Friday Remake: Vintage Ann Taylor

Can we say a quick hello to this fun floral number that I found at a fave thrift store in the valley?  It's a whole lotta vintage Ann Taylor going on!!  Hubba hubba!

I'm totally in LOVE with the floral print - I've seen so many pieces in stores right now that have similar prints to dresses that I had in the 90s.  This shirt is right up that 90s floral printed alley!  (What a cute alley, isn't it?)

And to no surprise of mine...Velcro panels at the shoulders, where shoulder pads once sat.

At least the shoulder pads were gone when I found this!!

The first thing to go were those bits of Velcro...

I quickly got them removed before I continued along...

I wanted to make this a tank, so I folded the shirt in half and cut off the sleeves in a slight crescent shape.  I left somewhat of a point at the top because I wanted this portion to cover a little bit of my shoulders.  The shoulder seam went down a few inches below my shoulder because of the larger sizing, so trimming where I did will leave me with a mini-cap sleeve!

I took the top in next to give it a slimmer fit.  I put it on and did some measuring and pinning to figure out where I needed to sew.

I trimmed the neck next!  I wanted more of a scoop up top, so I cut ab0ut an inch from the neckline.  (I'm keeping the neck and arm edges raw for a more caszh look - I'd totally wear this to the beach over a suit with some shorts!)

After my first trim, I went around with my scissors again perfecting any little jagged edges that were left.

I took the piece in with my sewing machine next...

...and had my top ready to go!!

I paired my top with a vintage gold chain and clutch, a pair of sunnies from Urban Outfitters, and my crazy tall Joseph Campbell platforms.

Yeah, the below shot catches me just as I'm losing my balance before totally eating the pavement.  It looks like I'm on pointe, kinda!  So glad the timer on my camera shot this when it did, to truly catch my clumsiness in action.

I had some lighter bags in shades of pink that I originally thought could work to bring out the flowers in the fabric, however when I was testing them out I just didn't like the way they looked.  I went with a deep chestnut brown and that totally did the trick.

After my photo shoot in the street, I took off to meet a girlfriend for a quick drink/catch up...

...and then enjoyed one of these.  This oyster was cooked on the stone fire grill and had a prosecco/aperol/butter/shallot topping drizzled over it.

Suffice it to say, I consumed every drop of that coulis.  With a spoon.  When it was leftover in the shell after I devoured the oyster.  Reminding me of the East Coast.

I hope you all have fun plans on tap for the weekend!  I'm guessing that "staying cool" is right up there on top!  I have some thrifting to do and will keep you all apprised on Instagram with photo documentation!!

Outfit Rewind: 5/7/10

The rewind piece for today… Original post date: 5/7/10  (Click here for full project steps and original post!)

The Before Look:

The After Look:

It's crazy that this piece was worn over three years ago, on Day 160 into my first year's project.  Two words: MIND. BLOWING.  I forgot about the shoes that I wore too...I loved those Steve Maddens.  (They had some suede-rippage-probs so I let them go.  RIP, rad Steve Madden heels.  You were awesome to my feet.)

For the second time around, I got snippy with it. (na na na na na na na, na na na na na na).

I started off by removing the sleeves.

It's too darn hot...

...to get away with these sleeves...

...so off they came!

I shortened the dress next and sewed all the rough edges.

Looking back at how I wore this the first time, I kept it super simple, however this go I'm going to give it a bit more flare.  And nothing says flair more than RHINESTONES!!

I took these stones and gave them a little makeover by painting them with assorted bottles of Wet n Wild nail polish.

Post-paint, here were the colors I was working with...

These stones are going to be crafted into a belt for the dress!!!!

I wanted to bring out the pinks and purples in the floral print, so I went with these shades of polish  I picked a rhinestone pattern and took a tan piece of grosgrain ribbon from my ribbon stash to be my belt's base and began to affix with E6000 glue.

With my new belt all dry...

It was time to get that dress on!!

I love this newer, summery version!

What do you guys think?  You like the first or second wear better?

I think the belt totally makes the outfit!

I wore a pair of Max Studio wedges along with a Trina Turk clutch to bring out more of the beige and neutral colors.  They pick up the grosgrain ribbon well too!

I had so much fun reworking this dress and love that this piece got two totally different makeovers.

It's a far cry from what the original piece looked like!

Because it was so hot out and I was getting down in my kitchen preparing my dish for cooking club, this dress assisted in the "no sweaty armpits for Marisa" operation.  I made my asparagus and balsamic tomatoes with goat cheese without sweating through any sleeves.

Any time I'm not sweating through garments is always awesome for me, woo!!  Even though I dream about humid weather (I know I'm crazy, especially for all those living in the humidity, however my skin LOVES the moisture and LA is so, very dry) today was a day that I'm thankful I didn't have to worry about it!  I don't think the lack sleeves would have saved me! Stay cool, friends! We can all listen to that Ella Fitzgerald clip from above together.

Kids Craft Monday with Jo-Ann's!

I had the most fun crafternoon with my favorite kiddos, A & O making super cool necklaces.  They're wearing the finished product in the shot below, however you can't see them because we got the giggles and Wrigley (the pup) got involved too.

Don't worry...there are a bunch of fab after shots at the bottom of the post!

This project and post is tied into the "Summer of Jo-Ann Cape Discovery" with craft mecca, Jo-Ann's.  They're on a mission to share and inspire crafting fun for families this summer and since I don't have any kids of my own at the moment, I borrowed my fave littles above from my best pals, A & P to get some kid-friendly, summer crafting on!

Because these guys are five, I wanted to find a project within Jo-Ann's catalog that we could tweak to make appropriate and doable for their age.  I found a fun felt floral necklace that I thought would do the trick!  Here's what the sample looked like:

I picked up a stash of supplies including felt, leather cording, suede cording, and some pony beads and met up with my wee pals.

Keep reading to see how our project turned out!

Because the flowers were a little difficult to make, I took the original idea and turned it into a felted charm necklace with Miss A choosing to make some hearts...

...and Mr. O choosing to make different sports balls.

We cut the shapes out of the felt and glued leather cord loops to the back so they'll be able to be threaded through the suede "chain".

We hung the charms and then added pony beads to the suede.  They made their own little patterns of beads which was awesome!

Once everything was threaded, we knotted the back of the necklaces and then showed them proudly!

How fab did these turn out??

It's a great activity where pretty much anything can be cut out of felt.  For O's necklace, we trimmed and hot glued lines on the basketball and football for some extra detail!

We had a little photo shoot after we crafted to show off what was made!  (And yes, I totally rocked my vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tee...I know my audience!!)

Such a fun project to do outside on the patio, inside when it's raining, or even on vacation!

I think this was a total success!  Special thanks to Jo-Ann's for providing the supplies - also, if you don't have the Jo-Ann's app on your phone or get their preferred customer newsletter yet, click over HERE to sign up.  There are always fab coupons available that you can use on your purchases - I live for my app!