Knock it Off!

I love knocking stuff off.  I'm sure there's something wrong with that.  But I love it.  I always have.  I have boxes of beads and shells from making hemp jewelry when I was in middle school and early high school.  I didn't want to pay $10 (which was a lot to a 12 year old back then) for a necklace I could make for about $3.  Plus I got the satisfaction of knowing that I made it.  I think I've always been very analytical.  I can look at stuff and figure out what went into making it.  I've always been good at spatial things, like geometry.  I think that was one of my favorite classes in high school and I did really well in physics in college.  I just like figuring stuff out.  And it's awesome when all of that combines into something more useful than what time two trains will collide. 

All that being said.  I found this dress at Belk a few weeks ago.

Source: belk.com via Evan on Pinterest



(Yes, I succumbed to Pinterest, I feel like a sell out)

But I did find this dress in real life at Belk.  There were just a few problems.  1) It was in the junior's department.  Some things I can get away with in the junior's dept. like T-shirts.  Not dresses.  2) Coming from the junior's dept. it was very short and see through.  People complain about what hoochie mama's today's teenagers are becoming.  Part of the problem is that mamas are buying the hoochie mama clothes for their teenagers.  OK, getting off the soap box now.  3) The print is all wrong for me.  Petite girls should wear petite prints.  Not giant butterflies gracing their naughty bits. 

So I studied the dress in the store while the Clinique lady wondered what I was doing to the poor hanging half mannequin thing and remembered it for the day I found the perfect fabric.  Little did I know it wouldn't be long before I found it. 

I found this wonderful cotton knit at Hancock for $3 a yard!  $3!  And I used less than 2 yards.  So that's a new dress for less than $6.  It kind of has an Indian feel to the print.  But it's in dominantly berry color.  I love berry color.  And I got some practice matching stripes.  I'm wearing a long sleeve T-shirt under it because it was cold that day and I couldn't wait to wear my  new dress, but the little white panel in front is sewn in so I won't have to wear a cami underneath in the summer.  And the fabric is such better quality than what's in the stores. 

I'm in love.

So my next knock off project is in the works.  Because I think it's senseless to pay $200 on sale for a bag just because it says Michael Kors.  Did he sign it?  Sew it together himself?  Guaratee it free of defects in workmanship?  Write you a personal thank you note for shopping his brand?  Even if he did, there's no sense in spending that kind of money for a bag that will go out of style next season.  Just sayin'.