DIY: Fulla Hot Air Frock

Oh, you know. Just another photo of me standing next to my kitchen window. In a mucho belated DIY.

You know those people that just talk and talk and talk, interrupt you when you try to get a word in edgewise, and talk some more? And it's always the same stories, isn't it? Same jokes, same "hey, did I tell you about this one time..." while you attempt to look at your watch and gauge how much longer you have to sit and listen before you can politely excuse yourself. You know the type, right?

Yeah. That's me.

So how appropriate that I'd create a Fulla Hot Air Frock.

The "before" photo on the left is from  What I Wore this Week #23 on my last day in Germany. Of course the "after" photo is the result of my most recent DIY.

 Oh, this dress. I first spotted it when shopping in Nuremburg, Germany and, even though I loved the vintage-esque cut of the dress, I just didn't spring for it. From which point on I was haunted by the silly thing. Does that happen to you? Do you ever have shoulda-shopping remorse? Well, I knew it was a mistake when I couldn't get it outta my head. Which is why when I saw it again in Amsterdam, I bought it in a blink.

And then proceeded to never ever wear it. Every time I put it on it was just too short for my taste. There's a lot of bending, reaching, squatting and crawling on the floor in the art room, believe it or not. And this dress just wasn't suited for the task.

That's why, way way waaaaaaay back in October, I decided to DIY this little number. And the first thing I did was lengthen the hem with this sweet soft buttery yellow. Do you see the yellow zipper sticking out of the top of the dress? The dress came with it and I was attempted to match it.

So, you heard me say that I began this back in October right? If you are good at math, then you know that was, like, four months ago or something. I had originally began it to coincide with my first graders Hot Air Balloons over Paris and my third graders Parisian Silhouettes.

But what I thought would be the easy/fun part turned out to be a big fat headache. I don't know why I struggled with what patterns of fabric to put together. I usually enjoy playing with pattern and color. But when this just didn't come together easily for me, I put it on the back burner until it was smoking, smoldering, burnt to a crisp and then complete ashes. At which point I thought: does the dress even need the balloons?

In true pro-Cass-tination style, I crafted these light bulb/hot air balloons while hiding from the dress in my sewing room. The Christmas tree should date these ornaments just a bit.

This weekend, with hubs gone and the cat sitting with me on my sewing stool, I decided that it did indeed. Cuz if I hated it, I could just seam rip them out, right? So using my zigzag stitch, I set to work. 

Applique is one of my fave ways to revamp clothing. I've used it on an Urban Outfitters dress, a felted floral sweater, my Rock Star apron and my 1970's art teacher skirt. Since I'm a regular pro (insert sarcasm here), lemme give you the following tips:

• Tack your pieces down with some stitch witchery. This iron-on stuff will keep your pieces in place without pins sticking out in every direction.
• If you can, applique light fabrics onto heavier ones. Which I didn't do in this case. And what happens is that the fabric you are adding the applique to has a tendency to pucker. You might notice that in some of my photos despite my ironing. 
• When sewing, be sure the needle goes from the inside of the piece being appliqued to the edge of said piece. Can you see that in the photo above? Because if you go beyond that edge, the needle will pull the fabric you are appliquing onto thus causing puckers. And no one likes a pucker.

The back and front. You'll notice I did nothing to the back. I usually don't. Because I like my DIY's like a mullet cut: Business in the front, don't give a toot about the back.

Now originally I had plans of adding lines to attach the basket to the balloon but, honestly, I don't think it needs it. I also left some of the balloons basket-less. I just didn't think the fabric (or my patience) could take any more of the heavy stitching. So I skipped it and back-from-the-back-burner ashes, this dress was done.

Outfit Details: Okay, truth? That belt I scooped up at an Anthropologie sale is the real reason I finished this dress. I just couldn't wait to pair it with the dress! tights: Target; shoes: Miss Albright

And there you have it. Yet another long-winded, going-on-and-on-forever, Fulla Hot Air blog post. You can stop checking your watch now, I'm all done. 

Maybe. 

Oh, wait! Did I tell you about this one time...(no, not at Band Camp)...

Seriously, thanks for dropping by. Chat with you soon.

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DIY: Applique Your Way into Fall

Dude. Seriously. Sometimes I just don't know when to call it quits with a DIY. I always start out with a simple idea: I'll just add a coupla flowers to my dress. Next think ya know, I'm swapping out the buttons on my cardi, adding a matching flower and topping it all off with a big fat gingham bow. The fashion police have given up on me and just planted a "condemned" sign in my craft room. Which I promptly bedazzled.

Well, fall is upon us here in Tennessee. I knew it was coming when the mornings became so crisp that the hard wood floors in our house were like walking on ice. And in preparation, I spent a good two hours over the weekend swapping out my happy summer dresses for heavier darker frocks. With my hoarder ways, it's quite the undertaking and I dread it so. Mostly because it forces me to come to terms with the fact that I have waaaay too many dresses. And sweaters. And stockings. Pants, not so much. But I digress. 

The hardest part about packing things away is what to do with the clothes that fall in the middle. You know, the ones that aren't necessarily winter or summer clothes but something in the between. Clothing limbo, so to speak. This dress DIY that I crafted last fall fits into this category.

I scooped up this retro-stylin dress from the sale rack at Urban Outfitters. And while I loved it's fit and finish, I never seemed to reach for it when it came to getting dressed in the mornings. Seemed to me that it was missing that certain je ne sais quoi (which in the Cassie translation of French means: sumthin tacky).

It's summery with it's light weight fabric but fallish with it's color palette. Seeing it in my closet reminded me that it's a DIY from last season I never shared with you. Wanna add a little something to a snooze-fest of a dress? Here's what I used:

• One dress
• Vintage floral fabric from the '60's
• Black thread and an applique stitch on my sewing machine

1. I began by cutting out a variety of flowers from the fabric. I chose a floral fabric with a color palette that I thought complimented the color in the dress.
2. I tacked the flowers into place with some Stitch Witchery and began the slow process of using the applique stitch around the flowers.
3. I'm not kidding, that's all I did. Which is why I absolutely love applique. You can change the look of something in just an hour. You can see more of my Applique Madness here and here  Oh! And the Rock Star apron I appliqued here.

I've had this plain brown vintage cardi in my closet for ages. Because the dress is sleeveless, I decided to create this sweater to match. I added one of the fabric flowers and swapped out the brown buttons for vintage pink ones.

Shortly after completing the dress, I  followed it up with another applique cardie. Because I'm not only a DIY-over-doer but I'm also a repeat offender. It's a sickness.

When I scored this sweet vintage dress at the thrift store, the hem was out. Way out. So, I took up the dress by several inches. This left me with fabric aplenty. So you know I had to put it to good use. Applique cardie and headband. Das right.

I've currently got another applique project underway in my sewing room. This one is inspired my students' latest art project. I can't wait to share it with you. Oh, and I've been asked by some of you just what exactly a hoarder's clothing closet looks like. Well, you asked for it. I've started snapping embarrassing photos. I'll try to get the courage up to share it with you sometime soon. Until then, go applique something!

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