Oscars 2014: Blue Jasmine

Let Oscar Week begin!! This is one of my favorite times of the year - the Oscars are a week away (yippee for fun red carpets!!) - and I'm super close to seeing everything nominated. (Yeah, total tradition since college...friends and I all try to cram everything in so we're fully prepared to fill out an Oscar ballot to win $$$!)

To celebrate, I'm going to craft a week's worth of Oscar-themed outfits from some of the nominated films. A little countdown to Sunday eve's festivities, if you will :) To kick off the week, we're starting with Blue Jasmine. Cate Blanchett is SO good in this and really anything that Louis CK does, I'm 100% on board with.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - Blue Jasmine Costumes

I went completely literal with this one, friends!!

 

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

How 'bout this royal blue dress with INSANE shoulder pads...`

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...and this lace layer up top?

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

There is a bit of work that needs to get done to get this "wear in public ready"!!

In true Marisa form, I cut out the shoulder pads first!

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

These pads could have kept us all afloat, that's how foamy they were!

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

Next plan of attack was removing the sleeves.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

My seam ripper went to town!!

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

With both sleeves removed...

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shoppingNew Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...I got down to business.

My idea for this piece was to make the lace the lead character. It's hard to really even notice it because of the blue fabric background, so I decided to remove the background! I began to trim across the blue fabric, beneath the lace, and removed a rectangular piece that was lining the lace.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

The top of the lace was now fully exposed!! How fab does it look on the white background?

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

I stitched the edges of the cut material as well as the area around the arms...

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...before taking in the dress a few inches. I wanted to make it fit like a glove.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

I pinned the area that needed to be taken in and also hiked up the dress a bit as well before sewing all parts in place.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

I must say, I was expecting to like this dress but didn't realize that I would LOVE how it turned out.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

It's the perfect cocktail dress! Those of your Instagrammers might have seen this teaser shot yesterday...

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...however nobody guessed that the dress was royal blue! We got a few navys as well as Pantone's Color of the Year, radiant orchid, so there was a solid effort in that part of the color spectrum.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

It's really amazing what one adjustment can make.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

I wrapped up in my DIY indigo shawl (click here for the tutorial!) and vintage purse...

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...while smelling the ridiculous jasmine wafting from the surrounding neighbors' plants. One of my favorite parts of LA is the abundance of jasmine and honeysuckle that make the air smell as delicious as Magnolia Bakery tastes.

New Dress A Day - 90s Lace Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

 

This cobalt shade has jumped to my top five wearable colors as of late. The only thing that would have solidified an Oscar for this dress was if it had pockets. Next go, I'm adding those suckers!!

Stay tuned for more Oscar themed outfits this week!! They're making me wish it was Halloween this weekend too!

Lainie's NDAD Creation

Today's piece comes from the lovely Lainie! Lainie sent me two batches of pictures - one set includes the project that you'll see below and the second set are pics of the Tassimo she won from the pre-holiday giveaway! I was thrilled to hear all about the goodies she received in the mail from the Tassimo itself and the batches of discs... Tassimo and T Discs, newdressaday giveaway

...to the hospitality station she set up in her entryway with her new machine! I want to come and hang at your house, Lainie! Your entryway looks like the cutest bed and breakfast :) 

 

Tassimo and T Discs, newdressaday giveaway

What a fun way to stay warm during the Pacific Northwest "Snowpocalypse 2014" as she described it!

Tassimo and T Discs, newdressaday giveaway - Snowpocalypse

Now onto the project...

I wanted to thank you for helping me be brave. I had this huge plaid wrap thing that was barely more than hemmed fabric and I made a hat using a pattern in a book. It was all fine and well but really, so much fabric was not used and the original item wasn't exactly re-invented. Why? Because I was chicken!! My mom brought this dress home that she picked up on clearance at Marshall's and I decided to go for it.

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

Even though it was hideous on, I had a very hard time cutting into something that was already, you know, "something." But I did it...

How will Lainie rework this clearance rack piece?

I started by cutting the top part off very carefully, trying to avoid the lining underneath. I was left with this...

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

It's amazing how ideas change along the way because once it was cut, I realized that the widest part of the fabric was at the waist! How strange that I didn't see this until now!

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

And I also noticed the huge slit on the side! I removed the stitches in the slit so I could sew it completely closed and was now left with top and a huge tube of fabric that was wider on the top than the bottom.

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

I "Marisafied" it! I turned the tube upside down and pinned it to the once bottom hem/new cut top and sewed it together.

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

I hemmed the bottom to the correct length and threw on a sweater I already had and ta-dah!! New outfit.

New Dress A Day - DIY -  Aztec Pattern Dress - Upcycled

It would never have happened if I didn't overcome my fear to make the first cut. Thanks for encouraging us to be brave!

And thanks again for the Tassimo - I shall have my first cup while reading NDAD :D

Lainie, I couldn't be happier with your new outfit! I also couldn't be happier that you won the Tassimo as well. It makes me so happy to hear that you were able to overcome that very large step of cutting into a perfectly "good" piece. It's really one of the biggest hurdles to get over when you begin upcycling, but after that first snip with the scissors, it gets easier and easier as you go further along. You look gorgeous and I know this is only the beginning... xo

Remake: Blue Collared Dress Part II

I love two-part posts!!  Yesterday's frockish piece that started off looking like this... New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

With some snipping and collar removing...

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...the first part of the after look turned out like this.

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

Now, see how Look #2 was put together...

For the second look, I removed the pinned bow and added some accessories!!  I added a few costume necklaces, a Banana Republic knotted cuff, a stretchy navy belt, BCBG gold heels, and a Dorothy Perkins purse.

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

Loved the navy and gold mix!

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

I tried to give this look a more modern feel by layering chunky necklaces and bringing fun metallics into the mix.

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

It's really amazing how with a little bit of styling, an outfit can make a 180!

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

It's like I have two totally different ensembles...

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

...even though it's the same piece!

New Dress A Day - Blue Collared 60s Dress - vintage dress - thrift store shopping

LOOK #1:  Shoes: ModCloth // Clutch: Vintage // Sunglasses: Forever 21

LOOK #2: Shoes: BCBG (These Sam Edelman heels are a pretty close copy) // Purse: Dorothy Perkins // Cuff: Banana Republic // Belt: Melrose Trading Post // Necklaces: Vintage Costume // Sunglasses: Forever 21

There are so many other fun ways to style this dress, especially for different climates!  Unfortunately we're still in the 70s zone for the time being, so the sweater/tights combo will have to wait for the time being.  (Fingers crossed some cooler weather and rain stops by to say hi to Los Angeles soon!)

Which look do you like best?