Remake: Tropical 80s Pantsuit

What screams tropical more than this 80s pantsuit?  It's actually more like a caprisuit!!

It had to come home with me when I first saw it.  Pockets and that print!!!

This was going to be the PERFECT outfit to bring with me to Costa Rica.

I began with some cutting.  I cut both of the sleeves at the shoulder and took the capri length up to a shorts level.  Yep, I'm gonna have a shortsuit in no time!!

After all appropriate cutting was complete, I hemmed the bottom of each leg and gave a brand new seam to the new arms, or lack there of.

I put it in my suitcase and got it out for river tour day!!  I felt somewhat like a little ranger, especially with my straw hat.

We drove a bit through some rough terrain to make our way to the Palo Verde National Park...

...where we got on our boat to tour the Tempisque River.  Our captain, Miguel, was amazing.

There were iguanas everywhere.  I didn't realize how close I got to take this photo.  I was totally obsessed with the coloring.

We saw tons of these guys....

...and I think I was hoping that the crocs would stay under water.

We also got up close and personal with some bats.  The symmetry was incredible.

Oh, and I got put in charge for a few minutes. Big mistake. Big. Huge.

We saw more crocs and this one got injured, per our guide, so his mouth was almost permanently open.  I didn't see it shut the entire seven minutes we were parked.  (My photos never focused on the croc, however you can see it in my new boat pal's camera.)

We saw tons of monkeys which pretty much made the entire tour.

All sorts of macaws and herons were in the trees and this one had stunning (or deadly) red eyes.

The tour was such fun!  We stopped in Filadelfia on the way back too.  Love the spelling and couldn't stop singing the Bruce Springsteen song from the movie :)

I had to get a photo with our guide Fabricio, because he totally ruled!

More trip pics tomorrow!*

*Trip pics include a muumuu.  Couldn't go to Costa Rica without a muumuu...

Remake: White Cotton Beach Dress

Happy Tuesday!! How was everyone's Thanksgiving/weekend/Monday back at work?? I hope you all enjoyed a little R&R! I just got back from a little holiday retreat in Costa Rica where I had fish (!!!) on Thanksgiving! Such a welcomed break for a few days, but now it's back to business. I've got some fun holiday posts coming up soon, but in the interim we're going to have a few posts with some beachy retreat remakes! First up was this fab white cotton dress - my gal AA gave this one to me and it was perfect for summer! Lots of lace and layers...

...but also lots of spots! I knew that the spottage could be handled with a little assistance.

DYE! It's going to be a tie dye kind of day for this piece!

I wrapped rubber bands around the piece starting from the bottom corner of the dress all the way over to the other end. This is going to form a bullseye pattern!

I wet my dress completely and took a medley of pink and purple dyes to coat my dress.

After letting the dye saturate overnight and then rinsing it out with water, I packed this piece in my suitcase and toted it along with me to Costa Rica. We got in right around sunset, just in time to catch the last few minutes of sunlight.

Then came new dress time!

I loved the way the dress turned out. And the colors!! The pinks/purples made some awesome shades of magenta and lavender.

It's so comfortable too - I love the elastic on top! Totally perfect to wear over a swimsuit too.

Balmy 80 degree weather at night? I was totally on board from day one!

More vacaysh photos/remakes to come tomorrow!

Keni's NDAD Creation

Keni's piece today rocks the use of some fabric dye, and we all know how much I adore some fabric dye!  Check out her transformation...I think you're gonna like!

I received this dress for free from my sister, who got it from who knows...ha! I loved the lace, but it was just very bland looking.  So, I decided to try out my skills and creativity!

I was going to a semi-formal event and thought that this dress had some serious potential for a roaring 20s look, however first I needed to dye it!

Ooh the dye time is right around the corner!

That cream color was not working for me, so I pulled out my polyester-safe black dye and got started.  After dyeing it using the stove-top method (best for polyester mixed fabrics) the dress shrunk a bit...

This was too short for me and the event I was planning on going to (excuse my dirty mirror!), so I went to the fabric store and got a few extras (fringe!) to make this work!

 I started by cutting the slip under the lace to a shorter length, about four inches shorter.  It was sewn together with the lace so I had to use my seam ripper to detach it.

I used a light pink/nude colored fabric I picked up to add to the bottom of the slip, and had it hang a few inches below the lace hem.  I sewed it all together and then added a fringe trim at the bottom of the lace. (Again, excuse the dirty mirror!)

It didn't quite look complete, so I added a small bead trim to the top of the fringe and then sewed all of the hems in place.

Post-sew, I had a brand new dress!!

I paired the dress with some cute nude and black heels, some string pearls, sported a low side-swept chignon, and I was ready for some martinis in a speakeasy!  I hope you like what I did, cuz I love the way it turned out!!

Thanks for all you do Marisa, and all the inspiration you share!

KENI!!!  I want to dress up in lace and fringe and go to the 30s party with you!  The dress turned out divine.  I loved that when you had a small road bump (the slight shrinkage) you overcame it with some thinking on the fly.  Such gorgeous trim gave the dress a little somethin' somethin'.  Looking forward to your next creation!