Green Dress

Happy New Year!

It's 2013!! How exciting - so many good things happened in 2012 (my wedding, working on our new house, this blog!) that I am so excited to see what 2013 is going to bring to the party that we call life.

As for Day 1 of the New Year, this is what it has brought me:

Well, that and some fantastic homemade pizza, but this blog ain't about the food. You'd have to jump over to my gal Danni for all that fantasticness - check her out here. 

This dress wasn't all too horrible, so I thought I'd start off with an "easy" one. HA! Should have known that wasn't an option in this craft room! There were a couple issues with this dress. The first being that the armhole openings were very tight; they were all sorts of jammed up in my armpits. (You're welcome for that visual.) The second...



It had some hooch-tastic slits going up both sides of the dress. But, I fell in love with the bright emerald color and knew in the back of my mind that I had that black lace from this project that would look great with it. In all honesty, I've been thinking about this dress all week. Thinking about these projects in my mind for hours (sometimes days) before I actually start has been quite the annoying habit that I'm falling into. I can't promise that it has helped these into getting any better, so don't get too excited about the pre-planning.

Anyway, a few days ago I played around with this dress on Sophie and came up with this:

No, I did not plan on only have one lace sleeve, but I wasn't going to pin up lace on both sides just to decide I wasn't feeling it. So in this one, I pinned a lace "sleeve" onto the dress and used the last of the lace as a belt (as is my fashion preference lately). I then prompty asked my husband to report to the craft room for his input on this. His response? "It looks goofy". So.... back to the mental drawing board I went. I mainly took into mind that the armholes were extremely uncomfortable. So there was only one thing to do.

Chopped! (and we ain't talking the Food Network Show)

After my small one-person celebration party for actually cutting a straight line, I got out the elastic from my rapidly growing scrap craft pile. I measured the elastic on my body, then sewed the ends together to make a big loop. I then flipped the dress inside out, lined up the elastic to the outside of the dress, folded the fabric over and pinned it all down. Boom! Done. I also pinned up the hooch-tastic slits on the bottom and headed over to the sewing machine. One would think the ease of all of these activities is proving that my skills are improving. My avid readers, though, know that the sewing machine is where it gets disastrous (and entertaining).

The first time I sewed it down (yes, the first time) I used a straight stitch and stitched underneath the elastic. I didn't think it was a problem until I took it off the machine and put it on my body and pulled an apparent Hulk moment when I blew out all my stitches. So... back to the machine I went (after seam ripping out everything I did.) I then went at it again, this time sewing a zig zag stitch, changed the thread to one that matched the dress - not sure why I thought black was a good choice the first time - and this time sewed right through the bottom of the elastic. I put on the dress the second time and it worked perfectly, with not one busted stitch. Bonus. This is what I ended up with after adding the lace "belt":

 Don't mind the major bumpage around the chestal area - it was again cold in my craft room so I just pushed down the straps of my undershirt instead of taking it off.

Now, it wasn't a HORRIBLE look, but I felt like it could be better. So I switched up the lace a bit.

All I did here was tie the lace "belt" apron style and fanned it out instead of scrunching it all up. I think this looks better, and the bow jazzes up the back a bit.

You can also notice in this picture that I sewed up the hooch-tastic slits to more appropriate length. I went ahead and called this dress done... for a whole 2 minutes. Until I put it back on Sophie and messed around with the styling a bit more.

On Sophie, I kept the same belting technique, but added a halter to the dress. I made the elastic tight enough that I don't necessarily need a halter for additional support, but sometimes completely strapless can look funky on me if I don't have an appropriate necklace. If this is the ultimate route, I would go for a ribbon halter so it isn't as itchy as lace.

I thought I'd throw it out to you guys - nothing but the bones of the dress have been considered permanent, so what are YOUR opinions? Stick with what I've done, or add the halter a la Sophie's styling? Leave your comment below and I'll update you later on with the ultimate decision!

Additionally, I wanted to share another fantastic milestone of 2012 that I had achieved - this blog has officially hit over 1000 views! Yeah, I had my own Sally Field moment:

 

Yesterday's post pushed me way over (1036) - I suppose I should give things out more often?

Thank you everyone!

Instead of posting what I've learned at the end of this post, I've decided to go ahead and post my New Years Resolutions. Some of them are my annual staples - you know them, the ones that are broken around mid-January. Others, I really do hope to stick to because they straight up make me happy.

1) Work off all the post-holiday extra poundage. This would be the annual one mentioned previously. Considering I have a Lake Placid trip planned January 21st, the mid-January prediction will probably be right on as well.

2) Experience Syracuse. I've lived here for a good 4+ years - since my 2008 college graduation - and still haven't experienced any of the festivities that Syracuse offers - the beer/wine festivals, the home shows, the Tastes of Syracuse, or any other festivals and other happenings in the area. Except for St. Patricks Day. I said I was interested in the events, not batshit crazy. Keeping the wallet in mind, of course, I would really like to be present at more of these events this year; especially in my new town of Phoenix. They have a Strawberry Fest I wouldn't mind hitting up (you had me at shortcake) and their annual craft fair on the locke seems to be right up my alley.

3) Find more thrift stores! I can't believe I have not discovered these stores sooner! This resolution I decided to hop right into and have discovered a new thrift store in Oswego. This new place has a "fill a bag for $5" special going on, and all day everyday their clothes are $1 each. How could you say NO to that?! *Hint: you can't* I haven't actually gone there yet (only google-stalked them) but I will let you know my findings as soon as I go!

4) This last one is the one that I really want to keep both for me and for you all (in all 11 countries that follow me!) I want to post projects on a more regular schedule. I'm not sure when my regular posting day will be, but sometime in the next few weeks I hope to get a schedule together and will let you all know!