From Tablecloth to Christmas Outfits

Just before Christmas, I found a wonderful green small tablecloth with a pattern of green foliage and orange flowers for $3 at St Vinnies. I thought it would make a great playsuit for my daughter, Mae-Mae and started making it based on the pattern I made for the playsuit below.

Only problem was, I had made the pattern back I'm April for a jersey fabric so using a cotton fabric 7 months later was not going to work. Unfortunately, I only thought of this after I had cut the bodice and the pants pieces and I had wasted quite a bit as I used part of the fabric as a faux border. A refashion was required, the bodice was way too short, even for a crop, so I added a peplum and turned it into a peplum crop top and I added a waistband to the pants (flat at the front, elastic for fit at the back). I kept it sleeveless and did not add the neck piece to make it almost a boat neckline. I was lucky that although I didn't have any green or orange bias binding on hand, I did have some hot pink bias and it really went well with the fabric. In the end the outfit turned out really lovely and perfect for our hot Christmas.

I had another tablecloth on hand which I had planned to make myself a skirt but on close inspection there were quite a lot of marks which did not come out in the wash, so there was not a lot of usable length. Perfect though for another cropped peplum outfit for Mae-Mae's slightly older sister, Daf. I didn't want to grade, so I took the pattern I had made for Daf for her Taronga Zoo Curtain Refashion, used the cullotees as is and adjusted the base bodice. I think it turned out really nice and I had just enough to get some really nice placements of the floral designs.

The girls loved their Christmas outfits and wore them to most of their Christmas events, although I'm not sure what I prefer, the covert outfits of this year or the overt outfits of the year before (Merry Refashioned Christmas 2012). 

This one is not strictly a refashion but it's the same pattern and the fabric came from the same thrift store. It is an Ikea print (although not one I have seen in our local store) and a bit of a brave one, with Lobsters, prawns, fruit and flowers on the design, so maybe the original buyer couldn't work out what to do with it.

This one is definitely not a refashion but its so cute I couldn't resist including it, not sure why the reindeers don't have mouths though!