What a job!! - sorting dress refashions

Thank you to all who have shared their dress refashions on the Linky Party and Pinterest. The Linky party is now closed and as promised I have now begun a massive editing process to create a new resources page for Dress Refashions. Phew!

So let me tell you a little about how I am doing this:
I am currently going through all the posts from the blog to date (2950 posts) which appear when I do a basic search for 'dress' (around 930 posts). I am now through the first 30 so there is still a long way to go. But I began from the very first posts and it's really fun to go through and see the first posts and discover who was with us from the beginning and is still sticking around (hello Huli :-) )

I look at every post that sounds promising and if it is a refashion involving a dress and it has a before and after picture or a reasonable explanation I post it to the new edited Pinterest board with the hashtag #DressRefashion.

If the post involves a dress I'll add a new label #DressRefashions. From now on I will use hashtag labels to sort the refashions. Please don't add hashtag labels (or any other label than your username) yourself as it will be removed.

Do you still want to share your own dress tutorial or refashions? Well you can! Ask me for an invitation to join the group Pinterest board for dress refashions or add your tutorial to the link collection on the Eddie's Room post and go grab the badge  Please keep your links and pins relevant or they will be deleted.

xx Eddie

Blah caftan to "OK" caftan: Woo-hoo!

In mid-May I tried to free-hand sew a caftan out of an old sheet. (Blah caftan's story is here.) Indeed, it was a shapeless garment, the kind of nightshirt worn by characters from PBS Great Britain. After perusing Refashion Co-op it occurred to me AHA!: Stripes can go both ways; plus, I'm not too old for knee-length.

BEFORE: Boxy & PBS-nightshirty

That's better!! Read more on my blog, the Embarrassing Disgrace.

Refashion First Friday #4- Recap

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the #4 (and wow yes the 4th) installment of Refashion First Friday!!!! We had some great refashions!

The next entry for June's Refashion First Friday will be June 7th so get ready to submit! We are excited!! :)

Cheers,
Lauren
& the Refashion Co-Op Editor Team

Here is a recap of our Top 5 Clicked links!

1. Draped Suede Jacket

2. Duster to Cardigan

3. Maxi skirt to lounge pants

4. Wedding dresses

5. With an old jumper

Jewelry Refashions

Greetings everyone!

This post is all about turning various things into jewelry. I have several of them that I have done recently on my blog, I thought I would put them together.

First one is a medallion belt I turned into a necklace, with information found here.
I don't have a good before picture b/c it broke before I moved and in trying to save space I removed all the chains, etc but here what I had to start with. 6 in total. 1 missing a rhinestone in the middle

I took 3 of them and connected via some jump rings I had in my jewelry making kit. Then to make a simple and adjustable tie, I used some old ribbon I had in my sewing box. Not going to lie but the jump rings were hard to maneuver. Here is my necklace done. I can't wait to pair it with my summer dresses (now that it is warm in DC!!! finally!)

I am hoping to play around with the other ones. Maybe use some of my nailpolish and add some color to them! That would be fun

The second jewelry project is almost funny because it all started with a candle. Yup a candle which had this lovely peacock charm

Upon feeling it I realized I could probably make it work as a necklace. Using some items from my  jewelry making stash I combined some crystals and a few jump rings to come up with this necklace.

Yup and when someone asked me where I got my peacock charm I tell them from a candle and they completely look at me funny! For more information click here.

My final project was a button necklace. I don't know about you but I have a lot of buttons in my stash now from refashioning so much. I went from nothing to holy cow I have so many buttons. I have bought 2 packs of buttons my entire life- each for a shirt! crazy! The rest have come from refashioning! And a few from sewing friends.

I pulled out the gold buttons (I sorted out by color and tone) and decided to make a necklace. I had some scrap felt, some chain, and a hook and eye. I came up with this. I had to layer it several times with the felt to give it stability. I hot glued and sewed the buttons down too. For more info click here.

Hope you enjoyed them! I am excited to get some clothing refashions done soon. I have been busy tending to my little apartment gardening. It has been taking up a lot of time but things are growing!

Cheers,
Lauren

Upcycled J.Crew Dress with French Lace

Hello, fellow refashioners! This is my first post as a co-op member: a simple refashion that puts a romantic twist on an otherwise casual salmon J.Crew dress. One of my favorite color combinations is navy and salmon, so when I found a remnant of gorgeous navy French lace at Britex Fabrics, I knew just where to put it. 

Before

The process itself was pretty simple: I just used a pair of embroidery scissors to cut the floral shapes out of the lace, then hand-sewed them on to the dress using navy thread. This took about three hours total, and I used a dress form while sewing to ensure that I was honoring my --ahem-- curves in the process.

In progress: French lace is pinned on to dress using  a dress form 

And the final product...

For more details and a tutorial on creating the earrings, check out my original post here. 

Cat, meet pigeons

Okay then: nobody has posted yet today so your Friendly Neighborhood Thursday Editor has but one choice -- throw out a topic for discussion/thought.

Himself and I were in Stockholm for the Bank Holiday weekend and found ourselves in the Historica Museet one afternoon. The folk art exhibition, you will not be surprised to learn, is where I spent most of my time. A number of contemporary items like a dress refashioned out of mens’ shirts and embroidered samplers with cheeky quotes on traditional fabric were right at the end after oodles of lovely preserved pieces from hundreds of years ago. Several quotes writ large on the walls of the exhibition caught my eye and as a result got themselves written down, like this one from a Jogge Sundqvist:

‘Genuine craft is a threat to commercialism’.

Not everything was in English so I am not one hundred percent sure of his/her original context but let’s just put in the context of our happy little band here at RFC and think on this one, shall we? 

I don't agree, BTW. There are too many people who would never pick up a needle due to time, talent or indoctrinational -- by that I mean how you were raised to view crafts/'women's work/handmade over mass-produced -- constraints. I don't think think the big brands or shops that sell cheap clothes cheap are going to lose any sleep over those of us who sew and or refashion for ourselves but....

IWOM: EOD

Are you pinning?   Oh my goodness…I am pinning things left and right.   I’m overstimulated, to tell you the truth, by all the awesome ideas I see.  It’s so easy to pin, but to actually reproduce the awesomeness takes a lot more effort.  I started a new board called “I pinned it and did it!” for those projects/ideas/recipes/ that I, you know, actually tried out.  So far there are 28 on that board. 921 pins left to go.  
Anyway, this hot pink scarf was “pin-spired”.   I took a thrifted pashmina (which is a scarf.  I didn’t know that until 2 years ago.  Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know; it can be the one new thing you learned today.) and a twin bed skirt from an estate sale and sewed them together.
It is quite gigantic.  It looks cool in this windy picture, but it’s just way too much fabric for me to toss around my neck. 








The colour is off, but this is the original pashmina with the stringy ends. “fringe”, I guess.  I cut those off, then sewed the bed skirt to the straight edge.  I wore it once and then decided it was no good.   I cut off the bed skirt portion off and try again with the chunkiest lace I could find in my stash.





Final product:  lace edged pashmina.  I wear it constantly and get comments on it all the time.  Hot pink + lace= a winning (easy) refashion!
Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Men's polo shirt into blouse

Men's polo shirt refashioned into blouse. Details here -- > http://etheea.wordpress.com/

Major Recon Dress

The original mini dress I had made (with matching boxers) was now too small, too short and just unappealing. I liked the fabric pattern though, and that was all I had of it, so I dismantled the boxers.

once upon a time mini shift

with matching boxer shorts

I wanted some contrasting fabric for inserts.  The only thing I could come up with from my stash was a rather subtle pinstripe.

version #3.75

Then came the engineering.  yikes!  This part took weeks of trial and error.  Having a limited amount of both fabrics added to the suspense.  Could she do it?  Did I mention lots 'o seam ripping action? Toward the home stretch, the how-about-this/how-about-that syndrome kicked in big time.

le grande finale

le pocket

It all came together with the thought, "hey what about those metal red crescent moon buttons I bought in Paris 20 years ago?!"

Yep, those babies!

To see me wearing it in various ways, just go to Project Minima, Clothes Collages, and scroll down to "Call Me Dotty."  And thanks for looking.

Last chance to post your dress refashions!!!

Today the Dress refashion linky party is closing.
Hurry up and add those dress refashions you still want to share.

When the linky party is closed I will begin to edit the Dress refashion resource page.

 Remember that the best dress refashion tutorials link collection on my blog will continue to stay open. Please come and share your tutorials over here.

Also don't forget the Dress refashions Pinterest board. If you email me or come over to my Facebook page I'll be happy to add you to the list of pinners on the board.

xx Eddie

30 Minutes or Less

It has been a seriously busy month for me. I've fallen way behind on my sewing. The problem is that a heat wave is coming and I am not even close to being prepared for summer. With only a half hour to spare, what can I possibly get done?

Step 1: Trim Sleeves from 3 shirts and 5 inches off ugly stir-up pants.

Step 2: Hem sleeves and pants.

Step 4: Cut Hello Kitty Applique off old pj's.

Step 4: Sew applique to plain black t-shirt using a simple straight stitch.

Step 5: Look awesome in your new pants and get hugs from little girls who can never have enough Hello Kitty.

Florals, Florals Everywhere

Today's refashion is going to be quick and easy and as summery as it can get! A couple weeks ago I thrifted these Guess capris:

What an awkward length!

But what an amazing floral print! Besides I've always loved Guess ;)

The first refashion that I am going to suggest is a no-sew refashion. All you need to do is simply roll up the pant legs like this:

But I already had a pair of summer shorts like this, so I decided to chop the excess off and hem each pant leg!

And the new shorts were done:

My question is - HOW SHOULD I STYLE THESE?

Please comment below :)

Happy Friday,

xo,

Z 

BeingZhenya

Denim shorts + Lace = Love!

I guess that I am a romantic girl, after all. Yes, I admit that I love lace! But I am also a denim fanatic...What about lace in a pair of denim shorts...mmmm that sounds really nice...wait a minute...what about transforming an old pair of jeans into a brand new pair of denim shorts with plenty of lace...That sounds even better... what do you think? 

Photos 1 & 2
This is how we do it. We take an old pair of jeans (this was quite worn out) and we cut the legs. A pair of shorts suddenly appears! Wow...

Photo 3 & 4

Then, we turn the lace up side down and we pin it on the hem. Next, we stitch the lace onto the hem with our sewing machine (hand stitching is also allowed) and our lace is ready!!!

Photo 5

What I did next was to change the back & front button..It was about time...I used the one shown in the photo..it looks nice...

Photo 6 & 7

This the result...I hope you like it. I was super excited for two reasons: not only have I added a new pair of denim shorts in my wardrobe but I have refashioned a garment which was no longer wearable. This is the joy of clothes upcycling!

 

Top by Zara

Denim shorts by Tailor Spy

Kisses!

Tailor Spy

Baby Dress/Cover-Up from Toddler T-Shirt

 

Hands off, ladies. That cute baby with the cute baby belly is all mine. Trust me, once he throws a temper-tantrum you'll want to give him back.

 

Anyway...

 

Obviously, this 18-month sized shirt is too small for my now 2 1/2-year-old baby boy. I wanted to hand it down to my 7-month-old daughter, but instead of just handing it down I refashioned it into a little summer swimsuit cover-up for her.

 

 

To see the entire refashion process, check out my blog, All Glorious.

 

Hope you're all having a good post-Memorial Day!

Fabulous Vintage dress, finally wearable!

I might not be known here as being hesitant when it comes to cutting into vintage garments. However, this was different. I got this beauty from my aunt, and the craftsmanship that went into it is just amazing. So I underlined and shortened it entirely without making any permanent changes...

It's made out of a gorgeous white eyelet fabric, meticulously sewn and with a perfect fit! What was wrong with it? Well, it was basically, uhm, see-through. It dosn't look that objectionable in the photo, but I would never have gone out on the street like that, wearing only a skin-toned bra and panties underneath...
 If you are interested how I copied down the pattern...

...and sewed it into the dress (by hand)...

...come visit my Blog-Post at Of Dreams and Seams: The Promise of Summer!

Now all we need are rising temperatures!
Best to all of you,
Katja