Amber's NDAD Creation

My girl Amber submitted a piece a while back (refresher HERE!) and I have to say that I'm obsessed with what she does. Her before looks are totally on par with mine as well, which cracks me up! I love the "let's give sour face when we're wearing something not so pleasant" move. It's my go-to when I'm shooting the before looks - I live for the sour face and she totally nails it. Also, her recreations have been über chic. See what she's up to today!!

My roommate was cleaning out her closet and was tossing this shirt, so I got it for free! Obviously it doesn't fit my bust region, so I'm going to turn it into a skirt!

Let’s turn this puppy into a truck, y’all!

I sewed closed the arm holes first.

It might be hard to tell, but the 'bottom' of the skirt had a thick hem. It made a perfect 'top' of my skirt. I cut a tiny hole in the hem and fed some elastic through. 

The last thing I did was cut the original neck hem off. Since this was a jersey material there was no need to re-hem. 

That's it! It was super easy.

Even Chip & Dale approve. :)

I'm jumping on that approval wagon too! I love your new skirt and I love even more that it started out as that too big, ill-fitted shirt that your roomie was going to toss. I bet you she's wishing she hadn't passed it your way after seeing what you did! Keep the remakes coming!!

Jennifer's NDAD Creation

Jennifer submitted today's awesome project after seeing my remake of this lace dress...

...that I featured last May. (Click HERE for the full post!) I love hearing from you guys via email and in the comments section when you have similar dresses to the ones that I remake! So, seeing Jennifer's project made me super happy. Check it out...

This recreation was done five years ago but when I saw your do-over of the peach lace dress a little while back, I just had to respond. This is my wedding dress from my first marriage in 1986. Covered in the same lace as your dress. Imagine my shock! 

Fast forward to 2008. My daughter Caitlin was graduating high school and was looking for a different kind of vintage prom dress. We looked for months and even consulted a dress designer, but we were stuck until one day when we saw my old dress hanging in the closet.

Just for kicks she tried it on. Caitlin is shorter than me so the dress was too long, but other than that it fit to a T! But oh...that lace and those shoulder pads?!

Keep reading to see how J's wedding dress gets transformed!

We got out the seam ripper, and very carefully removed the lace from the top, including the sleeves. We shortened the straps, rented three crinolines for more poof in the skirt and VOILA...

...a beautiful, re-purposed prom dress that was totally my sassy girl's style!

One word - obsessed!! I just love this project so much. You were able to take something treasured from your life and turn it into something to be treasured again in your daughter's life. What an awesome way to repurpose your dress!! And, I love that this was a team effort! I want to hang with you girls next time. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!

PS, here's a gorgeous shot that Jennifer included of her before her wedding, getting ready! Love this candid so much!! I think I wore that same floral headpiece for my communion!!

Rachel's NDAD Creation: Oscar Edition

Rachel's remake is totally tied into Oscar Week!  Check out the fab Gatsby remake she created for her son's theater performance.  I would have LOVED to be in The Great Gatsby.  Oh Daisy Buchanan...  I'll have another remake up before the Oscars air later today!

This past November, my son performed the role of Tom Buchanan in his high school theatre group's performance of The Great Gatsby.  It was a fantastic show!  I scored a suit for him at my favorite charity thrift store for $2 and made some adjustments. I volunteered to help with other costumes, mostly taking things in and adjusting hems, but my big remake was a dress for Myrtle, played by the lovely ML.  I went back to my favorite thrift store and scored a $3 twinset (a matching shirt and open jacket) made of a dark red and shimmery heavy jersey.

Time to get Gatsby-ized!!

I started off by closing up the front of the jacket and adding some sequin ribbon.

I cut off the sleeves and the top portion of the shirt right at the arms, making the lower part of the shirt, the new skirt.  With the top that I cut off, I pieced it together to fold lengthwise for a sash.  I sewed the skirt to the closed up top with the sash in between.  I started the sash near the side seam because I knew it wasn't going to go all the way around.  Now, to fill in the gap....I cut the sleeves open lengthwise and pleated them to make kind of a ruffle.  I also made a flower from the sequin ribbon.

I did a little 'pinch and cinch' action on the sash in several places to give it a better look.

What a great mama you are to craft this for your son's theater production!!  The pinch and cinch move is always the best!  ML looks gorgeous and I would have loved to wear one of your costumes when I did Leader of the Pack that one summer in theater camp!  I hope you have a slew of other projects on the horizon.  Fingers crossed your son performs in Les Mis next!!