Suchi's NDAD Creation - Halloween Edition!

More costumes today!!  This one was submitted by Suchi and I'm pretty much wishing I had this costume put together for the week!

Hi Marisa - I hadn't planned to send this to you, so there are no good "before" shots, but I truly believe that following your blog has given me the confidence to try things I never would have!!  I made this costume for my daughter Eva. She is in love with the concept of long, flowing cloaks (have you ever watched the BBC series Merlin?), and after watching Lord of the Rings this summer she decided to model her costume after the elven character Arwen.

Here’s the before shot!

New DRess A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume

Let’s see how the rest of the costume turns out!

 I made the cloak using a pattern (and the color would totally go with your new hair!), but the rest of the outfit is repurposed á la Marisa. The dress was one I had bought her years ago, but which she never wore because the shiny fabric was stiff and scratchy - so off with it! I hemmed it, took in the waist, and added a thin leather thrift store belt with gold designs to help hold her sword (an old toy we had that she added autumn colored jewels to).

New DRess A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume

The boots, also a thrift find, were nice and slouchy, but the navy suede did not go with the earth-tone theme, so I sprayed them with copper glitter.  Her pants were white nylon pajamas from the thrift store, which I died a beautiful cocoa brown.

Eva designed a headpiece using a necklace pendant she had...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume - headpiece-front

...which I attached to some old lace and ribbon (using some kind of metal bra clasp thing I found in a sewing box). 

New Dress A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume - headpiece-back

Through it all I felt I was channeling my inner Marisa - and so I thank you for your inspiration!

Thank you so much for sharing Suchi!  I'm totally in love with what you did and your little gal looks absolutely fabulous!!

Michelle's NDAD Creation

OK, so I just received the most amazing email today from Michelle!  Because I showed off my Daphne from Scooby-Doo costume today, she sent me something incredible.  Check out her story!!

Marisa!!  I LOVE your blog!  Thanks so much for being so faithful with it and encouraging and even entertaining so many of us!  After your Daphne costume, I can't help but send you some pictures of the costumes I made for my son and I in 2010.  I was Velma and he was Scooby-Doo!  I bought everything at Goodwill!

You're getting a teaser shot of what I think is the most AMAZING child costume ever!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume - Best Baby Costume Ever!!

Here's how she put together this puppy (PUN!!) and see how she made her member of the Scooby-Doo crew costume!

I bought an XL sweater that I had to take 3 inches off to get down to a small for me.  The skirt I found was knee-length and had to be chopped, while the socks were white and had to be dyed orange!  My boy's outfit was a brown sweatsuit that just needed black patches, ears and a tail sewed on.  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Halloween Costume - Scooby & Velma!

I'm pretty proud of you and how this turned out!!  I wish we could all go trick-or-treating together Michelle!  You both look absolutely incredible and I totally appreciate The Simpsons playing in the background too :)

Thanks again for all your hard work and dedication! And many congratulations on the book!"

 Thanks so much for sharing M!!  I want to see the rest of your Halloween costumes - send pics my way!!  I've still got a few up my sleeve that you'll be seeing over the next few days!!

Red Head Costume Week: Daphne - Scooby Doo

Costume week continues and today's piece is inspired by one of my FAVORITE cartoons... Scooby Doo!  New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Fave Cartoon!

With the newly dyed tresses, I'm heading down the Daphne Blake (who knew she had a last name??) route!  A few of the key ingredients to toss into this look are below...

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Daphne Blake Costume Basics

I began with this purple dress that Stacey B. sent my way!!  She said...

Marisa - Wow!  You are one amazing lady.  I am so proud of you and excited for your book to be done.  You have brought so much inspiration, fun, and fashion know how to so many, especially me.  Thank you for being a light in my life.  This dress is a result of thrifting, and I enjoy the collar and color, but is too small for me.  It would look great on you especially with some Marisa tweaks to bring it current :)

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Before Dress

I love that this piece was just the right color for costuming today - time to make it ready for animation!!

I began by cutting it shorter...

New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Trim

...making a quick press and pin around the edges...

New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Pin!

...and then sewing it all in place!

New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Sew!

To recreate her lavender stripes, I trimmed some fabric off of the bottom of an upcoming piece I'm working on and attached it to the front of the dress.

New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Cutting fabric excess!

To get an awesome lime scarf, I went to my pile of leftovers and found the exact color in a chiffon!  I stitched the frayed edges and in less than a minute, had a neck scarf!

New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - More fabric excess!

I also took a strip of the lavender fabric to make a headband and had my outfit totally together!!

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Daphne!

Daphne rocks the magenta tights too, so that would be the final touch to make this piece rock!!

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Cartoon Daphne!

It was a bit too hot out for tights today, so I left the legs bare while searching through my neighborhood for the Abominable Snowman and other villains!

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - The Gang

I had no luck, but I did come across a Mystery Machine-esque vehicle.  I tiptoed my way past hoping I'd find Scooby and Shaggy to no avail.

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Van's Blank!

Fun costume that makes for a great solo look or group number!!

 New Dress A Day - Vintage Dress -DIY - Sketched Daphne!

Another fun costume awaits tomorrow that may or may not be cartoon themed as well!!

PS, Stacey B - thank you for this perfect dress!!  My costume just wouldn't have been as awesome without it!!