1...2...3...Lace Refashion

Last weekend while driving around doing errands, I was intrigued by Goodwill's 50% off furniture sign and decided to stop. I didn't find any furniture but did score this amazing lace dress. I'm not sure if amazing is actually the best word to describe this dress but I knew it had some potential. At $5.99 I just couldn't pass it up, but I wanted to reuse as much as the dress as possible! I was able to get THREE new looks out of it and I must say I am pretty proud of this transformation!
Read below to see the steps I took to complete this refashion. 

I will reuse the zipper for the first skirt so first I unzipped it so it stays attached to the portion I am saving.
Cut off the top bodice and save for later. Cut off the bottom and save for later.

Serge the ends of top and bottom hem

Pen a finished edge and sew

Viola! Skirt one complete.

For the bottom of the original dress I wanted to reuse the scallop edge as the bottom of a new skirt. I also had the lime pencil skirt from a thrift store find and decided it would make a great base for the second skirt. 

Remove the lining of both skirts

The lime skirt had a slit in the back that I no longer needed so I stitched it up.

Cut off the top of the pencil skirt, remove the little zipper piece that was left and stitch up the zipper opening. 

Stuff the lime lining into the lace and pin in place. Cut off the top edge to make it straight and serge the ends.

Pin and sew top edge.

I wanted this to be an elastic waisted skirt so I pinned the elastic in place and started sewing, gently pulling the elastic tight while sewing. I ended up with 4 bands of elastic. 

Add a little ribbon waist tie and skirt two is complete :) This one is my favorite.

Now for reusing the bodice piece. That lace shawl had to go!

I actually used the back of the dress as the front of my bolero. I started by removing the zipper, lining and shawl. 

Then decided a contrasting collar would be a nice touch. Using some scrap yellow linen I had, I made the pieces for the collar. 

1. Pin and cut collar wings x2 and color back

2. Stitch inside out (leaving opening to turn)

3. Turn right side out

4. Sew the 3 pieces together

Pin color in place and stitch on

This dress was a great transformation into 3 new looks!

Grain Free Cinnamon Crackers

Tomorrow is going to be the best snack day! I can't wait to try the seasonal blueberry goat cheese from Serenity Acres Farms. (I get my eggs from them on Wednesday's at Lake Ella) When I found out they had blueberry and strawberry goat cheese I couldn't resist. So I needed a something to eat this goat cheese on. I decided cinnamon crackers would be just the thing! I've made another grain free cracker before, but its a savory recipe - Rosemary Garlic Crackers. I decided to adapt this recipe for a cinnamon honey cracker. Here's what I came up with.

Ingredients

1.5 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp honey

1 egg

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Mix butter, honey and egg in one bowl. Mix flour, salt and cinnamon in another bowl.

Stir.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Mix well.

Grease your cookie sheet (I used coconut oil) or use parchment paper.
Roll out dough to approximately 1/8" thickness.
This recipe makes approximately 50 crackers.

Cut your crackers before your bake. They will snap apart once cooked.

I sprinkled a little more cinnamon on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then an additional 8-10 minutes
depending on how crispy you like them.

These crackers aren't sweet at all, but I didn't want sweet crackers since the cheese will be sweet already. You could add in brown sugar for sweetness. I added a little peach butter for a tasty treat :)

Fabric Silhouette Tutorial

I decided a wall of dachshund silhouettes would be the perfect addition to my living room. And then I found this cute little sign "A dog's tail never lies" and couldn't pass it up! Especially since I already had these dog butts from Ikea, which I've had for over a year and hadn't found the perfect spot for them until now.
Below is the tutorial on how I did it so you can make your own silhouettes.

Print off an image the size you would like your silhouette to be

Cut out a piece of the silhouette fabric a little bigger than the stencil you created

Iron on heat n bond to the back of the silhouette fabric

Pin the stencil on top of the heat n bonded fabric and carefully cut out

Use the glass from the frame to trace out the background fabric

Iron the silhouette to the middle of the background piece

And frame!

Baby Bib Fashion Statement

Please excuse the creepy bear!

You can tell I have no kids in the house yet since this is the only stuffed animal/doll I could find that wasn't a chewed up dog toy :)

Some nights are for fun and some are for business. Luckily for me my business is fun! Tonight is actually a little of both. As always, I'm coming up with new ideas for Dots & Damask. Today I decided to add personalized baby bibs and burp cloths to our list of products. We've gotten a lot of request lately for baby products so in order to keep with the market demand, it was time for some new items. We already offer Splish Splash Bathtime Mommy Aprons. These are always a hit at baby showers! 

(Talk about a unique gift!) 

Now you can add a personalized baby bib or burp cloth for an extra special touch for those expecting Mommy's you know. Designs are coming soon - but here's a sneak peak of what I've been working on tonight. I said it was a little of both because (business and fun) because I needed a thank you gift for my Nursery Design Client  (and I figured they wouldn't mind being my guinea pig). 

What baby wouldn't want to wear one of these adorable bibs!
I especially like the added ruffle on the girl bib.

And's here is a sample of burp cloths I made for a shower a while back. 

I've made others but can't seem to find pictures to share. 

As always, Dots & Damask takes special orders so if you are in need of some baby items just shoot us an email at dotsanddamask@gmail.com.

Refashion: All Buttoned Up

I thought it would be a fun challenge to do some garment refashioning. Turns out this refashion movement is a hit right now. After I purchased 3 bag fulls of clothes from a thrift shop, I searched around online for some inspiration and found a few blogs who feature refashions. I'm super excited about what I came up with and can't wait to transform my other pieces. 

I think I have my 4th of July outfit (just need some red accents)

Here's what I started with - a large polyester button up

I started by cutting off the sleeves

Then the collar

Using pens, I created a slight "A" line where I would stitch up the sides of the shirt

Sew and serge (or zig-zag stitch) the edges

Next I decided I something more interesting than a straight top - sweetheart is more my style <3

I used pens to create my sweetheart guide lines

Then trimmed off the excess fabric 

It was time to create my top seam and sew
I decided to do a double stitch detail for a little accent and to help the top seam lay flatter

Using excess fabric from the sleeves I cut out strap pieces (sorry no pic), stitched inside out, flipped right side out, ironed flat, then I pinned the straps in place and stitched them on

Voila!