Seriously, How Perfect Is This Dress For Me?

Today at lunch, as I was shopping Modcloth's end of summer sale, I stumbled upon this.

Just a regular old cream colored sundress, right? Until you look more closely at the pattern. Deer!

Deer To Your Heart Dress

Naturally with my love of deer, I had to snap it up, especially since it was under $30. I also scored a couple of pairs of shoes, each under $15. Sadly, after I'd added it to my cart, a really cute purse sold out--I guess I'm not the only one who was tempted today after receiving their email about the sale!

I can't wait to wear this dress, even if we really only have about a month and a half left of sundress weather here. But it would also be cute with brown knee high boots and a cardigan this fall. Ahhh, I hate wishing away summer, especially when "second summer" (aka, once it cools down enough to enjoy the outdoors again) has just started...but I do love my fall boots!

Have you scored any good deals in end of summer sales?

 

Help Me Pick a Fabric Dye Color!

Now that our one year wedding anniversary has come and gone, I've started thinking again about what to do with some of our leftover wedding items. 

I still haven't gotten around to selling or giving away a few extra decor items and still haven't cleaned any of my wedding event dresses yet. Partly because of laziness, partly because I hate getting rid of stuff, and partly because I ran out of time to take care of these things before our move and they're still packed away.

But this past weekend I did dig out my rehearsal dinner dress from BCBG, because I think I want to try to dye it so I can re-wear it, instead of selling it to someone. If it was a color other than white, I would have a lot more use for it, and I really like the silk floral applique detailing, so I figure it's worth a shot.

Here's a look at my rehearsal dress, so you get an idea of what I'm talking about (the purple sash is not attached):

{From our wedding ceremony rehearsal}

{From our rehearsal dinner}

And a close up view of the fabric:

{From this post about making my Weddingbee Moniker-Inspired Rehearsal Bouquet}

The problem is, the top floral layer of the dress is 100% silk and the under layer is 100% polyester. Googling high and low, time and time again I read that there is no fabric dye that will work on both silk and polyester.

I briefly considered taking apart the seams to separate the layers of the dress, dying them separately , then sewing them back together, but that seems like too much work.

So I kept Googling, reading fabric dying forums, until I found a mention of what is called iDye (for natural fabrics like silk) and iDye Poly (for synthetic fabrics like polyester), which can be mixed together to dye poly-blend fabrics). So I'm guessing (and hoping!) it will work on my two layer dress too.

But now is where I need your help, because I can't decide which color to dye my dress!

I always love bright colors, but then again, they aren't quite as versatile. But I do want something that will go with the floral-ness of the dress. Here's a look at my color choices in red:

{Source}

And with a little Photoshop fun, here's what the dress could look like once it's dyed:

The yellow is fun, but could be a little too neon, although I really liked Cat Deeley's yellow dress last night on SYTYCD--the lace top might look a bit like my dress would if dyed yellow.

The pink is a bit bright, the purple is a little too "Barney," and the red could be ok, but I just got this other red dress (in fact, I have several red dresses already).

Looking at darker options:

The blue is not too bad, but I'm not sure it totally goes with the flowers, and the green is nice, but again, I couldn't wear it to as many things, just like with the yellow, because it's such a stand out color. The gold is very interesting....it has a lot of potential to be nice and classy but subtle, as long as it doesn't end up being too orange or yellow or dingy looking. I really like the silver grey, however I do already have a silver scoop neck dress with a belt, so I'm not sure I need another one. And of course I already own several LDBs as well, plus I think the black might be a little much for the floral theme of the dress.

This is the sliver dress I already own, what do you think, too close to what my rehearsal dress could become once it's dyed?

{From this hair curling tutorial blog post}

Although my silver dress is a bit shiny, as shown better in this photo with a flash:

{From this lovely lady's wedding recaps}

Basically, I don't think I like the pink or purple, but I'm still debating the other colors. So please weigh in with your opinion, which color would you pick for this dress dying experiment?

I'm Pretty Sure I Must Buy This Dress

I know a lot of people are really, REALLY into Anthropologie.

But I must confess, while I like their clothes, I usually can't justify the prices when I can get a similar sweater or whatever from someplace cheaper like H&M, Victoria's Secret, or even Target (I'm more of a quantity over label girl when it comes to clothes. I've seen a lot of bloggers doing that thing where they only wear 30 items of clothing for 30 days--well for me, it would be a lot easier to go 30 days without wearing the same item of clothing more than once!).

I've only ever purchased one thing from Anthropologie, a sundress that I wore for our post-wedding luncheon. But I'm pretty sure I must buy this sundress that I just saw on their website. I don't think I can resist the purple and green!

{Source}

Where the heck was this dress last spring when I was looking for purple and green dresses for our various wedding events? It even matches my blog design! LOVE!

(Plus, I'm pretty sure the purchase is justifiable....I *NEED* a new sundress or two for our upcoming trip to Florida, right?)