Something old; something new

I made this cute little outfit for Roo. She, under much protest and distress, wore it to Thanksgiving dinner.

The reason this is something new, is that I dyed my grandma's white dress to make the purple. Having never dyed material before, I was a little disappointed that the material came out light purple - I wanted black. After soaking, stirring, and soaking some more, I reread the directions. Apparently, if you really want black, you have to use two packages of dye. (Who knew?) So, I found some ribbon to match and went with the purple.

The ribbon was pleated and then sewn. The pleating took no time at all. I pinned the crap out of it, before I even went near the sewing machine. The whole outfit came together in about two hours - minus dye time. The hardest part was getting Roo in it. "I don't want to wear a dress!!!" For the rest of the day we shushed anyone that tried to compliment her on it because it just reminded her she was in it. So I took all the compliments, because, let's face it, I really made this outfit for me.