Remake: Green Floral Muumuu

I really loved the print of this muumuu.

The floral print at the bottom was my favorite part, so I started to think about ways to upcycle this into something wearable!

While wearing the piece and looking at all the seams, I knew exactly how I was going to upcycle this!

Time to get out the seam ripper!

Seam, meet seam ripper! You guys are going to get along really well.

I started to remove each of the sleeves.

I really loved the shape of the neck on this muumuu.

And when the sleeves came off, it was easier to see the sharper edges that were made at the shoulders. I wanted to let this be the focal point!

Sharper shoulders, check! I pinned to prep for a little bit of sewing.

On top of the shoulder area, I also took in the piece a bit at the arms. There was a larger hole made from when the sleeves were taken off, so I wanted to close up shop a little as well!

I was headed to Palm Springs, so leaving it long and flowy was just how I was going to wear my new piece!

Hello 70s!!

I went to Palm Springs with two of my best girlfriends for a quick weekend getaway! Even getting out of LA for a night feels like a way longer vacation!

We were taking too many pics in the photo booth at the Ace Hotel!

We went to Las Casuelas for a Mexican feast and met a bunch of new pals while dancing to the live band play everything from Journey to Roy Orbison.

There were too many candids going on at the table!

We had the most fun dinner before heading back to the hotel...

...where the shenanigans continued! I was so obsessed with the window display at the hotel! Hello amazing knots! I posted this shot on Instagram over the weekend and @mackenzie.91 called it "an awesome parrot toy" which I couldn't agree more!

It's got a total retro/nautical vibe going on, which suited my ensemble to a tee!

It was back to the room after that, where we grabbed glasses of water to find them super cloudy. We even checked with the hotel to see what was going on and they said it was because of extra air bubbles in it. (It had an Alka Seltzer-y look because of the color/bubbly texture.) I added a pack of Emergen-C to my bubbly H2O...

...and called it a night!

More Palm Springs pics to come...

DIY: Upcycled Kitchen Towel

This project was a first for me! I love dyeing anything and everything, but I hadn't ever played with a resist of sorts (outside of rubber bands while tie dyeing) until today. And who knew...Elmer's Blue Gel was going to be MVP?!

Not sure about you, but most (er, 98%) of my kitchen hand towels are spotty and stained. I thought this would be a practical and cute way to upcycle those old towels into something a little fresher instead of going out and grabbing new ones. The most fun part of this is that you not only get to become creative with your color choices, but you can personalize the towels! You can pick a word, children's initials, the family surname, etc. to be what gets stenciled onto the towel. I worked with Rit Dye on this project, so the color options were going to be on point as well~

I chose the word "HOT", knowing that this towel would be hanging from the stove. Yeah, just had to go literal on this one!

Using painter's tape or duct tape, create letter stencils (like I did), use ready-made iron-on or adhesive stencils, or even print out on a sheet of paper to put underneath the towel to trace, for alternate stencil options.

Once the stencils are affixed to the towels...

...begin to add the Elmer's Blue Gel to the inner areas. Go wild and squeeze plenty of Blue Gel to fill in the open spaces.

Let the Blue Gel dry. (I let the towel sit overnight to make sure it got completely dry.)

Begin to set up your dye bath. I used an aluminum baking tin, but a bucket or big pot will work wonders as well!

To prevent the Blue Gel from completely melting off, I used non-boiling (yet still hot) water to create my bath...

...adding in about half of the bottle of dye along with a tablespoon of salt.

Mix the dye and salt into the water until the salt dissolves - I mixed my ingredients with a popsicle stick - and then add your piece.

To get a really bold color, let your piece sit in the dye for at least 15-20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove your piece from the dye bath and rinse it with cold water until the dye runs clear.

You want to make sure that all the Blue Gel gets removed from the piece, so if hand washing doesn't work, you can add it to the washing machine (solo) and run a warm or hot water wash to get rid of it all. After removing all the Blue Gel, add the piece to the dryer to dry it out. (If you do use your washing machine, make sure to run a wash right after with some bleach and detergent just to make sure it's free and clear from excess dye.)

I love that this was a not-so-white-anymore dish towel that was upcycled into a new piece of flair for the kitchen!

Such a cool way to teach kids words and letters too! My first word was "HOT" however I didn't have a kitchen towel to teach me. (I just hope that it wasn't because I touched something a bit too warm for my little fingers instead...)

I think there will have to be a sister towel with "COLD" stenciled on it to hang from the freezer, next go!

Let's get cookin'!

Remake: Satin Ruffled Neck Sashy Top

This shirt was a bona fide winner when I found it!

Let's just say that I'm obsessed with these colors!

The sashes were my fave!

But these pads...

I felt like a vintage clown. We have the same ruffled collar :)

Time to get to work!!

I began this journey by doing a little bit of cutting. I trimmed off the collar and shoulders...

...and the pads!! So long fair shoulder pads. It's been real.

I pinned the sides of the piece closed (at the arms)...

...and then folded under the raw edges, because this bad boy is turning into a skirt!!!

I sewed it and...

...turned this vintage top into a brand new skirt!!

The brilliant part was that those long sashes were turned into my new belt of sorts! I used them to close the skirt which essentially is my new, built in, sashy, belt!

I couldn't be happier with how this turned out! Weeeeee!!!

This would be perfect over a bathing suit too!!

So many options!! Just. So. Many!