Hawaiian Halter Top

This was a quick and fun one to do.  My friend was having a murder mystery birthday party where we were the participants.  It was a lot of fun, even though none of us really knew what to do or say to each other.  It was sort of scripted, where you got clues and questions to ask each other.  It was to take place at a hotel luau in Maui, Hawaii.

My character was name Poni and I was the star of the luau.  My character was to dress in a grass skirt and a tropical top.

I was not going to wear a coconut bra, that was for certain.  Yea, I've been working out, but I do draw the line somewhere!  Instead I decided to make a chic top from a kitchy hawaiian shirt that I bought at Goodwill.

I bought it oversized, because I did not really know what I was going to do with it.  I did some internet surfing and found a blog that made a halter top out of a button-up blouse.  The blog was called In-Perfection and she gives a step-by-step on how to do it.

I will be brief on it, because it did not really go according to plan and I had to make all sorts of corrections.  But the basics are here.

My shirt had a pocket, so I took that off.

What you want to end up with is keeping the collar and cutting away the sleeves and the top of the back.  So I marked with white chalk, where I was going to cut away the arms.

I cut around the neck/collar and shaped the front.  I cut straight across the back.

That was where I should have taken more care in cutting across the back.  I cut way to low.

I then sewed the raw edges just one fold all the way around.  It was big around the body, so I tucked it in the back and sewed a new seam.  I should have taken in the sides, not the back.

I sewed the lapels down, they were all over!  As you can see, I did not cut even on both sides.  Granted this was for a costume party, so I was not that sad about doing a sloppy job.

Here is me and my $4.99 grass skirt.  The grass skirt did not hide much, so I wore the halter tucked in, which barely covered the booty and wore my black running spandex.

The conclusion: no one noticed my sloppy alterations and we all had a great time.  Even though my character was the annoying miss-goody-goody that told on everyone, I was not the murderer!  Ha ha!

Fix It - Ribfest Tank

This weekend in St Pete at Vinoy Park was Ribfest.  I love Ribfest; so much good food.  I recently have been trying a gluten-free diet (no wheat, so like anything made with flour is out) and cutting out carbonated drinks (like beer and soda).  I knew I could not control how the ribmasters make up their BBQ sauce (yes, they may add flour or modified food starch to thicken or use soy sauce which has flour), so I said that I was forgoing the gluten-free and carbonation-free diet for one day. 

That being said, I need a shirt that was not too tight.  My belly gets really bloated when I eat wheat and carbonated drinks, so I wanted to be worry-free on how my belly was looking during Ribfest.

I recently went around to yard sales on a past weekend, and bought this really cute halter top for 50 cents.

Holy Polka Dot, Batman!

Yeah, it's polka dotted but I really liked it.  I liked the flow and the twirly-wrapped straps.  The only thing is that I did not really like that it was a halter top.  I'm constantly picking up the back to make sure it's covering my bra and I have to wear a strapless bra.  Halters are supposed to be cute and fun, why so much hassle to wear one?  

Since the twirly-wrapped straps were really long, I decided to make regular straps out of them and use the extra length to make loops in the back to hold up the back from sagging.

Twirly Loops, Coming  Right Up!

Next, I took the small length I just cut and attached them to the back of the shirt.

Easy-Peasy

Then I threaded the twirly-wrapped straps through the new loops and had Vince make a square knot in the back middle.

Really, That Simple!

Here is a close-up of the loops and knot:

No More Saggy Back

I will model my new shirt:

Project Runway, Here I Come!

Remember I fixed up a few blazers?  Well, I paired my new shirt with one of them to attend Ribfest (It got a bit chilly in the evening):

And Now the Red Carpet...

Let's say I won't be quitting my day job to model. :-)

We enjoyed ourselves so much at Ribfest.  It was a perfect day and the ribs and pulled pork were delicious!  We met some friends there.  Here is a pic of their daughter and I reading a Dora book:

So Cute!

Now for Rib Pictures:

Ravaging a Rib

A few more:

Yum, So Worth It!

The daughter let me borrow her bib so I could finish up without a mess:

I'm Such a Princess When I Eat!

All in all, we had a good time.  Can't wait until Ribfest 2012!