I wish I could say that I waited to show this until the last day of April because I wanted it to be a late surprise entry. But the truth is that I actually found the challenge for this contest to be very tricky, much trickier than developing the ensemble that I put together for the practice round. You picked a good one, Audi!
I knew I wanted to use this sage green piece that I built a couple of years ago, because the lace in it reminds me of the latticework on the cabinets in Audi's inspirational interior (you can click on my photo to see a close-up of the lace). But I have always had trouble finding new ways to style it. I wore it once for a wedding two years ago with a bland off-white blouse, and haven't worn it since, although I think I have probably tried it on at least five times since then (not counting all the times I tried it on over the past month while trying to find a way to style the thing for this contest). You see, it was a skirt, and it used to look like this: 
When I made the skirt, I was trying to make maximum use of a piece of silk dupioni that I had washed in order to make it more supple. So I cut off a strip wide enough to make a yoke out of it (you can make a yoke by using just the top portion of a basic fitted skirt pattern), and then I literally cut a hole in the center of the remaining rectangle and attached it to the yoke. So I used nearly every square inch of my precious dupioni. Attaching the lace helped to weigh the hem down, and also made it look like a tablecloth, which I rather get a kick out of. I like to embrace my inner Little Edie.I took these photos last night, just before I changed out of it, gathered it below my bust, stitched it to an internal elastic waistband, and attached elastic shoulder straps. Et, voila! I like it SO MUCH BETTER as an empire-waist tunic, and I've already thought of a few other ways I can style it now.
I was also excited to have found a neat way to feature a necklace that belonged to my great-grandma. The necklace chain itself is rather ick, but the pendant is really nifty, and it reminds me of the sunburst mirrors in the interior image. So I wore it on a rust-colored ribbon to pick up the rusty orange hue of the chairs. And I wore some of my great-grandma's big fake pearl earrings, partly because the ball on the lamp base reminded me of them, but mainly because wearing them makes me happy!
Cardigan: Payhalf.
Belt: moi, inspired by one of Kasmira's.
Empire-waist tunic (formerly skirt): moi.
Skirt (navy blue pinstripe, peeking out from tunic): JC Penney.
Leggings: Mandee.
Boots: Apepazza.
Earrings: great-grandma's.
Necklace: pendant was great-grandma's, ribbon is from my stash.
Bracelets: Mandee, I think.
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Updated post on 4/30 at 11:50pm: It occurred to me that it would be nice to add photos of the alteration that I did to turn the dress into a tunic, since the alteration point was covered by the belt.
Outside of tunic:
Inside of tunic:
And here's a close-up shot of my grandma's pendant:
The skirt/dress is GENIUS! I have a similarly colored bit of thai silk....hmmmm....It's currently made into an awful dress, but maybe there is new life for it.
ReplyDeleteGreat interpretation of Audi's room!
This is so cute, original, and creative. The original skirt itself appears really innovative to me, and then the way you altered it into a tunic. I love it!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you first said you "built" this piece. What does that refer to? Well, anyway, very nice creative interp of the pink and green room. This is a fantastic color combination for many uses, interior, floral, or clothing. .
Are you following Wardrobe Refashion? You'd be a great fit over there!
OMG that's such a beautiful pendent!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLucky girl!
And the skirt is so cool... interesting and cute.
I also love the colour combination
xoxo
Thanks, Kasmira! You've got me very curious about the thai silk dress that could be refashioned. If you want to share it and get opinions on what could be done with it, I'm here for you. I get all excited about that kind of creative brainstorming!
ReplyDeleteThanks, sallymandy! When I say I "built" something, it just means that I made it. I guess you could say it's shop talk. For example, working on our recent production of the Lillian Hellman play "The Children's Hour," in meetings with the costume designer, we agreed that the costume shop (meaning I, with some student assistance) would build all the schoolgirls' uniforms and the crazy aunt's dress, but everything else would be pulled from stock, rented, or bought, and altered as needed. And I suppose I like using the word "built" better than the word "made" for items that I built myself. So in addition to shop talk, I guess it's also personal preference. Good question; thanks for asking!
And sallymandy, thanks for telling me about the Wardrobe Refashion blog. I've added it to my Google reader, and you can bet I'm going to get hooked. I'm still working out the details of my abstaining-from-buying pledge, but I do plan to participate in some way.
The Seeker, I'm glad you like the pendant. I do feel like a lucky girl because some of my great-grandma's costume jewelry was passed on to me.
This is such a beautiful outfit! I'm loving the layering! Your so creative!
ReplyDeleteStephanie: It was fun and funny to see that you "found" me on WR today. It's such a strange and tiny yet huge blogging world. I do hope you'll join if you feel ready. You have a great eye for "building" out of "ruins." Let's see how far the metaphor can go...:)
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed. I have a scarp of material which strangely enough is the same colour and I was wondering what to do with it. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Lmac.
ReplyDeleteSallymandy, I love the building metaphors. :-)
Jane, I want to see what you'll do with your fabric scrap!