Fancy Dress For Less

What I've really learned to love about wearing dresses is that you can truly look like a million bucks without spending much more than you would for a regular outfit.

While I won't completely mislead you... some dresses do have high price points, but there are a lot of dresses in my collection that are lower than the price of a pair of jeans and a top or even the price of a pair of jeans or a top. Also, even with the dresses that normally have a higher price point, there are many ways around the high MSRP price. One thing I most like to do is look for and wait for sales! It's amazing really how often most online retailers will have sales and 15%, 20%, and 25% off can really save you some money. Tatyana in particular will sometimes have awesome 40% off or even 50% off sales or discount last season's items even farther! Speaking of last season's items, I've found end of summer is a great time to shop as lots of retailers such as Pinup Girl Clothing and Trashy Diva will have sales to clear out their old stock and will dramatically mark down the price of some of their older dresses, often times marking them down more than 50% off. Of course clearing out stock can happen any time of year so it's always a good thing to keep your eye out if you're like me and are always looking for a good bargain. :)

While these are my favorite ways to get great dresses at great prices, another way I most recently caught on to is keeping an eye out on ebay! Lately I've been getting many a great bargain finding awesome finds on ebay. And seeing that the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years holidays are just around the corner I thought it was a perfect time to post about these bargains. Check out my latest conquests!


Trashy Diva's Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise

This dress came out last winter and was part of their fancy dress collection. The Candice Gwinn Honey Dresses are made with a heavy weight  ribbed rayon which has a great drape and flow and even has a nice slight sheen to it. The bodice is very well made and very structured and is even fully lined in the same fabric as the dress. It has a shelf style bodice which gives plenty of support and the wide straps on the shoulders ensures that the dress will wear nicely and not dig in to your shoulders from the weight of the dress! The waist is nice and fitted while the skirt has a great flair. This dress is also features a pointed collar in the back and a hidden back zip.

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Front View

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Front View

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Side View

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Back View

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Close Up

Trashy Diva Candice Gwinn Honey Dress in Turquoise- Close Up

Pinup Girl Clothing's Grace Dress in Flocked Red

The Grace Dress is part of Pinup Girl's Laura Byrnes' collection, a label they reserve for only their fanciest of dresses. This lovely dress comes in a heavy weight cotton and spandex blend material which features black flocking (velvet-like texture) throughout. Like the Honey dress, this dress has a shelf-style structured bodice and wide shoulder straps which accommodate the heavier weight of the dress nicely. The bodice is completely lined in stretch poplin, the waist is fitted, and the skirt has a great flair. Like the Honey dress, this dress has a back zip which makes for an easy to wear design. 

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress-Front View

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress-Front View

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress-Side View

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress- Back View

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress-Close Up

Pinup Girl Clothing's Laura Byrnes Grace Dress-Close Up

I hope all you shoppers out there find great bargains this season and also don't forget Black Friday is just around the corner! ;)

Making Little Hats! The Return of the DIY Projects!

Hello Kittens!

I hope you all had a good labor day weekend (for those of you in the states) or a good Labour Day weekend (for those of you in Canada) or maybe just a good weekend in general (for those of you elsewhere). :)

I noticed that it's been some time since I last did a DIY post so I figured it was due time for this one!

 
Making Little Hats!

 1) Start with a fascinator base. I bought this straw base from ebay

2) If the fascinator base doesn't come with one already sew on a snap clip or hair comb

 3) Once the snap clip or hair comb is sewed on hot glue it on to reinforce it.

Be sure to apply the glue only to the edge of the snap or hair comb. You will need the snap or comb to be slightly mobile to put it on your head.

 3) The last step is either the fun step or the tricky part... or maybe it's a little bit of both... adding the decoration.

For this hat I added a bunch of fake fruit to make a Carmen Miranda inspired hat! These pieces of fruit are a collection of foam fruit I bought from ebay, Joann's fabric, and the Japanese dollar store, Daiso.

I sewed all the fruit on to the fascinator base then reinforced them all with a hot glue gun. For the cherries I hot glued two piece together at the stem then sewed the stems onto the fascinator base.

And here is the little fascinator in action!

Awesome Ebay Finds!

I'm always scouting for a great bargain whether that be through an awesome sale or someone selling an awesome dress on ebay for a great price!

Recently, I got super lucky on ebay and found two great dresses at a great price.

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress:

My first find was a Bernie Dexter Rocketship dress (also sold on Modcloth as the Space Mod-ity dress). I have long admired Bernie Dexter's dresses but had yet to buy any. When I saw this dress on ebay in my size going for only $40 I decided now was the time! Since I've never tried on any of Bernie Dexter's dresses I didn't know how the sizing would work out for me. I'm a pretty solid size large, unless it's a brand that runs small like Steady, so I decided more than likely this dress should fit. But then also, I wasn't sure how the sleeves would be. Usually sleeves on a cotton dress can be a bit of a pain since the cotton has little to no stretch. I was a little apprehensive.

When this dress came in the mail I saw that it was perfect! Perfect in every way! The design on it was so cute, the quality was great, no damages, no spots or stains, and the sizing was perfect! Even the sleeves fit perfect! It turns out Bernie Dexter knows what she's doing with designing dresses! I have to say, I am really impressed with the fit of the sleeves. The sleeves fit with lots of room for movement without looking like there's lots of room! No football player arms here! And no restricted movement/sausage casing arms either! Just perfect comfort and style!

This dress is a light blue fit and flair dress with sleeves and a full flared skirt. There are cute little rockets printed though out the dress: rockets with diagonal dark orange and salmon colored stripes, rockets with light yellow and dark yellow diagonal stripes, rockets with light blue and lighter blue diagonal stripes, turquoise rockets with light blue diamonds/harlequin patterns, and light blue rockets with yellow diamonds/harlequin print. So many rockets! And they are all lined up with each other making a striped pattern of rockets on the dress. The sleeves are cuffed in white with decorative button accents on each sleeve and the neckline has a slightly triangular collar in white which also is accented with a button. The triangular collar gives it a bit of a atomic 1950's sci-fi vibe, especially reverberated against the rockets print of the dress! The buttons on the sleeves and collar are white plastic buttons with a geometric texture though out its body and a hint of sparkle with a rhinestone center. The look is finished off with a thick white patent leather looking belt. This dress has a back zip and two small hidden pockets! It is made with 100% cotton for easy care and wear!

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Front View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Front View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Side View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Back View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Close Up Collar Detail

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Close Up Side Detail

Patent Leather Like Gabriella Rocha White Kitten Heels To Go Perfectly With the Patent Leather Type White Belt

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress in Warm Toned Cabana Stripes:

The Havana Nights dress in warm toned cabana stripes by Pinup Couture is probably one of my most surprising dress finds on ebay. I say surprising because it's one of those dresses I've seen online without too much thought about it and then saw it selling on ebay and thought it was cute enough to bid $48 on especially when it was new with tags still. But when I got it in the mail, it completely blew me away! This dress is a fit and flared v-neckline dress made out of a cotton/spandex blend... and that's where I was led astray. Thinking it was a mostly cotton dress I pictured it would be your regular run of the mill cotton dress, more or less light weight, with a decently flared skirt. This dress is anything but your regular run of the mill light weight cotton! This dress is super dense! The bodice is made of super thick cotton and is lined with a silky black material. The skirt is equally as thick and the weightiness of the material helps completely to keep the shape of the skirt.

The colors of this dress are orange, pink, purple, brown and yellow. The stripes are arranged in a chevron pattern at the bust, back, and in the skirt. The dress comes with a matching grommet belt that finishes off the look. This dress also comes with pockets! As impressed as I am with this dress, one thing I found odd was that there are no belt loops on the dress. It happens, but I wish it didn't.

I got this dress in my usual size large which fits a little tight in the waist but other than that, the fit is just fine for my 39"-31"-38, 5'3" frame.

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Front View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Front View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Side View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Back View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Close Up

Leisurely Sunday Afternoon

Leisurely Sunday afternoons are the best.

Especially when the sun is shining, the weather's great, and you get to spend some time outdoors.

This past Sunday my husband and I went out to the park to play a round of bocce ball then went out for Italian ice and frozen custard. Too bad every day can't be a Sunday!


Outfit of the Day:

For this easy-going day I wore a green plaid sundress by Ixia which I bought from Ebay and some oversized woven-looking white and gold earrings I picked up from Modcloth during their recent 50% off sale.

Plaid Sundress By Ixia- Front View

Plaid Sundress By Ixia- Side View

Woven-Looking White and Gold Earrings, Modcloth- Close Up

Making Little Hats AKA a DIY Tutorial on Fascinators

I am so excited about the new little hat I made over the weekend!

I've slowly been compiling quite a collection of hats, fascinators, hair flowers, and hair bows. It was within this obsessive frame of mind that I saw Trashy Diva's blog post on their new fascinator collection by Louise Green, Fascinator Frenzy. These hats and fascinators were so whimsy, cheerful, colorful and just so fun!!! I was dying to get my hands on the Louise Green Cherry Doll Hat! But then I saw the price. :( As much as I do spend my money I just couldn't take the plunge. And so I was sadly resigned to the fact that I did not and will not own the Louise Green Cherry Doll Hat. But that doesn't mean I would have to go without some whimsy, cheerful, colorful and fun little hats and fascinators of my very own. I decided to make my own. And here friends is my DIY tutorial on the new fun little hat I made over the weekend.


1) Start with a fascinator base. I bought this teardrop sinamay from seller guigkat on ebay. I have also seen similar fascinator bases on etsy.

(My trusty bff Murkurie overlooks my work.)

2) If your fascinator base doesn't already have a hair comb, alligator clip, snap clip, headband, elastic string, or neck tie (some kind of way to keep the hat on) you will have to get one of these items.

For this fascinator I decided to utilize a hair comb because the base itself is not too flexible so a snap clip probably wouldn't be too practical, I didn't know how well an alligator clip glued on to this somewhat nonporous surface of the hat would hold, and I didn't want to have the visibility of a headband, elastic string, or neck tie on this particular hat. 

3) I sewed on the hair clip to the back of the fascinator sewing around the base of the hair clip between the last two teeth on each edge of the comb. 

4) Next... things to put on the hat! For this hat, in the spirit of the Louise Green Cherry Doll Hat, I wanted to make something with fake fruit. I decided to make a grape fascinator!

5) And yet, while I was out gathering my grapes I saw this peacock feather in the same aisle. I thought, how lovely these colors go together! And you may know from my other past posts, A Good Peacock is Hard to Find, and  A Peacock for All Occasions, how much I do love peacocks!

6) I hot glued the peacock feather about halfway down the fascinator and at a jaunty little angle to give the hat some asymmetry, gluing the feather at about the eye of the feather and also at the base of the feather.

7) Then I sewed the feather on for extra reinforcement at the base of the feather.

8) Next I added the grapes. These I sewed on as well sewing around the stems of the grapes at the top middle of the bunch and also at the end of the bunch. I knew I wanted to have some of the grape leaves on with the bunch but the grape leaves that came with this bunch was super rubbery looking and not to my liking....

9) So I took a leaf off of my artificial grape vine in my house and hot glued that on to my fascinator!

10) And voila! My very own whimsy, cheerful, colorful, and fun grape fascinator!