My Mother's Attic: April

While I've been in dreamland thinking, er wishing, about a European excursion, Ashley is actually taking Europe by storm.  It's her 30th, so she's ringing in the new decade in Sweden.  The closest I'm going to get to Sweden is heading to IKEA this weekend to score some new shelving.  Le sigh...I will have to live vicariously through her in the interim.

As you read this, I am stomping around the streets of Stockholm, celebrating my 30th birthday with my BFF.  She just so happens to be a talented Swedish fashion designer, so I can only hope that I am in the midst of wearing something fabulous and picking out a few choice items to bring home to my stateside wardrobe.  But I digress!

In preparation for this trip, I decided to dig out a piece of my mother's that she purchased and wore during her years living and studying in Paris.  She lived in France during the late 70s, where she received her Master's degree in French from the Sorbonne. (To this day, she's a high school French teacher!).

During that time, she developed quite a stylish European wardrobe and held on to many of the items that she then passed on to me and my sister.  I've always found this particular dress intriguing, but the elastic in the shoulders was completely bagged out, and it always looked like an awkward, loose fitting, sack of blue potatoes whenever I tried it on.

In the hopes of reviving it to its former glory and returning it to its European stomping grounds for a good show, I decided to finally tackle the much-needed facelift it required.

I started by pulling out the wrinkled, limp drawstring and replacing it with this funky, twisted fabric rope that I had leftover from this DIY project.

I then ripped out the old elastic...

...and replaced it with brand new, fresh, stretchy elastic.

I then sewed the seams I'd ripped in the process and added a button to the lower part of the skirt so it didn't open up quite so high up the leg.

And boom!  Dress restored!

I realize that this is much more of a facelift than a makeover, but I loved the original design and wanted to truly bring it back to it's former state...

...and show off the unique design (just check out the placement of those pockets!).

Here's to many more years of use and adventures at home and abroad.

I'll see you next month, perhaps with a fabulous Swedish accessory or two in the mix!

To keep up with Ash online, find her over at Blog a la Cart and here on Twitter, Instagram, & FB!

Thursday Update!

Hey friends! I've been on overdrive this week - I got prescribed antibiotics from an infection that stemmed from my never-ending colds, I had my first post for Goodwill's blog due (it runs on Friday and I'll make sure to leave the link as soon as it's live!) and I've been busy prepping a Copycat post!  The post features this thrifted sweater from Target...

...and these bad boys...

I can't wait for you to see what I'm making over!

Hope Thursday treats you well - tune back in for a new post tonight!

Lisa's NDAD Donation

Lisa in Phoenix sent me a most fabulous dress that I got to play with today!

I look forward to seeing how you can transform a dated or unattractive garment into something very stylish.  I found the blue dress at a thrift store for $1.  I loved the rhinestone embellishment.

I love that rhinestone embellishment too!!  The rest of the piece...well...

...not so much.

And there's no mistake that she got it for a buck!

Time to get crackin' on this sweet deal of a dress!

I began by trimming the outer later of the dress off.  I wanted the top portion to be used for the remake.

I got rid of the shoulder pads while I was trimming...

...and had all this leftover!

I trimmed the armhole edges as close to the seams as possible once the piece was on its own, separate from the under layer.

I'm going to be turning the piece around, so I had to remove the seam that was down the center of the old back of the dress, because it's going to be the new front!

The length was a bit too long for me, so I trimmed it shorter - I took off about six inches just to hike it up a smidge because I wanted this to be a jacket-y/cover up and not hit my knees.

I ironed the edges down where I opened the seam to prep for some sewing.

I got out my sewing machine and stitched the areas where I cut the piece short as well as creating new seams down each side of the front.  After all my sewing, my new cover-up was complete!

After hearing about all the Coachella stories from the past two weekends from friends, I thought I'd put together my own desert-y, concert-chic ensemble using my new top.  I paired the piece with my staple grey tank from Urban Outfitters, a vintage beaded bag and some vintage neck baubles, along with a pair of boots I snagged at a sample sale with my thrifted American Eagle shorts.

I loved the rhinestones in the back of the piece now!  It's like a little bit of flair from behind.

And to be totally honest, I'm not usually a shorts wearer, however I thought they totally worked with this piece!  (I know...it's so weird that I'm not a shorts person!)

This outfit is really getting me ready for summer...we've only seen little glimpses of crazy summertime heat, but those days are getting me very excited.  I'm hoping that those of you who just saw a bit more snow have the heat closer than ever now!  I'm willing lots of rays of sunshine your way!

Lisa, thank you so much for sending this piece to me!  I had a blast getting to remake it!