What Would Robin Wear

In my quest to find a dress for the wedding, I also wanted to find one for the rehearsal dinner. Even though the rehearsal dinner was "casual" I really wanted to feel good about what I was wearing. I am typically not a jeans and tee shirt type of girl, or a pair of khaki shorts and a polo. I love to wear pretty femine clothes and this is the dress I found at Macy's.

This dress is not typically something I would wear, again it is very short for me, I prefer my dreses below the knee, but it is summer and my workouts are starting to shape my legs more and more. I am getting more comfortable with a little shorter skirt. But not too short. In the winter I would wear black leggins under this dress and a super high heel. And I always, always wear jewelry. It is very important to wear jewelry. It can make your whole outfit. Check out my dress,it is not something I would usually pick out, but I am trying to be more creative and adventurous.
















































I have a close up so you can see my necklace, it was a huge sterling silver chunky necklace with amber stones. It matched perfectly and everyone commented on the stunning match. It made my whole outfit.

This July will be the sixth wedding I will be involved in; always a bridesmaid, never a bride. I am seriously fine with that (almost all of my friends are now divorced) but it is exhausting being involved in all these weddings. In the past six months I have been in two weddings.

This July my friend Alice is getting married and this time we were allowed to pick our own dresses; as long as they were black. I was so excited, and then I suddenly realized, OMG I have to pick out a dress.

Most women will tell you how hard it is to find a dress and a black dress at that. It is nearly impossible. Designers just do not make dresses anymore as no one really wears dresses. Most designers make separates, shirts, jackets, skirts, etc. Which would have been fine to wear for the wedding, but I really wanted a dress. Well I found one, but it was two sizes too big, the only one left, and it was an A-line cut. (see post about dress styles, shapes, and cut) I have a very curvy body (still trying to accept my curvy body, and figure out what will work and not work) and I am very tall at 5’9. To put an A-line cut on my frame is difficult. Most of the dresses this year have a very full skirt, and if you have larger hips and a smaller waist this type of full skirt can make you look huge. Or feel like you look huge.

So I found my black dress, and now I am going to alter it and cut it down to fit my body. I am seriously a “girly-girl” and I love all the rosettes and flounces that are in fashion now. So I had to have this dress. As you can see below the dress is just too full on the bottom, it’s a little short for me, but when you are tall and the average American women is 5’4, the designers will cater to the average or standard height. I could have added length to the dress but it is so ornate on top, I didn’t want to have too much going on with this dress. Keep it simple… I love the top of this dress and it is the reason I bought it.







The first thing I did was of course, try the dress on, I knew it was too big on the bottom. I laid it flat out on my huge dinning room table, inside out.




See how the corner of the dress comes out to a point? I am not sure what the designer was thinking but this dress is too full for anyone unless you are a size two, and even then you have to be careful, too much fabric or clothes that are too big, make you look big, frumpy, and can make you look sloppy. I had to learn that you cannot hide under a tent, accentuate the curves and wear clothes that fit you.




I am going to cut that corner off, just like I do with jeans. It is a simple fix. How much do you cut off, or how do you know how much to cut off? I take the tape measure and lay it from the waist to the bottom of the corner. That is how much I know I can cut off. I always pin the dress and then try it on first before I ever cut it.



I am going to cut off 5 1/2 inches from the bottom of each side of this skirt, and taper the cut to the waist. Slowly getting smaller as I reach the waist. My goal is only to take in the bottom of this dress.



I pin my dress and try it on, to make sure it's not too tight or too loose.




When I know it's the right fit. I sew the new seam, I try the dress on again, then I cut the excess fabric. Make sure you leave about a half an inch of extra fabric so you can zig zag the new seam closed.














I like to have a double seam, and then close with the zig zag stitch so the fabric doesn't fray.






I have taken about 12 inches off the bottom of this dress.




And wha-la a BETTER fitting dress. You will see some photos of me at the wedding reception at the incredible Fleischmann Estates (yes the butter people) in Indian Hill, Ohio. It has been restored to a center for the Arts and is now called Greenacre's and displays artwork for sale, and has many classes for students. If you would like to see more of the property and are in the Cincinnati area, check it out (link at the bottom).

www.green-acres.org/GAF_sitepages/GAF_MAIN/GAF_MAIN-Home.html












This is my friend Alice, one of the most amazing teachers, friend, and mentor I could ever have. I was glad to be a part of your day my friend!!! Don't we look like Barbie and Skipper???

I love to shop and I love a sale. Recently I bought 5 pairs of Calvin Klein jeans at the cleance sale at Macy's. Now I know-5 pairs of jeans??? But they were 11 dollars and a couple pairs were 23 dollars. These are 80 dollar jeans normally. I knew I would alter them to fit me. Boot cut to straight legs, and alter the waist to fit as listed in my pervious blogs, but I also wanted to make a couple pairs of capris for spring. Sometimes I will buy pants on clearance or even in petite's and cut them into capri pants or even shorts. It is cheaper than buying capri pants. I mean where can you get a pair of Calvin Klein capri pants for 11 bucks??

First I put the jeans on and decide how long I want them. I like mine to hit right below the knee, or a little longer so I can wear them to work.




Next I lay them out on the table and cut off the leg where I previously marked it.






I lay the cut leg on top of the other leg to measure and then cut it off.

























Next I zig zag the the the unfinished hem so it doesn't fray.


























Now I am ready to hem. I usually do a 1 inch hem, so I measure and pin both legs.








I match up the legs to make sure they are the same length.






And I am done.

For a woman finding a pair of jeans that fit is almost impossible. Especially if you have a curvy body. I am talking a smaller waist, bigger hips and well, junk in your trunk. What usually happens for me is that I can get them to fit everywhere but in the waist. I hate when my jeans gap in the waist at the back. I swear I could fit a pillow down there. If you have a smaller waist like I do, this is a huge problem for you, specifically when it comes to jeans. I have the hardest problem finding jeans that fit, not only in length but more importantly in the waist. So I find jeans that primarily fit in the hips, rear, thighs, and are long enough for my 5'9 frame. So to fix the gap at the back of your jeans, there is a simple fix and I will show you how to do this.

First lay your jeans out flat on the table and look at the waist.




Now turn them inside out and match the middle belt loop in the seam of the seat to the belt loop on the right.



Pin the belt loops together so they don't slip around. Now I know that my waist is about three inches too big. I know because if you pull the waist tight on the side when you try them on you can figure out how much excess is there. It is usually about three inches for me. So, I am going to place my dart in the back of the waist about 1 and 1/2 inches on each side for a total of three inches. So I measure and then mark with my marker where I need to begin my dart.



Lay the ruler from the top of waist band which is 1 1/2 inches in and place it diagonally to the top of the pocket seam on the jeans. It needs to taper slowly otherwise it will pucker. See photo...






You are ready to sew. Make sure you use a couple pins so the seams remain straight and flush. Sew a straight line. Do the other side of the belt loops the same way.
Cut away the excess fabric and zig zag stitch the cut seam so it doesn't fray.



When you are finished your new tappered waist should look like the photo below.



And the finished waist should look like the photo below.



And finally a closeup of me with no gapping and when I sit my underwear not showing, is just priceless.

Straight legs are in so I am always flabergasted when I can never find anything but boot cut jeans. I don't live in Texas and do not wear big ole cowboy boots so I find boot cut jeans just do not fit my style and I don't like all that fabric flappin around when I walk. Sometimes they are so flaired I feel like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. So I make sure that my jeans fit in the hips, thighs, and are long enough, then I taper them to straight cut jeans. Not super straight from the 1980's but just straight with no flair.

Here is a photo of the before flaired Calvin Klein boot cut jeans.




The first thing I do is lay my jeans flat inside out. I make sure the seam I am about to taper is on the inside seam and the seams match up and are straight. I measure across usually about three inches in from the inside seam.

I mark three inches in with a marker. And pin where my three inch taper begins.



To taper the boot cut jeans to straight legs, you lay a ruler diagonally to just below where you knee is at the inseam. (See Photo)Then mark the line with your marker.





















Do both legs the same way.




I am now ready to sew. I follow my line on the sewing machine with a straight stich. I then try them on inside out to make sure they are not too tight.



If they are a good fit, I cut the excess material off.





Next you need to finish the edge that you just cut so that it doesn't fray and unravel. I use a zig zag stitch.






And wha-la straight leg jeans.