Week 9: Moldy Closet

Lil' Update!  Been dealing with some closetal water damage...check it!!

Clothes are everywhere/handyman is coming tomorrow/can't walk to my sewing machine, so a new post will be headed your way then!!

Dealing with the loss of my leather jacket I got in Florence when I was in college thanks to some mildew attacking.

Happy Thursday!!

Week 9: Stacey

I absolutely loved this piece when I opened up the package sent by Stacey.  I loved the beaded applique but had not a clue what I was going to do with it to make it work. "Marisa - this dress  comes to you via my grandmother who had this in her collection of  'pieces worn to family weddings' part of her closet.  Not sure who's wedding this was worn to, but it was worn somewhere.  Since it's taking up space in her closet and she was sorting through things to get rid of, I asked if I could send it your way and she said  that she hopes you make something wonderful out of it!  Have fun!!  Lots of love, Stacey & Nana"

I'm feeling pressured to make something that stands up to Nana's liking so fingers crossed it works out :)

Let's work!!

I decided to make this a top, so I began with removing the sleeves from this dress.

I grabbed seam rippers and took each sleeve off completely.

I tackled the drapey parts next.  There was drapey fabric connected to the front and the back of the piece and I first removed the seams on the sides of the dress that kept them together.

Once the seam was removed, the front and back drapey pieces were now separate.  I began to trim off the area on the shoulders that kept the back piece attached because I'm taking this completely off.

With the back drapey material removed, I went to the length next and trimmed half of it off.  Wanting to make this a top/shell, I trimmed the piece about two inches south of my waist, saving a bit of space to be hemmed.

After I trimmed the length, I pinned down the raw edges at the bottom of the piece as well as around the arms and stitched them in place.

Now the front of the piece still had the drapey fabric hanging on each side, so after I put on my new piece, I took each end and tied them together in the back, making a knot.

A shot from behind...

Such an easy way to make a dress like this work - you don't have to get rid of all that extra fabric, just reposition it!

I caught up with my gal SZ over a spread of a chopped salad and the house red...lovely way to end the holiday weekend!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!!

Stacey and Nana - thank you both oh, so much for sharing this piece with me.  I felt special and chic getting to wear this in my own way.  xo

Week 9: Val's NDAD Creation

I had a fun little errand/catch up Sunday which had me in my car for most of the afternoon.  Best part of the day was coming across a lemonade stand run by two very fashion savvy gals, Julia and Nytalya.  The one exception was that there was no lemonade but yummy M&M cookies and duct tape wallets instead.  Hello, lemonade stand of my dreams that doesn't even include lemonade!!  I mean...

Budding entrepreneurs, selling very crafty wallets and delish snacks on the sidewalk = perfect way to end a day of running around.  I'm going to have to check back with my new amigas next weekend.  I snagged a wallet for myself but may have to snag another to giveaway here!!

Today's creation comes from my gal Val (hey, that rhymes!) who decided to make over two separate pieces and wear them together.  (Love that pairing!!)  This is what she wrote...

"I have been reading your blog for a while now, and I was particularly inspired a while back when you dyed a lacy shirt.  I decided to try it out myself with an old coffee stained vintage shirt that I found for fifty cents at an antique store. 

I also had an XXL large dress that I bought for a Halloween costume a while back, and I decided that these two should come together!

Time to mesh together these two puppies! I initially had it in mind to just sew the top lacy part of the shirt into the (huge!) neck of the dress and just take it in a couple inches. My seamstress skills are still developing, and I just couldn't get it to look quite right as a dress, so I chopped, took it in a bit more, and made it into a shirt!  I decided to just leave the edges raw at the bottom because it was a jersey fabric and didn't seem like it would fray. 

To finish off, I took the large amount of fabric I had leftover over from the dress and strategically chopped it to make some "yarn"...

...which is what I used to crochet the flower embellishments on the bodice area.

It took me the better part of a morning and afternoon to get all this done, and I could definitely stand to brush up on my sewing, but I am pretty happy with the result.

Thanks for inspiring me to take the plunge!"

I'm glad you took the plunge Val - so happy I was able to assist with the little arm floaties :)