I have to say, among many things, I'm a total sucker for plaid!!
JJ sent me this dress and I immediately was obsessed with the bottom for obvious reasons.
Hi Marisa: I wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed what you've been doing. I didn't really go to garage sales before reading your blog, but once I started to see how you were able to change pieces that would usually get picked over, I began to think differently. I'm just starting out, but feel more confident knowing I can "check in" with you to get inspiration from posts as well as copy some of your tricks. I got this dress from a sale I stopped off at when I saw dresses hanging from a clothesline. This one sparked some interest and I've been wanting to donate to the cause... I hope you enjoy it and thanks again for all you do. My best, JJ
The bottom of the sleeves had elastic around them and they felt very Disney princess, not to be confused with the "The Real Housewives of Disney". (Who else stayed up for this sketch on SNL this week?)
The sleeves were going to get a tweak first! Bibbity, bobbity, boo!
I began with a seam ripper and started to remove each puffy one.
One came off and then the next.
I pinned under the arm hole edges and took the remaining fabric from the two sleeves and cut off two rectangles.
I sewed the arms and then sewed around the edges of the two rectangles, stitching them together, and leaving a space of about two inches open in the top center.
This opening was left to pull the rectangle inside out to hide the raw edges.
I'm making a little bow with this material, so I pinched it in the center...
...and cinched it making a knot with some black nylon ribbon.
After fixing the bow, I did a quick iron job...
...and had my dress ready to go from day to night!! It was 85 degrees today, so the sundress was just the way to go.
With the bow attached to black nylon ribbon, I brought the ribbon all the way around to the front and tied the end to the bit wrapped around the bow for a makeshift belt.
The bow idea stemmed from a viewing of Ugly Betty (I still heart this show and record the reruns) where Betty was rocking a patent turquoise one around her waist. I found my spot to redo my own version, just sans the orange top.
This was kind of the perfect thing to wear today because it assisted in warding off some of the sweat droplets :) In warding off, I mean it absorbed the sweat droplets and turned the blue shade navy, but I had the A/C on full blast to dry them up.
JJ, thank you so much for sending this to me!! I can't wait to actually re-wear again this summer!!
