In high school, I thought pink and red could never be paired together. But with the right shades of pink and red, I absolutely love it. The deep burgundy and soft blush are just the right shades to compliment each other. This is a little more sophisticated take on wearing all red or all pink for Valentine’s Day.
You can see the full video tutorial for how I created this braid on my Youtube channel here!
Sometimes a little pop of red is all you need to elevate a look. I’ve been loving my leather leggings recently. They are so fun to dress up or down. And they would for sure work for a Valentine’s date night!
One of my favorite things about the holidays are the parties! I love getting dressed up. The fancier the better! Black, white, and red is such a classic color palette and works so perfectly for holiday parties. I picked out two different looks from Nordstrom that would be perfect to wear to a party.
I love the girly silhouette of this fit and flare dress, but it was the black and white classic stripe of the dress that had me instantly hooked. A peacoat works well with the dress because it buttons up high and opens up at the bottom as the dress flares out. Adding a red pop in the shoe completes the look and adds to the holiday feel.
This skirt is made out of one of my favorite materials- scuba knit. Have you ever felt this stuff? Its super soft and flattering, and holds it shape so well. Perfect for the center pleats and flair of this skirt. It is so versatile too. I can think of so many looks that would work well with this skirt. I originally ordered it in a 2, but it runs a bit big, so I made a quick easy (and free!) exchange with Nordstrom. The top is a thick luxurious fabric, which dresses up the red plaid print nicely. Plaid is a bit unexpected for a formal look, which is why I love it so much!
This season I am in love with this beautiful cherry red. I can’t get enough of it! I usually shy away from this much red, but it feels so festive right now. Today I’m so excited to be teaming up with Zappos and Stuart Weitzman to help them debut their new limited edition exclusive Concourse Red “Heist” pump. This pump was created specially for Virgin America flight attendants, with comfort at the top of their design list. I must admit, I was shocked at how comfortable this pump is! I wore these pumps this past weekend to church and carted around my 50 lb carseat, 50 lb diaper bag, and 14 lb baby and they were easy to wear and walk in. I’m used to grinning and bearing it sometimes just to wear beautiful shoes, but I didn’t have to sacrifice comfort with these ones!
Aside from the impeccable design (perfect heal height- tall enough to elongate your legs without being too tall) and comfortable latex insert, with each pair sold on Zappos.com, Virgin America will donate $20 to the American Heart Association up to $25,000. This shoe not only has your back, it gives back too. Something that we are all looking to do around the holidays!
This week is baby prep week in our house. My husband is in the process of changing jobs (yay!) and we have him home all week long. So I’m putting him to work getting the crib moved into the baby’s room and bunk beds for the boys. I feel like I’m more mentally prepared than physically prepared for this baby, and I think a little nesting will fix that.
If you follow me along on Instagram, you saw that I tackled the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale with both kids. Honestly, I was a little nervous at how it would all go over, but I went prepared with my double stroller, lunches packed, a fully charged phone and ipad, quarters for the gumball machine, and new matchbox cars they could have if they were good. Full blown, uninhibited bribery. But they were amazing. I left with happy boys and I scored some great items. These booties I fell instantly in love with online and I was happy they still had my size (they run big, so I sized down half a size). I can’t wait to wear this top when I’m not pregnant because it would look adorable partially tucked into some jeans. I grabbed it in blush as well. And this tote bag is a great price and super practical. (shop my full Nordstrom Sale picks in this post here)
*Also, if you haven’t already had a chance to enter my Petunia Pickle Bottom giveaway, head over here for entry details. I’ll be announcing the winner tomorrow!
Happy Monday everyone! Please bless this week is as productive as I’m hoping it will be!
I have been living in dresses lately, and all of my dresses with ruched sides are my very favorite to wear (like this dress and this dress). If you follow me on instagram, you can see how much I wear them! They fit comfortably over my bump and are the most flattering kind of dresses in the third trimester. Shift dresses just tend to make me look huge at this point, and don’t give very much definition to the curves of my body. Ruched dresses show off those curves, but don’t drown you in fabric, making you look like a walking tent.
I created a pattern from this ruched maternity dress, because I can’t stop wearing it. I just so happened to have some navy and red fabric that I picked up in the fabric district a few weeks ago, and knew it would be perfect for the 4th of July! I found this dress online that is super similar to the dress that I made. I picked out some gold loafers to pair it with since I know I will be walking around a lot and wanted to keep comfy. Plus…the are gold loafers. How could I pass that up?! I will definitely be making more of these to last me the rest of this pregnancy.
Another good thing about ruched dresses, is that they are flattering whether you are pregnant or not! So I plan on wearing mine after the baby too. (see the tutorial at the bottom of this post)
Similar dresses and the rest of my outfit details here:
Come make one! I’ve included all the instructions for making this dress in the link below…
Materials:
2 yards of knit fabric
28″ of thin elastic (1/4″ works best)
Wonder Tape for the neckline (not necessary but makes things so much easier!
matching thread
Using an existing fitted dress as a pattern template, lay it on pattern paper or your fabric and trace and cut around each section to create your pattern pieces. For the length of the dress, you will want to make it pretty long. Mine went to my mid-calf before I added the elastic. Make sure you include a 1/2″ for seam allowance, and make the sleeves and dress length 1″ longer for the hem. Cutting out your pattern pieces on the fold will give you nice symmetrical pattern pieces.
Step 1:
With right sides together, stitch up the top shoulder seams.
Step 2:
Open up your two dress pieces and lay one of your sleeve pieces like the picture in step 2. Match up the center curve of the top of the sleeve with the shoulder seam and pin. Then pin evenly down either side and sew with 1/2″ seam allowance. Repeat with second sleeve.
Step 3:
With your dress inside out, stitch up the sides of your dress from the bottom of your sleeves all the way down with 1/2″ seam allowance. Serge down the sides if you would like.
Step 4:
Cut your strip of elastic in half so that you have 2 pieces that measure about 14″ long. Mark on the sides of your dress 4″ down from your armpit and about 8″ up from the bottom of your dress (do this to both sides). Stretch the elastic as tight as it will go and pin it to your seam allowance at the top, bottom, and evenly down the side. It will bunch up when you let go. Stitch it to your seam allowance with a straight stitch, stretching the fabric and elastic as you sew. Once it is stitched in place, your fabric will scrunch up and create the ruching effect.
Step 5:
If you cut out a neckline lining, attach it to your neckline with r.s. together, and stitch around with a wide straight stitch. Flip your neckline lining inside your dress, and topstitch around your neckline to secure in place.
If you have Wonder Tape , now is the time to use it! I just discovered this tape for finishing necklines and I was so amazing and easy to work with! Simply attach the stick tape all around your neckline along the edge, stretching the tape a bit as your go to keep the neckline from becoming lose. Fold under 1/4″ twice and pin around your neckline. Your fabric will stick to the tape and make it easy to fold under twice. Top stitch around your neckline securing the folded fabric. This tape won’t gum up your needle as you sew, and will disappear after your wash it.
Hem your sleeves and bottom of your dress with 1″ seam allowance.
For years I have been in love with this red Valentino dress. It’s been all over pinterest and worn on the red carpet. I picked up this beautiful orangy-red stretch fabric a little over a year ago and knew I wanted to make a fitted dress out of it, but never got around to it. I say, no better time to make a fitted dress than when you’re 7 MONTHS PREGNANT! amiright? (*face palm) But our 8-year-anniversary was coming up and I wanted to make something special. Then that bow sleeve dress popped into my head and I just had to make it.
That fabric is extremely stretchy, let me tell you. And I created the pattern from this exact dress that I wore in this post. I just added a bow, which is removable. I wore it without the bow in this post a few weeks back. I even made the same dress in a blush color (I just didn’t make a bow and made the sleeves shorter), which I wore in this post.
Shop my look below and click on the link at the very bottom for the full tutorial for this dress…
MATERIALS:
2 1/2 yards of thicker stretch knit fabric
Fitted dress to use as a pattern
Pattern paper
Matching thread
STEP 1:
Using a fitted dress that has a good amount of stretch, create a pattern onto your pattern paper. Add your seam allowanced and add an additional 1/2″ to each side of the front for your seam allowance for your cut-outs. Add an extra 1″ to either side of the back of your dress, and cut the back of your dress down the middle.The added fabric will give you room to place a zipper in the back, as well as add the cut-outs
Trace 2 sleeves, and front and back neckline. Refer to the illustration for cutting out the dress sections, cut one center front piece from your front section so that your front side sections have more of an hour glass curve. This will allow the fabric to curve nicely on your body. Do the same thing for the 2 backside sections.
Cut 2 squared of fabric for your bow. One should measure 12″ x 12″ and the other should measure 4″ x 5″
STEP 2:
Stitch your two front side sections to your center front section. I stitched these seams with a normal sewing machine first, then serged down the seam allowance.
STEP 3:
Attach your two back side sections to either sides of your center back pieces.
STEP 4:
Place your back sections on top of your front section, right sides together, and stitch across the top shoulder seams. Make sure to pin your back sides correctly so that the straight center line will match up in the back.
STEP 5:
Open up your dress and insert your sleeves, placing the sleeve at the center sleeve curve (see illustration) right sides together. Match up sides and center first when pinning.
STEP 6:
Flip your dress inside-out and stitch under the arms and down the sides. Attach your neckline pieces, stitching with right sides together.
STEP 7: Hem the sleeves, bottom of the dress, and flip your neckline piece into the dress, press, and use a wide straight stitch to stitch closely all around the neckline to hold the neckline piece in place.
STEP 8:
Take your big bow piece and fold it in half. Stitch up the long side close to the edge of your fabric. The move this seam allowance so that it runs down the middle of the back and stitch across the top and bottom shorter ends. Make sure to allow a 2-3″ opening on one of the sides. Flip this rectangle right-side out.
Fold your smaller rectangle in half length-wise and stitch up the side as well. Turn it right-side out, move the seam to the middle back, and wrap this strip in the middle of your bow and stitch to secure. You can hand stitch this to one of the shoulders of your dress, or simply pin it so that it can be removed if desired.
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Last week I got to participate in am amazing bunch with Marie Claire and Simon G. Jewelry. The brunch was held at the Simon G. headquarters, and they showed us every step of how they create their beautiful jewelry, from heating the metals, to hand carving wax molds, to setting the stones by hand. It was so interesting to see and I really got a feel for the time and artistry that goes into each piece of jewelry from Simon G.
The table setting alone was absolutely breathtaking! We were definitely treated like royalty.
These were just our appetizers. Can you even handle this?! I might have piled a bunch on a giant napkin as we were leaving to head home…
This is a tree mold. The gold/silver is poured into these molds to create the ring.
This is the file cabinet with molds of every single ring that Simon G. has ever made. It was right next to a giant vault that housed all of their precious gems.
When you order a ring from Simon G, they make a custom wax mold of the ring, so you can see exactly what it will look like, and allow you to make any adjustments.
One of the beautiful diamond rings we saw being set. Each one of those tiny pave diamonds is hand set, and goes through a thorough testing process to make sure every one is secure.
Navy, mustard, and red have always been some of my favorite colors to pair together. With so many different ways to combine the three colors, I took the same scarf and same flats and used them to style two different looks.
It’s Black Friday over on leannebarlow.com and I couldn’t be more excited (as you can tell over on my instagram). We are having our biggest sale ever this weekend on our popular Take A Bow skirts and our Great Lengths Maxis. (While our maxi’s work for anyone, these are especially fantastic for pregnancy and make great gifts. They are made with high quality modal knit that is super soft and hold their shape with a growing tummy!)
Today:
Doorbusters from 7-8am PST all skirts are 50% off (plus free US shipping)
For the remainder of the day, all skirts are 40% off (plus free US shipping)
Saturday-Monday:
All skirts are 30% off (plus free US shipping)
Use code: GIVETHANKS to receive your discount
Make sure to jump on this sale quick, because once they are gone, they are gone. Head on over my shop to see for yourself!
I’ve also posted some of my favorite Black Friday sales going on at my favorite stores below. And you can check out this weeks Holiday Gift guides here, here, and here.
J.Crew Factory: 50% OFF everything and free shipping on orders over $50.00
Sole Society: 30% OFF and free shipping now until Dec. 1.
I’m usually not much of a red wearer, but there is something about a red tartan print that I can’t resist (like this top in red that just jumped into my cart yesterday at Target). I made this tartan skirt last year and it just sat in my closet all Spring and Summer. I am so excited to pull it out and incorporate it into my wardrobe again!
Don’t forget that the Leanne Barlow Free Shipping event ends tomorrow night!
