Handkerchief Peplum Dress DIY + Mini Tutorial

Have you seen Jean in her white dress?  If you have, you can guess why I all of a sudden wanted one too :)  Shopping for a white sheath can be a bit of a nightmare because I need a dress with the following qualities: must not be see-through, must fit proportions well, must hide tummy, and must be a "deal" of some sort.  That's a tall order, and one unlikely to be filled without a good deal of shopping around, so I went to the fabric store instead.  While searching for a white ponte knit (and getting disappointed by the $13/yd price tag), I found a heavy white knit instead (on crazy sale for $2.50/yd).  It's a little thicker than ponte and a little less stretchy.  Both qualities help in the "hide tummy" camp :)

I started with the white sheath and felt like it needed a little extra something when I finished.  I decided to add a removable handkerchief peplum.

Dress with and without peplum - I prefer the "with" (at least for now)

DIY White Sheath Dress w/ Removable Handkerchief Peplum

Amrita Singh Sag Harbor Necklace, Lapis 

Gucci d'Orsay Pumps, Camel
Michael Kors Watch
Hermes & J. Crew Bracelets
Melie Bianco Ariana Bag (giveaway win via Kileen of Cute and Little)

Handkerchief Peplum Tutorial

So how do you make a handkerchief peplum?  Remember my pencil skirt + removable peplum tutorial here?  Follow the same instructions to determine the radius for your waist cut-out.

Cut out that arc and then hem your edges.  Voila, handkerchief peplum!

(Note: Since this fabric was a plain white solid, I folded it into quarters and cut out the waist.  This results in a large square with a circle in the middle.  Simply cut from one edge of your square up to the circle, hem the cut edges, and add closure to get your removable peplum.)

What kind of peplum do you prefer - round, handkerchief, other?

PFC #17: Candy Colorized

It's time for PFC #17!  I've always enjoyed participating in these challenges and I'm so excited about hosting this one.  I can't wait to see everyone's colorful posts!  :)

The Challenge: Candy Colorized

Take a bowl full of colorful candies (M&Ms, Jolly Ranchers, jelly beans, etc.), close your eyes, and draw 2-3 pieces.  Now use those colors (+ a neutral of your choosing) to form the basis for your ensemble.

**Extra brownie points if you post more than 1 colorful ensemble or if you add a DIY element (because I love DIYs so much!) :D**

For this challenge, I used some leftover jelly beans and drew green, purple, and orange.  I wracked my brain on how to combine them as solids, but simply wasn't able to put something together that looked good.  Prints made life much easier.

Green Top + Orange / Purple / Green / White / Fuchsia Skirt + Purple Sandals + Green Ring

Banana Republic Top

J. Crew Number 2 Pencil Skirt, Garden Floral (buy here)

Frye Sandals

Amrita Singh Shelter Island Ring (buy here)

Michael Kors Tortoiseshell Watch

Banana Republic Bracelet

Other options I played with:

Lavender Striped Top + Peachy Coral Necklace + Mint Jeans + Purple Sandals

LOFT Striped Dress (worn as top)

LOFT Modern Straight Leg Jeans

Frye Sandals

Gifting Grace Necklace

A 2-color pairing was much easier:

 

Orange Print Top + Peachy Coral Necklace + Green Maxi Dress + Green Bracelet & Ring

Banana Republic Button Down

Old Navy Maxi Dress

Gifting Grace Necklace

Lands' End Canvas Double Wrap Leather Bracelet (buy here)

H&M Ring

Be sure to check out each and every one of these lovely participants.  They are (in order of sign-up):

Sydney's Fashion Diary

KTRStyle

Stylish Petite

New Petite

Toronto Beauty Reviews

Long Live Classy

Squigglesss

Katattack

Tiny Bits of Nonsense

Petite Therapy

SS-littleflowers

Mix and Match Fashion

Phiphi's Blog

Shorty-Stories

The Petite Fitting Room

Easy Petite Looks

LaBelleMel

A Petite Treat

Couture Coco

Petite Stylist

2 Petite

La Conception Des Femmes - Kerry
La Conception Des Femmes - Isabel

Simply Yvonne

To Brighten My Day

Petite Adventures

Dieting Fashions
That's a Pretty Hat
Fast Food and Fast Fashion
With Each Passing Day
The Petite Bow
Vicky's Daily Fashion
Petite in the City
Created N His Image
A Preponderance of Fashion
Flan Remix
Yoo Hoo, Anhie Boo
A Fashion Deliberation
Oh the Endless Possibilities
Keeyatch
Noniq Diary
Extra Petite

Please let me know if I accidentally left you off the list or if there's something wrong with your link!

How do you mix your colors?

Past PFC Entries:
  PFC #16: Summer Wedding (Under $100)
  PFC #15: Chic Pin-spiration
  PFC #13: Professional Under $100

  PFC #12: From Night to Day

  PFC #11: Vacation Vogue

  PFC #10: Summer to Fall

  PFC #9: Heat Wave Appropriate

  PFC #7: Little Black Dress

  PFC #6: Dress Up Your Basics

  PFC #4: Holiday Party

  PFC #3: The Look for Less

  PFC #2: Wear it Now, Wear it Later  

Nautical Peplum Top DIY

When I saw this lighthouse fabric, I was instantly drawn to the nautical vibe of it.  I briefly thought of making this into a skirt but I decided it would be more fun as a peplum top.  I'm also in midst of making a little dress for Baby E in the same fabric :)

Trying to figure out what looks best with it.  Are the red pants too much?

DIY Nautical Peplum Top

DIY Blue Pencil Skirt

New York & Co Slim Crop Pants (slimmed legs for better fit)

Gap Always Skinny Jeans

Melie Bianco Ariana Bag

Gucci d'Orsay Pumps, Camel

Frye Joy Vintage Slide

Amrita Singh Sag Harbor Necklace, Lapis (buy here)

LOFT Rhinestone Bracelet

DIY Pearl Bracelet

Hermes Clic H

Timex + J. Crew Strap

DIY Leatherette Bracelet  (refashioned from belt)

On the dress form for a better photo of the silhouette

Used bodice from Simplicity 2444 and peplum (slightly modified) from vintage McCall's 2948

Do you think peplums look better with skirts or pants?

Nautical (DIY) + Gingham + Bright Accessories

Remember this Pinterest image I repinned from Aubrey?  I tried it with the dotted skirt but the proportions didn't look right on me so I decided to try it with a slimmer skirt.  I tied the ends of the shirt to make it look more feminine (and outright copied Cee).

J. Crew Crewcuts Boys' Gingham Shirt

DIY Nautical Kasia Skirt

Amrita Singh Water Mill Necklace, Coral (buy here)

Timex Watch + J. Crew Strap

Orange Horsebit Bracelet & H&M Enamel Bangle

Talbots Suede Chunky Heel City Sandals

This skirt is a previous DIY using Burdastyle's Kasia:

 

I love that this pattern incorporates buttons and hip ruching to set it apart from other pencil skirts.

I don't have any orange heels so threw in some yellow ones - should I have gone with neutral colored shoe instead?

$5 DIY Bed Sheet Dress

While hunting for a paisley bed sheet (wasn't having luck finding it as a fabric), I found this multi-colored stripe sheet (flat twin sheet for $5) and decided to try it out in preparation for the day when / if I come across a paisley sheet.

There are several advantages to sewing with a bed sheet:

• large, continuous piece of fabric (roughly 70x100")
• machine-washable
• soft relative to the stiff cotton blends found in the fabric store 
• good value (only $2/yard in this case)

DIY Bed Sheet Dress

Amrita Singh Sag Harbor Necklace, Lapis 

Gap Belt

Talbots Chunky Heel City Sandals

Can you believe the summer-like weather we're having in March?!

Close-up view of the colors and stripes

 How would you feel about wearing a bed sheet?  :)

Alteration: The Red Pants Experiment

Argh, I had this post all ready to go for Sunday evening and then, inexplicably, all the content was deleted when I hit "publish."

Let me reconstruct this darn thing and try again...

Armed with a coupon for $10 pants (from this post), it was unlikely I would be walking out of the store empty-handed.  I found these red pants and loved the color but the fit left something to be desired.  Size 4 fit my tummy well but then the legs were a bit baggy.  The unfortunate effect of baggy pants plus tapered legs was a pear-shaped nightmare.  I decided to take them home for some DIY slimming to "fix" the silhouette.  Aside from hemming, I've never really worked with pants so I was a little nervous about it.  Thankfully, simply slimming it along the inseam gave it the straighter, more-slender shape I wanted.

New York & Company 7th Avenue Sateen Slim Crop, Yelling Red, $10, orig. $43 (buy here)

I wasn't quite sure what to wear with them so I first tried my trusty stripes.

Top 1: Old Navy Tee (old)

Necklace 1: H&M Turquoise Necklace (old)

Top 2: Ann Taylor Starlight Stripe Sweater, XS (buy here)

Necklace 2: J. Crew Resin & Chain (old)

Belt:  Lands' End Canvas Rope Belt (old)

Shoes:  Gucci d'Orsay Pump, Camel (old)

Watch:  Timex face + J. Crew strap (original post here)

Then thought maybe an analogous color combination?  I wanted to try orange with it but the only oranges I had were too close to this shade of red and ultimately made me look like one giant fireball.  I decided to try peach instead. 

And added a deep purple inspired by this J. Crew image I pinned.

Shirt & Cardigan: LOFT (old)

Closer view of accessories

Horsebit Bracelet (purchased here but no longer see online)

Target Chain / Rhinestone Bracelet, $17 - reminds me a little of the J. Crew pave link bracelet

Amrita Singh Cannes Ring (buy here)

How would you wear red pants?

Amrita Singh STEALS Thanks to Kileen

As part of my morning routine, I like to check out y'all's blogs on my phone to help me wake up.  But man alive, nothing made me pop out of bed faster than Kileen's announcement that there was a killer Amrita Singh sale @ Enviius.com (Either go through Kileen's site or click here for my referral link).  I have been seriously envious (haha, get it?  OK, I think I'm witty again - must be the sale high) over all the beautiful AS pieces other ladies have scored from the sample sale in April and was sad that I missed it all.  

Here's what I ordered (all prices in CAD):

Shelter Island Earrings, $20 (orig. $120) each

Water Mill Necklace, $23 (orig. $300)

Newlight Ring, $13 (orig. $120) each

Shipping was $16.99 and as I stated earlier, all prices are in Canadian.  I'm not sure what the current CAD to USD exchange rate is, but if you have a Capital One card, you don't have to pay the foreign transaction fee.

Happy shopping!  Hope everyone has a marvelous weekend!!