As much as I love the semi-pro sewing blogs like Casey’s Elegant Musings and Gertie’s New Blog For Better Sewing, sometimes (most of the time) a girl (me) just wants something fun to wear now, without the wank of a muslin and french seams. [“Look at my French seams, aren’t they lovely?!” THEY’RE ON THE INSIDE OF YOUR SKIRT, NO ONE GIVES A SHIT.] It’s kind of obvious then, that one of my new favourite blogs is New Dress A Day.

Marisa’s writing style and attitude is so refreshing to read. She’s a hack-it-off, pin-it-up, chuck-it-in-a-dye-bath sewer, just like me! And also just like me, she loves the tacky and gaudy and specialises in making something hideously 80’s into something, well, wearable. She began her blog 18 months ago with the idea of refashioning a dress every day for a year with the budget of $365. Meaning she could spend $1 on something from a charity store, or alter an existing piece from her wardrobe. In this second year, after much success, Marisa’s now accepting donated dresses from all over the United States. After so many alterations, with the most common being to unpick awful shoulder pads, Marisa recently had a “Shoulder Pad Week” and made a stack of projects using all those removed pieces.

I found this polyester-puppy on the $1 rack outside the North Hobart op-shop last week. Halfway through making it into a shirt and skirt (who else is loving pleats being back in fashion?!) when I was inspired by the chunky pink shoulder pads.

I sandwiched some pretty fabric, a zip and two shoulder pads together (remember your reverse/right sides) and roughly sewed it all up. I should have referred to this tutorial to help with zip insertion; silly Lindsey swore alot when she realised she had sewed the zip closed! After trimming all the crusty bits evenly, I turned it inside out and voila! A new case for my new ‘pod. Love a ten minute distraction!