One of the pieces I was working with yesterday finally got finished up today! My friend Jen handed me a bag of goodies to remake and I've finally started work on them, this one being the first!
I'm down with the florals, but I'm not so down with the random pocket on the left side, and the extra material turned into a flappy skirt sewn down on top of the main layer of fabric. I was playing with this layer, because it was made to look like a little wrap skirt on top of the dress, however it didn't really work in my book.
Time to seam rip and cut lots of fabric!!
I grabbed my bag of tricks... (RIT Dye, lace-y appliqués, and gloves)
...and began my dye party!!
I boiled some water and added salt into the bath...
...poured in my dye once the water was boiling...
...submerged my lace appliqués...
...then let them marinate in the dye bath for a few hours.
Once the appliqués were done, I rinsed them out underneath some hot water and then let them dry outside in the heat for a bit!! I think the highlight of the heat has been the drying factor for my projects-in-progress!!
Post-sun, my appliqués were nice and dry!! We'll come back to them in a few...
Next came the removal of the random pocket on the left side! I took my seam rippers and got cracking. I carefully removed the pocket...
...and then tackled the length! I decided to turn this into a shirt, so I trimmed off about 10 inches of fabric.
I went back to my dyed lace and pinned the appliqué to the front of the soon-to-be shirt. I lined the edge of the lace (using the fatter part of the appliqué as the top) to the middle center of the shirt. I chose to make the fatter part the top just because when I tested it out the other way, it looked like a tie!! I pinned the edges of the lace to the garment...
...and then worked on the sleeves. Because it's too hot to think about anything covering my shoulders, I decided to cut the sleeves off completely!!
I sewed the appliqué down, sewed a new hem, took the top in an inch on each side, and sewed the sleeves...
...and had a fab new top to pair with some jeans!!
I loved the way this turned out!! The lace acted as an extra, little bit of character going on to the already busy, patterned top!
Sheer appliqué paired with the flower fabric peeking through is a super easy and subtle change. I'm just beginning my dye kick. Keep your eyes peeled for more to come!!
