6.22.10d
6.22.10a
6.22.10f
6.22.10c
6.22.10e
6.22.10bTo the lady in white suburban who drove down this hidden country road the minute I was just getting into my model poses: Yes, these are my senior high school pictures. No need to slow down and linger, I’m just a 17 year old out here on a dirt road with an obviously older man alone with a camera. Go Tigers!
Looks can be deceiving, but that, my dears, is not a dress. Well technically it is a dress, but I tucked the top under and added a new top on top of the other top, if that makes sense. Then I added a flower on top to top it off. I’m thinking about just hacking off the old top anyways. (In sewing terms “to hack” means to take a chainsaw and lightly cut the fabric until it bleeds.) I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m still having trouble with cutting straight lines and tracing my hand on paper. Which I realize has nothing to do with sewing, but everything to do with my under developed motor skills.
Flower pin courtesy of Dulken and Derrick.

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30 Responses

  1. underdeveloped motor skills…tis exactly the reason why I leave scissors out for my kids to practice cutting things. Cuttings their favorite

  2. "take a chainsaw and lightly cut the fabric until it bleeds" that's going to be my motto for my sewing endeavors this summer.
    kendi, you make my day 🙂

  3. I totally don't understand your tucking in your top to add another top. This is what I envision, if you tuck in the top of your dress, how did you get your legs in!?! Maybe this confusion is caused from the lack of sleep. And oh, you're not alone. I can't cut/draw a straight line if my life depend on it!

  4. Justine — You are not alone. My husband was also disturbed by this tucking. Honestly, I probably ruined the top because I stretched it so much (hence why I'll have to cut off the top) but most of the time when I do this the neck hole is big enough for me to get my legs through. (That sounds so weird when I type it out.)

    I must say it is a lot easier to do with a strapless dress. But you know what the easiest thing to do is? Buy a skirt. 🙂

  5. Got a little lost with the tops..

    Love the pink with the heather gray and the flower belt. I'm pretty sure I need more flower accessories after seeing these pics and your last.

    Enter to win a Lime Ricki swimsuit!
    clothed much, a modest fashion blog

  6. I love blouses tucked into skirts for secret two-fer dress looks. This combination looks awesome on you, Kendi! And man, ladies like that one is why I get too shy to take outfit photos by myself outside in picturesque places.

  7. I've been hunting for a floral skirt. Can't find one the right length ANYWHERE. Finally found a dress with an adorable floral printed bottom… There was an elastic band in the middle and then a tank-top-esque plain cotton part on top. I thought "Perfect, I'll just cut off the top and voila! a floral skirt."

    So last night as I was carefully pulling out the threads connecting the top part of the dress from the elastic band my foot fell asleep without me realizing. When I got up to try on my new skirt my sleeping nerves wouldn't tell me where the ground was and I ended up twisting my ankle pretty badly.

    Short story long, don't cut the top off your dress… cuz you might sprain your ankle!

  8. The description of the tops was great!! I am totally amused when ready your posts!! Great outfit and so clever to use a dress as a skirt!

  9. The top is beautiful, and such a great color combo!

    I am giving away a J Crew bracelet at petitegorgeous.blogspot.com

    I hope you will enter to win 🙂

  10. I wasn't sure what was going on with the tops either until I read your follow up comment. Now it all makes sense.

    I cannot draw a straight line with a ruler, which is one of the reasons I haven't tried to sew for years.

  11. I frequently tuck dress tops in to wear as a skirt – great way to get more mileage out of something, for sure! The other day I was taking my OOTD photos (by myself, with my point and shoot camera balanced on a trash can with a timer) and a jogger stopped to ask if my pictures were for a magazine or something. Like, seriously, dude, you think a magazine regularly sends their models out by themselves, with a camera, and no tripod or photographer? It was hilarious – I just told him it was for a project, and he went on his merry way.

  12. I'm so impressed by your commitment to gorgeous backdrops.

    Love the ruffled top with the giant flower.

  13. senior pictures? ha ha! i have this same dress and i am interested how you made it work tucked in? i think i might cut mine off too just because i'm tired of it and i don't think i could fit my behind into the neckhole. that takes talent!

    i do love the outfit though. the skirt…er dress..is the perfect hue for the blouse…er dress.

  14. I was totally planning to try this myself (the dress-to-skirt trick) until I read the comments and realised that, knowing me, I'd just fall on my ass when I tried to step through the neckhole. It looks great on you, though – and I'm so glad I'm not the only one who gets the strange looks from strangers when taking blog photos!

  15. Tuck in the top of a dress is definitely easier with strapless dress or dresses with a larger opening on top- I'm a fan of doing this to expand what looks appropriate on me by using it to lower the waist of the "skirt" since many cute dresses are inappropriate for taller girls. Sometimes this can look bulky, although yours looks great in the pictures! Maybe I'll have chop some tops off of my dresses now…

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