2014 with a bang back at home! This was one of the pieces that I brought with me to NC...

Holiday perfection??  It felt apron-y, yet had a fitted waist and side zipper, so I'm leaning more towards a jumper of sorts?  I loved the print, but that waist...it just wouldn't zip up.

I thought this would be a fun project to attack from a "what to do when it's too small" question that many of you pose!!  Oh, and look at those ruffles!!

Time to make this holiday appropriate because I'm not quite sure if it would fly if I didn't have a white top on underneath.

I started out by cutting off the panel at the waist that just wouldn't button and zip shut.  I started trimming right below the seam until it was completely removed.

Look at the lovely excess that I'm left with!!  I must find something to use those ruffles with.

Next I pinned a new seam right below where I trimmed because I'm turning this into a new maxi skirt!

I sewed down the new waist seam and double stitched my zipper to create a new top stop - don't want that pull tab coming off!

After the waist was sewn, my new skirt was ready to wear!

By removing just a few inches, this piece went from no way to hol-i-day!!

I paired the skirt with a reddish studded blouse, a gold tweed Trina Turk jacket, a vintage clutch, and a swap score - a pair of heels with bows on them.

It was super festive and just the thing to celebrate Christmas Eve in.

I matched the tree!

Our Christmas Eve tradition involves a church visit and then a Chinese food feast with my immediate family...

...while Christmas day is all about celebrating (and eating tons of turkey) with the entire fam!  My dad loved his Santa bag the most...

...while my grandma was quite thrilled with the mini bottles of wine in her stocking.

Twas such a fantastic holiday with everyone and always a trip that goes by so quickly...  What are some of your traditions?  Anything that you wait all year to do?  Would love to hear what you guys had up your sleeve this year!!

Holiday Looks from Goodwill!

Hello friends!  The airports have been braved and my travel day is complete.  A full post comes tomorrow along with another fun giveaway but in the interim, how about some holiday wardrobe help?? I worked on a piece for Goodwill scoring three separate holiday looks from their racks.

Couldn't have been happier with what I found!  Click on over here to see the entire piece!

I'm looking forward to the treasure trove that is NC to scour for more fun pieces.  I think my mom is excited for a shopping buddy!  I didn't check any bags coming here, but I might have to check one going back!!

What have you guys been wearing to your holiday shindigs??  FYI, pictures are always welcome... xo

Vintage Black Lace Dress Remake & Dorothy Perkins Giveaway!

I put out a little SOS on Friday, to get help with deciding which dress to remake for my annual holiday shindig with my college pals...

...and after tallying all the votes on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and direct emails, the winner was the black lace dress/#2!!  It only won by a hair though - the burgundy velvet dress was a close runner-up - but we'll be seeing that soon!

I wasn't exactly sure what to do at first, but then everything started becoming clearer once I got out my tools!!

I started off by removing the seam keeping together the lace portion at the top of the piece to the actual layers of the dress.

A bit of drape action started to develop, which I was really liking the look of.

I was playing around with gathering the top of the piece when everything became super clear!

I cut off the top ribbed layer of the dress down the center (there was a non-ribbed layer right beneath it) to begin the "complete removal" process.

Because this layer was stitched down at both arms, I removed the seams at the armpits (1), took out the ribbed layer, and pinned closed the area that was just opened (2).  I stitched closed the armpit (3) and was left with a beautiful new seam, sans that ribbed layer (4).  I have lots of ribbed material left over!

Next, I removed the second and third tiered layer to the dress...

...and stitched in place a new hem.

I took in the dress a little at the arms and added new elastic to the cuffs, so I could push them up,  before the piece was complete.

I was in LOVE with how this dress turned out!  The lace is totally on parade!!

It was a chilly night, so I paired my dress with this fab faux furry coat from Dorothy Perkins (keep reading for a giveaway at the end of the post!)

A little lip gloss application, and the night was ready to begin!

The party was in full effect when I arrived!  There were presents under the tree...

...and even a DIY to craft!  The fabulous hostess with the mostest, TT (in the picture above with me), set out foam holiday stickers to be added to glasses so everyone would know which cup was theirs.  It's the new crafty version of wine charms!

We took copious amounts of photos both before and after we ate.  There was so much food, but I think I spent more time taking pictures than actually eating!

It's nuts to think that we all have been friends for 10+ years!!  We have such a rad college crew.

I wasn't able to get a tree up in time at my place, so I took full advantage of the tree at the party!

Everyone looked so festive and gorgeous!

There was even a gift for me under the tree that was a slight inside joke.  The movie (with Rob Lowe!!!)/song The Christmas Shoes makes the hostess and I totally sentimental each season when we hear it.  It's SO sad and the Hallmark movie (I'm such a Hallmark holiday movie nut!) literally makes me cry immediately.  I have to start watching Die Hard right after to curb my momentary lapse in reality.  Anyway, we always joke that it isn't Christmas until we hear that song and this year she gave me the book!!

To get an idea of how large the crowd was, we took a few phone shots that made us all look like zombies with red eyes.  Kind of tricky capturing everyone in a confined space.

It made way more sense to take smaller group shots throughout the evening!

We gave gifts at the party, so it only seems fair to send a gift your way!  This gorgeous navy quilted purse from Dorothy Perkins is up for grabs!

It's got the Chanel-esque quilting with a fun chain strap that goes across your body - I love everything about it!  To enter, head over to Dorothy Perkins' site, take a look around, and leave a comment below with one of your favorite items!  I think the blue zip around change purse is adorable and I'm loving this star sweater!  To give everyone ample time to enter, you'll have until 12/24 to sign up!

Happy Monday!