Recreating Yet Another Expensive Dress (out of curtains!)

Hello!Sliding in with a full cup of coffee and a white skirt, it's an extreme sport I am headed to Paris next week with my best friend Tommy, girls trip!Actually as you're watching this I am probably chock full of baguette, just To the absolute brim.I thought this week we could make myself an outfit.Mainly because I've been wanting to make this dress for like a year and a half.Ever since Pinterest decided to shove it down my throat.

A company called Wild Rose and Sparrow has this gorgeous, it's called the Fae dress.They have it in midi and maxi length.Oh how I pine for it.People say bring back yearning.problem being a couple things number one obviously it is very expensive not the most expensive i've seen but more than i'm usually willing to spend number two there are a couple things that i think just judging by the photos would look a little bit weird on my body i don't love the individual booby cups i think that always looks kind of silly on me just very pronounced flesh mounds you know the waist seems like it goes a little lower than I like.I usually like the waist to fall right here and I feel like in that dress it would fall a little bit more like this.

And so, as you may have guessed it, because you are so incredibly intelligent and wonderful and I love you, I want to make a version of this dress.When you copy someone's homework and just change a couple words.Which I know is 50 shades of morally gray.I get that.In the past I have recreated expensive dresses pretty much one for one.This time I am going to change a couple things so hopefully it's not completely identical.

It'll be like um the same dress in a different font, maybe.Same dress but the font is just italicized.And we're gonna make it out of recycled materials, whatever I have in my stash.All that spiel aside, let's sit down and sketch out what I actually am going to do.So their dress as mentioned has that very separate ruched bust area, a sort of long waist, fabric covered buttons, and then goes out to a very nice fluffy skirt that is kind of like tiered, and theirs also has a slit right here I think What I want to do, make it more of like a milkmaid top, so one big and then tied right here, still have the lace details here, shorten the waist and not have it end in a point, do some fabric buttons there, kind of keep the skirt similar, we may or may not do a slit Something like that maybe?I feel like it has kind of the same essence but it's something that I think is gonna suit me a little bit better Right, head to my fabric stash I think I have a decent amount of like lacy curtains or tablecloths and that will kind of determine whether or not we have to go to the thrift store Okay, here we are at the fabric stash Time to do a little stock check because I definitely have lacy curtain tablecloth things in here Number one, very pretty, and it has a nice scalloped edge.

Oh, very nice.This, kind of a little bit more basic.This is more of a valance, I think.Some pretty details on the edge.Yeah, see?This, pretty embroidered details.

These are all pretty much off -white, which is good.

Except for this one, which is a little bit more white.Hmm, okay.I think this is actually quite lovely.And there is a decent amount of it, so I think we can make most of it out of this.I think we can do this.that.

Oh, I love a good stash buster.All right, let's freaking go.But first, a very important spoon break.Okay, let's look for patterns.Somewhere in here, I think I have my milkmaid pattern, which I think would be good for the top.I do not.

Okay, so nevermind.What I think I'll do is maybe modify this.See if we can find a better skirt.This one's not bad.A little frankensteining of these two.I think just might work.

I'm actually a filthy liar.It turns out Mood Fabrics has this free pattern for a milkmaid dress.So I think what I'm going to do is just download and print this out and just use like the top of this.I will probably have to extend the waist a whittle.That looks pretty short.So it looks like that.

Yeah.So I'll probably move the waist like a little bit further down.

Let's see if this old girl can take it.

I've been thinking of retiring her because she is very temperamental, so we'll see.It's about 35 pages.Come on, name girl.She actually did it.All 30 pages without any issues.

You live to see another day.

Maybe that was a trick because I had to vaguely threaten her a little bit, instill a little bit of fear.I won't send you off to live on a farm quite yet.Now I have to tape all of these together, which is my least favorite part.So next time you see these, they will be one massive pattern piece.All right, now we cut.Easy, we've got all the bodice pieces, the little ruched bust, the strap, the sleeve, we will not be using that.

The two skirt pieces.To make my life easier, I think I'm just gonna stick with this one pattern for the whole dress.But to make it a little bit more full, I'm probably going to cut out more pieces of the skirt panels than it tells me to.And that way, it should be sufficiently swooshy.I'll see you in a sec.It was time for a big ol' cuppa I had a scrap piece of bed sheet that I just decided to use for the base but it was way too stark white so I wanted to tone that down a little bit I had started with one of my caffeine -free teas and after a while it did not look like it was actually doing anything Only to reveal, of course, my archnemesis So I had to use the strong stuff A lot of it So like the world's worst washerwoman, I really worked that tea in there to make it look old That's what I'm talking about

must discuss something very important to me.Snail clip!Thank you for your attention on this matter.Okay, finally the sheet is done, it's dried.Let me show you the color.This is what it looks like, which may not look like much but compared to what it was before this is so so much better.

It was just such a stark white before and I think that this looks lovely.There are a couple spots that look a little stained.

You know what?

This is the bottom layer.I'm not worried about it.I think it looks nice and antique and paired with the fabric that I want to use.I think it looks really, really lovely.booby trap I am going to use the pattern I think as it is for the base for the skirt I'm sure there's a proper term for this but like a rectangle type skirt so basically if you were to take a rectangle gather it at the top and then connect ta -da you have a skirt comparing that to the base pattern which has more of an angle meaning that you don't have to gather it up top I have two of these so they're decent amount of material.Whereas I want this to be a tiered skirt, what I'm thinking I can do, a section like this, gather them, and then just keep working my way up.

So that way I don't have to hem the bottom because it's already that really pretty trim.This is quite a historic moment.for myself.I have a serger that I bought six years ago, it has been sitting in the box in my basement.I'm going to attempt to use a serger for the first time, fix the raw edges of this lace that's going to be sticking out of like the ruffle.Right now I'm just going to get to work cutting out all of these pattern pieces.

Capisce?You guys remember that scene from The Zimmigwire?She's likeeveryone's like whoa left of that fabric for scriptence, which is not too bad I'm gonna keep this.I think maybe I can make like hair bandanas out of it in the future.You'll be proud of me I even I'm gonna make a lining as well.

So that will be three layers of fabric.It should be nice and quality Oh cannot tell you how nice it is to be working on just one fabric singular garment for a video I'm so used to trying to jam pack two or three items of clothing in one video and inevitably that just makes me so stressed and not enjoy the process in the least Sewing still sucks 80 % of the time.I feel like when I'm not under a massive time crunch and I can actually take the time to make lining layers, it, man, it makes the world of difference.Also, the more I make clothing for myself to wear, the more I realize how important it is to have actually something that's well -made and not gonna fall apart.The amount of repairs that I've had to do on clothing items I've made because I rushed it, it's more than I care to admit.Uh sure, it's nice to take like a slower pace, you know?

I have been kind of wanting to slow down the pace of my content I feel like in this world of super fast paced, I think I've said this before, I give you a breather you know?Problem being, in here it's not slow so you know my editing style kind of reflects my mental stateand how things are always like If anything it's kind of harder for me to do slower paced stuff because you know my internal raging fire that yearns for chaos at all times But we're trying What I need to do now, now that I have all the pieces for the base and the lining Now I need to cut all of those top pieces out again with the lacy fabric Let's get on with it I decided to sew right next to the seam on both sides, not only does this tuck in the unwanted stuff on the back but I think it also looks sophisticated For the strap I attached the lining to the outer layers and then inside out you goI attached the lining inside out on top of the right side out of the fabric.The amount of mental gymnastics you have to do when you're sewing stuff, we're all basically Simona Biles, okay.Two, three.

Today is skirt day.The plan.All of the pieces cut out of the bed sheet.So I need to put those together, sew those, hem it, and do all of the super fun stuff that I really enjoy.The curtain.I'm going to figure out how long I want each tiered section to be.

Probably line these up with my wood floors, cut them into long strips, and then just gather them.I don't know.I suppose that'll work.that we need to venture into serger land today, which is not a place that I thought I would ever willingly go.So I gotta set that up, watch some tutorials, and hope that I can figure it out.All right, team.

making clothes out of trash because you're so incredibly stubborn that you won't pay over $200 for a dress.Even though all said and done, your own labor probably costs as much as the brand is asking for, but you're a sewist and a crafter, and so your own labor hours don't count, and it's free.On three.One, two, three.Okay.Let's get to work.

So they'll each be 11 with a little bit extra.So they'll each be 11.So, excuse me.

It doesn't seem very long.Can you move that beautiful butt, girl?

Thank you.No, it needs to be more than 11 1⁄2 because an inch -ish of tuft in the top.12 1⁄2.been called out Now we just have to find the serger, which uh, I know I have one somewhere in a box Get out of here Christmas!Or me, I'm just - Because I have to wait for my serger threads to come in the mail, but I just needed to get some good lovin' I'm just so full of love for my animal Pip here is eight and a half months now If it's just like yesterday she went to the d -d -d -d -d -d Honestly though, she was such an easy puppy.When we first got her, you know, we were potty training and all that stuff, so that was really difficult.

Pretty much from like four months on, she has been so good, which was really, really helpful because, you know, Frodo got hurt and needed his surgery and then was in recovery.I can't tell you, it was...You eating your foot?You good?I was worried for a little bit that she wasn't gonna be a love bug or cuddly.I feel like every girl dog I've ever known is a love bug.

more independent than any boy dog I've ever known or had.Frodo is so cuddly.I was worried that she wouldn't seek out cuddles and for a while she didn't.Like she's gone through phases where she was really cuddly when she was a puppy.What are you doing?Oh, you got sap on your feet.

Yeah.Well, we'll talk about that.But then she went through like a month or so or longer of if we were sitting on the couch, she would come, we call it her spot.It's like over in the hallway over here.She would lay down there and almost not see us the whole night we were watching TV.Partly that's because she's like a herding dog through and through or like a guardian dog.

So she's got great Pyrenees, cattle dog.Those are the big two.And so I think Maybe part of that was that she just wanted to watch the whole house and guard the area for us.But recently she's been coming and sitting with us on the couch way more often.A new thing for her is kisses.She loves giving kisses and she has like the most...

They're not even sloppy, they're just loud.So she'll go to lick you and it's like...Every time she comes and lays on the couch, me and Nick look at each other like...But it's happening more and more so I have faith that she's like kind of entering her cuddly era.She loves being outside.It's impossible to get her inside.

But I think that's also a great Pyrenees trait, is that they will just sit and guard their livestock and their land.She is a digger, as you can see by her getting all the sap off of her feet right now.In fact, I have a little segment over on Instagram, which I like to call Pip's Archaeological Finds.So this used to be an old farmhouse, right?So back by the stone wall, there is what I think is just a trash pit.We have found bottles, I've found utensils, old pottery.

She has a favorite spot out by the wall.in the woods.I have found two.count them, two artifacts that she has dug up like this much underneath the ground.She found a cold cream bottle, the 50s I think.She just found a big medicine bottle that is completely intact.

She's an archaeologist, she's my little Evelyn O 'Connell.And then as far as Frodo, some of you have been asking how Frodo is.Here, I'll switch, I'll switch babies.

Hey nugget man.

He's still very much recovering, completely tore his ACL in this leg.It's either February or March and he had to get surgery, but problem being his other leg has a partially torn ACL.Honestly, the recovery has been pretty rough and not as quick as the vet would have liked.We were taking him for multiple walks a day, as much as we thought we could.Randomly, his partially torn leg, he stopped using.for like a week.

His legs are kind of taking turns being problematic, we haven't been able to take him for walks, if we take him in the car I have to hold him to make sure that on a turn he doesn't put too much weight and his legs don't give out.So yeah that's kind of what we've been dealing with, we're not really sure of how to proceed.He's only 11 you know and I don't want him to go the rest of his life having really weak wonky legs.We have another vet appointment in July so I think, you know, we'll chat options about maybe surgery on the other leg.It sucks.My boy, huh?

He's happy.He's a very happy boy.He loves going outside.We try at multiple points during the day, just going out and sitting in the yard with them and he loves it.He's very happy.I do want to fix his little leggies, huh?

Needless to say, his frisbee days are behind him.He is a retired frisbee player.Huh?

Yeah.

I am so full of love.Two dogs means double the vet bills, but also double the love.I regret nothing.Well!that's my dog update Binx is fine, she's Binx you know I am unsure what to do right now because I don't think my threat is gonna come in until tonight probably So what I might do is switch back over to the bodice and just kind of shore some things up there I decided to add in the drawstrings on the bust area, this was super easy, I just did a couple buttonholes and then slid in this corset string replacement that I grabbed online Tell me your secrets or wha - Thankfully this did come already threaded I'm not gonna dive right into it, which is a sentence that I don't think I've ever said in my entire life I have a piece of scrap fabric, I'm just gonna do a couple run -throughs to get the feeling of this Which of the fabric in there, how do I uh, which are... yeah you pull it through and it makes this like interlocked then also cuts off the edge oh these beautifulHey, that wasn't so bad.

Because this already came threaded, what I think I can do is take the thread that I have, cut these off, and then tie them to the new strand, and then I think they'll feed their way through, and I don't have to thread this.I feel like I saw someone on the internet do that once.Oh, that didn't work.

Looks like I'm threading this bad boy.

After what looked like that scene from Toy Story 2, I finally got the machine threaded.Do me a favor right now, kiddos.If you have a serger sitting in storage that you haven't touched Look!I did it!You can do it!At first I started gathering just the top tier and then I was gonna gather the other two panels and attach them to that but then I realized that it was probably easier just to attach all three tiers and then gather from there Which didn't really end up happening because I didn't have enough fabric So unlike the reference dress, mine is only gathered up top I'm sensing a potential problem here.

It might be kind of hard to tell.The thing with these curtains is that they are kind of yellowy, but only when in a very concentrated spot.And when you gather fabric, pretty concentrated.So this is just one layer of that curtain, and so you mostly see the color of the bedsheets.Can you see the difference?It's like much more yellow down here, which I don't know, might not be a big deal in the long run, but it looks kind of funky.

Sew down these gathers, reassess from there, and see how I feel about everything.

Heck.

The next couple of days, it was pure goblin mode to try to get this dress done in time, which included assembling all the bodice pieces and then doing the covered buttons, which I really detest.And then it was attaching the skirt to the bodice And then aside from the zipper, the final thing to do was line up the slit on the outer skirt to match the one on the inner skirt Once that was all cleaned up, this dress is done and ready for the reviewYou know the drill.Wrap up.What went well, what didn't go well.I'm gonna let you in on my shame.

In the midst of rushing to get this done for my trip, and all of the work that I put into making sure that the lace was texture side up, matching everything, and the top layer of the skirt here.is, that's right, completely inside out.When I was attaching it to the bottom layer, I must have just put it on upside down or inside out or whatever.Didn't notice until I was making this slit, and then I was like, oh.The nice texture and like this surging that I did, that's all on the inside.I figured if I didn't notice till the very end, most likely no one else would notice except for you, because we're squirrel friends.

Not super happy about that, but In the long run, you can't even tell.

Hi, are you happy?

Oh, that's very, very sloppy.Other than that though, I quite like it.I wasn't sure I was gonna like it.If I'm being honest, I think just about halfway through this, I was like, oh no, oh no.There are a couple funky things about it.The number one being the bust area.

I knew when looking at the photos that were listed with the pattern that the bust was like really high up.So I did cut a little bit down here to try to lower that, but it's still pretty high.You know, I feel like it gives kind of a 50s look because quite simply it gives you torpedo titties.So it kind of has that vintage feel that the triangle.boobs or Lara Croft PS1 vibes If I were to make this again I would make that bust panel longer and then this a little shorter and also this is kind of funky, I don't know what happened here I can never seem to get the gathering on these milkmaid tops quite right I like the movement of it, I like the sassy little slit although it's kind of hard to see unless you do the Angelina Jolie leg The color difference actually ended up not being that bad, which I don't really understand how that happened.Maybe like the very top of it was a little bit more yellow and it was throwing me off, but now the very top of it is like French -themed in there.

I was actually pretty worried about that and I thought it was gonna bug me every time I wore this.

But yeah, it's comfy.I'm excited to wear it in Paris and eat.

So many croissants I am quite happy that I kind of came out with like my own version Kind of a happy accident because it was purely I just didn't have enough edge at the bottom to gather the whole skirt So skirt ended up looking quite different.I had a lot of fun I put a lot more care into this one than I usually do So it took me way longer than it usually does about 76 % of the way through I kind of hit a wall and I didn't want to work on it anymore, but I toughed it out.I finished it.Here's to hoping that this dress doesn't breakThat is it.I love you so very much.

Whether you're new or old to this channel, if you're new here and you feel like sticking around, feel free to subscribe.I upload every other Friday.And we have fun here.And I will see you in my next video.

Bye.

Also, if you would like to see me wear said dress in Paris and try not to die from a heat stroke, I will be putting a Patreon vlog up.

Okay, that's it.I love you.Au revoir.

This is just the sun being behind a cloud.All right, it's go time.My mantra to help me pick out outfits lately has been, maybe she's born with it, maybe she's a vampire.

I forgot to put lipstick on, hee hee, ha ha.

Thank you.