PR&P Week 3: Sheet to Chic

This week the Project Run & Play theme is Earth Day. The challenge involved using all Earth-friendly materials. 

The journey of making this little outfit took approximately 18 twists and turns over the last week. Kristin and I keep talking about how we can totally understand how the designers on Project Runway get so dramatic and crazy. That was me this week. (As if this is even near the amount of pressure they feel. They get like 3 hours to make couture and they have to do it on camera. I'm totally crying them a river.) Anyway, I like where it ended up, but MAN I'm I glad to be done with it!

First I thought I would just go the thrift store and find some materials I would be inspired by. I went to one Goodwill, felt pressure to leave because of my kids being crazy, and just grabbed a couple things. When I got home I realized I hated them- what was I thinking? Wasting $15 on old clothes you don't want to use is not a good spur to creativity. (Goodwill is so expensive lately!)

So I decided it would actually be more of a challenge to make something beautiful out of a grody old sheet that was in my closet. I didn't want it to look "upcycled" from old clothes, but I wanted it to be stylish and little vintage-inspired.

Then I saw this photo here. I loved it. I don't know how they did that effect on the bodice but it's pretty crazy awesome. I figured I had a whole lot of fabric with a sheet right? So I'll just make a boat load of tiny 1/8" bias tape and do it that way. Hmm. Not as fun as it sounds. 

As you can see, my embellishment does not really live up the original. I don't think it was bias cut fabric they used, because I certainly could not make it behave that way. So please don't think my design lame after seeing the original, but this is how inspiration works I guess. It's always fun to see where people's ideas come from. 

The color of the dress was also not my original intention. I had to use color remover on the sheet, which started as dingy blue/gray. Then I bought "grapefruit" fabric dye. I thought it would be much brighter than this. I even dyed it again and it was still pretty pale. It took me a good two or three days to cope with this color, but now I love it. It fits the baby and fits the dress. 

Once I coped with the color, I had to throw in some fabrics that were more "me," and I think they all play nicely together. The lining and underskirt are Berry Bush, from Cloud 9 organic fabrics. It's from Sewn Studio of course. Sewn actually has a pretty nice little selection of organic cottons, which is really nice to have available. The leggings are from an old knit top of mine from Urban Outfitters that I hadn't worn in forever. The color and print are so cool. I love these leggings and she'll be wearing them a lot. (You can't see in the picture, but there is actually a wolf on her left leg. What is with me and the wolves??)

The buttons are my favorite favorites. They are for reals vintage from my mom's grandmother's collection.  They make the whole thing feel special. And the pin on the shoulder is the perfect accent. I bought it at a local boutique, the Spotted Goose. 

Here's a nice picture of me looking blurry and concerned about a half-second before Elsie fell on her face during the photo shoot because she was running around so fast. Nope, wait, that's not why... it was because I bought her shoes for this outfit that were too small and they made her fall. That's why she is mostly shoeless in the pictures. Just do me a favor and imagine her wearing some amazing vintage white leather moccasins that we have but were also too small for her little potato feet. Geez babies, it's hard to keep you eco-fashionable with all the constant growing. 

By the way, Elsie's daddy took the pictures this time. Aren't they fantastic? 

Vote for your favorite Earth Day look right here.