For an evening of party hopping on the horizon, a dress was exactly what the night was calling for. Now Los Angeles hasn't been plagued with 26 inches of snow (DC / MD peeps - enjoy staying in and watching those guilty pleasure movies I described yesterday) but we're still feeling a chill (DC / MD peeps - apologies that the chill I'm describing is that of 60 degrees...). So, a dress with some sort of sleeve action was going to be necessary. This is what I decided on.
Long sleeved, check! Huge, gaping holes on the seam along the waist, check! (You really need to see the close-up on this puppy - pic below)
A long 70s paisley-ish fabric, check! Some serious stitching that needed to be done to change this from scrap fabric to party dress, check! Here we go...
First thing's first, I pinned together the big holes along the waist and ran it through my sewing machine. Those holes had to get fixed stat as the dress was really just hanging on by a few pieces of non-torn thread. Next, I cut the skirt to the length I wanted it to be at and then hemmed the bottom. I took in the sleeves, torso and skirt area to tighten it up and lastly I grabbed some of the extra fabric that was cut off and made it into a little sash to wrap around my waist. It actually looked worse than it was, but because that paisley-ish fabric was killer I knew I had to try to get it to work. So, guess what friends, I channeled some inner Tim Gunn guidance and did.
Adding some tights, calf boots, a big, faux rhinestoned ring this dress was birthday party ready! Now, I tried it on first with this little cape from my closet...
...however the mustard in the cape and in the skirt kinda made me feel like Silk Specter from Watchmen, just sans the leotard and the gloves...tonight.
So, off went the cape and my dress was good and ready for the evening at hand.
My new, short, non-full of holes dress was fab. It danced a little, had a few cocktails, stood under some heat lamps and even sung along to a little bit of Biggie Smalls. This dress had places to be and people to say happy birthday to. Clearly it takes its' job very seriously.
