A DIY of a Different Kind...

Heya Nesters!  I've shown you all kinds of DIY tutorials for your home and fun little projects.  But today I'm going to show you a DIY that I did with an abridged tutorial.  If I were to give you an in depth step by step, you'd be reading this for quite some time. So to give you background: Matt's friend Matt (there's two!) got married this past weekend.  I had my sights set on a navy blue dress and I searched high and low to no avail.  But I found these FABULOUS shoes that I knew would look amazing with any navy dress. And I happened to decide to get them when Amazon was having a sale on pumps!  Huge score!

Needless to say, I never found the perfect dress. {Lets be real here Karma isn't nice enough to let me find the perfect shoes and the perfect dress.}  

 

I was frustrated and ready to just buy any ol' thing when I bucked up and decided "Dammit, Gina, you were trained in Fashion Technologies... just make the dress you are looking for!" 

So, *shrug* I did...

 The wedding was a blast and the dress was a hit!  I wish I had a better picture of myself in it but this is the best I've got.  So for your viewing pleasure, here are some close ups of my dress on my dress form. 

My dress form is a little bigger than I am, so after draping the patterns, which explains why it's not entirely zipped in the back.

It originally was all blue with the yellow belt, but at the last minute I wasn't happy with the fit of the bodice and I scrapped the whole shebang and started over.  I also made some alterations to the patterns so that it would fit a bit better.  While I was making those alterations I made the impulse decision to make the little Peter Pan collar yellow!  I feared it was going to look costume-y or circus-y but luckily, it doesn't look as bad as I thought. 

My favorite part is the belt. The rosette was just one long strip of fabric, rouched and hand stitched on to the belt with a simple snap closure hidden by the flower. 

I'll be wearing this puppy with other outfits too.  I can't wait. I feel like its very Anthro chic! 

The back has this cutie little pearlized button closure detail.  {Again, keep in mind, its too small for the form so that's why it's not closing.}  

Here is the whole ensemble.  I loved it all, though I am still battling my war wounds from dancing the night away in those beautiful shoes.  Marion and Matt were sweetly bragging to anyone that would listen.  I even got a compliment from one of the catering girls! Yay!

So there you have it Nesters! I hope you like my little DIM {Did It Myself} project.  Do you guys sew any of your own clothes? Or maybe you want to start trying?  Do tell! We're all dying to hear!