I'm blue...

Sadly, that title is one of those double meaning things. I'm sharing two refashions of dresses which happen to be blue, but also; I'm very, very sad.
I've been a little overwhelmed with projects lately and usually that means crafting/blogging is the first thing to be put aside so I can catch up on Etsy listings, household chores, etc. I've got the week off from school for April vacation, giving me time for all of those little tasks that pile up--but I haven't been all that concerned with them.
Last Tuesday, a car accident took the life of my 17 year old cousin, Jesse. When I tell people this, I keep stressing that he wasn't just some kid I happened to be related to; he was a very important person in my life. When he was little, I used to take him out and spend time with him any chance I could. He was so fun to be around and always so well behaved.

And as he grew into a teenager, not much changed. No teen angst here, just a happy kid who was never too cool for hugs and "I love you's."
I digress. I'm here to post pics of outfits, but I'd be remiss to ignore the overwhelming grief I feel at the moment. I know; death of a family member is hard, but...this one? I think the loss of this particular one is going to hurt for awhile.
Well, this seems a little anti-climatic but here's the "before" picture. I thought this big, thick knit dress would make a good "no-sew."

So, cut the length, cut the sleeves, cut the turtleneck, make a sash out of the cut off length...the standard drill of a basic no-sew. Here it is:

And here's the side by side:

 This post is from early in the month when we had a cold snap, hence the reason I was able to wear this flannel thing I'm about to show you. 

This one was hardly a refashion. All I did was deflate those balloon sleeves by removing the cuffs then trimming/hemming them a bit. I also added a belt. Here:

How do you feel about the wideness of the sleeves? I actually left them like that on purpose.
Anyway, here's the full blue dress post on my blog, Craft, Thrift, or Die.
This is the first post (these sad stories are usually multi-part) of my story of Jesse.
Hey, thanks for reading! Writing and blogging really seems to help with that whole grieving process!