My first fashion show

Last night was the Runway Challenge runway show! It was so much fun! There were five entries all made from either thrifted clothes or unconventional materials.

My outfit was vintage inspired (of course!) so I decided to wear out my fur coat from Bombshell Bettie's Vintage. I love the fur! It's also a DIY. Some fashion and wallet conscious person added the fur collar by hand some time long ago.

There were three judges including last year's winner and a lady from the consignment store that donated the 'before' clothes for this event.

The first entry was a cute little clubbing top made from a ghastly 80s evening gown. (Sorry, but I don't have before pictures for any outfits except mine... :/ )

Entry #2 was made from an old lbd with newspaper details that hid old holes. The pink jacket was made from an old dress.

The third entry was a cute jacket made from a boring old black shirt. The designer also made ribbon accessories and a clutch made from old magazines.

The fourth entry was the only group project. They made a skirt from hand dyed coffee filters and masking tape. The top is an upcycled black velvet dress. They also made a cute little clutch; it was made from newspaper. Their model sprained her ankle so kudos to her for walking in the show with an injury!

And then there was me. I was the only person not to use a model. I was all 50s glam. It was great! I was so happy not to fall in my pin up heels! I reshaped the bottom of a mermaid style dress into more of a circle skirt shape. I salvaged lace from a vintage dress and decorated the skirt with it. I also turned the built in slip of this dress into a crinoline. It's not the prettiest (I did have to repair some of the tulle) but it's not the part you see anyways. I also made a shirt using the wrong side of a shiny red prom dress. I did a lace overlay on the collar and bound button holes. The buttons were from my stash.

See before pictures here.

All of the lovely models!

After the runway walk, the designers had a question and answer session. I think we were all more nervous about the Q&A and the one on one mini interview than the reception of our creations!

Waiting backstage for the results to be tallied! The three judges choose a winner and the audience also voted for their favorite.

And the winner of the judge's choice is.......

Me! Yay! I was pretty excited! :) My prize was the book Little Green Dresses by Tina Sparkles.

And the winner of the audience choice was.....

The purple coffee filter ensemble! They also got a DYI book, but I forget the title of it.

Congrats to everybody! It was a lot of fun and everybody learned something! I'm all for more people knowing how to use a sewing machine.

I also took some pictures when I got home, just in case the others didn't come out.

I really like this skirt. I think it's a bit shiney for every day wear, but it's great for a date night.

Shoes! I know I've posted about this pair before but I just love them!

I ended up doing a page boy style with one side pulled back and a little bang roll in the front. I also did my go to 1940s make up but with more dramatic winged eyeliner and tons of mascara.

Runway Challenge!

Tomorrow is the big runway day for the unveiling of the three ugly dresses, which are no longer 3, ugly or dresses. Many of you know that I am participating in an upcycling/unconventional materials runway challenge a la Project Runway that's hosted by my university. Tomorrow is also my monthly scrapbooking party so I spent all day today putting the finishing touches on my pieces!

The shirt needed a lot of work. I had do to button holes. My work so far with this fabric had lead me to believe that regular machine made button holes would look pretty cheap. Lauren of Wearing History had just posted a bound button hole tutorial, so I decided to go with it. (I did do a practice one first!)

I also caused some bust issues since I took in the side and the seam that was supposed to go over the bust went on the side and it wasn't laying right. So I fiddle with it for a bit and now it looks much better.

I'm not sure when pictures will be up since the runway doesn't start until 9pm and Sunday I have to get cracking on my English paper... Oh, the joys of being a student!

Wish me luck!

P.S. Friends and family in the area, the show is 9pm on Saturday at UD. Contact me for more specific directions!

My St. Patty's Day Tradition

So today is national get drunk and be Irish day (better known as St. Patrick's Day). But I have two problems- I don't drink beer and I'm not Irish! So I don't care to participate. I have, however, come up with my own tradition for St. Patty's Day.

I don't wear green! It's a nice foil for all of the rockus green-tights, knee socks, hats, tank tops, capes and tiaras out there...(And yes I did see all of the above on people today).

Outfit:
Sweater: New York and Company
Skirt: handmade
Crinoline: handmade/re-purposed
Shoes: Payless

I also did my hair today using Solanah's tutorial. Pretty good for a first go around.

I took pictures of my hair this morning before I left for class and I'm sure glad I did. Look at how much it had flattened by the end of the day! It was pretty windy today and it just killed my curls. :(

And I wore red lipstick all day! It wasn't as much drama as I thought it would be. I just have to leave it be and not bother with it every five minutes.

Swing Dress Sew-along Finished!

Yay! I finished my swing dress! The pattern itself wasn't terribly difficult (once you get the shoulder bit down) but I had a lot of weird things happen. It's done now and I can breathe a sigh of relief. And enjoy my new dress!

It was pretty windy out today but it was so nice that I couldn't resist getting pictures done outside. (And I'm sure you're tired of seeing my messy living room and kitchen in the back ground.

Ah haha! Those dratted shoulders look so nice! I used a snap for closure (as my head wouldn't fit when sewn shut!)

I also added pockets!

This wasn't one of my favorite patterns. It didn't end up being super flattering to my figure. Some weird things popped up that didn't appear in the muslin. There is some awkwardness where the top meets the waist band. There is extra fabric that hangs awkwardly under the chest. (Anyone have thoughts on how to fix this??? I'm half tempted to take out the zipper and reattach the top and bottom to make it go away......) The waist band also hits me a bit oddly as I have a bit of tummy that pokes out underneath it. It is also a bit difficult to get the waist section over my chest. I think I need a longer zipper to help with that. My fabric is a bit sheerer than I thought and I'll definitely need a slip under it!

I did have great success in removing sleeve ease and using the shoulder pads. My shoulders are narrow and slope down a lot at the end, so the shoulder pads give me a normal shoulder silhouette. No linebacker shoulders here! The pocket's were also a great success! I did two inserted pockets! They are a bit low but I wanted to put them below the zipper.

So, next go around I'll have to do a better muslin fitting!

A simple skirt (and some more on the ugly dresses)

I've been feeling a bit bummed about sewing lately. The swing dress sew along has had some frustrating issues and working on the three ugly dresses has been a bit crazy just because of the fabrics. So yesterday, I left all of this behind and whipped up a skirt to go with my spring palette challenge (which I'm still slowly doing projects for).

This is one of the skirts from the Sew Serendipity book. It was quick and easy and I love the funky combination of prints.

I really wanted to focus on making a quality piece, so I opted for faux french seams for most of the seams. I love the way french and faux french seams. They look so much more professional than anything else I can do.

Here is where I wish I had a serger. I couldn't do a faux french seam for the ruffle on the bottom, but the zig zag will have to do.

Pocket! It was pretty easy to do too!

There was quite a bit of top and edge stitching in this pattern as there was with the chocolate coat, which came from the same book. I went with pale green for most of the stitching detailing and brown for the pocket. I felt the pocket fabric was just a bit too busy for that much contrasting thread.

Skirt: made by me
Shirt: a brown one I've had forever
Necklace: New York and Company

And I thought I'd give you an update on the three ugly dresses. The fashion show is next Saturday so I have just under a week to finish.

This is skirt that I made. I turned the bottom of the mermaid skirt in to more of a circle skirt shape, added a waistband and appliqued the vintage lace from the off white dress.

Eeek! I just love the lace!

And here is the shirt I've been working on. It's been a bit frustrating because I'm not used to working on this type of fabric and I used it inside out (so the right side is the wrong side). Hopefully it will not look so cheap. Some fabrics are just not ok outside of the prom dance floor.

I did a lace overlay on the collar. I still have to pick out buttons. *sigh*

Vintage Hairstyles for Straight Hair

Today, I debuted my new series on youtube, Vintage Hairstyles for Straight Hair. So meander on over and check it out.

The intro:



VHSH: The Snood

Life is like a box of chocolates-yummy!

I finally finished the secret project! Yay! And here it is, the chocolate coat!

When I saw these two chocolate prints next to each other, I had to make something from them! So, here it is-my very first coat!

Chocolate covered buttons. Yummy!

Chocolate tie and top stitching. There was a lot of decorative top stitching. I got lots of practice but it sure went through thread!

The sleeves are cute!

Today's hairstyle is Casey's latest tutorial. My hair is a bit short, but that's ok.


For make-up, I decided to go for a soft pink look to go with the romantic hair. I have pink, brown and gold eye shadows on with a gold/bronze eye liner, black mascara, a light pink blush and there was at some point in time pink lip gloss on too.

This hair makes me feel so pretty! What a great alternative to a pony tail!

So what's the verdict? Do you adore crazy wild prints? Should my next project be a bit more conservative?