You're Sew Cool

I just wanna dye…put your arms around me, baby…

(Sugar Ray circa 1997? Anyone? My late-90s influence might be courtesy of our recent random attendance of a Third Eye Blind concert. Go to a festival in Fairfax, Va., on a low-key Friday, stumble upon a band who once led a semi-charmed kind of life. Good times.)

Remember this dress from last fall?

Bought in October from Market Publique!

I originally bought this from Market Publique, a great online hand-picked vintage store, thinking I’d wear it as-is. Er, as-was. But I ended up actually wearing the darn thing out of the house; I felt the length was a bit much for me and I noticed the white color was decidedly dingy. It was time for a change!

This dress was a way-easy transformation. I started by trimming about eight inches from the bottom of the dress with scissors to bring it up above the knees. This thicker material isn’t going to unravel, so sewing or ironing a new hem wasn’t necessary. Next I went to my stash of Rit dyes and chose a fun purple shade (after debating for a good 30 minutes – this is why trying to get me to pick a restaurant for dinner always turns into a battle royale).

I can’t reiterate enough how easy dyeing with Rit liquid dye on a stovetop is. The most difficult part of this dress was rinsing it out; the substantial fabric soaked up a lot of dye and I rinsed for about 20 minutes before running it through three (oui, three) rinse-only cycles on warm water in the washing machine. I got an unexpected result in the constrast between the vertical strips of fabric on the dress – and I love it.

After snipping and dyeing!

I added a tan belt to go with gold sandals and to break up the pattern a bit. Really liked the final outfit. I hope you do, too. If not, don’t say anything. I might dissolve into a puddle of bitter, bitter tears.

Here’s a dare-to-compare, comin’ at ya.

Dress with similar sleeves and cut

Their dress: Cynthia Steffe, $275
My dress: $22 from Market Publique, free dye

A Facebook friend and I recently made a deal: she’s going to sift through the racks at vintage stores back in our home state of Indiana, send a find to me, and I’m going to alter it for her (and pray I don’t perform an epic fail).

Our Facebook back-and-forth included some hopefully helpful tips on what to look for when scouring the racks at a vintage or thrift store. Here’s an expansion on those quick Facebook musings; I sure could have used them when I started my thrifting adventures. Racks of clothes that look straight from Blanch Devereux’s closet can be intimidating, people.

• Decide how much work you want to put in and what you want to spend. There are great finds to be had for $1 at pile sales, items that might need a little snipping or dyeing. Or there are high-end vintage boutiques that sell 1960s Chanel dresses for hundreds of bucks (not that I would know much about that, since I’m cut from cheapskate cloth). I personally think that non-hand-selected finds from regular ol’ mom-and-pop thrift stores are more fun to dig up, not to mention much easier on the wallet.
• Look at fabric first. You’re at the local Salvation Army, slightly overwhelmed by the mounds of seemingly fugly dresses before you. Start by trying to select items that have a good base: fabric. If it’s a pattern or material or color you love, you might be getting somewhere.
• And on that note, take your time when shopping for oldies but goodies. It’s easy to walk into a thrift store, see nothing immediately jump out and tickle your fancy, and walk back out feeling frustrated and cursing the vintage gods. Pick through racks. Pull out an item with a good fabric and start envisioning. Can you easily hem it? Would simply removing a doily-like ugly collar bring it two decades into the future? Don’t bring a man along for your thrifting excursions. He’ll get bored and until hover around you, dropping hints the size of boulders that he’s ready to leave, or he’ll end up purchasing a circa-1987 video game system from another part of the store.
• Buy your size or bigger. A seamstress extraordinaire might be able to let out an item that’s too small for you – but that ain’t me, and it might not be you, either. If something’s in your size, perfection. If it’s a size or two too big, you can take in the side seams a bit or even just cinch it up with a fun belt.
• If you don’t sew, not all is lost. I like spending time with my dearest Gene the Sewing machine, but some days I just don’t feel like getting my hands all up on his bobbin. (I AM a married woman, you know. I have moral standards.) But I’ve altered plenty of stuff without ever stitching one stitch. That iron-on hemming material is great; some materials allow for sleeve-chopping without subsequent fraying; and overdyeing is the best thing known to (wo)man.

Most of all, have fun with it. That’s where buying cheapie items can be an advantage: if you spent $2 on a dress and your final version doesn’t quite work out, not all is lost. Now go thrift!

Hi, friends! The length of time I allow to pass between posts is unacceptable, I know. But if I told you I’ve been busy getting ready to move to Africa, would that make it better? No, really. That’s the announcement. I’m moving to Dakar, Senegal, in July, for Josh’s career. The doggies – cornholes and all – will be coming along, of course. Dakar is a safe, modern city (I have to say that because everyone assumes we’ll be living in a remote village hut) and we cannot wait to start this new adventure.

Gene the Sewing Machine will be joining us in Africa as well, and I can’t wait to see what kind of projects we’ll tackle together. Expect to see summer clothes only, because the temps in Senegal have never been below 65 degrees. EVER. In history. It’s going to be a sweat-filled two years of Africa living! For today’s post, there’s no sewing involved – just a fun shorts makeover courtesy of my friends over at Rit Dye, who gifted me LOTS of bottles of their awesome colorful brews.

One trend I love this summer is brightly colored shorts. I generally like as much color barfed all over me as possible, so if I can swath my backside in some neons and be socially accepted, I’m a happy person. Observe how cute Emmy Rossum (who always looks really cute, that bastard) is in her bright blues:

I wish I were named after an award.

Remember that time I altered some black bermuda shorts I had in my closet from circa 2007? Well, because they were so unflattering, I obviously wised up after purchasing them back in the day and didn’t allow another pair of bermudas in my midst. Jay-kay, friends – I was silly enough to buy a white pair as well!

Perry pities mommy for ever thinking she might look good in these.

I forgive myself for a previous extreme lack of self-assessment, because these shorts were perfect for hemming and dyeing into a bright-colored pair. My Rit Dye made it so easy: I took a big metal pot, heated water on the stove (to hot but not bubbling), submerged the shorts, and added about half a bottle of Rit in Petal Pink. I stirred them constantly for about 20 minutes, until I could see the color wasn’t getting any pinker and the shorts were evenly and thoroughly dyed.

Loved the contrast between the plastic button and the dyed shorts.

I rinsed my new shorts in the sink then ran them through a rinse cycle in the washer to make sure all the Rit was ridded. I cut off some of the length with scissors then hemmed them using some of that iron-on stuff. What a true sewer would have done? No. Did it take about three minutes and look perfectly fine? Oui. (Moving to a French-speaking country – just practicing.)

Here’s the final look, with some fun colorblocking courtesy of a blue top.

Fin!

Notice the rad scab on my left knee, which I totally didn’t cover up before heading to happy hour just in case I needed toughness points during a bar brawl. I fell while running last weekend, for no reason other than I am apparently no match for a five-inch curb.

Let’s dare to compare! Here’s a pair of pinkies I found on Polyvore:

Very similar shorts!

Their shorts: Jil Sander, $460

My shorts: $0 (won Rit Dye, shorts already in closet – originally purchased for approximately $20 at Meijer in 2007)