73 Days to Go: Wednesday Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday!  Nothing like a little mid-week giveaway in my book!  I've been super behind with giveaway winners, so drum roll please...  Congrats to Erinsmith14 (Je t'adore compact), MrsWrenches (vintage clutch/vintage pattern), and Debbie (beaded earrings/Nivea gloss). I've been working like a busy bee and enjoying some Olympics in the background since I returned from NC - totally addicted to everything and am getting sad that it's finishing up this week.

To win today's little batch of goodies - a Sula lipgloss, a rhinestoned box, and a pair of gorg nautical/rope-esque studs - leave a comment below with your favorite Olympics moment of this year, year's past, or something fab and made up if you're not into the Olympics :)  Like when Ro Ro McAdidas scored 100 goals in women's soccer in '96.  'Memba?? :)

I don't think I just have one, but...I've loved seeing Missy Franklin win just because she's so grounded and awesome - I not so secretly want to be BFFs with her and sing 'Call Me Maybe'.  I was obsessed with the Netherlands Zonderland who rocked the high bar last night like a boss, and think Jennifer Suhr winning the pole vault was pretty incredible.  I just love watching the back stories of all the athletes too which totally suck me in.  And when I say suck me in, I mean bawl my eyes out!

Leave a comment below and a random winner will be picked next Wednesday, 8/14!!

74 Days to Go: $1 Remake

Just a little note before we start...I'm getting a few ad spaces set up with BlogHer, so the layout is a bit funky.  It'll be tweaked shortly, but just wanted to let you know I apologize for the extra bit of scrolling.  We're doing a little layout change and will have some fun new updates (including book stuff!) very soon! Woo, now off to today's piece!

I loved the mint green of this dress when I Goodwill'ed it this past winter.

There were some spottage issues as well as this going on...

Lots of snaps with no partners and some hook and eyes with just a hook or just an eye.

Oh, and can we chat about this...

Yeah, we've got some work to do!

I trimmed the dress to remove those not-so-cute rusty marks first thing, and left it at about knee length!  I tackled the front closures of the dress next.  There were some on the left side and none on the right, and vice versa, so I just removed them and streamlined it all.

I took off the scattered non matching rusty snaps and hook and eyes...

...and replaced them all with new snaps.  There were threads in place of where the old hooks/snaps were so it was easy using those as markers where to put the new snaps down.  I actually liked the idea of the front of the piece only using snap closures, just for security!

The seams were coming undone in many places on this dress.  The seam down the back?  Open.  The seam along the side of the body?  Open.  Some seams on the arms?  Open.

I'm not sure if this thread was just super old, or of trés bad quality, but this dress looked like a tornado had struck.  I came in like FEMA, but in my case GEMA (Garment Emergency Management Agency) and stitched up those holes!

I wanted to add a little character to the front of the dress, so I pulled some gorg floral ribbon from my collection.  I did a quick iron over as it got a bit crinkled in my box o'ribbon...

...and began to pin in place.  I followed the neckline and continued the ribbon down the front of the dress.

With my ribbon pinned, I sewed it in place!

;

I loved the idea of keeping the sleeves long, just to be able to cinch them at will, however I was feeling the heat.

I had the vapors and the giggles in the new camera lighting!!

Fans are a-blazin' tonight in my hot casa, that is for sure!!  Stay cool!!

75 Days to Go: Karen's Donation Pt. II

I'm a saver.  I have boxes of remnants from pieces that I hold onto knowing that I'll use them at some point.  Today, I'm using the remnants from this lovely dress...

This was a piece that the fabulous Karen sent my way that I featured just a few days ago - (Refresher HERE) that ended up looking like this...

However, part of what I was left with was this...

Loved all the bead trim, so I had a thought of what to make these into...

...a satchel!!

I began by pinning the edges together, using the black design as my guide.

I didn't want the pouch to be open on top, so I grabbed some more leftovers!!  I took some black fabric that was trimmed from a piece to use as a flap.

I trimmed a chunk from it and pinned the edges of the black material to the back side of the purse material, right side facing right side.  This is going to make it super easy to flip over.

Once the black material was pinned, I stitched this in place and sewed the two satchel edges together.

I decided to make the black material into a triangle flap, so I pinned the edges to create a new seam and stitched this down next.

We're almost there!!  I took some of the same ribbon I used for the halter top to prepare a strap.  Not just any strap...a braided strap!!  I tied a knot...

...and refreshed my friendship bracelet-making skills!!

I think I'm going to break out some of the old fb's and make some new ones to layer on my wrist!!  This was too much fun!  Once my braided strap was complete, I tied the other end and affixed to my satchel!  (I hand stitched it in place, but you could always use safety pins to switch out straps!)

I wanted to add a little more character to the piece, as well as a little bit of weight to the flap, so I played with a bunch of gold buttons to see which would work best.

I couldn't decide, so I went with three of them!  I safety pinned these in place...

...so they can be removed/changed/substituted.  My bag was now complete!!

The fabric for this is a little thin, so I used it to tote my hoodie in.  However, use the same method for thicker material...then you can carry anything!!

I love the pop of color - such a fun little piece to have on my hip!!

Hope everyone had a most lovely weekend!!