Prom ReFashion and The Moth Ball 2013

I have always loved my hot pink prom dress.  Maybe because it's my favorite color (well, I love yellow a lot too).  Maybe because I bought it with my own money ($72 was a lot for me back then).  Whatever the reason, I've kept it for 13 years.

A few weeks ago, my physical therapist told me about "The Moth Ball."  It's a charity event that benefits battered women in our area.  For the party, you're supposed to wear an old wedding, prom or bridesmaid dress (hence the name, "Moth Ball").  I loved the idea and immediately raided my closet.  My wedding dress still fit, but was huge.  I didn't want to spend the night with people stepping all over my dress.  My beloved prom dress was a Juniors' size 3 and I couldn't fit into it.  I was really bummed because I wanted to wear my pink dress.  Then, I got an idea.  Maybe I could make a skirt from the bottom of the dress!  I did and it only took 45 minutes!  Here's how I did it:

1. Starting at the bottom of the zipper, I cut off the bottom half of the dress.

2. Using measuring tape and a fabric marker, I measured from the hem to the lowest cut part.  I made a mark at that specific measurement around the entire skirt so it would be even.  I cut using my marks as a guide.

3. I ironed a fold that measured one inch from the top.  I folded the top of the skirt again (about 2.5 inches since my elastic was 2 inches wide) and ironed it.  I added pins around this bigger fold.

4. I sewed along the bottom of the 2.5 inch fold, leaving a 4 inch gap where I could slip the elastic in.  The fabric did get bunched as I went, seeing as the top of the dress was smaller than the bottom.  I didn't worry too much since it would all be bunchy once I used the elastic.

5. I attached a safety pin at one end of the elastic and pushed it inside the "tube" I had just sewed at the top of the skirt.  I pushed it until it was all the way around the skirt.  I sewed the two elastic ends together, then sewed the 4 inch hole.  Tah-dah!  Finished!

To cover up the elastic waist, I wore a wide belt over it.  I wish I had used a thinner elastic.  That way, it would've been easier to hide!  I originally wanted to wear the skirt with a white oxford shirt for a 50s look, but I had no time to shop before the ball.  It turned out alright in the end.  It was so great to wear my "prom dress" to the ball!  They even played a song from my era that I remember dancing to at my prom in 2000 (er, graphic lyrics just to warn you).  Ah, sweet memories.

My friend Kimberly was my "date" and we had the best time!  The food was good, the DJ was awesome.  It was so fun to see all the dresses.  They ranged from the silly (one woman had duct-taped her wedding dress together!) to the sexy (the 21 year olds just there to drink and look better than the rest of us).  (Check out photos from the ball here!)  Afterwards, we went to Rembrandt's coffee house for some mint tea and cookies.  It was a fabulous night!  We decided this is going to be a tradition and that we needed to invite more people along next year.

Click here for more info on The Moth Ball!

The Wonders of Wonder Under

I have been a bad blogger!  I've had some annoying health issues resurface lately, so I've been really lazy.  As if to prove my point, the pictures in this post are indefensibly horrible.  I hope you can look past the awful lighting and out of focusness (there has to be a better phrase/word for that) to get the gist of my projects.

Despite the name, Wonder Under is not manufactured by KY (sorry, I couldn't help myself) but by Pellon.  It is the most common name brand fusible webbing that binds two fabrics together with heat.  I use it in my purses and always have tons of it around.  One day, I decided to play with some cardigans I have.  I have 3 nearly identical cardigans, each in a different color.  I rarely wear them because they are kind of plain.  I prefer bright colors and patterns, so I thought I'd jazz them up.

The first cardi is a mint green.  I cut a large square out of some leftover fabric and cut a square of Wonder Under the same size.  I fused the webbing to the back of the fabric using an iron with NO steam  (that's a must).  Using some clipart I found online, I cut a rabbit shape out of the fused fabric.  Then, I ironed the rabbit to the cardigan.  I was nervous since the fabric was cotton and the cardigan was stretchy.  It actually was super easy!  The rabbit fused to the sweater and I did a zigzag stitch around the shape.  Here are the results: 

I have a pink and a blue cardigan to play with and I can't wait to see how those turn out.  The whole project literally took under an hour to make.  It was so easy that I decided to so something similar for my brother for his birthday.  My brother loves the movie "The Big Lebowski."  Going off of an idea my friend Lindsey had (read: "plagarized"), I made him a robe with the word, "abide" on the back.  I bought a chambray robe off of Amazon.  I wrote the word in a font I liked and followed the same process I did for my sweater.  I was a little nervous about what sort of fabric to use for "The Big Lebowski."  I reached in my scraps and the first one I pulled out was perfect: Alexander Henry's Las Senioritas fabric.  It features Mexican pinups and had the pulpy feel I was looking for.  I love it when things work out randomly!  Since the letters were not big, only parts of the fabric show, like a pair of lips or eyes . . . which I love!

Alexander Henry's Las Senioritas

Since much of the movie has to do with bowling, I had to make the "i" in "abide" a bowling pin.  Here's the finished product:

T-Skirt Tutorial: Turn a Men's T-Shirt into a Skirt!

I love t-shirts.  In fact, I'm a little obsessed with them.  At one point, I owned 60+ t-shirts.  When I first saw the idea for a t-shirt skirt, I was excited to say the least.  Besides being cute, they are extremely comfortable!  I wore mine with flip flops in the summer heat and it was so nice.  I think I'll wear it through fall by layering it with leggings.

I researched and read several different methods for making a skirt from a t-shirt and found they were more complicated than they had to be.  By accident, I recently discovered foldover elastic.  This stuff is genius . . . why didn't anyone tell me about it earlier?!  Anyway, I decided to try using it as the waistband for this skirt and it was crazy easy and fast.  Here's what you'll need to make your own:

A t-shirt (preferably a men's size . . . I'm a size 6 and used a size "L" shirt)

1 yard foldover elastic (available through this amazing Etsy shop)

Thread

1. Turn the t-shirt inside out.  Now, if you have a skirt that fits well, get it out now.  I used an old a-line skirt as a template.  I laid it on top of the shirt and drew the shape onto the t-shirt with chalk.

2. Using the chalk outline as a guide, cut the t-shirt.  Be sure to leave about an inch outside the chalk for seam allowance.  Pin the sides of the skirt at the chalk line.

3. Sew the sides of the skirt.  Be sure to try it on to see if it fits well.

4.  Following the line down the middle, fold the elastic over the waist and pin.  When you get to the end, fold the elastic over once and then fold that portion over the starting point.  Pin down, then sew.

Tah-dah!  You're done!  Super easy, fast and cute.  I can't wait to make more!  If you make your own, please post your results!

I'm currently having a giveaway on my Facebook page right now.  Post the word "Alice" to my wall (as many times as you'd like) for a chance to win this "Drink Me" necklace I made:

You have through Monday, August 29th to enter.  The winner will be announced Tuesday, August 30th.  Good luck!

My DIY Halloween

This Halloween is the first year I actually sewed something for myself. I've thrown costumes together from pieces of thrift store finds but I've never actually made something new for a Halloween costume.My son loves Batman and has been asking to be Batman for "Edd-o-ween" for months. He got a great costume from his uncle for his birthday last month so he is set.

I asked him what I should be for Halloween and he answered, "You be Wobin." That means, "Robin." I was so touched that he wanted me as his sidekick (and all of us moms know that this won't last for long!) that I was determined to be Robin at any cost. I was surprised to find that they actually make Robin costumes in women's sizes. Two problems. Problem #1: It looks like this:

For those of you out there who have this costume, more power to you. It's just a little too, er, tarty for my taste. Plus, I'm lacking in certain areas to fill out the costume as expertly as this model does. Problem #2? It costs $40 at the least, not including the leggings I would need to wear to cover my pasty legs. So, this price was totally out of my budget. I would have to make my own. Here's what I did:

I made the skirt and cape from scratch. I used this tutorial to make the skirt. It's the first skirt I've ever made and it only took about an hour to make! I bought a red v-neck shirt and the red elbow gloves at Walmart. One of the gloves fit fine but the other one was made for a woman with kielbasa fingers . . . seriously, it was huge! So I "took in" the fingers of the glove with my sewing machine and it magically worked out. For the logo on my shirt, I used craft foam and hot glued it on. That's the beauty of costumes . . . you can totally jimmyrig them with no worries! I prefer the foam to felt because it offers sharper edges and colors. Finally, the belt and boots were already in my closet. So, the final cost adds up to this:

Skirt and cape materials: $10.00
Shirt: $3.00
Gloves: $3.00
Foam: $0.99

Final: $16.99

MUCH better than $40, not to mention I had over 2 yards of fabric and lots of foam left over that can be used for other projects (I overbought!).

Another perk of making your own costume is that you can do anything you want . . . and if you're like my hubby, he has some unusual requests. Our Batman wanted the Hub to go as Killer Croc (from the cartoon). Er, a giant, spiky gray crocodile man seemed a little out of my league so we settled on The Penguin. I thought we should go for the classic 60s show look but the Hub preferred the 1992 "Batman Returns" look. Finally, we decided on an amalgamation of the two. There was just one thing the Hub had to have . . . webbed gloves. Insert groan here. But, amazingly (I was full of luck this week!), they worked out okay. I drew around my husband's fingers and cut out some knit white fabric. I don't have a serger so I was surprised my regular little machine did such a good job of sewing the gloves. His hands look more Ninja Turtle-ish to me, but I'm still happy with it. I also made his vest (it's not a whole vest . . . I only sewed the front and pinned it on his shirt), bow tie and pocket square. Because he wore a suit he already had, borrowed a top hat from my brother and carried our umbrella, his costume cost a whopping $10.00 (including the makeup). Nice!

I'm really proud and happy with how our costumes came out. Batman approved and we had a great time at our church's Trunk or Treat last night. I was surprised at not only how easy all this was but that I had fun doing it. I might just have to make our costumes every year!