....Um, actually, no, not expensive at all! Ok, so here's the deal, like I've said before, my fantastic parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas last year, and I have been teaching myself how to sew ever since....now, I have to admit, some of the projects don't go over so well- and in fact I have spent up to 10 hours on something before, only to scrap it, as I have no idea what I'm doing- but some, on the other hand, turn out quite nicely. For example- this scarf! Wow, I love this scarf, and was very pleased with the outcome, and the cost of making it.
A key ingreditent to success in pulling off something that is designer (but not really) is finding a fabric store that sells actual designer's fabrics, and then you make a litttle something out of it on your own. I am obsessed with Missoni- don't know why, just love the family, love the fabrics, love it all! So when I found this authentic Missoni fabric at Muna Couture (best discovery ever! For those in Nashville, you must check it out- Muna has AMAZING stuff!) I knew I had to have it! The great thing is, Muna gets her fabric years before it hits runways and stores, so when she has stuff on sale because it's "last season," it really is like 4 years away from even showing up on Anna Wintour's desk. So here's what you do- buy up as much of it as you can, and make as many cool things out of it as you can (and give some away as presents, but be sure to keep some for yourself too).
I don't care who you are, if you have access to a sewing machine, you can make this scarf. Simply cut a long rectangle, fold it long-ways down the middle, so it's inside out, pin up the open side. Sew a stitch up the pinned side, and turn it right side out. Find some trim that matches your designer fabric, and cut it the to the proper length (as in, the distance from the rest of the scarf to the edge) and about twice as wide (which will be parallel to the short edge of the scarf). Take a needle and thread and weave it through the trim piece loosely, with about 1/2 in between each stitch- then pull the loose end to make the fabric gather. Do this with the trim for the other end as well. Then stuff the gathered end of the trim into the open end of the scarf, and pin it closed. Then just run it through the sewing machine. Do this for the other end, and you're done! I mean, you can say it's a Missoni scarf- technically it is- sorta. Close enough, right?
Ok, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of this blog, so I'm sure I'm breaking the number one rule of blogging by putting it up here, but I can't help it. I'm just so proud and secretly hoping to get discovered- I couldn't resist showing you all this dress!
My friend Cami got married a couple weeks ago and a while back we were talking about dress making and what not, and she said, "oh my gosh, why don't you make me a dress for me to wear out after our wedding?" Well of course I was just so flattered that anyone would want to wear one of my creations, so I jumped at the opportunity. We went fabric shopping immediately and we were so thrilled with what we found (this Prada fabric) that Cami insisted that this be her rehearsal dinner dress instead! So we talked through the design together, and this is what came out of it. I say that it has nothing to do with the purpose of this blog because it wasn't inexpensive or easy to make, but again, I'm just too proud to keep it to myself! Hopefully the producers of Project Runway are crawling the Internet and find this post!
I learned so much making this dress- I have no formal training in sewing, and I mean, this thing is fully lined, has interfacing, and boning! I had no idea how to do any of that before I made this dress so I'm so excited to have the experience under my belt now! (Big thanks to Muna, who helped out extraordinarily!!) My favorite part of the dress is the bustle I put into the back (in this picture, it looks a bit messy, but in real life it's so cute!) Whew, think it turned out pretty great! Oh, and I made the little matching bow tie for her husband, Wes, too- how cute is that? Hope you all like it! And congrats to the happy couple!!! 
So, I embellished the neckline to suit my own style!- Here's how I did it ...I found some old fabric that I had from a previous project and cut it in long strips, and sewed them together to make one very long strip- like 2.5 times the length around the neckline- then I gathered it to make a long ruffled piece (see the Missoni scarf post to see how I gather the fabric to make ruffles)- then I just pinned it on around the neckline and sewed it on! Throw a fun belt around your waist, and you've gone from BOOORRRING black dress, to a bit edgy, different, and definitely more fun!
