Hands On Fashion Show - What I Wore:: 12.03.11

It came down to the day before my fashion show until I decided what I was going to wear. I'm always last minute at choosing what I'm going to wear to things like this, but it always turns out amazing when I bring in a little sewing and transforming a vintage piece.

I figured it would be quite hypocritical if I wore a store-bought dress to my fashion show of recycled fashion, and I really hate shopping retails stores. I'm actually getting ready for another year of absolutely NO retail shopping. I can't wait. 

So I found this cobalt blue dress in the back of the closet in my sewing room. It survived the yard sale and Goodwill donation of most of my hoarded clothing I knew I'd never wear, and something about it made me fish it out and give it another look. Before and after, above. In my living room. And with models Jessica and Sydney in the green room at Sky City drinking some champagne before the show.

The BEST part about this dress was the back. I removed the shoulder pads prior to taking the before pictures. The back saw no changes at all, besides tacking the bow to the dress in two spots to keep it in place. I love that my tattoos peek out just a little. No one knows about the giant back piece I have beneath my bra line, and you can see just a bit of it, hehe. The other tattoo on my right shoulder blade it a Japanese flower my dear friend, Sara, drew the summer after my freshman year of college, my second tattoo I ever got. I'm up to five now.

The front, before. Minus the original shoulder pads. It was SO long! I loved the batwing short sleeves. I got out my chalk hem marker and made a mark a few inches above my knees, all the way around. Shortening a dress like this is very easy, as long as you have a chalk hem marker! The dress was shortened about 15". You can't just measure 15" up from the hem all the way around. You have to measure the same distance from the floor all the way around to account for curves in the body. You can find a chalk hem marker at any fabric store for around $20. See another blog post of mine here for pictures of how to use a chalk hem marker.

A few photos to tease you, from my photographer, David. Please be patient as he edits about 150 photos from the fashion show last weekend. He was nice enough to rush a few. With my sister, Rachael, at the merchandise table, selling my lingerie. The actual Hands On line wasn't for sale at the show, but went on sale at midnight on Etsy.

With my handsome boyfriend, Matt. I love this picture of us. I didn't get in many pictures that night, since I was running around like crazy. I'm so thankful David was there to capture this one.

I hope you are all having an excellent week! I'm still in recovery mode, no voice, low energy, getting over a terrible, terrible cold. I'm taking a week off from sewing and reorganizing my sewing room. I'm thinking about painting, we'll see!