Oh, That's Not Your Granny's Lace Anymore!

I'm loving the new lace accent trend that is just about everywhere. This revamped vestige of granny's closet is trimming dresses, peeking thru cut-out appliques, and adding allover texture delight to looks, casual and elegant. There's still plenty of neutral and black tones as a legacy to traditional lace but what gets me more excited is the new colors, colors, colors that are appearing. 

Here's a fun color pop fuchsia ensemble by Ungaro:

Check out this lovely! I spotted this Marni creation in an Milan Fashion week article on Bluefly. 

How adorable is this little shift dress and the cherry red is flashback to something from my childhood. It makes me want to go on a picnic in the South of France. OK, maybe the local park will do but you get the idea, right?

Even our own Lady Gaga's getting into the act. Not sure that smooched up lipstick is the color accent I would go for but, hey, that's just a Gaga thing. 

So with all this dazzling inspiration, guess what I've been up to?  Dyeing, of course!

Here's a sampler of some of the lace that I've got my hands onto recently.  I found that the Rit Dye took beautifully to cotton lace trimmings and also got some lovely deep shades in stretchy, fun, nylon lingerie lace. Stay clear of the polyester lace, however, cause it doesn't play nice with Rit Dye. 

I did have some fun making up sweet floral accents and bird appliques with iron-on interfacing. Whatcha think? Kinda nice, huh?  So now I've got my designing hat on to work up some stylish ideas with all these cool colors and shapes. Any suggestions, friends? I'm all ears!

Alrighty, stay tuned for my take on this latest lace fashion invasion. Tutorials and more in the works!