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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Wowza! A very red dress.


Remember my dilemma about designing a bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding?  She wanted all her bridesmaids in RED dresses, doesn't matter what style, and the other four chose all very different dresses.  I didn't know what to do, there were so many acceptable possibilities!  You all had SO many great ideas; it was really awesome to hear your suggestions and you really inspired me to think outside the (well, my design) box!

So many great ideas, though, that it was hard to combine them all.  Some of you said strapless might be good since it is different than the others and it is very bridesmaid-ey.  That encouragement helped me look around some more.  While sitting with my friend, the bride, we found this J.Crew dress that she thought was really cute, the Leah dress:
And I figured, if she likes it there, she'd probably like it if I wore something similar!

So I pulled out my ol' fave McCall's pattern and cut out a modified front piece to allow for the pleats.

You can kinda see here what I did.  This is the inside view.  I pressed all the pleats in place so the size of the outside matched the lining (it's all the same cotton sateen, lining and outside), sewed the pleats down, and treated it like a regular outside.

Then I assembled it as usual!  I didn't use a pattern for the skirt; I debated a full or slimmer skirt and ended up doing the tulip-ey style I like--wider at the top, pleated, and a little narrower at the knees.  I just used the width of the fabric and tapered to the bottom.

The skirt was maybe a little too full at the top, but hey--it makes me look like I have hips!

I also gave it the narrow waistband of the J.Crew original.  I never would have thought to use such a narrow piece, but it looks cute!
Back and side views....

Here is is up close.  It looks like a heart!  This dress will definitely be good some Valentine's Day.

After my friend's wedding, I'm thinking of adding straps or halter straps or something.  I have more fabric.  It might make it a little less racy.  Wowee, it is a bright color!

Thoughts for modifications after the wedding to make it more wearable?

Update: Here it is in action!

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