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!

Tangerine Tango

Each year the color matching system company, Pantone, announces a "Color of the Year."  This color is used in many industries to shape the upcoming trends in color (home decor and fashion, being a few).  This year, Pantone announce Tangerine Tango as the latest color.

It is a cross between a coral and and orange.  I like it, but not sure how it should fit in my wardrobe.  I went searching last week for a shirt or something that was this color or similar to wear to my work's holiday party.

Our holiday party was this weekend (yes, an after-holiday party) on the Starship Yacht.  It is fairly nice weather in the winter in Florida, but unfortunately, was not the case this weekend.  It was and still is in the 50's.  Yikes!  Cold weather on a boat did not seem good.

Back to shopping: my search was rewarded with a sequined-trimmed tank top.  It has that crumpled look like it was knotted-up and not ironed.

But, as you can see below, the straps were too long.  Not a problem.

 
All I did was fold down the strap in the back were it was connected and resewed it.

I trimmed the excess fabric and I was done.  Pretty easy.  I don't usually let something minor like like persuade me from not buying it.  The only extra thing I needed for it was matching thread, that I bought on sale at Joann's.

With this tank, I also bought a sheer, light turquoise blouse with tangerine colored flowers on it.  Since I figured it may be a bit chilly, I chose the dress pants option rather than the dress or skirt.  I also bought a light turquoise fitted jacket to wear over it.  

I painted my nails to match my tank top with a nail color that I already owned (an old color from Mary Kay called Mango Spice):

 In the end, we all had a great time.  Here is me dancing with a broom:

For some reason, someone grabbed a broom and each person had to dance in the middle of the floor with the broom.  Whatever, I did it, it was hilarious!

Here is me and my sweetie :

The outfit was comfortable, the night's festivities were fun and being with my sweetie completed the night.