Refashion as old as my son: Sorbetto tunic

I finally get to finish my very first attempt at garment sewing, yay! I cut the fabric for another pattern longggg time ago, thinking that I will learn to sew my own clothes during my maternity leave like 18 months++ ago but got cold feet and put it away. When I finally picked up courage to learn to sew clothes again last August I never looked back and never stop sewing, but only now able to (find the time and idea) to close this chapter...

I used the Sorbetto pattern, and made it roomier at the bottom and added the white fabric (and used the same white fabric to bind the neck and armhole) to add length making it more of a tunic.

Can't find even one pic of me in the original dress (coz it sure wasn't flattering to me) so the following amateur drawing is approximately how it looked like:


For the back story and more, come and visit me at my blog Memoryseed. :)

Easy nursing top from 2 t-shirts

I will admit that as refashions go this isn't the best as the start product is two new t-shirts. But i am happy with the result and I am going to be using this idea again for sure.

Xx Eddie (who is back and blogging again at Eddie's room

Resized skirt!

I found this skirt at the thrift store, and fell in love with it, but it was a size 0. I frowned, and put it back on the rack, but then the lightbulb went off, and it went back in my cart. I resized it, by cutting off the waistband, and adding a soft, stretchy, lightly felted (washed in a hot wash, so it won't unravel when cut) merino wool waistband from sweater. Now it's a size *cough* ! It's very flattering on, but since I haven't shaved my legs since about October (sorry if that's tmi!), this is all I can show you right now ;).



~ Reuse, Recycle, Resweater! ~
www.resweater.blogspot.com

Fab Coat Now Wearable!

I would say there are two categories of refashion projects:

1. The ones you make out of items that are just not fashionable anymore the way they are.
2. The ones you make with garments that don't fit anymore (or that need mending...).

This one belongs to the second category. While I really always adored this coat, it was just too tight for me to wear it comfortably. It might not be obvious in the picture below, but I am also only wearing a blouse under it...

I slit it open along the sides and added a stripe of black wool fabric...

The part that took longest for this project was getting up the courage to do it! But it was well worth it and turned out just the way I hoped it would ...for more pictures, please come visit my blog: Of Dreams and Seams.
All the best to you fellow re-fashionistas out there!
Katja

Two more gray shirts

These days, I am working on a really awesome refashion (at least, I hope it will turn out awesomely). However, I realized that to do it right, I sort of needed to teach myself draping and pattern-making. So it is taking a while.

In the meantime, I whipped up these two simpler refashions. For the first one, I used this tutorial from Adventures in Dressmaking to turn a long-sleeved t-shirt into a short-sleeved one with a cute ruffle. I think it turned out very well.

Here is a close-up of the asymmetrical ruffle.

For the second refashion, I took another gray item, this time a too-short dress with fun puffy sleeves, and turned it into another gray t-shirt. Yes, I seem to have an addiction to gray t-shirts. As a mom, I mostly wear jeans and a t-shirt, but at least I can have cute t’s! You can't tell from the picture, but this fabric has a slight sparkle to it.

For both of these refashions, I used a machine stitch that was new to me – the straight stretch stitch. I wanted to have some give in the neck holes and sleeves of both items. It worked like a charm for attaching the thick ruffle to the neck of the first shirt. However, for the thinner sleeves and hem, the top thread broke over and over again. I fooled around with the tension, to no avail. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions?

The Polyester Dream Dress

The Polyester Dream Refashion!

Here it is before:

Not bad, but it ain't great. I also snapped a halfway point pic which compares short sleeves to sleeveless. I'm glad I got rid of them all together. One shouldn't try to look like a frigid librarian or British boarding school mistress, lol. I didn't expect to like this so much! I may have to remake it in a better fabric. One that won't make me sweat to death!

More info here!

How To Sew A Baby Hem On Delicate Fabrics

I needed this technique for my latest dress refashion:

Thrifted dress ($2) - I removed the extremely pouffy sleeves, cut off about 6 inches of length, and then used the baby hem technique to sew both the arm holes and the new hem.

Here's how I do a baby hem:

front side

Nailpolish Jewelry Make-Overs

thrift store necklace - $1

Done using just a little nail polish (and some antiquing glaze)

And a few others that I've done:



more details on twobutterflies

Spring Cardigan

I found this oversized cardigan on a thrifting adventure. I pinched and pinned the sides and arms to fit. To make it shorter, I cut off the ribbing, chopped off some length and sewed the bottom ribbing back on. Now I have a new sweater to wear for spring time : )

jillians refashions

Maternity top refashioned into toddler dress

I took this old maternity top.

Chopped it in half to use the bottom half and took one of my daughters old (stained) tops.

Chopped the sleeves off, created new sleeves, a bow in the back, ruffle in the front...and ultimately created this new little dress for my 17 month old!

See my whole tutorial on my blog Feel free to follow me on Twitter or Pinterest @RefashionMama or like my facebook page

One top - three outcomes

I was given this top from the friend of mine, who (I think) wanted to challenge me. The top was in excellent condition, so I didn't really wanted to cut it into pieces, but at the end I did and here is the outcome:
(I don't have BEFORE picture, but the top had long sleeves and was tighen around hips)

So fist part was turned into dress - I added red satin, faux leather rim and elastic to waist.

I turned second part upside down and added black satin, elastic to waist and lace to rims.

So I was left with sleeves parts. Here they are:

So I used 100% of the top and there was no leftover. Not bad I think!

Have a nice day and wish you great refashions!

PS You can find more of my refashions on my Bartinki Facebook page.

Girl's Skirts and Leggings...

Hi, Pam here from Threading My Way.

My refashion started as two women's skirts, one woman's top and an adult t-shirt...

And ended up as two skirts, a pair of pantaloons and a pair of leggings. Four items of unwanted women's clothing, turned into four little pieces of clothing to mix and match, for a little girl.

You can find more details and photos here...

... Pam

Summer Loves!

The other day at one of the many thrift stores I go to, I found these Royal Crown bags for 50 cents each...For that price I brought 20.00 worth. Now I am experimenting with them...I told my sister I was making this for her and some of her friends for the upcoming rodeo..I think they would receive a lot of notice...LOL!

This needs a hem or a ruffle, I'm not sure which one yet.. I used some old tablecloths and lace trim

Yes I even use yarn that I have found at yard sales or thrift stores...A friend and I use to make these tops, for a company in Laguna Beach, many years ago! For the summer I decided to resurrect the pattern and make a few little changes to up date the look...Now I'm ready for the summer to get here!

Ruffle Refashion

This is the rather quick refashion I did on a rather long and frumpy cardigan.

Before:

And after:

More details over on my blog.

First Post - trousers to shorts

Hi, I'm Ravs. I live in Brisbane, Australia and have loved sewing since childhood. My 21st present was a Husqvarna sewing machine! I found this site via Reana Louise at Curves, Patterns & Pins. It is very inspiring.
I don't get as much sewing done as I would like (who does?) but hopefully that will change as soon as I get over this 'flu. My second (& final) has just started school and I only work part-time.
Anyway, here's a little refashion I did just before succumbing to the dreaded lurgy.

From disreputable, worn out (and too short) jeans

To a pair of 'cool' (according to Mstr 7) shorts.

If you want to see more - come and visit at ravscreations.blogspot.com and ravsrecreations.blogspot.com (I've just recently separated the sewing etc blog from the garden / environment blog).
All the best
Ravs

Granny's Dress

Somewhere in the number of old albums my mother saved, is a picture of my grandma Dorthy in a dress so much like this that I wonder! For 2.50, I thought why not and added it to my pile of thrift store finds...

the first thing I did was cut off the skirt and sleeves of the dress...turned the top upside down (because of the elastic band...it is too much effort to redo a casting if one is already there)...then the most simple thing would have been to reattach the skirt...but I wanted to push myself further..

so I thought perhaps I could take the sleeves, open them up and use them for the bottom of the skirt...perhaps use a draped belt with a great buckle...

after more thought, I decided I wanted a summer top with capris ...so I found some really great lace at another thrift store to add a ruffle...then I turned the skirt into capris...LOVE IT!...oh and please overlook the mess in the back ground..when I am preparing for a show I have to have everything out..that way I can get a better perspective of what to pair with what!

Bold and Beautiful

As a child I was raised on the principals of the 7Ps ... Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance..these principles served me very well during my career in Juvenile Justice system..

However since my retirement I have embraced my youngest brother's revision of the 7Ps...Preparedness is the recipe for boredom

I don't see green grass..My grass is purple with bold yellows and blue! I love looking at things from a different perspective and allowing my mind to wander and wonder at what the potential is, not what it was...So today I would like to encourage others to implement my brother's wonderful freeing theory...boredom is not an option!
http://facebook.com/rubyz2day

More recycled wool knee patches!

Yep, more wool knee patches! This is the first pair of jeans, that I bought new, that my son has put knee holes in. All the previous holey knees were from thrifted jeans, whose knees were already faded and on borrowed time. Hopefully this is not an indication of how things are going to be from now on... I can only patch them so fast ;) ! I asked my son what he wanted for this pair, and he said "stars... like on GI Joe stuff". Army green stars it is!

Here's the jeans, before and after....


and a close up of one of the knees, before and after...


It'll look cooler after they get washed a couple more times, and the stars get fringier.

Fyi, I have been asked a few times how the patches hold up in the wash, and if they will shrink further. The first one I made still looks great, and has not felted any further. I wash them on cold, and that first pair has been washed & worn at least 10 times!

ETA: Since a couple people asked on my blog how I got the jeans under my sewing machine, I thought I would answer here as well. I seam rip the easy seam (the outside seam) open about a foot, then sew it back up when i'm done. It only takes 2 minutes to seam rip it open, then closed when you are done, but makes it SO much easier to sew the patch on.
Also, it is easier to draw the design directly onto the jeans (I use my son's washable markers), sew on the marker lines (I go over it twice for extra strength), then do the cutting on the jeans & trim the excess patch off.


~ Reuse, Recycle, Resweater! ~
www.resweater.blogspot.com