Uncle's Shirt

It's my family's tradition to give away all the possessions of our loved ones 10 days after they pass. When my Uncle died, over 5 years ago, I received this shirt.

Men's extra large; it was comfortable but so large the snipe clan emblem was under my arm. I completely disassembled it and remade it so it would fit. Here I am modeling it with my super awesome, red, fleecey, self-made jam-jams.

And here is an action shot, at Zumba. Paired with red leggings.

This is a link to a post about my dear Uncle David.

Stay Classy

I don't have much use for the uber short dresses, but I do like the print on this one.

 

I took an old sweater that matched and pinned the dress around the neckline.  I slit the edges of the neckline and folded it over onto the dress.

To see it all, come by my Blog!

Give the Cat a Name

Drape myself in velvet

Back in the fall, (on one of my many thrift store trips) I found a velvet dress in my favorite blue-green color...

Flattering, huh? Who wouldn't want to look wider? But it's a very basic shape, that I assumed would be easy to work with. Luckily, Google set me straight on that assumption. Apparently, velvet is a tricky fabric to work with. I would try hemming it, maybe shorten the sleeves, but I didn't want to get in over my head. I ended up with this:

Woah, you guys. I actually like how it turned out. (By the way, it looks a little blue-er in real life.) 
For more of this, see the full post on my blog.

Thank you for looking!
-Erica

New Year's dress

This year, weather forecast for the New Year's Eve sounds somewhat scary. We are expected to have temperatures as low as -20 Celsius (-4 F). And these are temperatures we did not have for past two years, so yeah. Very cold New Year's Eve.

So, instead of going shopping for a fun dress (as if that was likely), I decided to repurpose couple of old (and rather holey) wool sweaters (one dolcevita and one cowl) and spruce them up with some animal print.

So these are mine before(s):

... and the final product:

As I managed to trace my steps in making this dress, please check out the tutorial at the Curvy Girl's Refashions.

Wishing you all a truly Happy New Year!

Dee

Jackpot

I'm so excited to refashion this dress!  So many possibilities when you have this much fabric!

I cut off the top flipped it around to wear as a poncho and I created a halter top from the waistband of the skirt.

Two for One!  Check it out on my blog!

Give the Cat a Name

Island Ready Turquoise T from Two Small Ts

After: Island ready top.

Cozumel NOT the RanchHouse

Trip: Western Caribbean Break  

Packing Goal: Refashion from the stash. 

Before: Two Turquoise Ts. They were the same style and too small.

Before: Two Small Ts 

The skirt was in the stash from an earlier trip.








OPTIONS:  I wanted a top / skirt matched set to wear together this summer. 

* There was not enough fabric to make a full drapy top.
* Lace insert options I had competed with the skirt.
STEPS:
* Keep neck band and hem on Shirt #1 and Shirt #2.
* #1: Cut up center front.  #2: Cut 8" wide strip from center back.
* Serge all raw edges.
* Run gathering strips up both sides of center strip. Pin strip in place in front of Shirt #1. Adjust gathers. Stitch in place.

Some gifts....

Hi !

For this post, I present you a part of my home made christmas gifts.

For more it's HERE

Updated Collar

Years ago, I tossed this blouse into my bag at a thrift store on a sale day when I could pay $10 for anything that fit in the medium size bag they offered me. I liked the fabric and had grand visions of making a sleeveless top from this seemingly over-sized blouse that surely came from someone's grandmother's closet. Since that day, a few things have happened to the shirt. Stop on over to Fashionably Employed to read more about it's journey to a little updated refashion!

Black shawl from Black Gauze Skirt

After Black Gauze Shawl

Trip: Western Caribbean Break 

Packing Goal: Refashion from the stash.

Before: Solid Black Gauze skirt was a long ago summer favorite.

Cozumel NOT the RanchHouse

After Shawl: 

• My favorite travel accessory.
• Slide on/off for temperature/ shade/cover-up. This one went to the beach, pool, Mayan Ruins, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and was my pillow on the bus. I wore it over my shoulders, around my waist, and over my head in cathedral. 

Before: Black Gauze Skirt

Steps: 

• Cut off and discard the waist-band. Open one seam.
• Serge all edges. 
• Turn under and stitch 1/4" all edges.
• Turn under again and stitch 1/2" all edges.
• This is a thin gauze. The process and product varies depending on the type / amount of fabric in each skirt. This a forgiving process.

Before: Too thin as skirt.

Tape captures threads, etc.

My oh My

This dress is a bit much...of everything.

I used the skirt portion to cut four trapezoid panels.  I edged the panels with black fabric and sewed them back together.

To see the whole thing, you're welcome to visit my blog!

Give the Cat a Name

Shorten Sleeves on New Over-sized Travel Jacket

After Short Sleeves

Cozumel, NOT the RanchHouse

Trip: Break from Texas RanchHouse December weather.

Packing Plan: 

• Lots of refashion.
• To get travel jackets large enough for layering, I bought men's XXL tall and shortened the sleeves. It was very cold when we got back to Texas on Saturday.

Before sleeves.

 Steps:

• Lining and sleeve fabric basted together to stay in place.
• Bands cut off and saved for project stash.
• Serge sleeve ends and turn to form elastic casing.
• Insert wide width elastic.

Before: Bands removed

After: Elastic added.

Fabulous Outfit

I bought two large men's 100% wool sweaters from the thrift store. I made one into a skirt. The other was put through the laundry (hot water wash, high heat dryer setting) to shrink. I modified the neckline and added thumb holes.

I also added tags.

I love this outfit.

Coffee House top

My friend gave me this dress a long time ago to use for the blog and it wasn't really my style so it sat in the pile for a long time.  (you know, the pile)

I made a diagonal chop and resewed the bottom border back on.

Out for coffee with a hip new style!

To see more, check out my blog!

give the cat a name

Blanket Coat Refashion

Happy Holidays!

I recently came across this pattern and thought it would be perfect for a cold weather trip. 

However, I didn't want to pay big bucks for fabric. So...

I found a king-size fleece blanket for $20. 

And made a beautiful winter coat. 

Christmas Dress from Maxidress

Hallo, hallo! Ich hoffe ihr hattet alle ein paar wunderbare Weihnachtstage, wurdet reich beschenkt und könnt euch nun ein wenig erholen! ;)

Apart from celebrating christmas this thursday I celebrated my 3rd "Thrifty Throwback Thursday". I made a beautiful christmas dress out of an old maxidress my grandma used to wear. It turns out just wonderful.

 

You can see the whole transformation and more pics on my blog. Hope you like it!

Happy new year! :)

Nina

Goodbye gap!

The gap is going, going, GONE!

Hello again from Cari's frocks.

My name really is Cari Frock and I LOVE to sew.

Way busy month, so I opted for an easy project and grabbed a shirt in the 'will not wear' pile,

notice the gap midway in the shirt? 

Love this fab and purple is a fav, so when the warm weather hits, got a new shirt to wear.




Til next time...happy stitching!!

YEAH! gap is GONE!