I received this amazing dress from reader Crystal, and I have been waiting for just the right time/place to wear it. I finally had the perfect spot - a trip to the Magic Castle, where there's a dress code of jackets for gents and no jeans, sandals, or casual gear. When I see that I think, cocktail attire!! And when I think cocktail attire, I think sequins!
I bought this at Savers to wear to a wedding because the wedding was themed "crazy prom dresses". I thought I could lose the weight to wear it to the wedding, but no luck. I figured that you could have fun with it! Thanks, Crystal
There were big, pouffy sleeves in this fabulous sequined chevron print.
Long skirt, check! A tulle crinoline underneath, check!
I was SUPER excited to get working on this!!
I began my upcycling adventure by removing the sleeves. With a seam ripper, I carefully took out the seams keeping the sleeves attached to the dress.
The top of the piece looked a little something like this when the sleeves were gone!!
Next, I began to pin under the raw, sequined edges. I wanted to give the front of the dress a straighter line across my chest, so pinning under the extra two inches of sequins part of the plan.
With the top of the dress pinned, I began to hand stitch these raw edges down. I took some navy thread and sewed a basic straight stitch all the way around the top of the dress.
I thought that taking off a bit of the length would work well for turning this into the ultimate cocktail dress. I cut, I pinned...
I sewed...
So there wouldn't be extra tulle popping out from under my newly-shortened dress, I removed the lower portion of it, leaving the top half to give the skirt a bit of shape.
After all those tweaks, my new dress turned out looking like this...
I LOVE how this turned out!! I wasn't sure if I should keep it strapless...
...so I brought some navy, velvet ribbon and a few safety pins into the Über and crafted a little halter with it! (The Über driver didn't realized he was getting "Crafty McGee" in the back seat.
I loved how this little tweak totally changed the look and feel of the dress! And...it's something that you can add or remove whenever you want! Straps on for a few hours, straps off for a few hours - the easiest magic trick that I can do!
We became pals with magician Alan Rich, who happened to be the first magician we saw that night!
He blew our minds with a ring trick where he took my friend's gorgeous Catbird band and then somehow made it end up in a tiny pouch in his pocket. My mouth was agape and I think I said "no way" 100 times over the course of the evening.
There's no pictures inside the castle, so we took full advantage in the lobby. Cute little owl with blinking red eyes? Of course I'll take a photo with you!
Cute magician cut out standing next to the owl? Of course I'll take a photo with you!
The night was incredible. From magic bartenders, to randomly running into friends there the same night, to card tricks aplenty, it was one of the coolest, most fun times I've experienced in LA over the 15 years I've been here.
And, it was totally fitting that we ran into the last magician we saw, John Kippen, while waiting for our ride outside. He's a master with cards and did things that left me punching the table we were sitting at (luckily it was felt lined). Also, that "no way" counter was hitting the roof!
Thank you Crystal for sending me this fabulous piece!! It was the perfect party dress to wear on such a fun night. I couldn't imagine wearing anything else.
