It started with collectiveselection’s post on Boyant Spring Prints.  I clicked on the link to Browns Fashion and found a dress made for M. It was the dress with the open back that would frame her tatoo.  The Opening Ceremony Silk Dress.

Then there was a mu’umu’u.   Most people think that I started with an over-sized scarf, but they were wrong.  The mu’umu’u was named “Chairman Mau” by a co-worker.     The construction was surprisingly easy.   I started with the back.  I had measured the placement of M’s tattoo and set about making a frame for it.  I cut out a rectangle and used twill tape to finish the edges. A broken necklace chain was used to fasten the back. I added casings in the shoulder seams to ruche away the the excess fabric.  I also added casings around the waistline which would later be filled with elastic.  The pockets were a last minute add a week before the show.  I took the side seams apart and managed to figure out a way to keep the seams outward and get the pockets to go inward.

The dress ended up as the final piece in my collection, “Smoke House Dresses”, to hit the runway at the Treasure City Thrift Fashion Show.  It currently resides in M’s closet.

Total $ spent= just my time.  Notions were found in house.

I decided to take the plunge and sign up for the Treasure City Fashion Show again. I acquired a  sack of old house dresses from my co-worker (her chain smoking mother-in-law had recently passed away. I will explain about the cleaning process some other time.

I sent out a message on FB to all of my friends looking for ladies of equal height to walk for me and ended up with some awesome mini-models (5′2″ to 5′4″).  What did I dress them in?  Super short dresses and high heeled wedges.

Here I go, redesigning stereotype again. This year I converted the house dresses of a chain-smoking old lady into some hot shifts for summer.

Here’s a sneak peak on what I’ve been up to for the last two months. I will fill you in on all the upcycling details later.

Some people have asked about the dress I wore for LBD2.

It was made of some remnant polyester of unknown origin (in the very bottom of the stash pile).  The design is semi-original.  I restored a pattern of my mom’s and made it sleeveless in the process.

Next time I will definitely make better fabric decisions.  Technically, this was a prototype.

PS.  Those are my “new” shoes.