Making Monday #45

Hello friends! What happened to the long, lazy days of summer? It seems like I'm busier during the summer months than any other time of the year. I love it though ~ warm weather, all the different colors of green and all the flowers, traveling, laying on our swing to read and nap, the sound of lawn mowers as early as 8am, and the birds singing all day long. Life is good!

Welcome to this week's Making Monday link party.

MMcohost
This is a party where you can find fun new creative ideas and tasty recipes shared by amazingly talented people. Every Monday bloggers stop by to link up their posts and share their talents with us. By joining in {both bloggers and non-bloggers} you will discover new blogs, be inspired to make something new, try a yummy new recipe, and most importantly make new friends!
This party is hosted by Gracie and me, and your projects will be shared on both of our blogs. We love that you're here and we love featuring you on our social media, so be sure to follow us so you can see if your post gets shared!
We also pin to our Making Monday Pinterest board and we'd love to have you follow along! This is a place you can find projects from all the previous parties, too, so it is like a party every day!
Co-host label
Julia from It's Always Ruetten.

Welcome Julia!

Pizza Salad
Julia is sharing a delicious looking Pizza Salad. I'll surely be making this more than just a time or two this summer when I want a light, refreshing meal on a hot summer day.
Now make sure you show Julia some love! Visit her here: Blog, Facebook, Pinterest.

This is what your hostesses have been up to lately:

Re-fashion Bridesmaid Dress

Gracie did a fun Bridesmaid Dress Refashion using a shimmery tank-top and a long formal chiffon. She now has a more casual maxi dress that can be worn any day of the week.

Homemade Cake Flour
Lori shares a recipe for making Homemade Cake Flour.
You'll never need to buy cake flour again!

These are the fabulous features for this week, chosen by Lori:

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#1. Spring/Summer Porch ~ Keitha at The Bajan Texan.
#2. Fudgesicles ~ Merissa at Little House Living.
#3. Bottle Cap Art ~ Ashley at 3 Little Greenwoods.
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#4. Painted Parquet Floor ~ Amanda at Cultivate Create.
#5. Grilled Pizza ~ Maureen at Red Cottage Chronicles.
#6. Monster Cookies ~ Kendra at A Proverbs 31 Wife.
#7. Spicy Seasoning Salt Mix ~ Robyn at Robyn's View.
If you were one of the features PLEASE grab a button and share it with some friends.
A Bright and Beautiful Life
If you weren't featured this week, don't forget to check out the Pinterest board and keep linking up ~ next week could be you!
A Bright and Beautiful Life
Don't forget to check out our Pinterest board where we pin plenty of projects from each party!
MakingMondayGuidelines


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Davids Bridal Bridesmaid Dress Refashion



Last weekend I was in my cousins wedding and it was AWESOME! So beautiful, fun, and lots and lots of laughing :) She had her bridesmaids buy these beautiful mint chiffon dresses from Davids Bridal. They were perfect for her Gatsby theme and gave the bridal party that elegant edge we all needed. But, like most bridesmaids, I wasn't sure when I would wear this dress again and started thinking about how I could modify it to fit my personal, everyday, style a little better. 


I thought about cutting it short, doing the high low hem line, or even just cutting the lining short for a flirty look. But none of those styles changed my biggest issue with the dress. It didn't really fit. Yes it stayed up and that was all I needed it to do, but the sweetheart neck line kept folding over and it was a bit boxy around my waist. So I decided to chop off the top and attach a fun tank for a more casual maxi dress. 

To start I found an awesomely fun tank from Walmart that features a silver snakeskin screen print pattern all over for $3! I then tried on both pieces to see where I wanted to cut the dress and tank.
(You can kinda see in the above picture how boxy the top looked, not bad but not good enough for me to wanna wear it erryday).


Then I pinned the tank to the inside of the dress. Yes I know that usually you do this stuff inside out but I thought I would be able to just cut the top of the dress off and have a fun flirty fringe around the waist of the skirt. I also knew that I needed to keep the zipper intact. The tank was stretchy and could easily be pulled over but the skirt wouldn't fit over my shoulders or my hips with out the zipper. I got hung up on this part for a while but eventually made it through :) 


Once I got it sewed all the way around the waist band I cut the top of the dress off, being sure to leave the zipper. I then turned the dress inside out and cut the tank top leaving just a few inches for safe keeping. Then I sewed the exposed zipper to the tank top and then unzipped the zipper and cut the tank down the center. Making it look like the zipper went all the way up the dress. Sadly my zipper didn't reach the top of my tank so I had to add a hook and eye to close the top. 



TA DA! Thats all I needed to do! I did a bit of finishing around the edges but once the zipper issue was figured out my dress is now something I can wear on the reg! I really really like it and am surprised with my ability to refashion a bridesmaid dress in to something I may actually wear to another event. There are some issues like uneven stitches, uneven cuts, and yeahhh its a little crooked. But for a first time refashion project I think it looks pretty good! And if I need it to look real fancy and not so "handmade" I can just through on a belt and Wah La it looks professional :) 

Here are a few images that show how it fits now.





Do you have any dresses in your closet that need to be refashioned in to something a little more usable? I've got a couple other dresses I may try to play around with, this one has certainly given my confidence a boost :) 

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