Tuesday Remake: White Dress with Black Buttons

A new remake in the bag for today!! I found this white collared dress with black buttons and immediately saw the potential for color!!

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - Goodwill

I loved the weird pockets up top!  Not quite sure what I'd put up there, especially when the dress is white and see-through in this area.  Also, who wants a bulky bosom??

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - Goodwill

I got together with a few friends and had a dye night, using a mix of the bottom three for our batch of goodies!

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye

Time to get dyeing!!

We set up the machine for a hot water bath and tossed our wet pieces in.  (You always want to make sure your pieces are fully saturated so that the dye blends evenly onto the fabric.)

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye

Post wash, we added our goodies into the dryer and got to working!

I loved the lines at the top of the dress so in staying true to the original structure of the piece, I began to remove the sleeves.  I followed the seam that went along the upper pockets on a diagonal and removed the stitches.

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye

Little by little, I got my sleeves off!

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye

After both sleeves came off, I pinned down all my edges and sewed everything in place.  I also took in about an inch right under each of the armholes to make the bust area less billowy.

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye - Sewing Machine

After all my dyeing and sewing, my dress was ready to go!  I wanted to streamline the black from the buttons so I grabbed my black Betsey Johnson heels, a skinny black patent leather belt, a patent Trina Turk clutch, and a pair of slightly vintage Fendi sunglasses that have been in my collection since college, to complete the look.  Those are considered vintage, right? :)

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye - Upcycled Dress

I also paired the dress with a black camisole so I could keep most of the buttons open.

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye - Upcycled Dress

I'm loving the light shade of the blue paired with the black too.  It's a nice mix of soft with edge.  The pairing of black gives the dress less of a daytime feel too!

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye - Upcycled Dress

I wish I had somewhere more fun to wear this to today instead of a stop to Target for face wash and Trader Joe's for some groceries!!

New Dress A Day - DIY - White Vintage Dress - RIT Dye - Upcycled Dress

I think a round two will be happening this coming weekend!

Au Revoir, NY!

Hey friends!  I'm back in LA but got super sick upon return.  Basically, "I (he) had it coming, I (he) only had myself (himself) to blame"...cue the "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago since I'm still in B'way mode.  By the time I left NY, I could feel the extreme exhaustion building from the lack of sleep/constant activity/work days full of crazy call times (3am, anyone), and knew I was going to get something.  And alas, that something arrived just as my plane touched down in California. I slept all weekend and was popping NyQuil like crazy to help with the congestion and head throbbing.  I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of the healthy tunnel - the tissue consumption is lessening and the coughing is a bit more frequent, however it's more because of throat tickles.  I uploaded all my photos from the trip and will get a full post up this afternoon - in the interim, here's a fun teaser with a few of my favorite moments.

This happened...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Tony Awards

I fell in love with Eric Winterling's amazing costume studio...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Eric Winterling Costumes

...and had an Abby Lee from Dance Moms moment when she was taking pics with fans on the street!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Dance Moms - Abby Lee

Thanks for being patient with me!!  Check back this afternoon for a full rundown and a brand new outfit will be on display tomorrow for your viewing/sewing pleasure!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!!

Pam's NDAD Creation

Pam submitted this dress which felt super summery to me.  It had an incredibly cool floral, polka-dotted print in a mix of red and white - this color combo is one of my faves!  I thought it would be just the dress to welcome the weekend!

I found this 80s dress and loved the permanent pleating below the waist. I didn't love how high the neckline was, or the sleeves with shoulder pads.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Vintage Floral Dress

Anything with permanent pleating wins in my book!  Let's see how Pam made this work!

Both of those came off.  I took one of the sleeves and made some bias to bind the armhole for a sundress.  

New Dress A Day - DIY - Vintage Floral Dress

For the neckline, I decided to just follow the line of bottom of the existing facing - 5/8" from the edge. Then I just trimmed, folded it over, and top stitched it to finish it off.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Vintage Floral Dress

 This made the neckline less choking on me - yay!  I thought of raising the hem, but decided I like the length with the way the neckline came out so I would keep it conservative.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Vintage Floral Dress

Pam, what a cute, summery dress you've got going!!  I loved that you removed those sleeves and tweaked that neckline to make it perfect for you!  I think this is a piece you'll get away with wearing all summer long!  Thanks so much for sharing!