This one spoke volumes to me. From the appliques on the chest, to the trim at the bottom of the pleats, I wanted to try to make this awesome.
It's a mix of gladiator meets drum major meets costume party and I want to make it fun dress meets Marisa in Austin.
The first plan of attack was to remove the area with the appliques on it. I took some scissors and began trimming.
Once my cuts were made completely around the gold fabric, I was left with this...
It's like a little bib! Fear not, those appliques are too awesome not to use down the road. Next came the sleeves.
I removed both of them with my seam ripper...
...and pinned the raw edges at the arm holes under. This is beginning to take shape as a little jumper, but I need the front of the dress to hit me a bit higher than it currently does. I took the top of each shoulder, measured where I wanted the bottom of the slight V to hit and made marks with pins where to sew. (There was a little over an inch marked on each side.)
I sewed the raw arms down as well as the new shoulders...
...and began to work on the sequins.
There were a few sequin/bead squares without any sequins/beads...
...so, I just took them all off.
With this additional change I was complete! I added a navy tank top underneath, my vintage boots (because boots were made for walking and that's just what I was going to be doing ALL DAY LONG), and began St. Patrick's Day with shows at the W.
There was lots of spirit on the streets - tons of people in green gear and even some on the bikes!
We meandered through downtown and took a little break at the Driskill Hotel, which I found out, post-visit, was haunted.
Taxidermy on the walls? Check. Everybody taking photos with the taxidermy on the walls? Check. (Me included...so no digs to those who were following my lead.)
I wore green earrings and a green ring but brought some neon shamrock wands along with me from LA. You can't ever go wrong with holiday props.
They were a huge hit.
After a day full of music, it was time to continue the musicality and hit up an Austin mainstay - The Broken Spoke.
Um, did I take a two step class where my partner was a lovely Irish lad from London and my teacher was this gal below? Yep.
Am I ready to do more two stepping along with the 'Cotton Eyed Joe' dance when I get back to LA? Most definitely. (Cowboy Country in Long Beach, I'm coming for ya!) We even got to meet the owner James White who set up shop back in '64.
And, can we discuss the amazingness of the back of his shirt? He is the true rhinestone cowboy.
The night couldn't have been more fun and the wands couldn't have stolen the show any more!
