Remake: Blue Cotton Dress

I gave a little teaser before the weekend of this frock... New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

It was made of a super comfy cotton that felt like linen (it was pilly) with a gigantor collar at the neck and a large waist.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

The waist was elastic at one point, but by the time it got into my hands, there was not a lick of stretch at all.  I knew exactly what I was going to do just because the color was right.  You'll see what I mean in a few minutes...

I started off by cutting the dress into two pieces.  I trimmed about two inches above the non-elastic waist...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

...started to pull out the old elastic...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

...and then re-elasticked the waist!  Woo for brand new, made up words!!  I connected a safety pin to the end of the old elastic and pinned a new piece of elastic to it, pulling out the old piece out while pulling the new piece in.  My waist was stretchy yet again!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

I stitched a new seam at the waist to keep the elastic in place...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

...and continued along with my skirt!

Now the blue shade of the dress was key with what I wanted to do.  There was a salvaged piece of gorgeous material that my craft buddy-in-crime, Sonya Nimri, and I started playing around with.  We knew we wanted to use it for something, but it wasn't large enough to make it a skirt/top/shorts, so we opted to affix fusible webbing to the back of it and use it in another way.  We trimmed around the gorgeous patterns and I cut out the flowers from the material (Sonya took the gorgeous peacock that was on it - pics of her in her outfit to come...) and started playing around with where I wanted to place them.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

Once my general areas were picked, I peeled the backing off the already ironed on fusible webbing...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

...put my fabric in place, added a wet cloth on top...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

...and began to iron on top the damp cloth which fused the cut material to the skirt.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

After about 20 seconds, I removed the cloth and checked to see if the fabric stuck down.  This piece was looking good, aside from a few edges that were quickly re-pressed.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

I continued this process until all 10 flower clusters were stuck to the skirt.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

I added a lavender belt, painted my nail a light turquoise shade, and threw on some blue shoes to really work this pretty bluish/purple color palette.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

Not too shabby, eh??

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

I love how this skirt is kicked up a notch with the use of remnants!!  This is something easy that can be done with anything in your closet right now that needs a little bit of zhuzhing or spot hiding!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

Another use for all those fabric scraps that have accumulated!!

Tank top: Hanes // Necklace & Belt: Vintage // Heels: Roxy

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

My floral ensemble and I met up with my gal BSM who was in town from NY to take down some LA Mexican food.  I'm one of the clumsiest people out there and I somehow managed to not spill anything on my new skirt.  That's right pico de gallo, I didn't drip any of you on my lap!!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Goodwill - vintage 70s dress

Any time I don't knock over a glass or hit my knee on the underside of the table is a win!

How was everyone's weekend??  May you all have a most lovely Monday to kick off the work week!