First (successful) Refashion

I am a newbie refashionista. I have been an avid thrifter for years, but only discovered refashioning in the last year & a half.

This is the first refashion that I did that I felt was worthy of sharing with the world. (The first just didn't look good on me, and the second I forgot to document the "before")

I found this emerald colored dress on a 50¢ clearance rack at my favorite thrift store.

Before!

Despite how happy I look to be wearing it, it was a terribly awkward length on me, and all the elastic in the waist & sleeves was shot.

After a visit from my scissors & seam ripper, it's much more wearable. It still has a nice vintage flair to it, without looking like something my grandma would've worn. :)

 

After!

After!

Dipping into Tie Dye

Hi everyone,

I had a long white jersey dress that I've worn once, and will never wear again, (I know, I know, never say never - but.....)

This is pretty much what I started with

I found a tutorial and got some basics down and this is the end product :)

I'm loving the slight blue tinge to the black and especially loving the use of the stone in the bottom left hand corner to get the circle. 

You can see the full process here at 2nd spin

Thanks for reading!

☽AliceSaysNo☾

(kinda) Crocheted Sandals

Don’tcha love it when the (oh-so-simple) solution to potentially awesome yet unworn gear you’ve had for ages suddenly smacks you right in the middle of your refashionista brain?

Before their transformation these beauties were such torture on my tender tootsies they were banished to the storage room for nearly 4 years!

Here’s how I (finally) revamped them into my fancy oh-so-comfortable summer slip-ons…

check out my groovy tutorial index for loads of refashioning DIYs for the whole family

Playing catch-up

Hi all,

I've been out of the loop for a little over two weeks now, and finally have internet access! So, I thought I'd catch up on a couple of quick and easy refashions I've done since being back in MI.

The first is a no-sew refashion of this hand-me-down t-shirt from my sis-in-love. She and my brother both attended UofM and I'll sport a shirt with my beloved state's name on it anytime :). However, I don't wear many t-shirts (unless its solid gray, white, or black) and quickly got to cutting this one up. Sans sleeves and collar, I trimmed up the collar as close to the seam as possible and then tied it around the center back to give my new top a racerback.

Now I've got a new workout top to throw on when the really hot days of summer roll around.

This next one I made just before coming to Michigan. I took this thrifted men's shirt that had some discoloration in the white stripes on the sleeves...

And using my reversible mini, made myself a striped skirt. I washed it, and lo and behold it discolored more and much much worse :-/. So, I threw it in my suitcase and while here, put it in a dye bath. I wanted more of an ombre effect, but that didn't work out so well...it is only slightly lighter at the bottom than at the top. However, it totally covered up the discoloration and made this skirt wearable, which was the goal!

 I wore it with my favorite gray t-shirt yesterday for a day playing with my son and nieces.

To see more, you can check out my catch-up post over on my blog. That's that for now, but I went thrifting while here and found a few pieces to refashion, so hopefully I can spend some time with them this weekend ;). Loved going back through all of the posts you all have been sharing lately, and just have to say you all are awesome!!! Keep it up :)

Peace,
Andrea

Sun Cardigan

I've been getting really tan now that I live in the South, so I wanted to make a sun cardigan that I could wear with any of my dresses. I bought this tshirt from the thrift store:

It had a fun little lace-up detail on the back:

It was, however, much too drapey and long to be the sun cardigan I was looking for to wear over my dresses. So I chopped down the front and off the bottom, and made it into a little tie-on cardigan.

For more information on this refashion or any of my others, see my blog Two Half Eggs

Put a bird on it

I am in the process of making some cool and comfy clothes for when it hits 90 degrees this summer, like the polo dress I posted last week. Today's refashion is another t-shirt dress, inspired by this dress. I started with this cool XL blue men's shirt that had velvet birds on it. I also used a boring black v-neck shirt that fit well in the body but was a tad too short.

I chopped the sleeves and the neck off the men's shirt to make a trapezoid shape and cut off the lower half of the v-neck.

I took in the sides of the blue shirt to the width of the v-neck and also to make it a more flattering, less boxy shape. Then I turned the blue shirt inside out and tucked the v-neck inside, with right sides together and raw edges lined up. I pinned the shirts together all the way around, then stitched the seam with a stretch stitch.

I folded the seam allowance toward the black shirt and top-stitched it down. Here is the finished dress - a close-up and a full-length view.

It was very easy, and it took less than an hour. And it is so comfy! Thanks for reading!

-Amy

Too Small Slip To Nightgown Refashion

This refashion is not a complete transformation but it does take the slip (shown above) from unwearable to wearable. I bought this vintage slip decades ago. While I can still fit into the lace bodice, the rest of the slip is now extremely tight and unflattering. Thinking losing weight would solve the issue, I held onto the slip while working at getting fit. Although I did achieve the goal of being able to get into the slip again, resembling a stuffed sausage was not the look I was hoping for.

To solve this unsightly problem I removed the lace bodice and hem from the slip and discarded the rest, and sewed on a larger piece of slinky fabric from my stash. But because the fabric I had was a much darker color than the original slip fabric it didn't look quite right with the light colored lace.

In order to tie the two colors together I cut out some of the roses from the original lace hem and appliqued them to the front of the gown. Since I don't wear slips anymore I'll be using this transformation as a nightgown. For details on sewing the gown and a link to the free downloadable pattern I used for the bias cut body of the nightgown shown below, click here to go to my blog post.

Refashion any Shirt Into a Nursing Shirt!

Here's 2 very fast and easy ways to turn any shirt into a nursing shirt for those of us who have babies!  I started with these two shirts:

And turned them into this:

Then I whipped up a little tank refashion that went from this:

To this:

Which you can layer under any shirt and keep your tummy covered while nursing your little one.  Very easy, but a lifesaver!  In fact, I think I'm going to go whip up some more so I don't have to wait until the laundry is done!!  Head on over to Skirt Fixation to read the whole DIY instructions and see where I got those hard-to-find tanks so cheaply!

Make it beautiful,

Audrey

3-way styling for pillowcase

 Started with this amazing print - an oversized pillowcase printed in the Ivory Coast.

 Cut out neck and arm holes...




To make this tunic style top! Kept playing around with it though, when I found a drawstring around the other end...

 I make a second hole halfway down my front, and pulled the drawstring through to create a 'ruched' effect, or a slight sweetheart neckline. Seen here, the dress is still with and without a belt.

 Finally (and I think I like this styling best!) here it is as a maxi skirt, tied at the top with a drawstring. The lesson here is not to pass on pillowcases at the thrift shop! LOL

Crop Top Refashion

I may have a mild obsession with crop tops – literally I want to chop the bottom off of every shirt/dress/article of  clothing I see. I know what some of you are thinking – ‘why would she chop up that dress?!’ – it’s definitely not as bad as the ones I typically refashion..

Check out my blog, Buttons and Birdcages for more photos!

Garden party dress

Beautiful silk skirt with slanted seams and an asymmetrical hem.

A pair of satin trousers and a worn out undershirt.

Surprisingly little work later (see more about the process here):

Now all i need is a summer hat and a garden party :).

More refashions and creative projects on: http://sagaifarver.dk