KC's NDAD Donation

Happy Tuesday!  Apologies for the lack of a Monday post...I was out until the sun came up, literally, celebrating the Tony Awards with nominated friends.  I'll have a fun rundown post on that soon but in a nutshell, I became bffs with ScarJo waiting on line for the bathroom and had a moment with Alan Cumming discussing fashion.  It was kind of the best night ever. The piece for today is a total winner - my amazingly crafty pal KC gave me a bag of goodies to work on and I couldn't wait to get started on this!  These colors are my jam.

Hello bright, paisley, fabulousness!

Only issue is that I really can't get away with wearing this anywhere.  The print is supes busy and the length is just too long.

Also, there are tons of these guys under the arms...

I mean tons...

First thing I did was stitch up all my arms!  For the most part, all of the holes fell right on the seams making them quite easy to fix.  I just reinforced all the stitching in these areas to prevent more hole-age (yep, that's my totally fake word that I'm using that suits this issue perfectly) from occurring.

Next I got to cutting!

In my head I wanted to make a summery dress for my NY trip to wear with some wedges.  This was screaming vacation, so I thought a tunic-dress would be perfecto!  I trimmed off a third of the dress and then prepped a new hem to be sewed.

I also wanted to open up the neck a bit so I made some snips along the neckline, pinned them under and sewed them in place to create a bit of a scoop shape.

I sewed all my edges, arms, hems, and seams in place and packed my new dress in my suitcase for the Big Apple.  Unfortch, there was one major issue.  RAIN!!  I couldn't get away with a cute sundress in the city while it was raining cats and dogs, so I improvised.  New-dress-turned-new-top!!

I belted it and did a little waist zhuzhing to make a billowy top that worked like a charm with my dark skinny jeans.  I love the rain but was a bit disappointed that I couldn't rock my new piece exactly how I wanted.

However, this just means that I can wear it again when I get back to LA where rain won't be an issue at all...unless I choose to go to Raging Waters.  (Water slides, anyone??)  My travel umbrella came in handy as I forged through the city streets in my flip flops.  Yep, I didn't bring any closed toed shoes with me.  Genius, right?

I have to say, nothing is better than wearing bright, happy colors on dreary days.  This shirt was my little ray of sunshine today.

This bathtub was also my little ray of sunshine today too...

I did not partake in this tub action, but might have to make it happen next time I'm in NY!!

KC, thank you so much for the bag of goodies!!  I'm totally obsessed with my new piece which will get documented as a dress very, very soon!

Claire's NDAD Creation

I love creating pieces for special nights out or celebrations and this piece that Claire came up with was something she made for a vacation with her family.  I always associate what I wear with what I'm doing, so right off the bat I knew that this would be a special piece for Claire.

I've given away a lot of clothes recently, since the majority of my summer clothes, while still functional, were at least 5 years old and no longer a perfect fit for one reason or another.  So, when I found this (enormous) dress at the free store on campus, I hoped it could make a pretty new sundress, especially since it didn't cost me anything.  The answer to how to recreate it came to me when I put one of my dresses on the giveaway pile, a grey Hawaiian-print number that I'd loved to wear when it fit.

I took some notes on how it was made, adjusted the measurements to fit, then started cutting away! 

About half the skirt came off, since the original was down to my ankles.  I tried to make it hit right above my knees instead.

I took in 3 inches from the sides, then made a cut right below where my new bust line was going to be, to make a bodice.  I made one-inch tucks in the front and back of the bodice, and 1.5" darts in the front and back of the skirt.  Shrinking and shaping was the name of the game.

Finally, with my trusty sidekick "Cat-pin Kirk", I attached the bodice to the skirt and sewed them together.  Re-inserting the zipper came last.

I packed my new dress to go on my family's beach vacation, where I modeled for photographers (aka, my step-dad).

You're such a natural, Claire!

New dress, fun times on the beach, gathering of family...looks like the perfect vacation!  It's so cool that you found inspiration from another piece that you outgrew - nothing like trying to recreate something that you love.  Keep hitting up the free store on campus - you'll have a brand new wardrobe in no time!

Michelle's NDAD Creation

Happy weekend!  After some flight delays and LOTS of turbulence, I made it to NY (yay!!).  It's 2:53am and I'm pretty soaked from my trip into the city from JFK (love the airtrain), however I couldn't be happier to be in one of my favorite places!

I thought today's piece was perfect to feature because Michelle is a NY-er and is putting her splurge of a sewing machine to work.  Check out what she did...

I'm scraping by trying to make it in New York.  My last big splurge was on a sewing machine, which I've since used to alter some little splurges into better bits.  This is the first one I've felt confident in submitting to your blog!  It started as a dress I bought at Pay Half and wore once to a party, but was ultimately too short and too strapless for my modest style.

I feel like this is always an issue that comes up for me - I'll buy something that I like because it's on sale without really being jazzed about the fit or how it looks.  I can't wait to see what Michelle does with her too short dress.  (Blow the Whistle!!! ...a little Too Short shout out, for all those TS fans!)

I decided to make it into a blouse.  I started by cutting a length off the bottom of the dress and snipping that into two pieces to create straps.  I hemmed the pieces after they were cut...

...and then just sewed them onto the blouse in the middle of the front and then overlapped them in the back.  Result: Flashy new look!  (Sorry about the camera quality. My only camera is an iphone.)

The back looks so pretty!  I love how the two pieces come together in a V, showing a little bit of skin.  It's perfect because it isn't too low and you can still get away with wearing a regular bra too!

Thank you so much for sharing, Michelle!!  I hope that you're getting tons of use out of your machine.  Perhaps we'll even run into each other on the streets of NY while I'm here!  Love what you did and can't wait to see what you do next!