The London Coat!

Why is it that I always make coats?! Now it's a daily fight between my Amadeus coat and this one, I want to wear both of them all the time... I wish I was as passionate about making pants!

This coat used to be a wool dress from the Sixties (probably...), which I bought in a Vintage second-hand shop in Berlin. This is what it looked like:

After a lot of fusible lining and adding vibrant blue details, we get to my coat:

As always, a lot of pictures from the making-of-process are on my BLOG, though not as many as I wanted to add.... My plan was to make a hood-tutorial, but the drafting ended up trickier than expected. I used a pattern-making book and did it all professional-like, but the hood didn't end up the way I wanted it at all, so I re-drafted and draped around on it, and there is no way to tell you clearly how I ended up with this.... But at least it ended up the way I wanted it!

Why "London Coat"? Well, it has a hood, and from what I hear about the weather in London, a hood might come in handy. As you are reading this, I am taking a course in London, and if things go as planned, I'll post the end-product on my blog afterwards. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Best to all of you,
Katja

Man's Blazer Refashion

Here's another men's jacket. These are so fun when you let go of the men's clothing rules. In other words, cut and design and don't worry. On this one I removed the pockets and turned them sideways with a sweater trim backing. The lapels have added fabric from a polo shirt. The sleeves have cuffs of reclaimed cloth and I had just the right number of matching horn buttons for the closure and the pockets

Quick refashion update

This top is from (i think) my first ever post here - it was a plain white top i embellished with crochet flowers and different, cuter buttons last year.

However it never really made it into my often-worn clothes over last summer, and the reason was it just didn't fit quite right. i loved the top but it was a size or so too big and flapped about a bit, and it kept getting passed over for things that were more flattering in fit.

So - simple solution! probably self-explanatory from the pictures - i sewed two outward/pointing tucks into the back of the top, stitched embroidery thread through them to create lacing, and used this to pull the back of the top in slightly, corset-style.

Success!

The top now looks and fits better, and the back has a bit more interest to it. As usual a bit more info etc on my blog . xxx

T-shirt to cami top

Earlier in the year I started to refashion a pink t-shirt I had. Because it was high necked, I had chopped it a bit around the neck at one point already, but I don't wear it much. So I decided to make a cami type t-shirt from it.

It has been sitting here waiting to be sewn, so I finally got to it this month.

I used an existing cami t-shirt to guide the shaping.

After cutting, I made sure the armscyes were lined up.

Then cut around them both at once with the rotary cutter.

I wanted it a bit higher. So, I used the hem I had cut to make a feature on the neckline.

I used strips cut from the scraps to stitch and turn to make the straps. That wasn't as easy as it sounds, but worth the effort.

I like the cotton cami under other t-shirts or open blouses in the summer. They are nicer than the ones with lycra in them. I will probably go ahead now and refashion a few other t-shirts I don't wear.

Baby Boy Harem Pants

Hey Refashioners!

I am participating in the Sisters Share it All: Pinterest Challenge. The idea is to choose 6 pins that you have left to get metaphorically dusty in cyber space while you do other more important, probably less fun, things, then do them all in 6 weeks. I'm feeling good so far because it's week one and this is #2 but we'll see if I can keep up my momentum.

My pinspiration

 

My version

 

 

Tutorial over here.

And the tutorial for that trench coat he's wearing is over here.

 

See you soon!

1930's-ish Dress

Sometimes even when I'm excited about a project, if I put it down for awhile, then I become unwilling to pick it up again.  I have a different dress I'm working on, but have somehow hit a slump.  So in those cases I pick up something that only takes a little effort to finish.  Here is an example.  Someone gave me this dress and it sat in the drawer for a while, because it was too short for my taste.  I guess you could wear it with leggings but I somehow never do.  The black and cream and the bow made me think 30's, but the shape and length said
Brady Bunch.
                                   

 I found a cream sweater on the bottom of the closet that matched perfectly and cut a 4-inch section off the bottom and off of each sleeve, so I would have a finished edge.  I was able to put two pleats on each side, front and back, and added some buttons (not sure about these, thinking of maybe smaller ones?) I think it looks more 30's now, which is one of my favorite decades. I saw a picture in my "Everyday Fashions of the 1930's as Pictured in Sears Catalogs" book that showed a sweater outfit and it had a belt made of the sweater fabric.  Do you think I should make one, out of the leftover cream? 

Curtains to Clothing

Hiya! Last night I was inspired to sew after work so I whipped up a simple skirt using a thrifted cotton curtain that cost me $1!

 I love the bold print! And I still have the other curtain to use up too...suggestions welcome!
As always you can find me on my facebook page , happy refashioning everyone :)

Dowdy No More!

Snag that dowdy dress from the back of your closet & transform it into two wonderfully wearable pieces with my next webisode:

For more groovy tutorials be sure to visit my video channel & craftilicious blog

Old Ball Dress into Little Black Dress

This is the dress my Mum made me for my last year of school Formal Ball. It was lovely and still fitted me!!!
But definitely not sexy enough for the Halloween dress up party I had to go to.

I ended up taking it in at the sides a little and then chopping it off just above my knee. You can see more at my blog Lisa Un-Hemmed. But here it is dress up as a Fallen Angel.

Shirt Dress...

Hi, Pam here from Threading My Way.

Take a man's dress shirt, combine it with a woman's blouse and you have everything you need to make a cute, little girl's dress... no need to buy anything.

For this refashion, I've used a man's 100% cotton shirt and a woman's stretch blouse. I've thrown the label out, but I'm assuming the blouse is cotton/spandex, as it's very similar to my Zumba pants. Even though the two were made from different fabrics, I knew the colour combination would work. 

Basically...

• make a bodice
• neaten the neckline
• add sleeves
• construct the skirt and attach to the bodice

You'll find more detailed instructions on how to refashion two shirts into a dress, over at Threading My Way.

Here's the back of the dress...

and the front...

This would have to be one of my favourite refashions. I'm thrilled with how it turned out!!!

My latest dress refashion will be joining the 240+ dresses already linked up to the Dresses for Girls link party, at Threading My Way and to the Clothes Recycling Collection over at Creating My Way to Success.

... Pam

Another sweater gone

Flushed with the success of my first sweater to cardigan refashion, I did another one.

This jumper has shrunk over the years, but I still love the colour, and the design is back in fashion again!

My photographer was out and I couldn't wait to get started, but it looked a bit like this.

I went for the denim trim this time. Found a couple of discarded short sleeves with cuffs. Cut off the cuffs, snipped the underarm seam, and opened one seam to make a flat strip. Cut the sweater up the centre front and pinned and stitched the strips to enclose the raw edges. Made buttonholes and buttons. Tidied the top and bottom by hand.

Close up of the buttons.

Much more wearable than a sweater!

Bed-Sheet Refashions

Hi All

Just showing a couple of Sorbetto's I made from bed-sheets agesssssssss ago. The thing I liked most about these tops, is that they didn't look like they were made out of bedsheets!

Mini Skirt to Mini Bag

Hi everyone! This is my first post. I am happy to be sharing on Refashion Co-op.

My daughter has a friend who had a skirt she wanted made into a purse. I had made a few purses from skirts and shorts so I agreed.

I found a scrap piece of fabric for the liner I knew would match the color. There was enough to make a zippered pocket on the inside and a shoulder strap. It was perfect to have the colorful floral fabric on the inside of the burgundy corduroy skirt.

I put an X to hold the shoulder strap, stitched and squared the bottom of the skirt.

Here is the final piece. She has enjoyed the purse and my daughter continues to come home with projects for herself and her friends.

To see the various items I repurpose or upcycle please follow me on Twitter @MsJeanUpcycles , Pinterest MsJeanUpcycles or Facebook Ms Jean Upcycles

dinosaur pants- Roarrrrrr!

My dinosaur addicted 3 year old is growing so fast, I wanted to make him a nice pair of pants.

I started off with these nice soft denim maternity pants. I cut off the waist and the inner leg to open out the fabric.
 Using a paper pattern I bought from a charity shop for a dollar - hurray- I cut out the pants. Of course, I didnt have enough denim for the pocket inner, but used a nice dinosaur bone print to do that part.

Then I used my embroidery machine to put on 2 dinosaur bone designs.
I used the coverstitcher to give the nice double row of stitches like jeans, and also a jeans stud type button for the front and belt loops. Since Mr 3 is a bit small, I used elastic in the waist band, and didn't bother with a zip since he doesnt really need it.
They are a bit long, I might do another hem that I can unpick later as he grows.

Miaow bag from faux fur coat

Hi all!

One day I was looking at the potential of a child's faux fur coat.  I couldn't quite decide what to make with it. 

But then it came to me.

How about a bag in the shape of a cat?

Well, I had fun playing and this is how it turned out:

His features are made from felt and the strap is cotton webbing.

I decided to see if his mouth could be made by sewing lines into the fur and it seemed to work well!

For more details of this and other refashions, come have a cuppa at my blog:

Sew Selena

Happy refashioning!

Next...

Hoodie Sweater to 80's Sweater Vest Refashion

This is a quick little refashion I figured I would share.  

I recently went through and tried to purge some of my old clothes.  An action that does not go very well for someone who likes to refashion clothes.  I don't think I got rid of much.  This hoodie I was unable to part with.

Here is the sweater before.  This is me, post baby, eight years ago.  This was my first time going out for a drink after having my son.  I think he was about 3 months old.  I was going to suck it up and give him formula for the first time, too.  Pump and dump! :)  Cheers ... lol!

Obviously this sweater has been around a while.

Here it is now as more of a fitted 80's sweater vest.  I cut off the hood and the sleeves and just left it raw.  I had to undo the bottom band, took in the sides, then re-attached the band after altering to fit the sized down sweater.  I'm digging it.  We will see if it gets more time out of the drawer.

I like the 80's vibe.  It will fit in nicely here by the beach.  Come on warmer weather!

Link to my original blog post here :)

Thanks for looking :)

Erinn

Sticky Genius