Today's Sales and DIY Dress Step by Step

***Update: LOFT is having 50% off their "favorite items," starting today. No code needed, but don't forget 3% cashback with ebates. My only pick from the selection is this ruffled linen dress in white, but it's sold out in 00P online. It's shapeless, but I can see it looking fab with a wide belt. Strangest thing...I tried adding it to my cart, but only the regular version shows up 50% off - not the petite! LOFT glitch?***
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J.Crew is having their typical 20% off of sale items (ends today, 6/9), and I almost didn't even bother to look due to previous "failures" with J.Crew petites. There are, however, some decent deals to be had.

The airy tissue flutter tank in XXS is only $20 after discounts, and it has a tie-waist belt which may make it more flattering. The strapless Cara dress is $40 after discounts and also left in XXS. Description says it has a removable halter plus boning for support. Lastly - I love these Ares platform sandals left in sz 5.5. But I don't have any experience with J.Crew shoes ... true to size, or no?
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On a completely different note, thank you everyone for your kind comments on my last post. I didn't document the steps very well at all, but hopefully these photos help a little. I would say this project is simple enough for beginners who have a sewing machine. The tees were 100% cotton so I shrunk them before cutting or sewing.

To prep, cut the second tee into three components: 1. A bottom piece to attach onto the first tee for some extra length; a rectangle piece (material is thin, so I double-layered it) for the ruffle bib, and 3. thin strip for the center of the ruffles (not pictured).

Next, I sewed the bottom of tee # 2 to the hem of tee # 1. As seen in the photo below, I tried to match up the stripes exactly and sew with white thread on the white stripes.

I wanted the center strip to "pop" so I wrapped white bias tape (thin pieces of fabric made just for piping and borders) along both edges.

After stitching both pieces of the rectangle together, I "assembled" the ruffle bib by folding it like an accordion. I eyeballed it and played around until it looked good. Baby brother Schuyler (pronounced sky-lar) was extremely interested.

Having no sewing pins, I could not figure out how to transport my meticulously folded rectangle to the sewing machine. "Real" seamstresses are probably rolling their eyes right now. I ended up using some of Schuyler's chalk to mark up the areas that should be hidden by folds. I then sewed the folds down using a straight stitch down the center of the rectangle.

Final steps - adding the thin middle strip. To create bow-like ruffles, I bunched together two accordion pleats per center strip pleat, as shown, and tucked in the loose ends of the center strip. I stitched the strip onto the rectangle, and then hand-sewed the entire concoction onto the shirt.

All done! Or wait...not really. After trying on the dress I was horrified to find out that the ruffles were way too big. That's what I get for not measuring or looking at the inspiration more carefully. I snipped inches off both sides of the rectangle, and re-sewed the double layers together. Refer back to this post for the end result.

I am feeling inspired to make more petite-friendly clothing. Please share any good DIY blogs or projects of your own in the comments : )