Remake: Green, Pink & Blue Dress

You got a little taste of this number yesterday...

I would literally get arrested if I wore this out in public. Indecent exposure, much??

I couldn't let that happen because I love the look of this dress so much and I must wear it out.

One easy tweak, here we come!

The maje issue was the worn out elastic at the neckline. At one point, years, and years, and years, and years ago, this had a serious gathered neckline. Now, it's sad and worn out :(

So, it's seam ripper to the rescue!

I took out a few stitches on the top seam where the worn out elastic was...

...pulled the elastic out until it was at the perfect point where I could knot it and make the dress hit my shoulders without falling off. I figured that I could test this method out first before either replacing the neck with new elastic or putting in a fun ribbon to gather.

My new dress fits now!!

I paired the vintage piece with my "Super Wedges", aka my crazy tall Jeffery Campbell platforms.

I cinched the waist with a light tan leather belt to break up the color a bit...

...and to match the neutral tone of the shoes!

I will be wearing this throughout fall too, friends. Add a beige sweater on top, perhaps? Some tall boots? Easy tweak for a piece that will easily become a staple in the closet!

It's twirl time!!

Remake: Green, Pink & Blue Dress

I absolutely LOVED this dress when I first laid eyes on it at a garage sale. The colors were fun, the crepe-y cotton was flowy and soft, but there was a pretty large issue. (I even wore a nude tank to really hit the fact home.)

This is going to need a little adjustment. I just don't think that this would be appropriate if I wore it as is, you know :) Check back for the full post later today!

Melissa's Donation: Peach & Black Embroidered Shirt

I received this piece from one of my favorite people in the world - Melissa of Shoestring Magazine - and she outdid herself.

Now if a "friend" gave you this piece as a present, I might want to rethink the friendship, however Melissa is my thrifting kindred spirit and knew this shirty-dress-kaftan would be right up my alley.

So not only did my sister from another mister give me this rockin' ensemble...

...but also sent a Richard Simmons coffee table book in my package. This snail mail day was one for the records, because...

...Richard Simmons happens to be one of my best pals.

OK, well "best pals" probably is a bit of a stretch, but I did get my "sweatin' to the oldies" on at his class a while back and that's pretty close, right? So, want to see how this peachy piece turned out???

I started off by removing the sleeves!

I have some fun leftovers that I'll be repurposing very soon :)

The part of the piece that was most intriguing to me was the incredible embroidery! I just loved the detail up and down the front of the shirt. To make that stand out even more, there were a few things that needed to be done.

First, it was time to go shorter!

Next, it was time to remove the stitches at the neckline. I wanted the collar to be separated from the rest of the top.

Boom!!!

As soon as I saw the neckline, I thought halter top!! After the collar was removed from the bottom portion of the shirt, I trimmed back some of the material and pinned it down beneath the vertical embroidery to form a T shape of sorts.

I stitched a new hem...

I stitched down the neckline...

...and I stitched the body to make it fitted.

Three major changes = 1 brand new look!

I wanted to make this a top so the peach color next to my skin wouldn't wash me out too much!

I pinched and gathered the material and stitched it at the bottom of the T shape (on each side of the embroidery) to give the top a splash of femininity.

It feels super modern in a slightly throwback way. Paired with jeans and flip flops...

... it was my outfit to wear to the Hollywood Bowl for a night of Hitchcock music!

I even had Vertigo nails to match!

From one frockish before to a chic after...

I'm thrilled with how this piece turned out. Many thanks for my piece, Miss Meliss. xox Miss Maris