Romantic little number

Hi, Bag of Pretty calling again!

My Internet died...for the whole day. I had some serious abstinence symptoms when my babysitter showed up with a funny looking pullover and a lot of hope.

 
My last grownup sewing project was a spring top for the Spring top sewalong, but I am not too crazy about sewing for myself, so this was a super-cool challenge for me and it turned out to be so much fun too.

I am happy to say I made a cute little vest, and no cutting was involved, none at all.

For more photos jump over to mine and while you are there do monster-up. Happy Halloween!

How many things can you create from a sweater.

Here's a few ideas.

The first creation started a warm textered cardigan.

I simply added vintage lace peices.

The second one is a sweater I cut off short so I could use the bottom part for something.

The part I was using had some big ugly stains on it, which I covered with lace.

I added a bunch of tatters.

The third item is a caplet made from the top part of a sweater.

Again I have added vintage laces.

Lastly we have a scarf made from the sweater scraps of other projects.

I added tatters to both ends.

Man's Jacket Remake

  My oldest son is a fashion guy. Great style all his life. Recently he and his girlfriend were off to a wedding and he wanted a new jacket. He asked if I might give it a try. Men's clothing is not my refashion standard by any means. He had some specifics, double vent back, fitted, dressy... and so I found a jacket just a bit too big for him and here is the result of my efforts.

The collar became the cross piece and so to cover the interfacing around the neck, I used all the scrap.

Not a single piece of fabric left. I'm pretty proud of that.

  

A funky print granny top transformed

Hello all! Let me first say as a resident of New Jersey I hope my fellow statesmen (and our neighbors across the river) are able to recover some sense of safety and normalcy soon, as Sandy has wreaked havoc in our lives. My family and I are safe, dry, with power, so we are among the lucky ones. The storm left its mark in a big way with downed trees in our area, but we were spared much of the devastation that others were not so lucky to avoid. Please, be safe as you start cleaning up!

We did lose partial power in our building, so I was unable to finish some of the tops I'd hoped to post here today (didn't feel like setting up my sewing machine in another room) but I do have one to share. It is made of the dreaded polyester, but I couldn't pass it up once I'd seen the print. So, I figured I'd save it for fall/winter, and make it into something to wear with a cardi or a jacket. Here's a look at the before:

And here's the after!

I cut the sleeves off entirely and made the back racerback style. I cut a triangle out in front which I'd originally planned to leave open, simply finishing off the edges of the cut fabric. The triangle ended up being a bit low on me though. So, I grabbed a scrap of black stretch lace that was barely big enough, and used that to cover the unflattering amount of cleavage that was showing ;) If you notice in the shot of the new front, I created 2 pleats on each side of the bust at the armhole instead of a dart to give it the fit I was looking for. Here's a close-up of the print:

It looks a bit like a mosaic, and is a little busy on its own, but I think a solid jacket or cardi will help to tone it down just enough. Well, I'll have a series of silk tops I've refashioned coming up as we regain full power here in our apartment, hopefully soon! Thanks for reading :)

Peace,
Andrea

LittleDidYouKnow

A Few More Tops

Since i’ve not had much of a chance to make stuff for myself recently i thought i’d have a look back on a few refashions i did a while ago.

First up is a plain orange top  ….

which i combined with a floral-print top in co-ordinating colours, cut into long strips (one edge hemmed with zigzag) and a heart shape, to create:

 

Another plain strappy top got some embellishment in the form of a cutout from an old band tshirt:

And another band tshirt (shown here once i'd already started cutting, suddenly remembered to take a 'before-ish' pic!) was refashioned into a strappy top using a well-fitting top as a template and my first ever attempt at making my own binding (from another tshirt), which didn't go very neatly, but was at least functional.

Wow, my room was even messier than usual that day!

This is a refashion i am frankly not too keen on. Trying to follow in the footsteps of the other brave souls who've posted on here with refashions they're not happy with. Eek! The straps had stretched out a lot, so i was lazy and doubled them over, then decided to add a bit of a crochet edging to hide them…I think i would have been much better off just making new straps! The fluffy stuff is super itchy and a bit in-your-face. The ‘lace-up’ bit at the back didn’t really work out how i imagined it either. I do like the fluffy yarn in the little heart-shape at the back, but that;s the only bit i still think was a good plan! I haven’t worn this top since the refashion, so i think it needs to go back on the pile.

This next is a full-on refashion, from a large skirt into a long-sleeved top. i traced a vintage 60s off-shoulder top as a pattern and was pleased with the result. It's very simple, just a very wide neckline with a casing for elastic to hold it up. I like that i've been able to keep the 'lace' insert detail of the skirt as a feature on the top.

Sadly the refashioning work is not completely done – after i’d finished sewing i noticed a small stain on the top, so now it's awaiting a crochet flower or some such addition.

 As ever, more details on my blog! jen xx

Pretty green dress refashioned into scarf

I just cleaned out my closet again and found some awesome fabric...err, clothes!  These are items I've held onto but I never wear so I figured it was time to refashion some :)

I love green...so I had this dress that is an awesome kelly green...perfect color but not the perfect dress!

Chopped it up and created a new scarf...now the perfect color meets the perfect accessory!

Feel free to visit my blog or this post here

Concert T-Shirt Refashion

 

 

I had this t-shirt that I was going to refashion to attend the concert. Unfortunately, the last leg of the tour was cancelled so I never got to wear it out : (

I got the inspiration here

 

T shirt before

 

 

 After

 

 

Close up of the shoulder. I basically just cut off the arms and made a new neckline. I  made a casing for the red ribbon that I also cut from an old tshirts

 

Found In The Costume Dept.: Day 3

I think this might be one of my new favorite dresses.  I made it to wear to a dinner for my husband's company.  Made from a thrifted dress found in the Halloween costume section of my local thrift store.

See my blog for all of the details.

Black sweater + tissue

I had a black sweater bought in the sales. And I had a tissue offered by a friend. I mixed and this came out:

before

after

You can see my works here and here. :)