Dressember 2018; Dress 2

Hello Refashion Co-op. I wanted to refashion dresses all month in honor of Dressember. Dressember is a way to raise awareness about human trafficking by wearing dresses everyday of December. A dresses symbolizes women because they are the primary victims.

Today's dress is a soft cozy sweater dress. It wasn't warm enough because the sleeves were short.

I wanted to make sleeves out of these over the knee socks. Could socks be sleeves? Sure, why not?

 I cut the short sleeves off the dress. I didn't remove the seams, I wanted to keep them to stabilize the armhole.

I cut the feet off the socks and then cut top of the socks in a curve that matched the shape of the sleeves I had just cut off. Was it exactly the same? No, but it was close.

   

 I stitched my new sleeves in place. It was easy to manipulate the knit fabrics together.

I used the stretchy cuff at the top of the sock and stitched it on at the neckline. It fit perfectly and made the neckline a bit higher. It also made it more secure so it didn't open as much when I bent down. 

And it also added a little more of the sock pattern to the dress and helped tie it all together.

I loved how it turned out.

I was warmer with the longer sleeves, I am so glad I tried it.

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

The scarf tunic

Here's the story of a thrice-refashioned dress!

Before

It wasn't a terrible dress to begin with , but the left sleeve was almost sliced off, dangling from a strip at the wrist. I also didn't like the way it was longer in the front than the sides. That kind of fit is never flattering, IMO!

Refashion 1

I was forced to cut off the ends of both sleeves to get them to an equal length. The knit fabric didn't require any finishing after it was cut. While I was at it, I also cut the front to more or less follow the line of the bottom hem in the back. That was a mistake, because it made it so short I could no longer wear it as a dress. Even as a tunic, I felt it was too short in front.

Refashion 2 (not pictured)

I had a few yards of cheap black lace I'd ordered online for the express purpose of lengthening things that were too short, so I sewed it onto the bottom hem of the tunic. Unfortunately, it was so cheap that it had a stiffness to it that was entirely unsuitable! It didn't drape nicely, and it stuck to my legs and bunched up when I wore it over leggings. I picked off all the lace after my first wear. Lesson learned: if you find 5 yards of lace for 46 cents, you'll probably get what you pay for!

Refashion 3

For my second attempt at adding length to the front of the tunic, I thought I would insert a contrasting panel there, and on the sides for balance. I feel like I got this idea from something I saw on Refashion Co-op in the past, though I can't remember what or when, so here's a collective thank-you to all my fellow refashioners and your brilliant ideas!

I used a square scarf, which I'm reasonably certain was a Chanel knock-off. If it was a real Chanel, I still don't feel too bad for slicing it up, because I'd been trying to sell it for months with no takers.

When I was done, the tunic looked like this:

It took me three tries, but I finally had something I was comfortable wearing in public!

More details on my original blog post, which also happens to kick off a week-long series of outfits featuring butchered names of days of the week, if that's your cup of tea!

--The Unfashionista

Dressember 2018; Dress 1

Hello Refashion Co-op. It is December again and I am refashioning dresses all month in honor of Dressember. You can visit their site to learn more about this month long event to raise awareness about human trafficking.

My daughter is participating too. This tan shirt dress was hers. It was well-made but a little shapeless. It had no stretch so she couldn't tailor it too much. It would have made it very uncomfortable. It had to stay loose.

She removed the sleeves and finished the arm holes so it could be worn sleeveless or with a different shirt under it.

Next, she pinned a wide ribbon inside the dress at the waist to make a casing.

She used a narrow ribbon and threaded it through the casing to draw in the waist. She stitched the ends of the thin ribbon to the front of the dress to gather the waist in.

 I took this picture as she came home from work. She didn't like that but she does like her new sleeveless dress.

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

A Simple Fix

I have a thing for black and white, and a thing for buffalo plaid flannel.  So, when I can find a new dress with the tags on for $3.49 at a thrift store that incorporates both of these "things," you know I have to get it!  The only issue was, though, it was too short for my liking.  A simple fix was in order.

I made a trip to the fabric store and picked up 2/3 of a yard of gray flannel.  After pre-washing it, I opened it up wide and folded it in half and laid it out flat.  I now had a piece of folded fabric measuring 12x45 inches.  I laid the bottom of the dress skirt on top of the flannel to mark my cutting lines.  After marking my lines, I added an extra 5/8" along the top edge and side seams for my seam allowances.  Then it was just a matter of stitching the side seams of the addition, pinning it to the skirt hem (right sides together), and stitching it on.  Once that was done, I completed it with a rolled hem.

I don't know if I'm completely sold on the addition of the white fur vest, but I thought I would try it.  Maybe if I'm making a trip to the North Pole this holiday season....

For more clothing refashions, you can visit by blog, Second Chances by Susan!

Spool of Tulle Tutu Part 1

I know that Halloween has already passed but I do have a 2 part Halloween refash for you. In this 2 part post I have made 2 Tutus made from spools of tulle. These are super easy (but time consuming) ways to make a tutu.
This began by needing a work appropriate Halloween costume. As some of you know I am a Dental Hygienist, so I needed a costume that was still practical enough for me to clean teeth while wearing it. It would have been very difficult for me to wear my Sassy Witch hat while cleaning patient's teeth.
I have already said that I am making a tulle tutu for my work Halloween costume but what am I going to wear with the tutu?
I decided to make my own take on a girlie superhero costume: Captain America! Now, YES I could have gone out and bought a Captain America t-shirt to wear with my tutu but then there would be no point to this blog.
Obviously I was going to make a Captain America shirt.....Out comes my Brother Scan N Cut!

With this I printed Captain America's shield. Scanned that into my Scan N Cut. Then placed heat transfer vinyl into the machine to be cut. I did this for the red, white and blue parts of the shield.


I cut as close to the edges of the vinyl pieces because I did not want the adhesive from the vinyl transfer to make my design look funny. I placed each piece (one at a time) then ironed with my iron on medium heat.
Now to the TuTu tutorial...
1st I grabbed some 1/2 inch white elastic, measured around my waist and then stitched the ends together to make a waist band.
I purcahsed 3 spools of tulle 6 in. by 20 yard spool in red, white and blue.
I placed the elastic waistband onto my dress form. (Don't have a dress form? Use a chair or cardboard box).


I cut the tulle in 36 inch pieces, which would make the length of the finished tutu to be 18 inches (Mid thigh for me and I'm 5'2"). It's best to cut all the tulle 1st.
Then I folded 1 tulle pieces in half. Tucked that under the elastic waist band.


Took the ends of the tulle and pulled it through the loop at the top and pulled it tight!


I repeated this until the elastic was filled.
Next, I used some leftover tulle for a headband.
I took a headband from the $1 Store. 3 pieces of tulle (One in each color). Then I cut a short piece of tulle.


I wrapped the big pieces of tulle around my hand then took the smaller tulle pieces and tied them around the tulle bundle and tied it tight.




I left the tails of the smaller piece to tie to the headband.

I got to wear this costume to work!

We even had a pumpkin decorating contest!

Happy Refashioning!!!

Check out my stash of refashions on my blog!