Today's dress du jour comes from Shelly in MN. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it when I first took a peek. "I came across [your blog] when I was logging into my yahoo account and I have been following ever since and wanted to help contribute with an article of clothing that my Grandma picked up for me at church rummage sale. She has been going around town to various rummage sales and thrift stores for as long as I can remember. Her goodie bags full of treasures have been a highlight for me over the years as she always manages to find things that are so "me" that just need a little mending or taking in. She continues the tradition with my two boys now. This piece is one that I have never used, so I hope it has more life in your hands!"
I think I'd get along famously with your Grandma as she sounds pretty amazing :)
I was thinking that I could use some fabric paint and stencil things, or add fabric stripes to it...but then I got real. This is a cotton dress, slightly thick, with a terry-ish interior that screamed comfortable. So I went with just that.
I mean it's no Forever Lazy.
Has anyone else seen this? It was mentioned to me last week, but I only saw it with my own eyes 12 hours ago. Late nights writing=late night commercials. I scoffed at the Snuggie when it first came out, however I wouldn't be opposed if I got it as a gift. I scoffed at this when I first heard then saw, however like the Snuggie, I wouldn't be opposed if I received this as a prezzie. Fleece, cozy, and something that can keep my perpetually cold feet warm gets two thumbs up from this gal.
Back to the piece. Cozy and comf is on the agenda today. To work we go!!!
I started off by cutting off the bottom two feet of the dress.
I'm going to turn this into a hoodie, because you just can't have enough if you ask me, and I cut a pattern out of my local grocery store ads. I glanced at my other sweatshirts to get a good gauge of a size that would work best.
I folded my pattern in half and began to cut it out of the material. (you don't have to fold it - I just shortened steps this way.)
Once my pocket was trimmed, I started cutting material from the excess to be my hood! I wanted to use the thick hem as the edge of my hood, so I started to cut a rectangle out of the two layers, keeping the side seam as the top of my rectangle and the hem as the right side of my rectangle. I pinned the top and bottom layer on the left side together, wrong sides facing out to prepare for a sew down!
There was a sash attached on both sides of the piece that I removed...
...and then pinned everything (hem/pocket) in place!
I stitched everything in place and took in the sweatshirt about two inches on each side while I was at it
The hood came next. I stitched down the left side above...
...got it lookin' like this...
...and then pinned it to the top of the sweatshirt. I pinned and gathered it around the back of the neckline, from shoulder to shoulder...
...then stitched in place. The neck was a bit too tight, so I decided to trim myself a new one. I cut a slit down the center...
...then cut each side to make a scoopy-scoop neck!
The finished product...
Wassup parking ticket validation machine?!
My hoodie was the perfect thing to wear on this chilly Los Angeles evening. It's been Glasses City as of late to help ward off the itchy, allergy laden eyes and I felt relaxed and cozy leaving my house - just the feeling/look I was going for!
For something that started off not-so-fabulous, it turned into something completely awesome.
Thank you Shelly for this fantastic piece!!
