It was finally time to attack that muumuu you guys saw a few months ago...

I wonder who's wardrobe this came from??

Rosie on Facebook called it my "bonsai tree number" which I was absolutely obsessed with, so that became my new name for it. (Thank you Rosie!!) It was finally time to make it work.

I knew exactly what I was going to do once I turned it around...

The light bulb went off and I was ready to start pruning my bonsai tree!

I began with my seam ripper and started to cut the threads holding my sleeves in place!

Using the band at the neck as my guide, I got one sleeve off...

...and then the other! I loved the round shape that the top panel made and wanted that to be my new collar/cap-sleeve, duo of excellence!

(I also ended up using my seam ripper to take off about a 1/4" worth of stitches from each side of the front material attached to the panel. I did this to make the neck panel more pronounced against my skin once it gets put on.)

I pinned the raw edges under at the armholes to prep for sewing and then got to my length next. I cut off about a foot of the length and then cut thinner strips of fabric from my remnants.

I pulled the polyester fabric strips to form these string-like pieces...

...and then braided them together to make a belt for my new dress.

I stitched up my edges...

...and added my braided belt and some heels, creating a dress totally suitable for an afternoon shindig!!

I just love how the neck turned out!

So I actually didn't end up wearing this to an afternoon shindig (however if I had one to attend this weekend, I most definitely would have) but did wear it to a birthday gathering for one of my favorite (and funniest) pals.

I took the daytime "heels and below the knee" look and switched it up a bit to make it work for evening. I added ankle boots, a denim jacket, and untucked some extra material from the belted waist to shorten the dress naturally.