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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

The Christmas party dress, and How to Wear DIY

I'm  not a "little black dress" person. I don't even think I own any anymore, really. Oh, no, one--but I never wear it. I don't wear much black at all, except my new faux leather jacket (worn here and here) and my off-black jeans, but I like black best when it's paired with something unexpected, like brown or tan or ivory! For parties, the last thing I want to wear is an LBD. I like to stand out!

And it's Christmastime, so the perfect dress for a holiday party for me is not a basic LBD with great jewelry; nope, it's a shockingly red dress that just made, inspired by these festive cute frocks!
Source: ModCloth via Suzannah on Pinterest
Source: ModCloth via Suzannah on Pinterest
Source: ASOS via Suzannah on Pinterest

And then there's the lovely red and hot pink Kate Spade dress Taylor Swift wore... super simple style but great bold fabric and colors!

I guess I'm just going for the super simple, classic look this season, in BRIGHT red!

I found some red cotton in a diamond pattern weave at Goodwill not long ago for $2.99 or something for like 3 yards. Love when that happens. It was extra wide, too. I'll wear red any time of year, but it's perfect right now!! So I pulled out the classic lines of the bodice from Simplicity 1873, that Cynthia Rowley dress and jacket, and--what else--pleated the skirt with big directional knife pleats. The fabric is a little on the heavy side, so it actually stood out by itself pretty well. Only one panel in the skirt!, but it's short, so keeps it full-looking.

I wore it to my coworker's "fancytime" Christmas party--that's literally what the invitation said--so it was perfect with some gold bauble-ey jewelry and super party-ey shoes!!

Ta-da! So festive. I'd love to add a hot pink something-or-other for another festive look, channeling Taylor Swift. I'm sure there are LOTS of ways to change it up--just like a little black dress, this one is versatile!

You may recognize the diamond-ey fabric from my cute mantel banner decor, which I did after cutting this out, and of course the (reversible) Christmas stockings I made and did a tutorial for!

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