December 8, 2016

Marisa Lynch

Remake: Pink Floral Muumuu

December 8, 2016

Marisa Lynch

You know that moment when you get into your car for the first time after it's been sitting in the sun all morning, and the heat literally envelopes you, and you feel like you might explode? What happens when it feels that hot ALL DAY LONG? You go as flowy as possible with that wardrobe!

Hello, flowy!

This muumuu is exactly the piece for that sweat drippity kinda summer day. A few issues, though...

Ummmmm...this is probably not going to cut it as is.

It's just a bit too big for me. No need for flashing.

It's hot but not THAT hot. :)

Time to make this ready for the heat!!

There were lots of snags at the seams, but because of the sizing, things are getting trimmed and these issues will be in the leftover fabric pile!

Woo for no snags!

Next it was onto the actual cutting. Length got trimmed as well as the sleeves, and the body of the muumuu got taken in as well.

The bottom of the dress got prepped for a new hem before moving onto the neckline!

As you can see on the bottom right, I created two seams, with about an inch of space in-between. These are lying at the new neckline. (I added part of the leftover fabric and stitched it to the back of the current neckline.) New elastic is gonna live in the center of these two seams very soon! (PS, leave a little bit of space at the end of your seam - you'll need access for the next step!)

I took elastic and added a safety pin to the end of it to push through the space between the seams! New elastic neckline, here we come!

Once the elastic made the rounds around the entire neckline, instead of stitching the ends together, I pulled them together and tied a bow. This is going to help with making adjustments for how loose and how tight I want the neck to be.

Off the shoulder action!

I paired this piece with some Michael Kors heels and a green clutch! It's like I'm wearing a garden!

Cheese!!

Casual, comfortable, and COOL. Three key ingredients to the perfect ensemble.

I love this dress!! Seriously. I might even wear it to bed :)

March 4, 2016

Marisa Lynch

Remake: Black & Pink Floral Dress

March 4, 2016

Marisa Lynch

Hi friends! It's MARCH and the site is almost ready to be revealed!! Eeeeee!!! Thank you SO much for all your patience. Seriously. You guys are the best and I'm lucky to have so many of you cheering me on. To celebrate, we're going to kick it off BIG, so stay tuned!!

This post will be the LAST one you'll see with the site looking like it does and then it's on to somethin' new. Change is good, right?

Today's piece, a dress with a pattern to fall in love with! You had me at BIG. PINK. FLOWERS. (Seriously, j'adore.) But, there was a little extra hanging out there. Yep, looks like that lining was trying to get away!

And, on top of the "lining pretending to be trim" there was another maj issue. HOLES.

Not just one or two.

But more than I could count. They were everywhere on the bottom of the dress!

So there's some work to be done!!

Other work that needs to be done is the cleansing/purging of tons of old clothes that I've been holding onto for WAY too long. I moved into my new place close to a year ago and there are still boxes of stuff where I work on my dresses! It was time to make a move. Instead of a trip to Goodwill this go, I'm sending my gear to Schoola, an online thrift shop that donates 40% of proceeds to school arts, science, music, and phys ed programs. That is just the coolest.

I love that they send postage-paid bags and you can pick the school you'd like for the proceeds to go to (perfect if you've got kids/family currently in schools!)

I even scored a dress and a blazer that you'll see repurposed into a new piece shortly!

With a batch of clothes out the door, now my space is ready for more dresses! Now back to mending those holes!

I thought the holes were bad until I saw the not-so-pretty tarnished lining.

Once I saw how filthy it was I was ready to take the leap. I was taking all the lining out.

I started with the bottom portion...

...and then cut it out of the top of the dress as well. Lining, we don't need no stinkin' lining! (Especially on this already thick knit dress that isn't sheer at all.)

Next comes those holes. The easiest way to get rid of 'em??

CUT THEM OFF.

I cut off the bottom portion of the dress that contained all the holes and then made my way to the sleeves because I wasn't feeling the length.

With so much trimming, it was time to pin and prep for sewing.

I threaded my machine and got stitching!

After all that work, this is what my new dress looks like!

I love it - it's mod and feels super 60s which is my fave.

I paired my dress with over the knee Calvin Klein boots to finish the look.

I love the pop of grey in the boots bringing out the grey in the center of the dress!

I don't know, this print just makes me happy.

Throw pink flowers on anything and I'm going to smile!

From tattered and tainted to terrific!

This dress has become something that will be in my rotation for a long time to come!

January 24, 2016

Marisa Lynch

Outfit Remakes

Remake: Metallic Brocade Dress

January 24, 2016

Marisa Lynch

Outfit Remakes

Hey friends! It's been a VERY long time since my last post and I apologize profusely for the delay. I've been hard at work on a brand new site that will be launching in about two weeks! Eeeeeeee!!!! I couldn't be more excited to share it with you. It's been many months in the making and it's almost ready to reveal. There's going to be a lot of what you've seen on NDAD since 2009, however there's going to be lots of new stuff too. It's a new year and time for a bit of a refresh, you know?

I'll share more about everything as we get closer...lots of amazing little treats are in store for you in less than a month. Wooooooooo!!

Today's remake is one of my most FAVORITE pieces I've worked on in a while. It involves metallics... *mic drop.

Check this lovely out...

A neighbor of mine has an incredible vintage collection and has been having sales to downsize her racks of goodies. I hopped on this dress as soon as I tried it on.

It was $10, so the beaded neck, heavy brocade, and metallic threads came home with me.

So did those robot moves which shockingly must have come with the dress!!

I had a segment on GMA to plan for and I thought this piece would be the perfect on-camera look! There was a LOT of work to be done, however...

When I first tried the dress on, it was so much heavier than I expected. I thought, how could someone actually wear this all night as a dress? It didn't seem feasible in my mind. So that thought really helped solidify what I was going to make.

I began with that zipper down the back and started to remove it.

I won't need it to keep the dress together anymore because I'm turning it into a coat! Flipping the puppy around and wearing that back as the front!

Once the zipper was removed, I continued to open the center seam down the back of the jacket until I hit the hem. This seam was located directly under the zipper, right around the hip area.

Once the back was completely open, I tried the jacket on to see progress. I was actually envisioning keeping it as a long coat, however it felt way too dramatic, like the metallic version of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat! I know I was going to be shooting my segment on Broadway, but this was a bit too literal. 😂😂😂

I decided to go a bit shorter with the length - something that would hit around the knees.

I did a little post-cut/post-pin check in to see how the jacket was coming along. Once I saw the new length, I was totally sold and ready to move on and complete it. (PS, this was all going down in the hotel room across the street from the studio! You can see my opened suitcase and mess in the background.)

I spent the next few hours working some magic on the coat including a whole lot of hand stitching before heading to set at 5am.

It was showtime, and my jacket was totally ready to go!

NY wasn't as cold when this was shot as it is now, so the jacket was the perfect thing to wear without any crazy layers or scarf action.

If you want to see the whole segment on winter hacks, click here!

I was a bit hesitant to return the mic because I had such a great time. Hey GMA, need another correspondent??

This piece totally screams winter - winter whites and metallic are my fave - and the perfect seasonal piece for me here on the West Coast.

I'm tank toppin' it because it's in the 60s right now, otherwise I'd be in a turtleneck sweater, for SURE!

I must say, every time I look at the embellished neck close up, I get super excited. That was one of the first things that drew me to the piece. The beadwork and rhinestones were in perfect condition.

It's like I got a free necklace with this frock!

The more I wear the jacket, the more I've been finding out that it doesn't matter what I'm wearing underneath!! Old T shirts, workout gear...I can basically wear anything and the only thing that's focused on is the jacket.

That's a total score in my book!

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