REFASHION: my something new shirt

I don't have the confidence to mix prints with my outfits, i.e. stripes and florals. So, I'm taking a few small steps to gain that confidence, but by the time I possess it, the fashion will no longer be trendy. With a T-shirt that's a little too small and one my husband's old button work shirts (started to refashion into a skirt), I refashioned a new cute shirt.

With the super dark blue (probably could be mistaken for black) T-shirt, I cut open the side seams up to the armpit area and snipped a straight line across the back panel. With my husband's old shirt, I cut a big square or rectangle piece from the back, snipping along the side seams and about an inch above the high back seam to save the pleat (how smart am I?).

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time, Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: asymmetrical lace shirt

No more skirts! I need more cute shirts, blouses, tops, etc. After a few refashion fails with a couple of my husband's old T-shirts, I finally secured a win with a cute lace shirt! Yay me! My hub's old grey T-shirt was too long and the sleeves too big for me. With some 2-inch lace bias tape, I made the shirt so much cuter but unfortunately, I completely messed up "fixing" the sleeves.

But I absolutely love and adore the new lace hem, and I couldn't give up on it. So, I took an old grey Henley shirt from my closet, snipped off the old boring hem, and added the new asymmetrical hem. I jazzed up the long sleeves with the leftover lace bias tape, and now, I have a new pretty shirt that I absolutely love!

 For more details and pictures, click here.

 Until next time, Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: slim pants and a new skirt

As much as I would love to wear sweatpants and tees every day, I kind of like looking presentable and cute. However, my jeans/pants stash is no longer an abundance of choices. What's easier? Fixing a button that popped off a pair of jeans or scoring a cute pair of narrow striped men's pants to refashion? Because I haven't done my research on how to fix a jeans button (I think all I need is a hammer), I chose to refashion the new pants. Yes, my thought process isn't always logical.

While watching the season finale of Survivor, I turned a pair of men's shorts into a cute little skirt. Before the shorts faced the scissors I needed to answer a tough fashion question: Shorts or skirt? I could always use another pair of cute shorts but then I would have to wait until summer to wear them. I really don't need another skirt, but I could wear it all year round. Sometime in the new year I will dig through my closet and toss old clothes into my refashion bin, including refashioned skirts that I hardly wear.

For more details and pictures, please click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: hoodie + more lace

Happy holidays!

Because I haven't had too much of a chance to work any refashions over the past few months, my refashion stash has grown tremendously. But now that I have all the important quillows (a tiny side business) completed in time for the holidays, I can focus on my refashions!

I love my refashioned green hoodie, but I found another small problem with it. The length is a little too short if I choose not to wear a tank underneath it. I'm all for layers, but sometimes one layer is enough. The last bit of tablecloth lace in my stash was the perfect addition for the second refashion -- plus it completely matched the side strips I added earlier this year.

For more details and pictures, click here.

May your holiday be filled with love and laughter! .... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: a hoodie and capris

I love running my hands through the clearance racks at stores and finding great finds with an even better red price tag. These blue checkered shorts would look like a normal pair of shorts on any average guy, but the shorts are too big and too long on me. Instead of turning them into another skirt or another pair of shorts, I thought capri pants would be the perfection solution!

I didn't have the heart to donate this beautiful light hoodie because I just loved wearing it so much. Unfortunately, the hoodie is a little too small! Argh! With some left over lace from the old table cloth (best $4 spent because I've used bits and pieces for so many refashions), I cut and folded the lace into two long strips to insert into the side seams. PERFECT! Actually to make the hoodie perfect, I added thumb holes in the sleeves.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: Side seam practice

While rummaging through my refashion stashes, I discovered three T-shirts that weren't quite ready for my T-shirt quilt bin. Unfortunately, the three tees were a bit too small for me, but with a little tampering, the tees fit me again! In a previous post, I tried several methods to enlarge a shirt and found a simple process that I liked.

With the brown Holt International tee, I cut two strips from a yellow refashioned skirt that I never wore and simply inserted them into the side seam. The process was simple because I used the skirt's hem (I love no-hem refashions) and aligned it with the shirt's hem. I like the "sporty" look of the yellow strips and the strips match the yellow font.

In my stash, I had an old white lace tank in need of repair, but I felt the material would be better used as strips for the Dunder Mifflin T-shirt and an old family T-shirt (dark blue with white writing). For the Dunder Mifflin shirt, I used the non-lace side of the tank, matched the tank and shirt hems, and sewed the white strips into the open side seams.

For more pictures and words, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: Two skirts for Tova

With a determined effort to reduce my refashion piles, I quickly turned two more pillowcases into two skirts for my niece, Tova. As much as I love refashioning pillowcases into skirts, fingers crossed I found all the extra pillowcases in my stashes. I had one remnant of a grey floral pillowcase from Shelby's skirt.

From the first light grey pillowcase I made a cute little wrap skirt for Tova, but it had some minor issues. Instead of fixing the problems, I made a simple elastic waist skirt from the second light grey pillowcase. I cut the pillowcase to Tova's preferred length, and I opened the cuff of the pillowcase to insert the elastic. Because the fabric is knit jersey NO HEMMING NECESSARY! Yay!

For more babbling and more picture, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

QUICK FIX: blue dress and red tank

This lovely blue dress has been hanging in the back of my closet for a little over a year now. There's really nothing wrong the dress -- I just haven't had an occasion to wear it. I used to wear the dress all the time when I worked full time, throwing a cardigan over it and wearing cute black tights and knee high boots to make it completely work appropriate.

The length always bothered me whenever I wore it because the hem always hit the middle calf area. My skirts need to be above the knee or just above the ankle because anything different or in between looks weird. With a little bit of time on my hands, I decided to quickly fix the dress.

I found a dark red tank needing a little bit of attention. Despite the size listed on the inside tag, the tank didn't fit me and I knew exactly how to remedy the situation. The beauty of this project was no hemming! Woot woot! This girl was not going to mess with the hem of the placemats. Now, my beautiful tank is a teeny bit bigger and ready just in time for sweater weather!

For more information and pictures, please click here!

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: Skirts for Shelby

I love making skirts for my 3-year-old niece, Shelby, and what I love more is Shelby loves wearing skirts! Yay! With old bed sheets taking up a ton of room in my stash, I decided matching skirts for my nieces and my sisters. Once I made one simple skirt for Miss Shelby, I needed to make more. The skirts aren't fancy by any means -- simple elastic waist -- but I really enjoy making tiny little skirts.

I had some fun with the cute yellow lace skirt made from an old bed sheet that my parents kept from the 1970s. Because the sheet was a little see-through-ish, I created a layered lace skirt using my lace stash and remnants from the other four skirts I made from the sheet. I couldn't complete the skirt in one night since I had to forage for scraps from the other skirts.

And, finally, Shelby's last skirt was made from another unsuccessful skirt of mine and a remnant from a pillowcase. I cut the contrasting fabrics into three- to four-inch strips and sewed the strips to together -- gray, white, gray, etc. From there, I hemmed the skirt, created a casing, inserted a piece of elastic, and stitched the side seam. Done!

For more awesome pictures and amazing commentary, please click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: cute shorts before summer ends

Shhhhh, don't tell my husband that I stole an old pair of his jeans (he hasn't worn them in years) and created nice cutoff shorts. The jeans were too big and too baggy, and I had to figure out how to fix those issues. After I cut off the legs, I rolled up the cuff and sewed it down. With the cuff sewn in place, I needed to take in the extra denim around the hip area -- hello, my hips aren't that big!

I picked up two plaid shorts at a local consignment store for less than $5! Woot! Any cute or interesting pattern was my first factor -- price second and size third. I found the blue pair of shorts in the men's section and knew two problems needed to be fixed: bottom hem and baggy sides. No problem because those were the same issues with the denim shorts. However, the red pair of shorts needed some extra attention.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: fun with pillowcases

Bless my niece's heart because she wants to learn to sew and started asking me at the beginning of summer. On a rainy day, Tova and I worked on two pillowcases from my refashion stash. She decided to turn the grey pillowcase into a wrap skirt and the white pillowcase into a cross body purse.

I've made two or three wrap skirts in the past, but I just wasn't super confident with my sewing skills back then. Now, I'm definitely more confident when creating cute elastic waist skirts, but Tova had her heart set on a wrap skirt.

With the second pillowcase Tova wanted a cute little cross body purse. Hmmmmmm. I tried to create a purse a long time ago, but my patience and attention span distracted me from the project. A small purse for my niece? Shouldn't be too hard, right? 

For more pictures and details, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: the ugly skirt challenge

So, I decided to challenge myself with Skirt Fixation's UGLY Skirt Challenge, and I was sent one super ugly skirt! It was way too big, way too long, and had way too many flowers for my taste. The first thing I did was separate the two layers of the floral skirt, and the second thing was remove the elastic waistband.

With the top layer (because it was prettier and the flowers were less distorted), I cut it in half at the side seams. An old black shirred tank top served as the bottom of the potential dress after I quickly snipped off the straps. I had been meaning to do something with the black top because I love the wide shirring in the middle.

I adjusted the two strips of the former skirt into a V-neck top. From here all the details will stop because after trying the dress on a million times, I was not comfortable with it. I didn't feel pretty, and I scrutinized everything about the dress, which frustrating because I was 90% done with the dress. So, I went to Plan B -- basically, my go-to plan.

A skirt. I cut the blouse part off the former shirred tank and salvaged what I could from it. In honor of Comic-Con and all the other comic conventions, I decided to create a Steampunk-ish skirt. The former black tank served as the base of the skirt, and the floral fabric was layered around it. Honestly, I was really inspired by Curious Orange Cat's creation on The Refashion Co-op, and I figured I could try to replicate that with the floral fabric.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

SHIRT FIXES: from too snug to just perfect

I had a few nice shirts just hanging around in my closet, but I never wore them because they were a little too snug for my taste. I've never had too much success in the past, making a snug shirt a bit bigger, but I guess practice makes perfect, right?

With a ton of skirts in my closet, I need to focus on adding more shirts -- the cute, the casual, the funny, etc. With the three too-snug shirts, I experimented with three methods to make them a tad bigger.

For more pictures and details, please click here!

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: more fun with freezer paper

During a recent weekend between shoving Skittles in my mouth and watching the Twilight (Rifftrax version) movie marathon, I completed four shirts to hang back in my closet. Yay! I took an oversized navy blue shirt, made it more fitted, and painted the state of Wisconsin on it. Once the white paint dried after a few coats, I painted a small red heart near my previous residence.

After watching Jurassic Park -- not Jurassic World -- I decided I wanted a cute dinosaur shirt. I found a super cute baby dinosaur picture on the interweb and cut the shape out of freezer paper. I took an oversized red shirt, made it more fitted, and painted the baby dinosaur on the front. Did my baby dinosaur need an eye and smile? Meh. Not at this time.

On my third shirt, I made it a tad bigger and painted a cute baby narwhal on it. I really want to use the freezer paper method to write: Dear Noah, we could have sworn you said the ark wasn't leaving until 5 p.m. Sincerely, Unicorns. But I haven't mastered the letter yet and I couldn't find a unicorn photo I liked. So, I went with the next best thing: a cute baby narwhal.

For my last shirt, I made it a tad bigger, painted the words "I'm fine," and created a blood splatter on the side. Think about any action movie, and the main character defeating all the bad guys in a battered and bloodied shirt. The shirt is an homage to all my favorite action heroes who don't let a little blood stop them. Thanks, Pinterest, for the inspiration!

For more details and pictures, please click here!

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: Hello, Doctor Who!

I finally decided to use freezer paper for a few projects. Per my research, a ton of other craft bloggers use freezer paper for many projects. My turn! For my first project, I turned to a simple drawing of the Tardis, freezer paper, and bleach-water spray bottle.

I found a simple Tardis drawing on the interweb, printed it out on paper, and taped it to a piece of freezer paper. All I really needed to do was cut out the outline of the Tardis and poke out the windows.

After cutting out the Tardis on the freezer paper and ironing it on a blank navy blue T-shirt, I slid a cookie sheet inside the shirt to keep the bleach-water combination from seeping to the back. Once everything was in place, I lightly sprayed the top area with the bleach-water combo.

Because I used a light mist, I didn't have to wait too long for the bleach to work its magic on the shirt. I gently pulled the freezer paper off the shirt to reveal a beautiful Tardis! It's so pretty! I turned the shirt inside out and threw it in the washing machine for a quick spin.

For more details and pictures, click here!

Jennifer Elliott

P.S. How many bobbins do you have on hand? I have about 12 sitting in a mug next to my sewing machine -- is that a low number? Too high? I was curious how bobbins other sewists have on hand.

REFASHION: Two easy peasy new skirts

My husband's grandmother recently rummaged through her wardrobe and donated a ton of stuff, but she had a few pieces she couldn't quite give up. Luckily, she knew I refashioned clothes and hoped I would be interested in the few remaining pieces. I saw potential in some of the remaining clothes and snagged them.

The two skirts I snagged were pretty easy to refashion. I kept the original hem on both skirts, hacked off a little more than 12 inches from the top of the skirts, and created a new waistband. I might fiddle around the waistband on the floral skirt because it feels a little big.

For a few more details, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: a new chevron skirt

I picked up this pretty little shirt for $4 on clearance, knowing it would never look good on me as a shirt. I knew I could easily refashion the shirt into a beautiful skirt. I used the shirt's sleeves to create a casing for the waistband. And voila! Another new skirt to add to my ever-growing collection of skirts. How many skirts is too many?

For more pictures and details, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: new favorite pretty skirt

I have a favorite skirt! For a measly $3, I discovered this beautiful size 3 dress at a consignment store. The dress was absolutely nowhere my size, but I just fell in the love with the colors and pattern of the dress. Really the last thing I needed was another piece of clothing to refashion, but I just love love love the classic colors and pattern of the dress.

For more pictures and details, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: pretty white skirt

For $7, I scored a tiny little purse with beautiful black wooden handles, a beautiful white shirt with a black embroidery pattern, and a small gray T-shirt at an area consignment shop. A few hours later, I snipped apart the shirt with intention of turning it into an amazing skirt!

For more details and photos, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

SWEATSHIRT FIX: side buttons addition

I picked up an oversize fleece sweatshirt for a few dollars with the intention of refashioning with side buttons. Thanks to Pinterest and the interweb, sweatshirts or sweaters with side buttons have caught my attention. The biggest decision I faced with this refashion was either creating a new off side opening (instead down the center) or splitting the side seams open.

SPOILER ALERT: I chose to open both the sides and add cute little buttons.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Jennifer Elliott