The Polka Dot Boring-er (Plus Dr. Who Geekery)

Any Dr. Who fans out there?  If you are then you'll get the "boring-er" reference.  If not, there's a little video at the bottom.  It doesn't necessarily explain much, but it does include the blue boringers.  Anyway.  My contribution to this week's Project Sewn sew-along has as much to do with my favorite Gallifreyan as it does with the shoes that inspired it.  The idea behind this week's theme of "If the shoe fits" is to choose a pair of shoes and make something to go with them.  I was a little disappointed because all my shoes are boring.  Like really, seriously boring.  Ultimately I ended up choosing these shoes:

They're old and dirty and they used to be gold.  I spray painted them a couple of weeks ago to breathe some new life into them.  That's when inspiration struck.  Rather than make something brand new to go with my boring old shoes, I could remake something old and boring into something new and fun.  I went with my once-beloved-but-now-meh polka dot dress.

The dress is too big and really long and just...boring.  Boooooooring.  Boring.  I used to like it a whole lot better but times have changed and I've moved on.  Until fixing the dress for this challenge, the only thing I could stand to do to make the dress wearable was to put my bright pink cardigan with it.

Much better, but still uninspiring

I love the polka dot pattern.  And that's all.  Time to refashion!  Yay!

This picture makes it look much longer in the front, but it's not.

The list of alterations is as follows: shorten skirt, take in bodice sides and reset the bottom of the sleeves (I'm always grateful for my background in alterations when I need to do that), cut and bind new neckline, add white fill in piece, switch out buttons, make ties into belt carriers, and pleat the front waist of the skirt.  Whoo, that was a lot!  After taking in the sides I replaced the skirt by matching the center backs on bodice and skirt.  I continued pinning them together as usual until I got to the skirt sides seams.  Those were several inches into the bodice front, as I had taken in about 5 inches on the sides seams, as well as using skirt fabric measured up from the original hem (which was wavy and I never noticed when it was around my ankles) rather than down from the waist.  The skirt had a slight a-line, which gave it extra fullness once I got it up to the empire waist.  After pinning to the side seams I matched the center fronts of bodice and skirt and then added pleats to the front skirt to keep the fullness and add interest.  After I cut the neckline down I needed to add the panel for modesty's sake (hello, world, meet my bra!) and personal comfort.  I originally made a different fill-in piece from leftover skirt fabric with pleating and binding to mimic the design on the rest of the shirt.  Once the fill-in was in place it ended up looking like an afterthought rather than an intended part of the design.  But I like the white inset quite a bit.  And I like not flashing people.

Warning: here's the part where I get my geek on.  I wore the red jeans (also self-made) as a tribute to the 10th Doctor's shoes.  He's my favorite by far, including his costume.  The combination of suit and Converse shoes makes me smile.  That's also why I added the pearls to my outfit--it makes the look both dressy(er) and casual.  And he has really great hair.  It's all sticky-uppy.

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My silver shoes are the same style as the 10th Doctor wears, just the wrong color.  In addition to the red pants, I also added a sash in what is surely the Doctor's favorite color.  "Hello, sexy."

A belt in TARDIS blue.  My waist is bigger on the inside.  ;)

The buttons have a black background with silver dots.  All of time and space on the front of my shirt.  I suppose I could say the same about the polka dots.

I don't have a sonic screwdriver so a Phillips head will have to do.

And we can't forget a nod to the 11th Doctor.  It took me a while to warm up to him.  10 was a hard act to follow.  I totally would have run away with him.  Or maybe I'm another Donna (also my favorite) and I just can't remember.

I don't have a fez but I DO have my son's bow tie.

 And here's that blue boringers video, featuring the 11th Doctor.  Enjoy.



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