Yesterday I blogged about my trip up to the Big Smoke for The Observer Ethical Awards, courtesy of the lovely people at Ecover, and promised more on the small issue of finding something suitably “ethical” to wear.
Well, here it is…
I had originally been told the dress code was “Smart Casual”, which I can just about manage.
But when the invite pinged it’s way into my Inbox, it said “Dress Up”.
I am not very good at “Dressing Up”. I don’t get out much. I was sent into something of a spin.
My options were obviously to Make something, Make Do with something I already had, or to find something secondhand.
Which is great, but I only really started to apply myself to the problem the day before I was due to go…
I decided a little late in the day, it would be really cool, and very “ethical” to wear something I had made, or upcycled from another item of clothing. So, obviously, I turned to Pinterest….
And I found this on Instructables (which is another BRILLIANT site with loads of instructions for doing stuff, as the name suggests…!)
A great tutorial for turning an old t-shirt into a dress. It looked quick and easy and pretty cool. I was going to give it a go…
1st problem-no old t-shirt-this was soon remedied by a dash around the charity shops
I managed to then scrabble around and find all the bits and pieces I needed to make it happen, and got on and made it happen.
It was really quite quick and easy to do, and by 11pm that night (!) it was done.
In hindsight, I can’t believe I even contemplated venturing out of the house in it, but you know when you are convinced something is a great idea..?
BUT I could tell by hubby’s face that it wasn’t that great. However, I was determined that it would be a really ‘ethical’ thing to wear to such an event, so I turned to the good people of the Twitter-sphere and Facebook-land and posted a picture to ask them their thoughts and retired to bed.
I woke up in the morning, having managed to convince myself overnight that the dress looked great….
I turned on the computer, to be told resoundingly, and quite conclusively, that it didn’t!
So with good grace, I accepted the people’s verdict and dashed off in a panic to nearby Frome to scour the Vintage and Secondhand shops, where I finally found something I liked and that looked slightly less like I was wearing someone else’s old XXL t-shirt upside down…
Thankyou if you commented-I was saved the embarrassment of wearing it in public.
I do now however have the embarrassment of nearly 1000 people having seen a really quite unflattering picture of me on Facebook. Which I have now compounded by ‘fessing up and showing everyone on here too…
My Make Do and Mend Year 
Don’t worry, we’ve all made mistakes. At least it was only your blog-friends who saw you and we’re kind of the same 🙂
Thankyou!
As fashion disasters go, it’s a really small one and anyway, you swerved it. So what did you find to wear? Any pics?
So have we missed the pic of your final outfit of choice?
I’ll post it tomorrow!
Not one of your better ideas Jen….but don’t think anyone spotted it!!! On par with my wearing my favourite floaty skirt, then exiting the loos at supermarket with most of it tucked into my knickers. Not one person told me….the draught gave it away. Glad you enjoyed your posh night you deserved it.
Thanks Sue 🙂
Will you post what you did wear? Love Frome for secondhand shopping!
I’ll post a pic tomorrow! Frome rocks 🙂
Give yourself a pat on the back for keeping within the rules …
1st trying to make your own but admitting defeat & 2nd finding something to wear in charity shops at such short notice. It would have been very tempting to badger our friends to lend us a posh frock or blown the rule book up & bought new !
Please show us all what you did wear as the suspense is killing … !
Thanks Vivienne 🙂
I love how honest you are in your blog Jen – making do warts and all!! I think this would actually look quite cool with skinny jeans and pair of converse 🙂
Thanks Julie-will try it in conjunction with some other things 🙂
What a good stick you are, be proud of having a go, we are.
Thanks Cheryl!
I love the ‘hubby reaction’. My attempts at dress making have had mixed results and comments. A classic one for me was a dress that instead of sitting at the neckline sat below the bust line. ‘put a bull dog clip on each shoulder and keep your coat on’!
That’s good practical advice Janet-did you follow it..?!
You have 1000 facebook friends?!!!! The t-shirt looks fun though. I reckon you should raffle it as a prize on your make do and mend blog when you next wish to celebrate a milestone. Nicola
No, Nicola, nothing like it-but you know when it shows you “how many people saw this post”. I think other people see it if a friend of theirs has commented on it, so the ‘reach’ can get quite big!
It looks fun, but I would not dare venture out in it!!! Reminds me of this upcycled shirt dress I saw http://www.theamazings.com/online_activities/6?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_upcycle_shirts). I posted it on FB, and was very surprised to get a serious response asking me to make one for a friend, she must have more nerve about wearing such things!!
Vicky
I saw that online too! I do actually really like them, but not sure I have the guts to have a go now-once bitten, twice shy..!
Thankyou jen for another refreshingly honest and funny post…we have all had one of those moments where we need a different perspective on an outfit!Good on you for having a go though!!
Thanks Shauna 🙂