DRESS RE-STYLE: Dye My Dress!

Posted by Ethne~

 

I’ve been a follower of the blog New Dress a Day for over a year now.  This amazing gal, Marisa, takes $1 thrift store uglies and turns them into amazing clothes.  She does this every.single.day.  So there’s something new and cool to look at.  You can see a few of my attempts here and here and here.  They’re not really as cool as Marisa’s, in my opinion, except the green zebra which I love, but it was super fun to do them.  Even my dresses were total improvements from the originals.

 

Original green zebra

 

My green zebra re-style

 

And another totally-worth-it part of copying Marisa’s attempts at re-styles is that Lori has done a few, but one of her tries was done way to late at night and she eventually had a spazz-out and took her fabric scissors to the dress and cut it to shreds.  I love it.

 

Anyway, Marisa does a lot of work with Rit dye, which I’d never tried before besides tie-dying at Bible Camp as a kid and then with our Wellstock t-shirts in college.  If you look closely at my t-shirt quilt here, you can see my tie-dyed Wellstock shirts in there.

 

Tie-dye, second row, top left

 

So I recently purchased a white Merona brand dress on clearance at Target.  It was pretty cute, and 100% cotton.  I also had a coupon from Target’s website for 30% off a Merona clothing item.  Then with my 5% Target RedCard savings, I think the dress ended up costing me $7.  WOM SAVINGS at their finest, my Friends.

 

It's a light, gauzy fabric with pretty lace detail at the neckline and shoulders

 

I put this dress on for my birthday, Labor Day this year, which was a really nice, warm, big city, Minnesota day.  But it just wasn’t working for me.  I was so washed out that no amount of bronzer helped.  My complexion is just too pale for pure-white-only ensembles.  COLOR REQUIRED.  I ended up with a super cute white maxi skirt and a pink (fave color anyway) tank top.  I looked adorable.  Theodore agreed, as you can clearly tell in the below photo.

 

Baby T-Rex loves his momma

 

If my white cotton dress was to be worn in the future, I knew it needed help.  I had seen this pin on Pinterest as inspiration, and as it turned out, I had navy blue Rit dye in my stash.  Odd, I know, but I had long ago planned to dye a white rug of mine navy since it needed freshening up.  I never ended up doing that, much to my delight now. A box of Rit dye costs about $3 in case you’re wondering.

 

Sometimes my camera thinks I'd like sideways photos

 

The dye box has multiple instructions depending on what method you plan to use.  It’ll work great on cotton.  The liner of the dress was partially polyester, which the box said wasn’t great, and if you remember from here, I had mixed results from trying to dye this dress purple.  I took a chance since it was the lining here. 

 

Will 35% cotton be the saving grace?

 

Also, since we have a fancy load-size-sensing washer, I was skeptical that I’d get the ideal results, so I opted for the stove-top boiling option.  That seemed scary, but I know Marisa had done it before, so I jumped in head-first.  Not really, that’s dangerous.  Feet first is safer, Friends.

 

Follow the box directions, but in essence, you need fill a large pot (I used my giant stew pot) with enough water as you think will fit your clothing item and let it ‘swim around’ a little bit, but not too much as to dilute the dye.  Once you have the dye water ready as instructed, add the clothing item.

 

Dye mixed with water and ready to add to giant pot of water

 

I bubbled it for a little over 30 minutes, then rinsed it in the sink until it was starting to rinse semi-clear water, and then I put it in my washer on the rinse cycle.  I took it out and examined it (for color evenness), then put it through the wash cycle with some navy towels.  I figured that wouldn’t hurt.  I let the dress air dry.

 

At my next opportunity, I wore my new navy dress to work with a tan heather cardigan (I was nervous it would bleed navy onto the tan, but it didn’t!), and my thin brown belt to flatter my figure, paired with my brown wedge sandals. 

 

Self-portrait in my bathroom - keepin' it real, Friends

 

I really liked it.  I consider this a Pinterest Look for Less.  Not sure how much the Pinterest version cost, but I bet it wasn’t $10!!

 

I’ve been pinning a lot of fashion looks on Pinterest lately, Friends, so if you want to see what I find, you should totally follow that Wom-Mom board.  You can link up to our Pinterest site by clicking on the tab up top.  I plan to do more Pinterest looks this fall and winter, so check back!

BELLA SHIRT!

Posted by Ethne~

I am about to admit something embarrassing.  Except kinda not since not much embarrasses me.

I’ve mentioned in the past how much I love Twilight.  As in I ignored my family and tapped my toe till the girls’ bedtime when I read the books because I couldn’t get enough.

As in I <3 Edward.  Big time.

Oh Edward, wherefore art thou?

I enjoyed the first Twilight movie immensely .  Shaun said it didn’t have enough vampire violence and T&A, but he’s watched all the movies numerous times, so I guess he sacrifices for me.  The bottom line is that Rob Pattinson is a dreamy Edward and that’s what I was in the market for.  There are a few Edward moments in that first movie that make me swoon.

So do you remember in the movie when Edward and Bella see each other for the first time in biology class?  Well, in that scene, Bella is wearing an ivory shirt that has her thumbs sticking through the cuffs which I thought was kinda neat.

After much internet scouring, I found a pic

Well, wouldn’t you know it but two Black Fridays ago Thrifty Nana and I ran into this exact same cuff situation at JCPenney’s.  For no other reason than the Twilight tie-in, I bought myself one of the shirts.  It helped that it was less than $10, being Black Friday and all.

I've got the right cuff, now Edward can't
help but fall in LOVE with me.

I love the cuff deal, but am not a fan of the high crewneck of it.  So I’ve barely worn it for the past 2 years.

Neckline too high!
Notice I'm wearing 2 different slippers...

Don’t you think that’s just dumb?  Not about buying a shirt just because it reminds me of Twilight.  That’s not dumb at all.  What’s dumb is not wearing it cuz I don’t like the neckline.  I say: 'quit complaining'.  Shaun says: ‘sh*t or get off the pot’.  Roger that.

It was pretty simple.  I bought matching burgundy thread at JoAnn’s for $2 (on sale).  Then I researched the appropriate stretchy stitch on my sewing machine so the neckline thread wouldn’t snap when I pull the shirt over my head.  The machine’s book says: ‘Ric-Rac’ stitch.

I tried the shirt on to mark how low the v-neckline to go and marked it with a safety pin.

I cut down the center of the front neckline to the safety pin.

Leap of faith!

I sewed the ric-rac stitch along the raw edges.

Done.

I think it’s much cuter.  Maybe a little too tight of a shirt to wear my Bombshell bra, but at least cleavage is visible now!

Why hello there!

LOVE IT.  I def shouldn’t have waited two years to fix my Bella shirt.

What easy fixes have you done on your clothes lately?  More importantly, will I be seeing you at the theater on November 18th?

PINTEREST CHALLENGE: Ethne #2

Posted by Ethne~

My second Pinterest Challenge project was my version of the Turbie Twist wet hair wrap ‘As Seen on T.V.’  I have another one that Mom Connie got for me at Herbergers years ago, so I know it’s not a completely original idea, but I liked it.  Get on Pinterest immediately, and then follow Wom-Mom here.

Pretty much what you need to do is fold your towel in half the long way.  You can free-hand cut the rounded edge and lines from the towel.  The widest part of the towel section is 10” and the thinner end is 5”.  I really think you can make this just by eye-balling it.

My original twist on top of the folded towel

On my version, the finished end of the regular towel is
along the bottom, the fold is along the right, and
the loose ends (narrower) on the left

By using the finished edge of the towel, I didn’t have to sew the edge under.  SLICK!

I sewed the top unfinished edges with a serger-type stitch on my sewing machine.  Zig-zag stitch would work fine.

The kiddos always have their paws on my sewing projects

The serger/zigzag stitch on the right will keep fraying stopped

Then turn it right-side out and stick a strip of elastic about 2” total in length.  That is sewn into the smaller end of the wrap.  A button is sewn on to the wider end.  [I used the button stitch on my sewing machine which was SUPER EXCITING since it was the first time I used it.  Worked just like it was supposed to.]

Wanna know where I get these elastic strings? They
are from the elastics that keep shoes together as pairs at Target

This button sewn with my sewing machine
button stitch - I am SO PROUD I DID IT!

Easy Mac is modeling here how it’s worn.  Isn’t she cute?  Oh, and she drew a cat face on her mouth with eyeliner this morning.  Since it’s a Saturday and Halloween is Monday, no biggie.  I’m all about the girls being creative like that.  We even went to JoAnn’s as an eyeliner cat.

You need a bath Easy Mac!

It was a little big on her

See the loop at the bottom right, which is the open side.
Button is on the other end.  Adjust it as you need to further
back on the sewn side to get the button and elastic to cinch right.

WEARABLE WEDNESDAY: HOLLY’S DESIGNS!

Posted by Lori~

My good friend Holly has great style and two adorable kids! 

Holly is also an awesome photographer!

Super F with his adorable tree shirt (made by Holly)

Super E--this shirt had a stain, but is now like new!

She recently attended my appliqué party (instructions for appliqué shirts can be found here) and left with some major inspiration!  She has created some awesome looks!  Recently she attended her twin nephew’s birthday party and decided to give them shirts with lots of style!  Her creations are awesome and super inspirational!  WOMS—GET INSPIRED!

Twins E and M in their "Holly" designs!  FABULOUS!

Thanks Holly for sharing!