Just wanted to get out into the blogosphere that I’m moving this little operation (sewing machine is coming with…fear not!!) to my own domain!!

www.newdressaday.com is ready for its reveal

Now, there may be a few kinks to start out because I’ve been doing this in my “free time” (hilarious), so excuse any bugs that may come up over the next few days.

For those of you subscribers who are getting emails sent your way daily will have to re-sign up on the new site – so sorry that I can’t import your addys   There’s an easy box at the top right corner that you can throw your email into to continue getting your daily fix. (Feedburner will be handling the new daily sends and it’s an awesome and easy process!! Sign up, you’ll get an email sent immediately to your inbox to verify, click on the link, and we’re golden!)

There are some fun new features too – you can now login with your Twitter or Facebook account and post your comments to those networks if you want and you can LIKE and SHARE now too!!

If you still click on my WordPress site you’ll get redirected, so don’t worry

So excited about the transition…NDAD is growing up and going out on her own.

xx Marisa

I know, I know…I just had to come clean because my night tonight is fully wrapped around this show and it’s finale.

To the wardrobe…

Day 291 - Before

The fabric was flowy and had a blend of different animal prints – a little bit alligator, a little bit zebra and a little bit leopard to top it off.  Perhaps I was rooting for the “Meow Meow” – Enzo and I share some East Coast roots subconsciously (Sorry, for those of you who have no clue what that last sentence means, totally disregard and we’ll continue along…)

Pads out!!

Clearly these are coming out...

And taking in time, here we come…it needed a lot of work.  I took in the sleeves, the body, and the waist with a little help from my sewing machine.  My first go ended up still being too big, so I tried again and took it in even more.

Second time's the charm!!

After we got the proper sizing figured out, I added a big red belt, rolled up the sleeves a bit, and posed in front of JMT’s zebra print covered table to blend in. Had to get my photo taken before curtain time…

Day 291 - After

I gathered with my little BRA-GADE (one final shout out to BB fans…I think they really thought that brigade was spelled like that.  Thoughts?!)…

Big Brother Finale...I know, I know

…and watched excitedly to see which fella took home the half million buckaroos.

The finger biting was solely for photo-op purposes...

So, I’m not always proud of my TV viewing choices, however this one gets me every year…feels good to come clean

This one was a winner…

Day 290 - Before

A house dress for sure, pretty silky-ish fabric. but the best part was this…

It's sewed shut!!

The button neckline was sans buttons and was sewed together!!  I guess that’s one way to tackle the fact that there are no buttons!! Not sure if I’m going to replace them at all, but I’m definitely not going to stay stitched up.

I first began by taking the dress in on each side a few inches to give it a bit more shape.  Because there’s no zipper, I couldn’t make it as fitted as I would have liked, however we’ll take care of that soon.

Taking it in!!

The neckline came next and I grabbed my seam rippers and unstitched about three inches (and two button holes) to open it up a bit.  Not going to add buttons and am just going to keep the rest of it stitched too!

Unstitching the stitches!

Now to really bring it in at the waist, I decided that I was going to use a little assistance.  I actually did this when it was on me, however for photo purposes it was easier doing it in my hands.

I gathered a bit of the fabric like an accordion around the small of my back, took a vintage brooch from my collection, and pinned it.

A little extra cinch!

This was going to take care of the extra bit of looseness that the dress had.

Heart the vintage pin!

My final outfit for the day…

Day 290 - After

Loved my new dress!! Paired with some flat brown boots, my dress was just the thing to wear on this summer-esque day!!

For a little close up, this is what the back turned out like with the help of my golden accessory.

Extra cinching

House dress-turned-business casual work gear?!  Love it. I only had my ivory cardi on once this morning, then it was mild cap sleeve from the dress for the rest of the day to enjoy the warmth.

Day 289 - Before

I adored the pleating on the skirt, especially how the stripes of solid black and polka-dotted fabric went along with the folds, but I wanted to give the top a little more shape, so I got to taking off the sleeves first.

Sleeves-be-gone!!

I took off the left arm and the right arm and was left with this.

Sleeveless!!

Woo hoo for sleeveless!!  The only other adjustment I needed to do was taking it in just a bit.  I took in about two inches on each side and it fit like a glove!

Day 289 - After

Paired with some Michael Kors wedges snagged on eBay last year, I had my ensemble for the day.  I loved the way it fit and that the skirt part of the dress hit me at my hips.

Slightly closer up..

After my day in my dress, I came home, threw on some pj’s and got to cooking.  And when I say cooking I mean this.

Literally the best thing ever!!

I’m a mac & cheese gal and I swear by these Trader Joe’s white cheddar shells! But, it didn’t end there…I was on a bacon kick still from yesterday (cue chocolate covered bacon), so I went to my pack of turkey bacon in the fridge, cooked up a few strips and threw them in along with some peas.

Guiltless Carbonara!

Insta-pasta!  It was not only quick but healthy-ish, and delish too!  Perfect way to ring in the week and the new season of Gossip Girl. Pasta is the guiltless pleasure.  GG is the guilty one.

Aaaahhh the wardrobe of S & B...

Day 288 - Before

I had a little birthday brunch to attend and I definitely couldn’t leave my house looking like this!

I grabbed my scissors and got chopping!

This won't be hitting my ankles anymore...

Now that the length was tweaked, I got to chopping off the sleeves…

Sleeveless!!

…and the top of the dress…

Mock neck-less!!

…because I’m going all the way strapless!!  Everything got trimmed but there was some pinning to be done before the sewing machine made an appearance.

Here we go!

We just got pinned…

Pinned and Prepped!!

…and now we’re getting sewing!  I took care of the top of the dress and got a new hem taken care of.

Going strapless and hemming!

All in a morning’s work…got on my new dress and headed over to the Smoke House to celebrate the birthin’ of my pal JMT!!

Day 288 - After

Let’s just say we got there at 10:30 and stayed until close to 3.

Cheers to JMT!!

They had a fabu omelet station, crab legs for the grabbing,  crepes made on the fly doused with Grand Marnier for some flame action, and the below…

Fountain of Dreams!!

I mean.  You really can’t go wrong with chocolate fountains.  Ever.  We covered strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, and even…wait for it…BACON!!

BACON!!!

I know, I know…don’t hate until you try it!  I think I may have mentioned it before, but I took a page from the saliva inducing Vosges Chocolate who brought the bacon/chocolate combo into my vernacular (my mother tongue…pun intended)!

We cheersed, caught up, grubbed and ended it with a little celebration, World Cup style!!

I stole the bday gift!!

Vuvuzela has returned!!  JMT received this legit South Africa-purchased vuvu for the bday and I couldn’t resist.

My dress for today had a mix of pleats and ruffles.  I loved the print of the fabric too – I really liked the flowery business going on, but that ruffle at the bottom was trouble.

Day 287 - Before

It was taking care of business time…got my seam ripper and began detaching the ruffle at the bottom.

Goodbye trim!

The trim that I was left with could have made a bed skirt.  We’ll bring it back somewhere though, just wait.

Two pieces!!

So, before I was ready to wear this, I got out my machine and took it in.  I brought in the sleeves and took in about three inches on each side.

Bringing it in...

Because the neck was collared and had a deep V, there were no buttons and after taking it in, it opened a bit more in front.  Couldn’t really get away with wearing it as it was, so I paired it with a black cami underneath and added a belt to break up the pattern a little.

Day 287 - After

Not completely the same but after scoping Anthropologie’s site (like you do…) I found this dress that had similar aesthetics.  The collar, the pleats, the V…

Heart Anthropologie's "Sugar Coated" $128 Version

I was very happy with my outcome.

ECU! (Extreme Close Up!!)

Perfect dress to enjoy the sun, the footy, and a little reflection this September 11th.

Day 286 - Before

This was the lovely top that was made…

Day 275 - After

…and these were my leftovers…

Layout leftovers

The second half of the dress was my doggie bag today.  What to do with these leftovers?  There was a lot of fabric left and right off the bat, my head was going in one direction.  Maybe it was because I woke up sweating this morning (I love nights where I forget to turn the fans on) or that I looked at the strapless bra that was sitting on the floor of my bedroom when I got up today?  Whatever it was, I was going to make this another top…a strapless one.  I didn’t have a whole lot of time this am before work to prep, so I quickly gave the top of the piece a new seam.

Layout leftovers

Next, I was trying to figure out if I wanted ribbon straps or something cute to hold it up, but ended up going the vintage brooch route.

I pulled up my newly seamed fabric in place to where I wanted it and then pinned the brooch.

Adding the flair!!

I gathered the material to the perfect fit and pinned down.

Pinning down!!

This was just the quick and easy fix that was going to allow me to jet out the door at 8:23 this am. (I have my cutoff time down to the exact minute to get to work exactly on time…)

I took a belt and belted the top at my waist…

Day 286 - After

…and did a little bit of ungathering to give it some flounce.

ECU!! (Extreme Close Up!!)

I must say…for the amount of time this took and the usage of the excess material in construction, it was just the thing to get me started on my way to a complete non-stress Friday!  Ooh and did I mention that I saved a bit of moolah too?? Woo hoo – this was a total savvy Friday in my book!

TGIF!  Happy weekend friends

Day 284 - Before

I was feeling just like Lucille Ball in this…

Lucille!!

There were lots o’dots on the fabric itself and I really disliked this blend of dainty, Victorian (in the collar) that went along with the dots.  So, hello adios time, you’ve arrived!!

Starting to take off the collar!

I grabbed my seam ripper and began to unstitch the piece at the collar.  In just a few minutes, one side was completely removed.  I continued and got rid of the entire thing.

One side done...

I wasn’t loving this as a dress either.  There was just too much going on here so I got my scissors and trimmed right at where the “skirt area” (the little mini skirt that fell at my waist) was.

Trimming the skirt!

After going from dress to top I wanted to tweak one last thing.  Now these sleeves as they were, were a bit big.  I thought it would be fun to try this out…instead of cutting and reseaming, I pulled out my “Crafty MacGyver-ness” and made them shorter with a little trick.

I just grabbed a hair tie (a bigger, more elasticked one) and put it in the area between my elbow and hand…

Sleeve Trick!!

Make sure the hair tie doesn’t cut off your circulation, first and foremost   I then literally started rolling the piece around until it looked like this…

Roll Bounce!

The rubber band kept it in place which was great – quick and easy!!

My new top was good to go with the addition of a white tank underneath and the pairing of another polka-dotted piece.

Day 284 - After

A close up of my fave part of the piece – the mixed nature of the dots on the top along with the smaller ones on the fabu belt is what I really loved.

Mix 'n Match!

The top turned out super chic and I must say I was getting polka-dotted compliments all night!!

Sunny day!!

Day 284 - Before

I LURVED the fabric of this puppy, I mean LURVED!!  A blend of leopard and florals all together in one?!  Sign this sista up!!  Wasn’t working as a dress, so it’s going to get a little redo…

I got rid of the length…

Trimmy, trimmy!!

…sewed a new hem…

New Hem!!

…tweaked the neckline…

Fold under!

…and was ready to rock it!!

Day 284 - After

Three easy steps, one easy top!!  Slightly reminiscent of this fabu Stella McCartney ditty…

Stella!! Stella!!

It would have been one short, short piece if I added some tights underneath, however the jeans were working just fine.  We’re experiencing a little overcast and cloudy without a chance of meatballs weather right now so the denim was a welcome cover up to the legs.

I even ordered a warm, caffeinated bevvie at the end of my dinner.

Post dinner café au lait!

Totally killed two birds with one stone – A, I warmed up!  Woo hoo!  B, I prepared myself with some caffeine as it was going to be a long evening of blogging ahead of me…

Day 283 - Before

What I did first was take the dress in.  It was open too much at the top that I really wanted to make it fitted on me.

Tightening Up!!

I got out my sewing machine and got to work!

Taking in!

Now that it was fitted in my chestal area, I wanted to change up the straps.  I began by undoing the seams that kept the straps in place on my back by my shoulders.

Strap Tweaking!!

With these undone, they’re going work perfectly as halter straps!!  I tied the straps together at my neck, added a white sash around my waist and prepped some sweet potato casserole to bring over to cooking club.

Day 283 - After

It was Southern themed tonight…we gathered up at JS’s and brought our dishes.

The Eats!!

The dress definitely had an apron-y look to it which made it totally work as I served plates of some delish blackberry and peach cobbler.

From the back...

Our dinners are clearly about the food, however they always turn out to being more about the catching up.  So nice to do that this eve.  Girl talk really is the best   I’m already looking forward to next month’s already!