Dress Dying and a Much Needed Break from Steno:

Okay. I sort of took a break from everything, actually, this past week. Sometimes you need that. I really felt like shite because of it, though. Now, I've done what I always do, which is create a lot more for myself to get done in a much shorter time span.

Some of you may know that I'm working on getting fit. I started 3 weeks ago in an attempt to test my discipline before purchasing the T25 and Shakeology program from an acquaintance. It's $200 up front plus another $120 a month for the shakes. If you're interested, I'm following Amanda MySonAndI on YouTube. She has videos from the start of her T25/Shakeology and through the following, I believe, 6 weeks. She's super honest and detailed. I'm waiting to hear, in her next video, a complete review of Shakeology.

3 weeks ago I was doing great. I continued to do great. I tracked my food on the LoseIt app, exercised daily (this included 40 minutes of boot camp and 40 minutes of yoga a day), was studying my CaseCat software editing quick cuts, and spent some time speed building as well. That lasted about 2 weeks.

Last week, I hit a major wall. I just didn't want to do anything but spend time having fun. It started when I had the weekend off from work. I'd gotten it off to attend the CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) convention in Breckenridge. Well, I wasn't able to because our finances just wouldn't allow it. And since I had already gotten the weekend off, I figured I may as well spend some quality time with the family. We didn't do anything of value all weekend. Well, I say we, I mean the girls and I. Kyle spent the weekend working on 3 different guitars that needed finishing. Honestly, I spent the weekend pouting about not doing anything.

Maybe I was disappointed about not getting to go to Breck, maybe I was depressed because of the sudden spike in dopamine for the previous 2 weeks, which was followed by a sudden drop by not exercising. Maybe I was gluten-crashing because I ate like complete shite all weekend. In any case, I was not motivated to do anything.

Then, I started to pull myself out by the only way I know to be 100% effective: Crafting!

I needed a dress for a masquerade ball wedding of a friend of ours. I started scoping eBay, Etsy, and then remembered I have no money. So I started checking out various blogs on modding clothes. I do love to do my own clothes modding. And found this gem!

A Skirt A Day

And this one too!

HotsyTotsy

I eventually found a blog where a woman had dyed her wedding dress in order to get more wear out of it. You can read it too, here:

Young House Love

This lead me to believe I could attempt this on a hideous lilac coloured bridesmaid's dress I've had hanging in my closet for 2+ years now. Lilac + ink black hair + olive skin = YUCK. I looked on the Rit Dye website to see colours in the same colour family, and found a beautiful dark plum. You mix one box Navy and one box Wine and you're supposed to come off with this great colour. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't work that way.

 

 

This is the dress while it was drying in our basement. Like the totally mod heat hose in the ceiling?

So I soaked and stirred the dress in the dye bath, 2 boxes of each colour, in the washing machine. I may not have had it in long enough, or it may not have been quite hot enough.

You can see the original colour of the dress on the stupid belt I took off before dying. It is darker, but not dark enough.

The dress only came out about one shade darker than its original colour. Disappointing. Here's another picture of it. I apologize, the lighting in our house sucks.

I was happy with the overall saturation of the dye, and it worked beautifully on the "Dry Clean Only" dress, despite the box's warnings.

I'm going to attempt to add Black and Wine, boil water into a large bucket, and try it that way. If this doesn't work, it may still be wearable with the right embellishments. Otherwise, I've another idea that requires a lot more sewing.

So now I've got this project going. I'm back on to watching what I'm eating and getting my exercise in. My house is a bit of a dusty disaster. I've loads of laundry to catch up on. I'm going to steno my arse off in the evenings. I have a legal transcription job to test for and apply for this week. I have another dress I'm modding for our trip to New Mexico this weekend. I have to pack for said trip and clean out the car because we're driving.

Loads to do! Which means...

No Dr. Who!

It's sort of okay. I'm really mourning the loss of David Tennant and even though I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Matt Smith, I don't care for him. I was literally crying, no sobbing, when David Tennant passed on the show. Stupid show.

Oh, I'm totally buying the David Tennant shirt from this amazing artist if it ever gets put back up on TeeFury!

Megan Lara: Art

Stay tuned for more adventures in clothes modding as well as steno!