Carla's NDAD Creation

The before shot of Carla's piece just really sold this whole ensemble - see how adorable she is!!

This dress was something I found buried deep in the recesses of my older sister's closet.  I actually don't think she knew she had this dress - it even had a smell that would make thrift store shoppers cringe!

It's never been worn, but she assures me she got this brand new at a sale in a local store for about P200 (that's around 5 dollars!) 

I love the contrary sister discussion.  Hmm, funky smell yet brand new??  I'm going with Carla!!  Check out what she does!

One of the main reasons why I had to recreate this dress was the middle.  

I like to say that it was ill-fitting and flows around my flabs...and not in a good way!! 

I love tea dresses and I love florals, so I have to admit, my eyes kind of sparkled at the possibilities. 

Fit has always been one of the hardest things for a plus size girl like me, and that's one of the reasons why I fell in love with this dress immediately when it was done!

Carla just took her new shortened top and paired it with her new shortened bottom to make a chic little tea dress that fits her to a T!!  (Yeah, had to go with both tea/T versions.  It just doesn't happen all too often, so I took advantage!)

I love this Carla - you are glowing!  Beautiful color, beautiful fit, beautiful girl.  Have so much fun wearing this and I can't wait to see what else you come up with next!

Friday Remake

This dress was one that I snagged in Phoenix back in November.  I was doing a segment for The List (you'll see the clip at the bottom of the post) and was Goodwill-ing it with the host (Jan Jeffcoat).  This was the number that I bought because I was really just in love with the gorgeous fabric and colors. The one main issue was that from waist down, it was completely open.

Like, if a big gust of wind came while I was shooting this pic, my lady parts would be on display.  (PS, now I have that HEINOUS "On Display" song  that Melissa Gorga sang on RHONJ in my head.  That was my guilty pleasure while I was writing my book - thanks Bravo!  Any other "guilty pleasure-ers" out there?)

I love grosgrain ribbon, but this was a bit too much as the belt.

Time to work!

Now, my original intention while in Phoenix was to shorten this and make it a sundress, however when I got it home I just loved the length.  I also loved the big ruffle at the bottom and thought by keeping it long, it would be a little more special.  (Plus I have a summer wedding to attend that this will work perfectly for!!)

I decided to keep all the seams in place and to just stitch up the big, gaping, slit down the front!!  I pinned the dress from right below the waist to hem (there are buttons up top at the bust that actually work and aren't for show, which rules!) and then added a hook and eye at the waist to make it easy to take on and off.

With the dress pinned, I stitched it closed using up all my thread!  OK, that's a bit dramatic...I did not use all my thread, but it was one crazy long stitch!

I bunned it, vintage belted it (I'll use a different, less casual belt for the wedding), clutched it, heeled it, and sunglassed it to make my dress party worthy!

I mean, what a huge difference some stitching makes!!

I kind of feel like a princess in this dress.  Like a Goldie Hawn/60s/cartoon princess!  I really can't wait to wear it again!!

Here's the segment for your viewing pleasure.  I rewore one of my FAVORITE pieces ever that I dyed cornflower blue while we shot at Goodwill. Hopefully this will also give you good warm weather vibes...it was heavenly in AZ.

Happy holiday weekend!!

Copycat - ban.do Sequin Hearts

I've been a fan of ban.do's sequined pieces, so I thought that I'd make my own version of their red sequined hearts today!

I started off with my supplies - red felt, sequin trim, and loose sequins, as I'm going to make two versions of these hearts.

I cut hearts out of my felt by folding the rectangular piece in half and cutting an "ear" shape out.  For the shoe clips, because I wanted the same size, I put two layers of felt together before trimming.  The smaller hearts were cut from the excess pieces and two of those guys are going to become earrings!

I started with the mini hearts first - I put glue down and then dropped off sequins on top and pressed them in place to stick.  I repeated this step until the entire heart was covered.

The mini hearts are finished!

Now to really recreate the ban.do version, I used the sequin trim to match.  I started by gluing the trim right at the center of the heart and then continued to follow the edges of the heart.

I'm almost there!!

And we're done!!

The minis are going to become stud earrings, the middle sized ones will be shoe clips, and the large one will become a headband!

For the shoe clips and earrings, I used jewelry findings - a pair of flat backed earring posts and two alligator clips (or shoe clips if you have them!) - and affixed to the back.

I added some alligator claws with glue to the bottoms...

...and had my pretty pair...

...ready to be added to my leopard flats.  My version...

ban.do's version...

My earrings glistened in the sun and my headband was rocking.

Sparkly hearts overload??

Eh, not so much.  It's Valentine's Day, so it totally works.  And...it totally works post-V Day too!!  There is never a wrong time to rock hearts!  xoxo