50th Transformation Post!!! Labor Day Two-fer #2: White Sequined Jumpsuit.

It's my 50th transformation post!! It's my 50th transformation post!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

Not only that, but as of just before publishing this post, my blog is only 94 views away from reaching the 10,000 views mark! LET'S DO THIS!!!

So a few weeks ago I teased you with a photo of this ridiculous jumpsuit I found at a thrift store for about $4.

Before: White Sequined Jumpsuit

My goodness. I have no idea what this is. M.C. Hammer dance uniform? Circus acrobat costume? Saddlebag holders? Please don't tell me this was an actual daytime outfit.

This thing gave me back wedgies, front wedgies, side wedgies, wedgies everywhere!

"You get a wedgie!..."

"...And you get a wedgie!..."

"...And you get a wedgie!"

I just couldn't pass this thing up.

Initially, I wanted to dye it a different color, so I browsed the internet looking up fabric dying methods. Some were pretty intensive per the type of material. Given that I have no idea what material this is, I chose to keep it white.

Now take a look at those sequins!

Gold and White Sequins

While browsing online, I found that white dresses with gold sequins are actually pretty popular. For example:

Formal white and gold sequin dress

Taylor Swift rocks white with gold sequins

More examples

I decided to go the dress route with this one.

My first step was to remove the shoulder pads and the sleeves completely.

Fly away shoulder pads!

I also sewed around the edges of the arm holes and used no-sew adhesive to give more structure to the new arm holes.

Next, I removed the seam between the legs.

Removing the inner leg seam

After that I folded the piece sideways and sewed a new seam straight down the front and back seams I had just removed, cutting off the excess material.

One solid panel

That baggy side-hip material (no, they weren't pockets) had to go. But there was overlapping material at the waist just under the sequins which didn't allow me to just sew it off. So I had to seam rip some of the waist material to unfold the extra side-hip material. Then I re-sewed the waist seam using some gold-colored thread my friend A.S. sent me  (Thanks A.S.!)

Gold-colored thread

Stitching the waist with gold-colored thread

Once I had the waist fixed, I still had to cut up the sides of the legs in order to straighten out the side-hip material to sew it away.

Sewing away the excess side-hip material

Once sewn, I cut off the excess. I broke 2 needles in the process because each sequin I had to sew across had a bead in the center which the machine hit a few times : (


Next, I shaped the skirt. Since the original legs of the jumpsuit were form-fitted to the leg, it didn't give me much length before it began tapering. So I had to cut it pretty short into a mini-dress. Otherwise I would have been wearing an awkwardly-fit mermaid-style dress. I cut the front a bit under the bottom sequins, and cut the back about 2 inches longer to account for the lift from my rump :)

Cutting the front

Then I sewed a hem around the bottom edge of the skirt.

Lastly, I pinned and sewed a deeper back neckline so it would look less costume-y.

Pinning and sewing a deeper back neckline

I did it!


Here again is the before look:

Before: Wedgie-fied White Sequined Jumpsuit

Before: From Behind

Paired with my white belt with a golden buckle and white strappy heels, here is the after result!:

After: Gold-sequined Mini-Dress

After: From behind

I think I redeemed this costume. And it passed the highest approval rating of all: my husband's :)

Thanks for waiting so long for me to finish this one! I hope you enjoyed it!

:)

Please help me out and let's see if I can pass the 10,000 views mark! Woohoo!

Thanks so much for all the support getting to my 50th transformation post! I've got plenty more to come (even potentially some men's wear in the works)!

Stay cool out there, and happy Labor Day!

Until next time, blessings.

#49: Labor Day Two-fer: #1- Black Slit Dress

Happy Labor Day! I'm so glad to have an extra day off from work today :)

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been super busy over the past few weeks with weddings, friends visiting from out of town, work schedule changes, etc. that I haven't found time to sew. To make up for it, I've got a double post coming at'cha today! This first project post is super simple, and only required one alteration.

I found this dress at a thrift store a while ago for $1, if I remember correctly.

Before: Black slit dress

Before: From behind

The dress itself wasn't that bad, but I didn't like the way it tapered down the legs, and I didn't think the thigh-high slit was very practical. I'm also pretty sure it once had a long sleeve, because the thick-side shoulder was cut very unevenly and frayed a bit as if the previous owner had cut off a sleeve.

The winner for me was really the side ruching, the asymmetrical shoulders, and draping at the bust. I wanted to keep those in tact!


Though this was a very simple remake, the hardest part to maneuver around was the elastic ruching because it pulled the material unevenly when trying to cut it. So the first thing I did was pin the skirt into my carpet to straighten it all out.

Pinned to the floor.

Next, I measured how high I wanted to cut, and pinned markers on both sides.

Measuring length

I wanted to cut across just below the ruched elastic, but I wanted the cut to be straight, so I lined the tape measure between the markers and pinned on either side of the tape measure to create a straight path.

Creating a path

Then I cut on down the line!

Follow the blue-pinned path

Lastly, I snipped off the uneven parts around the arms.

That was it. Literally. I only needed scissors, a tape measure, and pins, and I was done! I decided to leave the cut edge raw to match the raw-edged arm holes. Plus, the material didn't fray :)


Here again is the before photo

Before: Black slit dress

Before: From behind

And here's the simplified look:

After: Asymmetrical black shirt

After: Asymmetrical black shirt

After: From behind

From dress to shirt in 1-2-3! I know it's hard to see the draping and ruching on a black shirt, so here's a closer shot of the draping:

Can't hide 'em!

I'll be rockin' this black top and some shorts today as I eat some BBQ this afternoon!

As for the teaser shot I showed on my last post, that one's done and will be up later today. It will be my 50th featured transformation!!! WOOHOO!!!

Coming up next...

Check back in later today to see my second transformation in this Labor Day two-fer!

Until next time, blessings.

#48: Purple Prom Dress

What's up y'all?

A couple posts back I gave you all a sneak peak at an outrageous new project I was working on. Well, folks, the time is here.

I found this dress while thrift shopping with my mom a few weeks ago for about $4.

Before: Purple Prom Dress

Before: From behind

I can't tell whether this used to be a prom dress or a bridesmaid dress. Whichever it was, I'm SO glad this is not the style anymore!

Oh my gosh. Where do I start? It was totally asymmetrical, had extraordinarily puffy sleeves, and the shiny purple material was INTENSE.

IT'S SO PLUFFYYYYY!!!

Strike a pose!

I definitely felt like I was getting ready for adult Toddlers in Tiaras. I didn't know whether this could be redeemable, but I had to try anyway.  

I first had to remove those unbelievable sleeves. 

Removing the puffy sleeves

Never again. Please.

The sleeves were attached with snaps and sewn on, so I also removed the snaps from the bodice of the dress. 

No need for sleeve straps

I also removed the huge hip flower. 

Hip Flower

There was so much fabric that it took me about 5 hours (while watching Netflix) just to seam rip the skirt seams, which revealed icky netted fabric underneath that gave it the cupcake feel. 

Seam-ripping

I was glad to remove all of that net. It was literally disintegrating. 

*Ick*

I then removed the entire skirt and ironed the material. 

Ironing

Just look at how much material made up that skirt!

It could be a wedding aisle runner!

I removed the zipper, sewed the back mostly closed, opened the hem at the top of the back that encased the elastic, replaced one of the elastic strips (don't have to match), and sewed the center ends of the elastic lower to lower the back a little bit. 

Removed the zipper

Adjusting the elastic lower in the center

I folded the open corners over the elastic, and sewed a new hem encasing the elastic, cutting off the excess. 


Next, I folded the long skirt strip in half and sewed around the 3 edges, leaving one exposed so I could flip it inside out. I then ironed the corners so it laid flat. 

Nice corner

 
I pinned the long strip around as a new skirt keeping the asymmetrical hip line, and pinched/folded little sections to match the ruffly folds on the top of the dress. I then sewed the folds to create permanent lines.

Creating coordinating diagonal skirt lines

It took a bit of adjusting before I got the fit right. I ended up sewing the bodice a bit too tight, so I added the zipper back to create a tiny bit more space. I also sewed the skirt part closed twice before getting the fit ok. 

When I tried on the dress, the frills at the top were too messy, so I folded and sewed them flat (which was hard because it had boning in the ribcage. 

Sewing flat the ruffles

It still seemed a bit bland, so I added some dark purple lace I had to the top of the bust.

Pinning the lace

When I tried it on, the bust looked HORRIBLE! Sewing over the boning made it all tall and awkwardly-shaped. I was about ready to be done with this dress until I accidentally found a solution. 

I pinched and sewed a stitch at the bust to create a deep plunge neckline. My inspiration Marisa Lynch at newdressaday.com calls it the "pinch and cinch." It evened out the awkwardness at the bust better than I had expected!


I wanted to add some flair to the dress, and when my friend A.C. donated this shirt to my projects pile, I had a great idea.

Thanks A.C.!

I removed the sequined/beaded collar, separated the mesh fabric from the cotton, and laid it on top of a piece of the dress I had salvaged. 

Transferring the collar

I sewed around the edges of the decorative collar, snipped off the excess, and used stitches and liquid thread to secure the loose beads. (By the way, the no-sew liquid thread adhesive works great! And it lasts through the washing machine!)

Mmmm, strawberry bagel in the corner : P

My idea to decorate the dress with this went bust. There was really nowhere it looked any good, so I ended up attaching come Velcro to the ends to use as a necklace. 

Attaching Velcro

Alright, so, I began trying to be super ambitious with this one, but I'm not in love with the end result. I'll post the before and after anyway. 

Here's the 80's prom dress from before: 

Before: Purple Prom Dress

And here's what I managed to do to it: 

After: Sexier, still shiny purple dress

After: Still asymmetrical from behind

It's definitely a big difference. I like the bust design, but not much else. The material makes it not very realistic for anything but some kind of event with low-lighting. What do you think? If you have any suggestions for making it better, please leave in the comment's section below. I appreciate feedback!

But I DO love the necklace! This will be a keeper :)

Love the necklace!

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Alright, so I need some more help. This next doozie has got me speechless. I'm so excited to see what I can do with this, and I'm considering changing the color! 

 

My next project...

What color do you think I should change it to? Leave a comment below!

Thanks for visiting, and check back soon to see what I decide!

Until next time, blessings.