Shell See Ya Later! : A Designing Women Dress Refashion

Wow, it has been so hectic with soccer practice and games, grading, midterm creating, and Thanksgiving and D.C. trip preparing!  Winter may be a once a week time; at least until soccer is over.  Anyway, I can totally imagine one of the cast of Designing Women full of then-hip ladies dressing to the nines for work everyday wearing this dress.  That was a terrible sentence, but I'm sticking with it.   

Danger Will Robinson!

This dress, unfortunately, was not doing anything remotely favorable for me. What to do with this monstrosity?

The Dress is Wider than the Sky: A Too Big Dress Refashion

That line is originally talking about the brain (thank you Emily Dickinson), but it seemed appropriate in this moment.  This dress, which is a lovely Ann Taylor, makes me look oh so wide.  You just know those poufy sleeves bug me, too.  

"put them side by side,/The one the other will include/With ease, and you beside."

 I'm a fan of the black and white, though, so what to do with this?

Leftover Thursday: A Remnant to Shrug Refashion

Remember this guy from several weeks ago?

Don't look too long at it; it will give you a headache.

You know, that ill-fitting dress that got chopped and turned into this skirt?

Happy with a side of green lawn!

Well, this is the remnant from the top that I had left.  It was too intact to just throw away, and I always love a no-waste refashion, so a shrug this will be!

Looking woebegone on the ironing board 

Curl Up and Dye: Drapery Dress Refashion

I found this dress at the store for about four dollars.  It's generally ill-fitting up top, but decent everywhere else.  The pattern.  Oh Lordy, the pattern.  

Not sure toile is meant to be worn as clothing

 So this dress is blue and white toile.  Not going to work for me.  I see that toile, and I think curtains, bed spreads, and maybe a chair.   That material is regularly in the home decor section at JoAnn's fabrics.  And no, this is not a homemade dress; it is Ann Taylor.  What to do to bring this more to the clothing world?

Hungry? Make a Faux Pasta Carbonara! (...and a drink fashioned by my hubby!): A Classic Pasta Dish Refashion

Faux Pasta Carbonara

This amount makes 1 huge serving.  I have most of these things on hand at all times during the summer months (when my basil is growing outside). I was home alone for lunch, and this is one of my go-to dishes.  Hope you try it!

Ingredients:
onion
Canadian bacon
small handful strand pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
olive oil
eggs
parmesan (use the good stuff here)
fresh basil (sorry, can't use dried here)

Chop about an inch of an onion ( I used Vidalia) and 1 piece of Canadian bacon.  Sautee those in a bit of olive oil (medium heat) while you get your water boiling for your pasta (high heat).

When the water is at a rolling boil, add a healthy dose of salt to season your pasta and drop it, giving it a stir so it won't stick.

Once the onion is soft and the bacon is a tiny bit brown around the edges, turn the heat down to the low side of medium low.  Hold it here while you wait for your pasta to get al dente and scramble your egg mix.

I scramble two eggs and add about a tablespoon and a half of parmesan and some chopped fresh basil.  I season with a bare pinch of salt (cause of the parmesan you know) and some black pepper.  Keep some basil back to garnish.

When your pasta is done, toss it into the onion and bacon with about 1/2 cup of the pasta water.  Mix in the egg mixture and gently cook together (keep the heat low!)  until it forms a luscious saucy texture.  Serve it up with some more fresh basil.

I embarrassingly ate this whole plate of goodness, but I am deciding not to feel bad about it overall since it is way healthier than the inspiration dish.  You can do/add whatever you want to this.  Some fresh peas would actually be really good in it.  Give it a try sometime!


And then later.... Banana Breeze!

My husband came home from an annoying day with the phrase, "I need a drink," and proceeded to make this delicious concoction!  He has been elected the mixologist of the household.

1.5 ounces vanilla simple syrup (combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 1 Tbs vanilla bean paste and cook until sugar dissolves)
1 overripe frozen banana (you want it very banana-y...ripe ripe ripe)
5 ice cubes
2 ounces and a splash of spiced rum
2 ounces milk (we use skim, but any higher fat milk will just make this more luscious!)

Put it all in a blender and pulverize.  Sip freely and happily.  Yum!

I don't even like bananas that much and I love this drink that my hubby extraordinaire came up with (out of his head!).  [If you know him, you should be as impressed as I was.  He is not...as we say...culinarily inclined.]  So proud!  Give it a try!

Back with a clothing-related post tomorrow!  Cheers!

On the Wild Side: An Out There Shirt Refashion

I found this frumpy bit of loveliness in a thrift store in Indiana.

Yes, I am in a garage.  Don't judge.

 I wasn't a fan of the fit, but loved the black and white retro polka-dot and flower pattern.  I was feeling a bit adventuresome, so I decided to do something a little different with this one.

I May Be a Little Crazy: A Dress to Top Refashion

I know I'm not crazy for picking up this little number.  It's hard to see in the photo, but the top portion of this rather ill-fitting dress is houndstooth, my new favorite.  (Hold your hats, I've got two more houndstoothy refashions in the works.)

Wow, linebacker much?

How to rid myself of football shoulder ignominy?