Remake: Black and White Dress

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend, including a most lovely Mother's Day! You got a little teaser of today's dress last week...

...and now you get to see how it turned out!

To be completely honest, it looks pretty good as is, however, the length is a bit off...

...and there were some not so pretty spots on the top portion. The ivory was slightly discolored. Definitely not something that I'd be able to wear as is.

I thought a bit of dye would do the trick to create a super cool color blocked dress!

I loved this mustard/black ensemble from Petra Karlsson's blog...

...so I decided to go this route on the color palette. I matched my dye (RIT's Sunshine Orange) and got to work!

I created a dye bath on the stove (boiled water, added salt, turned off the heat and added the dye), wet the top of the dress completely, and then added it into the bath.

I let the top of the dress sit in the bath for an hour to fully soak in the dye. Now a portion of the black skirt went into the dye as well, but I didn't think that would be a problem as just the top portion would take to the color.

Yeah, I was completely wrong about that. The black didn't take to the color, but some of the black ended up touching and bleeding onto the dress in the dye bath. It had an interesting tie dye-esque effect so I let it dry before trying to re-dye it a darker color. I immediately thought this was going to be an upcycle fail!

But alas, after it dried, I was kind of digging the look! It wasn't my original intention, but it might have turned out better than I had expected. I trimmed the skirt portion shorter, pinned it in place...

...and stitched a new hem before putting it on to wear.

Check out my unintentional after look...

Instead of taking it in, which would have made it completely fitted up top, I opted to use a vintage bamboo belt to cinch the waist. Plus it brought out the awesome mustardy-orange color that the top had become!

This is such a great lesson - even when things don't go the way you planned, there's always room to make adjustments to "make it work"! Accidental cuts, dye mishaps, or removing too much of a seam, just allow you to be open to a new creative route.

I really love this new look! I was told it had a slight Game of Thrones-esque vibe to it which couldn't have made me happier. Maybe I just look like a gal who needs a trio of dragons on her side.

Unplanned final look of a dress = new favorite mistake.

Have you guys had any of these "mistakes" pop up in your crafting/upcycling/DIY-ing/daily lives? Would love to hear stories of your crafting fouls and how you overcame them...or tried!!

Giveaway: License Plate Bracelet

I'm working on this fabulous piece at the moment (you'll see the after look on Monday once I'm through)...

...so in the interim, I have an awesome giveaway from reader Sarah's super crafty etsy shop, Sweet Someday. She reached out my way, filling me in on the incredible license plate upcycling that she rocks out. She's a master with that saw!

I was completely blown away!

"All of my items are either upcycled or repurposed, with a little bit of vintage mixed in." Check out her amazing handiwork - that star is ridiculous and just screaming, wrap some lights around me and hang me up this Christmas!

I can only imagine how tricky it must be working with metals like this. I prick my fingers all the time with pins, so there's no way I'd leave unscathed after working with license plates as a medium.

Sarah is giving away one of her license plate cuffs, like the Minnesota one she made below...

Instead of the state, unless you're a Minnesotan (is that right??) and would like that on your cuff, you can choose an initial for a monogrammed option.

I'm still in road trip mode, so this bracelet is the perfect piece of jewelry for summer travel coming up! I would totally choose an "M" to don as I drive up the coast. To enter, scope out Sarah's etsy store and leave a comment below with a summer trip that might be coming up or any fun summer plans you might have along with the initial of your choosing! The winner will be picked next Friday, 5/16 so they'll get their arm candy just in time for the unofficial kick-off of summer, Memorial Day!

Remake: Brown Bib Dress

I gave you guys a little teaser of this dress last week.

Big time bib action on this one!!

Plus some shoulder pads that were large enough to be pillows on my couch!! OK, slight exaggeration...

This one is all about paring down. Time to get crackin'!

I brought this piece with me to work on while I was up in San Francisco last week. (I cruised up north to work on some fun Creativebug videos that I'll share as soon as they become available!!) I packed it in my LeSportsac bag of clothes galore...

...which rivaled my monogrammed Skipping Girl tote in size, that was solely filled with my toiletries. Girl's gots to have her beauty products when she's road tripping and does not need to comply with travel carry-on rules! Full sized, all the way.

This vintage frock was packed in the weekender while my curling iron, shampoo/condish duo by Fat Hair (it's vegan and it thickens my über fine hair), sat on top of my contacts/contact solution, toothbrush/paste, shine spray, moisturizer, sunscreen, makeup, and glasses. I was 100% prepared for a video shoot or a month stuck in the forest.

This was a little taste of my view driving up...

Once I made my way up to SF, I got to crafting during my down time. I began with that bib!! I just wasn't feeling it, so I started on my journey of removing it with a seam ripper.

Once I got it removed, it looked just like this.

All I need is a little bit of padding and we're ready for some football!! The draft is only a few days away...just sayin.

The new neckline was super clean, which I loved.

The large-ish shoulder pads came off next...

...and the length of the skirt followed.

I trimmed. I pinned...

I sewed...

There was some cool button work down the center of the back of the dress, so I decided to turn the dress around and wear the back as the new front!

I opened a few of the buttons and tucked under the fabric to create a makeshift V-neck.

Paired with an elastic, straw-colored belt and with the sleeves pushed up above my elbows, the dress had a sleeker and more cleaned up vibe.

Sometimes removing just one thing changes the entire look of a piece. I'm talking to you, bib!!

Love the comfort of this piece and you'd never guess that there was anything attached to the top of it!

I've got some fun things on tap for the week - more remakes and more giveaways! Speaking of, congrats to Carly for winning the UncommonGoods gift card. Check yo email, girl!