Mixing florals with plaid....a great New Year's Eve combo!

I wanted to share one of my favorite new additions to my wardrobe. It has come as an afterthought so I don't have any "before" pictures of the dress before her makeover, but nonetheless I thought it would be a fun item to explore due to its boldness and flare.

As many of you know I am a queen of the discard, and I find it especially easy to take old styles and rework them into something new and glorious. This past New Year's Eve I knew I wanted a fab. dress but didn't have anything I wanted to wear...imagine ;-)!!!!

So I looked through my stockpile of items and found this broken down 1980s dress my dear friend Sarah gave me because--as she puts it-- it was so crazy, of course Joui would love it!

And she was right.

Although, I had forgotten about it because it needed its zipper replaced and was a little big, so I had put it aside until further notice.

Then came December 30th 2008 and it was the perfect solution for the problem at hand.

After fixing the imperative details, I sat around thinking of how to retrofit this garment to have the extra "Joui " touch. It is so bold, that I could and would wear it without any other changes. Somehow on that day I was inspired to go further. In homage to Vivian Westwood and her genius with plaids and formal wear I decided to pair this bright green wool plaid fabric to the dress.

But how to add the green? I considered many thoughts; applique designs, a sash belt and bow, basic trim, etc. But the one that was most appealing finally was the ruffle. I wanted a bold, stiff ruffle that could stand on its own so when I decided on the width of the ruffle, I added some fusible interfacing so that it really was sturdy. I also cut the fabric on the straight grain instead of bias to add even more strength.

I then started playing with how to place the green ruffle. I thought perhaps I would have it follow the two bust lines of the bodice, but that didn't seem right. I found that following the seam from the left of the bodice all the way down to the waist worked really well.

But then what? It still needed something else. Located on the right hip, was a very large bow sewn onto it. And although bows are totally in style, I thought it should be removed and be turned into a matching hat....hey and this was before Aretha Franklin showed off what a bow on the head can do at the inauguration!

Back to the green ruffle. By chance, I had made the ruffle long enough that by the time it reached the waist, there was about a half a foot of fabric left. I also noticed how it naturally wanted to curl around to make a spiral. So, taking it as a sign from God, I decided that a ruffle spiral at the waist was the perfect solution! However, the spiral needed something to pop out from the middle of it. I played with various other clashing fabrics, practiced making fake flowers and so on, but nothing felt right. Then I remembered these sequined flowers I had bought a year ago waiting for the right opportunity to use them....and the moment had come! The flower looked perfect as the final touch of the focal point. I was pleased!

I wore the dress out for New Years Eve and felt amazing! Not surprisingly, I got many people saying it was the best outfit they had seen all night!