The votes were tallied and the jungle-esque muumuu won by a landslide!!
It was oh, so colorful, but super loosey-goosey.
I had an idea of what I wanted to turn this into, but I couldn't get started on my upcycling until I got a little bit of ballet in.
You know, the kind you do outside when you're shooting before shots in vintage garb?
I originally wanted to keep this a dress, however once I saw these guys...
...I had to come up with a plan B. The cigarette burns fell right at the mid-thigh area, so this was going to be a bit too difficult to keep as a dress. PS, I couldn't stop thinking about the burns and if the person wearing this before me got injured from them - poor thighs!
So I had to rethink my plan and start brainstorming about other routes to take to turn this around.
I decided to cut the muumuu right to the area where the burns fell.
I was left with a stash of fabric that I will be repurposing very soon! I had more fabric leftover than originally planned, so now I get a full round two with it!
Next I started removing the seams at the arms.
I left the sleeve attached at the shoulder, but trimmed off all but an inch of the material.
Using the excess sleeve, I started to fold the fabric, accordion style, to reattach to the shoulder area. I want there to be a bit more ruching up here, to give the sleeves a billowy effect.
I pinned the accordion folded fabric to the shoulder seam...
...and had it ready to stitch down.
Before getting the sewing machine out, I pinned under the raw edges at the sleeves and measured the area under the arms about an inch to take in.
With everything pinned, I sewed down the sleeves and took in the top portion of the dress.
The final step was stitching a new hem at the bottom of the piece.
I turned the muumuu around, wearing the old back as the new front, and had a brand new top ready for a sunny day!!
I was so inspired by the print that I had to have matching nails!! Tropical print calls for jungle nails, right?
And jungle nails call for leopard print shoes, right? (PS, I love the tie in the front of the top now!!)
The print isn't as overwhelming anymore either!! There's nothing like floral fabric to get me amped up!!
And to think, this might never have come about if I had stuck to my original plan. I think I might have to force myself to do this every once in a while!! What great thinking-on-the-spot/thinking outside the box training.
My new top is definitely getting multiple wears this summer. I'm seeing new looks in my head as we speak!!
And to that, I quote House of Pain and say "Jump Around".
