Dress to Peplum Top

 Hello Refashion Co-op. I have had this dress for quite a while and did not wear it. It felt too light and too thin. I decided to cut it off and make a top. 

This was a quick and easy refashion. The dress already had an elastic waist. I just needed to cut and re-hem it at a shorter length.

I cut most of the skirt off. 

 

My new shirt was ready in no time. Thanks for reading along, for more pictures and details go to I Can Work With That. 
 

Scarf to Top

 Hello Refashion Co-op. Summer means fun parties and this is the perfect outfit for that. I found these 2 pieces at a thrift store and fell in love with the wine & cheese, martini & olive design. It's so fun!

 Before and after.

I really wanted a matching top. But what I had was a scarf. I decided to make a simple tube top with straps made from the scarf.  

I love a matching 2-piece set and now I have one with a fun print. 

 

You can see more pictures and details at I Can Work With That.  Thanks for reading along, I hope you are having a great summer. 
 

Botanical dress alterations and leaf pouding

 

When I visited the Textile festival in Amersfoort last may, I came across a stand with beautiful botanic printed clothes and scarfs. The maker used second hand clothes for the prints and I couldn't resist this warm greyish dress with yellow branches and flowers on it. 

When I bought it I knew I wanted some alterations to make it more wearable for me, let's say 'more my style'. The neckline was too high and to be honest a bit sloppy. And I wanted the dress sleeveless and a little longer. I have a skin condition that is very visible on my legs and I'd rather not show too much leg.

When I returned home, I discovered a small hole where the price tag was inserted. Such a shame. But... i'd already decided to lower the neckline so it wouldn't be visible again afterwards.
I cut out the neckline, including the seam and only replaced the ribbing. That already made a lot of difference! 

Then I took off the sleeves. I serged the edges, folded it inside and topstitched the seam. 

For the elongation of the dress I cut a strip of 20 cm fabric from a white t-shirt. To match the grey of the dress, I died the fabric, tied together with a few spoons of Dylan Smoke Grey. 

And I also wanted a print of some leafs on the fabric, to match the botanical print on the dress. I've done it before, it's in fact very easy. You keep a flower or leaf between 2 layers of fabric and start pounding with a mallet, while making sure it stays in place. 

Here's one of the prints, I used Sweet woodruff that grows in our garden. Not all flowers and leafs give a good print. You just have to try and see what happens. 

Here's how the strip turned out, with prints of Birch leafs, lovage and Sweet woodruff. The quality of the picture isn't ideal, it looks better in real life.

It was really fun to experiment with prints of different leafs! Thanks for reading along and you're welcome to visit vermaakster.blogspot.com for more details. 

Until next time!

Dress to 2-Piece

 Hello Refashion Co-op. I loved the plaid fabric of this dress so much, but it did not fit well. I decided to break it up into separate pieces. I thought that would be more versatile and also easier to alter for fit. 

The top and skirt can be worn together or separate. 

I took the dress apart at the waist seam. 

 

I changed the straps so I could use the excess straps to finish the top. I shortened the skirt and made an elastic waistband. 

 

Thanks for reading along, for more pictures and details go to, I Can Work With That.
 

 

 

 

 

Logo - be gone!

I found the perfect post workout pants to cycle home in this winter - or so I thought. I did notice the bright red logo at the hip, which I thought would be easy enough to cover with a patch if not hidden by my top. I completely failed to notice the huge logo down the side of the one leg and alongside the ankle zipper. 

I haven't posted before photos but the logo was for a local sports team and in bright red and yellow. Hard for most people to miss but I managed it. You can see the size I needed to cover in the after photo though. I was going to return them to the thrift shop, but would anyone else want them? Or were they destined for landfill?

Worth trying to get rid of the logo. I dug out some acrylic paint left over from other projects and got to work. I laid plastic inside the leg so the paint wouldn't bleed to the other side. Watering down the paint made it settle in the fabric better but required a few coats to cover the logo. I couldn't get a navy to match so decided to make the paint design intentional and used black. Waited for that to dry.

It said night sky to me so I search the internet for images and found some YouTube instructions for how to paint a galaxy scene. First the swirly background with multiple layers of very watered down paint, and then the Earth. When that paint was dry I used a toothbrush for the stars and painted the large ones with a bamboo skewer. I've ironed over the top to (hopefully) set the paint and I'll wash carefully(ish). 

Saved, not only practical but different.

Happy upcycling!

Mimi