Button Collar Dress

I got this little dress at a clothing swap party back in Oakland, and I love its comfortable feel,  its warm color, and its slightly asymmetrical hemline. And, let’s be honest, light dresses are my summer uniform, and I can never have too many of them. However, there was just one little problem with this dress…

The neckline was so low that it could only be described with this word from my genteel Southern upbringing: inappropriate. I could wear it with a shirt underneath, and I sometimes did, but I didn’t really like the extra bulk of it, and, here’s another gem from my childhood: “It’s too hot for that mess.”

I had this idea, though, that I could simply stitch the two sides together to raise the hemline. Voila! And then I had another idea.

Why not sew buttons along the neckline? I have these great buttons in fall colors that I thought would complement this dress really nicely. So I started sewing! That bottom button conveniently covered the awkward little spot where the two sides of the neckline came together, and that was an added bonus.

Here is the finished look. I arranged the buttons pretty randomly, but I like how they came out.

So this weekend I took it for a test drive, and, I must say, it is now one of my favorite dresses! It’s jersey knit, so it’s super comfortable, and I love its slightly swishy skirt. Red heels seemed obligatory (brown would have been too matchy matchy), and I wore some of my favorite accessories.

These are my new earrings from Made in July, which I cannot stop wearing!

I made these two beaded bracelets, but many long years apart. I started the solid pink one when I was in high school, and then I left it, and the loom, behind when I away to college and grad school. I just brought it back to California with me in February, and it was really nice to finally finish the bracelet! I had so much thread still on the loom that I decided to make another bracelet right away and went for stripes. I like the way the two of them look together, and the little metal closures clink so pleasantly when they move. The silver snake bracelet once belonged to my awesome aunt, and I love wearing it. (And kudos to my husband for coming up with this shot idea!)

Eric helped me put my hair up in this simple twist–it’s getting too long for me to do it myself! It’s still too hot to wear my hair down, but finally there is some positive news: we are now in the 90s instead of the 100s, and it is so…bearable. Oh 80s, how I long for your approach!

I love how the buttons kind of provide a built-in necklace. Score!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!