Giveaway: Silver Vintage Cocktail Purse

As I continue to sort out and keep/donate, I have another one of my pieces that I'm going to retire and pass off to one of you!!  I loved reading all the amazing comments of what you guys are retiring from last week's clutch giveaway that I figured another chic piece might get more wonderful feedback.  PS I'm so proud of all of you with everything you've been passing off, be it older shoes and jeans or the "I can't" mindset (yay, Rose!).  All the winners from the past few giveaways have been chosen - I'm pulling emails/actual identities today and will update everyone who's got things coming their way on tomorrow's remake post! Today, I'm handing off a chic, silver clutch that has really had a spectacular stay in my closet for years.

I have another silver clutch that is mesh (it was my grandma's) that I'll be holding onto and realized that I just didn't need to keep both!  It's the perfect piece to wear to a wedding or even to just glam up some jeans and a t-shirt!

To enter, leave a comment below in the comments section of something that you've bought but wished you hadn't.  I think this will garner some interesting comments!!  Was there one thing that you just NEEDED and then realized down the road that it just wasn't that important?  Or is there something that hasn't been taken out of its original box or is still on a hanger with the original tags hanging?  A winner will randomly get chosen next week.

I remember totally needing a Hypercolor shirt back in the 90s because "everyone else had one" but then when I got it, I was totally underwhelmed because the colors never changed.  Also, there was a bread machine/maker that sat in the kitchen of my childhood home, out of the box, for YEARS that never got any use...sorry for throwing you under the box, mom :)  Not sure what possessed her to get it (maybe she won it in a raffle - I'll have to get that clarified and get back to you) but it was NEVER used.  It even made the fam's NY-CA move, yet sat in the garage.  Before they relocated to NC, I made sure we handed it off Goodwill.  I hope someone is putting it to use and baking some bread!!

Remake: Blue Cotton Dress

I gave a little teaser before the weekend of this frock...

It was made of a super comfy cotton that felt like linen (it was pilly) with a gigantor collar at the neck and a large waist.

The waist was elastic at one point, but by the time it got into my hands, there was not a lick of stretch at all.  I knew exactly what I was going to do just because the color was right.  You'll see what I mean in a few minutes...

I started off by cutting the dress into two pieces.  I trimmed about two inches above the non-elastic waist...

...started to pull out the old elastic...

...and then re-elasticked the waist!  Woo for brand new, made up words!!  I connected a safety pin to the end of the old elastic and pinned a new piece of elastic to it, pulling out the old piece out while pulling the new piece in.  My waist was stretchy yet again!

I stitched a new seam at the waist to keep the elastic in place...

...and continued along with my skirt!

Now the blue shade of the dress was key with what I wanted to do.  There was a salvaged piece of gorgeous material that my craft buddy-in-crime, Sonya Nimri, and I started playing around with.  We knew we wanted to use it for something, but it wasn't large enough to make it a skirt/top/shorts, so we opted to affix fusible webbing to the back of it and use it in another way.  We trimmed around the gorgeous patterns and I cut out the flowers from the material (Sonya took the gorgeous peacock that was on it - pics of her in her outfit to come...) and started playing around with where I wanted to place them.

Once my general areas were picked, I peeled the backing off the already ironed on fusible webbing...

...put my fabric in place, added a wet cloth on top...

...and began to iron on top the damp cloth which fused the cut material to the skirt.

After about 20 seconds, I removed the cloth and checked to see if the fabric stuck down.  This piece was looking good, aside from a few edges that were quickly re-pressed.

I continued this process until all 10 flower clusters were stuck to the skirt.

I added a lavender belt, painted my nail a light turquoise shade, and threw on some blue shoes to really work this pretty bluish/purple color palette.

Not too shabby, eh??

I love how this skirt is kicked up a notch with the use of remnants!!  This is something easy that can be done with anything in your closet right now that needs a little bit of zhuzhing or spot hiding!

Another use for all those fabric scraps that have accumulated!!

Tank top: Hanes // Necklace & Belt: Vintage // Heels: Roxy

My floral ensemble and I met up with my gal BSM who was in town from NY to take down some LA Mexican food.  I'm one of the clumsiest people out there and I somehow managed to not spill anything on my new skirt.  That's right pico de gallo, I didn't drip any of you on my lap!!

Any time I don't knock over a glass or hit my knee on the underside of the table is a win!

How was everyone's weekend??  May you all have a most lovely Monday to kick off the work week!

Bish's NDAD Creation

There's nothing like donations from other people when getting to make a project.  I've loved receiving all your vintage garments to upcycle and this piece from Bish is one that she made with a friend's relinquished project. So one of my friends picked up crochet while I was pregnant and took on the ambitious project of making me a baby blanket.  As she worked on it, she noticed it started getting narrower and narrower with each line, until it was more of a triangle than a blanket and she had to abandon ship so to say.  She still gave me her progress, thinking I could use it as a burp cloth or something, but I immediately saw an alternate potential.

How will Bish transform this piece???

Of course it took me months to get to it, but I finally decided to turn that failed project into a cute baby skirt!  I originally thought I needed one button for the skirt, so when I went to grab one from my sewing box and found 3 that matched, I couldn't decide which one to use and ended up using all of them!  

I sewed a piece of looped elastic to a button and then sewed that onto one side of the narrower part of the material.  I sewed two buttons on the other side next so I would have some size options.

Insta-cute skirt!  Of course getting her to stand still long enough to snap a good picture wasn't nearly as easy.

This is totally adorbs, Bish!  Your little gal couldn't be sweeter.  I love that you thought practical too when adding the additional buttons - the little lady will be able to grow and the skirt will still be wearable!