Remake: Blue Vintage Leopard Print Dress

I received this lovely donation from Cathy in NC!!

The blue/black dress is one I loved forever, wore several times, lent to friends to wear, and still could not part with it.  It is probably from the 80s (I can't remember exactly because I've had it so long) and I especially love the low back on it and the handkerchief hem.  I WISH I was still a size 8 to wear it - working on that!  Please see what magic you can make of it and have fun!

Just take a look at this number!  It's got little beads of glitter all over the bodice and the arms.

"Where there is glitter, I'll be there." I mean the Jackson 5 could have totally wrote that as an alternative lyric!  Time to bust a move.

I started off by removing the shoulder pads!!

They took up so much room!!

The print is fabulous and I love the flowy nature of the fabric, however I wasn't feeling the skirt portion of this piece.  I loved the top and the sheer arms, so I wanted to turn this into a blouse!  I started to remove the skirt from the top of the dress with a seam ripper.

I made my way around the piece and was left with this...

I can't wait to work on this remnant piece, but in the interim, new top is ready to go!

Cathy mentioned earlier that she liked the back of the dress. That was my favorite part of this piece as well...

Hello, deep back!!  It's really so gorgeous - I'm wearing one of those low-back bustiers to avoid any straps just to make this the focal point.

I love how it sparkles!!

Couldn't resist the little heart bokeh filter on the below shot.  It's just because I really love this top!

It was just the thing to wear to a dimly lit dinner.  Low lights = maje sparkle!!

Then it was time for a little dance party in the parking lot.  Sometimes I tap when I'm happy, but this tapping was because I was pretty chilly.  I wanted a cool, candid shot with the neato purple sky, so I removed my vintage shrug for photo purposes.  Then the tapping began...

This is when my nose started dripping too.  Totally worth it though for the candid shot.  Cathy, thank you SO much for sending this piece my way.  I'm looking forward to using the remnants of the dress down the road...

Giveaway: Uncommon Goods

Happy Monday!!  There's really nothing better than a fun giveaway to kick off the week, right? One of my favorite sites, Uncommon Goods, is giving away a $50 gift card to a lucky reader!

They have such a cool collection of products - I got a cheesemaking kit for one of my cheese-obsessed friends last year for Christmas - and just a really well curated DIY gifts section to pick from.  I tried this organic Make Your Own Lip Balm kit by Herban Crafts to experiment with one of their offerings...

...and as much as I thought I was going to mess up, it couldn't have been easier.  Click through to see how my glosses turned out and to enter the giveaway!

All the materials were clearly labeled in the cutest recyclable packaging...

...and the directions and info cards were clear as a post-rainy Los Angeles day.  (Total sidenote - the cards are made out of recycled paper on soy ink and the cello bags are ready for home composting (who's in??) and are biodegradable.)

All of the ingredients in the kit are portioned out for melting, so I followed the directions putting together cocoa butter, beeswax, and sunflower oil in a double boiler...

...and once everything melted, I added in a few drops of peppermint essential oil, and then poured the liquid into the gloss tins.  I let the solution solidify, and voila!

Brand new, handmade, lip balm??  Sign me up!!  There's nothing like gifts that help bring out the inner crafty person in all of us.  Now I'm on a lip balm making roll - I just might order more ingredients to make these as presents!

To enter the giveaway, head on over to Uncommon Goods and pick the items that you'd love to get if you win the gift card!  Snag goodies for yourself or check off a few people on your list for this season!  A lucky winner will be randomly be chosen on 11/15, just in time for some pre-holiday/Black Friday shopping!  Also, two of the balms that I made will be passed off to runners-up as well.  I've been using mine on the super dry/allergy-filled days and my lips couldn't be softer.

PS, stay tuned for this remake tomorrow...

Nothing like some leopard print and glitter to put a smile on my face!

Olive's NDAD Creation

I just love this dress that Olive repurposed - the before look is fantastic and what makes it even more special is that it was a dress that her mother had purchased years ago. It's Olive's turn now to work some magic!

Hello from New Zealand! I discovered your blog a few days before the start of my first ever uni exams, and it provided a fantastic distraction from study. It also gave me something to look forward to after exams, so as soon as I was on holiday I headed to our basement to see if I could find anything with potential. The dress I found is one that my mum bought in Paris with my dad when they were newly married.

Even when she stopped wearing it, she kept it in the hopes that one day her daughter might make it into something else. This made it the perfect dress for me! 

Time to see what the second generation does with this dress!

The first thing I did was remove the shoulder pads and then I shortened it A LOT. Since I'm 5 foot 2 with short legs, long dresses don't really suit me so I took it in a bit at the waist and bust. It's winter in New Zealand at the moment and Dunedin gets quite cold, so I decided to keep the sleeves long, although I did take them in a bit so they were more fitted to my arms. Finally, I found some lace in my collection and used it to trim the sleeves and the neck. 

My new dress works perfectly with my dark red Doc Martens for winter...

...and the best part is my mum loves it too! 

Thank you for inspiring me and giving me some incentive to get through exams! 

I love that your dress remake was a study break from exams!! There's nothing better than a little hands-on project to relax the brain. This dress turned out so lovely - a perfect piece to wear with stockings and Docs, or when it warms up a bit with sandals and a button or two opened up on top! Can't wait for midterms to see your next remake, Olive!!