Paint it Black: Indecisive Dress

One of the reasons my projects end up taking longer to complete than they should is my inability to make decisions. I have an abundance of materials and scraps and ideas, so I think that sometimes my brain gets all jammed trying to make things "just right." Like, I have a lot of vintage ribbon, and buttons, and novelty appliques...I don't want to waste these precious notions on a failed project. Or what if I use up something, then decide I should've used it for something else. That kinda thinking really stops up the works, know what I mean.
That's why I became interested in doing a refashion with a brooch. Meaning; use a brooch to gather up material, thus making an article of clothing fit. On a side note, can we discuss for a moment how oddly the word "brooch" is spelled? Since when do two o's make a long vowel sound? Every time I type it, I want to say it with an "oooh." I digress. Oh, by the way, it got cold last week. Those cold days gave me the chance to use this thick, sack of a dress:

I guess that I just had a good feeling about this thing, and a willingness to drop $0.50. It's an easy to use, poly fabric and it has those big sleeves I like. I've seen bloggers like  Refashionista make things fit using nothing but a pin. I'm gonna use one, but I'm gonna need to get a lot more material off this dress. First...

As with most refashions, one must do the standard shoulder pad removal. I used my scissors to take off that mock turtleneck thing because I wanted to make it slightly v-neck.

Pinning the new neck, not even gonna be a rolled hem.

I made it a high-low dress, but oh so slightly. You all know how to do that, right? Fold it in half lengthwise and then mark how much you're taking off before cutting. That's what I do.
At the last minute, I decided I needed less sleeve, and rolling them wasn't doing it for me. I cut off some of the sleeves and didn't bother taking a picture.

First, I used a safety pin to test gathering the dress. It looked like that. Even though, I have plenty of brooches at my disposal, none of them seemed right. It had to be something kinda simple, but a good size. Here's the good news: a recent thrift haul that I haven't posted about yet has left me with many, many pin backs!

score

I can make many brooches or more sweater clips! I had these two silver shank back (that sounds funny to me) buttons with their shanks mysteriously broken off. This made them perfect for my idea.
Veering off, again; this post features...

Black nail polish in a bottle shaped like a skull with a top hat! OMG, I'm so badass. Picked it up at Sally's when I bought my hair color last month. Anyway, you don't need a step by step for the DIY brooch. Here's the image:

See? Two shankless buttons glued to a piece of felt, glued to a pin back. I know, that's some cutting edge DIY here. Here's the damn end results:

I really like how simple and comfy it looks. I'm like, "Oh, hey. Just a little scrap of fabric for a dress, ain't no thang. I just put my hair in a ponytail and wrapped this bandana around my head, instead of hair washing. I'm just casual."

That high-low coulda been much higher...but I love this thing. It's all about versatility. Not feeling the brooch? No big deal, I'll just rock this huge belt.

And a little cherry brooch, sorry, no close up.

Or, I could wear the bird necklace, whatever. That belt is too damn wide. How about just a black sash to take the waist in?

That necklace is a strawberry

 I'm just saying, I really like this thing. Next chilly day, I'm wearing this again. And, I'll try and recreate more of these drapey things.

Stay moody, folks (?)