Day 203. 162 days and $160 left to go.

I spent oodles of hours on the phone with AT&T trying to figure out why my Blackberry won’t send or receive texts or make or receive phone calls in some comftastic lounge pants this morning, so I wanted to get dressed up a bit to leave my house…even if the first place I was going was to the AT&T store in person to change out my SIM card.

Day 203 - Before

This dress, which has mini-polka dots all over, is a bit biggish on me and not very flattering.  To make it work in these warmish temps there are just three easy things I’m going to do.

First, I cut off about five inches at the bottom of the dress to both shorten and to use as a sash around my waist!

That's my soon-to-be sash!

Second, I took in about three inches on both sides of the dress to tighten it up just a scosh.

Presser foot action

Third, I rolled up the sleeves a bit above my elbow – was going to cut them off but then opted to leave them long in case it got chillier in the day.  (It did, so I’m very glad I left the length.)

With the addition of my makeshift sash tied into a pretty lil’ bow, I had a brand new dress…

Day 203 - After

Just the thing to wear to the AT&T store to try to get a phone fixed yet deal with four separate employees trying to sell me cable instead.  No joke.

From the back

I left with a new SIM card, which they said it would do the trick, and by the time I returned home, I was dealing with the same problem again.  At least I felt pretty in my outfit…

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Day 90. 275 days and $271 left to go.

When I first saw this, I literally thought box of Crayola crayons.  A pastel rainbow striped dress that belonged in that cardboard box right next to Burnt Sienna, Cornflower, and Olive Green.

Day 90 - Before

My photographer chuckled when I threw this puppy on, but even though the striped pattern was a little overwhelming and was a bit headache-inducing, I was determined to make it work.  First, I had to trim the bottom of the skirt.

Skirt Trimming!

I took off a good six inches or so which lightened it up.  My next step was to get rid of those triangular shoulder pads that looked like pieces of toast.

Pad Trimming!

Then, as the dress was still a little big on me and it had those pre-attached belt loops with no belt I thought about another way to tighten up without even sewing.  Take note friends…this is a handy tool!!  I grabbed a little bit of the excess fabric I trimmed from the bottom of the skirt (around three-ish feet) and looped it through the two belt loops.  Check out the handy lil’ image.

Excess fabric = makeshift beltage

And when putting it on, instead of tying in the sash the front of the dress, I pulled the two ends together, cinched it from the back, and then tied the fabric into a little bow.  Also, as those buttons were not flying in my book, I took my fave emerald lace cami from H&M that I’ve had for years, threw it on beneath the dress, opened all the buttons down to my waist and got on my tan boots for a non-Crayola inspiring ensemble.

Day 90 - After

Here’s a little close up of the sash I created…you can see that the material is gathered a bit, which still does the tightening up trick without the usage or need of a sewing machine.  I rather loved the little bustle that got created.

Sash Close Up!

Nothing rings in the weekend better than feeling just a little bit like Rainbow Brite, just sans a rainbow maned horse pal 🙂