Marisa Lynch - New Dress a Day: The Ultimate DIY Guide to Creating Fashion Dos from Thrift-Store Donts

A Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Original

Copyright 2012 by Marisa Lynch
Photographs copyright 2012 by Jordan Whitley

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Portions of this work originally appeared on the authors blog, New Dress a Day
(www.newdressaday.com).

eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-53289-3

www.ballantinebooks.com

v3.1

To the crafty lads and lasses in all of us.
Its there, I promise.

y heart completely dropped the moment my co-worker walked out of the conference room and slid her finger across her neck. I was summoned next, rubbing my sweaty palms against my skirt as I slowly walked in. My boss and his minion did their work quickly, letting me know that by June 1st, I would no longer be employed at the small Los Angelesbased online magazine where Id been working for the past two years. It felt like time stopped and I was frozen in my steps. I was having my Jerry Maguire moment, except I didnt write a mission statement and there was no Rene Zellweger choosing to come along on the ride of joblessness with me. I was breathless, caught off guard, and completely unsure of the next stepwhere do I even begin?

My thirtieth birthday was right around the corner, and I was in a major funkcompletely at a loss as to what my next step would be, surprisingly helpless and confused. I mean, I was a grown woman and I had no plan! Id always thought that by thirty I would have my sh*t togetherI didnt care about getting married or having kids quite yet, but I didnt think I would be stressing about money or bills, or how to pay bills without money!

I signed up for unemployment and began the job searchto no immediate avail. I was bummed out, trapped in a rut, and needed some sort of outlet, aside from rereading Judy Blumes Are You There God, Its Me, Margaret and subbing in Marisa instead of Margaret. Since my gym membership was now canceled and I no longer had a cardio-kickbox-yoga-robics class for relieving stress, I wandered into a movie theater one afternoon to escape my tortuous thoughts and repetitive worries. I went to see Julie & Julia, and thats when everything changed.

I left the theater feeling three ways:

1. ObsessedClearly, I loved Meryl Streep and how seamlessly she pulled off Julia Child. I loved the clothes Julia wore, the way she threw herself into her cooking, and the way her personality always shined throughcompletely charming and lovely.

2. StarvingWatching food on a BIG screen for two hours will make anyone hungry, no matter how much popcorn and Junior Mints are consumed during the run time. (It was like I was hungrier after the movie, even though I was snacking throughout. How is that even possible?)

3. JealousI desperately wanted what Julie Powell had. Amy Adams (who played her) tapped into what made Julie happy and what gave her daily joy and a respite from an uninspiring job. That is what I wanted and, ultimately, what I needed.

The movie lit a fire under me. I couldnt cook a coq au vin to save my life, but I knew there was one thing I could do really, really well: sew.

The DIY bug bit me early in life. Id always loved clothes and was obsessed with Elsa Klensch and her show, Style with Elsa Klensch, on CNN in my teens. When everyone else was wearing J.Crew and Gap, I hit up local thrift stores and had a blast scouring the aisles for designer garb on the cheap that I could embellish and make my own. My mom was a home economics major, back when you could still major in home ec., and between watching her and crafting patchwork pillows and teal-colored sweatshirts (hey, it was the 90s!) in my middle school Home & Careers classes, I picked up the basics. I learned to sew on a gigantic, thirty-pound sewing machine, perfecting one-of-a-kind purses and creating my own outfits like the TV Kellys I was obsessed with back then: Kelly Taylor (90210) and Kelly Kapowski (Saved by the Bell). You can see how much quality TV I watched as a teen.

Right after college I made my first big purchasea sewing machine of my own. My first full-time job was a low-rung entertainment industry gig (the lovely world of casting), and I was netting enough to cover my rent, bills, and gas, but really didnt have any extra cash to spend on clothes. Seeing actors come in each day looking fabulous for their auditions, I started trying to make my own versions of their super-chic, Barneys-purchased ensembles for a fraction of the price.

I spent weekends hanging out at flea markets and checking the paper and Craigslist for the best (and closest) garage sales. In my shopping journeys I would always find awesome pieces but they were either too big, awkwardly ripped, or badly stained. This deterred me at first, but then I began thinking of how, with just a few tweaks, I could have pieces that fit like a glove. Inspiration took over and I began making stuff on my own stuff that cost about half the price of my caffeinated beverages at Starbucks. Kate Bosworth once made my day, complimenting me on my shoes: a pair of pointy-toed flats I snagged at Marshalls on the cheap, with a vintage earring clasped to the top.

So fast-forward again to the summer of 2009laid off, in the final stages of being twenty-nine, and freaking the F out, I emerged from Julie & Julia with an idea: For one year, make one new outfit every day, spending only one dollar per outfit. Id blog about the results, and call it New Dress a Day.

I decided I would forgo trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom, say goodbye to H&M and impulsive accessory grabbing at Forever 21! Instead, the only shopping Id do for a year would be for previously worn pieces that I would fix up myself. I got out my trusty sewing machine, ready to change hems, cut sleeves, and tweak. My goal was to transform a low-budget piece that had its moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, updated and refreshed. One persons trash became this guerrilla seamstresss treasure. Id blog and post pictures about my DIY creations: 365 days, 365 items of clothing, 365 dollars. Holy snap, I had found my calling!

I can pretty much guarantee that if you ask anyone about putting together an outfit for a buck, there would be heckling, hoots, and hollers coming from all corners of the blogosphere. However, I documented my transformations meticulously, with photos and steps galore, and I proved it could be done. If you build it, they will come or in my case, if you can buy it on the cheap and sew it on the easy, they will come