Fab Fridays | my first refashion!

Everyone, meet Mabel. She is my new best friend.

Mabel, isn't she so pretty? 

Right up there with photography, fashion is my passion. I'm a Project Runway junkie and secretly hope that one day I'll be good enough to apply for the show (trust me, I've got a long way to go, but I like to dream big).  I'm also an avid follower of fashion blogs like Kendi Everyday (LOVE her!), M loves M, The Glamourai, and Chiara of The Blonde Salad. But one of my newest, favoritest (yes, I made that up) blogs is Cotton & Curls.

First of all, let me just say that I'm a lover of all things vintage and that includes fashion. Not only do I love the character of old, classic pieces, but I also think that it's a great way to be green (ie - environmentally friendly). So when I found Cotton & Curls and saw how amazing this chic is at taking old, too big or otherwise unwearable clothes and "re-fashioning" them into totally cute, totally wearable and totally chic pieces, I became a huge fan. She is such a creative inspiration that I finally decided to try my hand at some refashions of my own. :)

To start, I scoured the racks of Good Will and found this size 22 polka dot dress for a whopping $7 (now, if I wasn't so impatient, I could have waited 3 days to get the 50% off Good Will Saturday discount and paid only $3.50. But I loved it so much and didn't want anyone else to snag it up before me!) NOTE: it can be frustrating for some to sort through all of the "junk" to find the gems, but they're there so just be patient! Now where was I?? Yes, size 22 dress. I'm more of a 6/8 sized gal, so this was definitely a bit big for me. But what drew me to it was the print and texture. I've been wanting a black polka dot shirt in a light, chiffon material and this was perfect.

So here's the before...

way too much going on with this dress from the ALLover busy print, to the draping, to the tiered ruffles... yikes!

And here's the after...

simple. sophisticated. fun!

I first had to deconstruct the whole dress... using a seam ripper, I literally ripped the sleeves off and then detached the top from the skirt. I also decided to cut a slight high-low silhouette with the bottom hem. Using my second new best friend, the amazing Singer Finishing Touch Serger (thank you, Craigslist), I finished all of the rough edges by sewing a delicate rolled hem.

here you can see the detail of the fine rolled hem

And there you have it! Ginormous and gaudy ruffly dress to classy and fun polka dot blouse. :)  So happy with how it turned out and can't wait for my next project. In the words of the tres fabulous Tim Gunn, "Carry on, designers!"