Oversized Long Sleeve gets Transformed!

Well life has truly gone crazy on my end of things and I'm just now getting to catch up on my refashioning. I've made about four new items to show off, but I haven't gotten the chance to wear them out.. so with that being said, I am going to show off one of my earlier refashions that I am currently enjoying with this spring time weather! :) And I promise I will be uploading 2 or 3 refashion during the month of May! :)

Here are the pictures and for more on this transformation you can check out the original post here!! :)

From EDI to HNL

I took some inspiration from a fellow editor's refashion plan for her tropical adventures end of last year/start of this and refashioned a few things for Himself's and my upcoming Hawai'ian adventures.

First, a refashion of a previous refashion --

The material of this top is quite thin so I always wore something over it here in my decidedly chilly and damp part of the world. Might as well turn it into a summer top, right? Plus it had to go in another half inch at the sides. Yippee!

Next, a too-tight-in-the-arms-now summer top (pay no attention to that elliptical behind the screen):

The elastic at the cuff was the very thing to replace the drawstrings on my pocketbook glasses. Darn things caught on everything in my bag and you had to tie them together to keep the little bag closed.

Since this pair lives in whatever pocketbook I'm carrying, I always sort of forget to do something about it. Today was that day.

This long sleeve white shirt is perfect for wearing over sleeveless tops when the sun is enough to melt the tar on the road, but the pleats, oh the pleats. Ugh. Who wants to spend so much time ironing whilst on vacation?

I pressed them for what is hopefully the last time then stitched 'em down.

And that's how I picked out my navy, grey and white color scheme for packing, which I should probably get back to as we're outta here in 36 hours.

IWOM

REFASHION: a new chevron skirt

I picked up this pretty little shirt for $4 on clearance, knowing it would never look good on me as a shirt. I knew I could easily refashion the shirt into a beautiful skirt. I used the shirt's sleeves to create a casing for the waistband. And voila! Another new skirt to add to my ever-growing collection of skirts. How many skirts is too many?

For more pictures and details, click here.

Jennifer Elliott

Quick Refashion for my Daughter

I asked my daughter if she would like me to alter a t-shirt for our upcoming vacation. She said ‘Uhm, maybe?’ So I sat her down in front of the computer and showed her some Pinterest ideas. She is very decisive and immediately said ‘I want the lace down the back and can you do ‘that’ to the sleeves?’. She also saw a pair of shorts that she loved. Sometimes the hardest part for her is picking out the materials to be used. She only had one choice for the t-shirt (only lace wide enough) but had multiple for the shorts.

Getting ready to sew the lace in.

The t-shirt was a little more involved, but not really any harder then the shorts. I think she picked this t-shirt because she wouldn’t mind it being ruined if she didn’t like how it turned out. I don’t have the before picture, but I think you can ‘picture’ it.

Bow Sleeves

This alterations are mainly just sewing lace down and cutting away fabric, or cutting away fabric and sewing lace down.

Cutting away...

I explain how I did this on my blog, so feel free to jump on over and check it out.

Tye-Dyed Adventures

I've been seeing alot of really cool dresses with tye-dyed elements that look so pretty. I decided to give it a try with three dresses. 

I used Rit-dye and experimented with the color. I picked cotton/linen dresses that would absorb color best. 

I let them dry overnight and then wala!

You can check out my step by step process here !

Happy Sewing!

XOXOX

Katie

Pullover to Cardigan

So winter is over and pretty soon, pullover sweaters will just not be the ticket. But a nice cardigan is always in fashion for cool nights at least. Here is a fun and easy way to update a thrift store pullover sweater into something fashionable and unique.

You will need a washable pullover sweater, a flannel men's shirt, some lace and in the sweater above, I used cuffs off of men's shirts for the bottom hem.

Decide how long you want the sweater. I cut this one down to make it cropped. Sew around the bottom to keep it from unraveling.
Cut off the front placket (button panel) from the flannel shirt. Leave about 1 1/2" to 2" on each side. Cut off the collar.
Pin the button panel to the front of the sweater. Pin the lace along the sides of the panel if you chose to add it. Sew up each side. Unbutton the panel and cut away the sweater underneath. Add the cuffs to the bottom. You can also leave the bottom just the way it is as long as you have stitched it well to prevent unraveling. If you pull it as you stay stitch it, it will ruffle a bit.

Here are a few other examples:

This one, I left the bottom ruffly and added the button part from some sleeves off a flannel shirt.

This one I just added some fun appliqued flowers cut with my Accucut die cutter. The center button panel is from a corduroy shirt. I left the hem on the sleeves and bottom of the sweater ruffly. Just pull tight when you sew the stay stitch.





You can find me at: curiousorangecat.com

Happy sewing!!

Tulle and Velvet Refashion

I found this dress when I was looking for my Easter hat at a vintage shop a few weeks ago and just couldn't wait to attack it with scissors! This is the first time I’ve refashioned something with multiple layers. In all honestly, the bottom layers are unfinished (sometimes when the fabric doesn’t fray, and can’t be seen – so I feel I can get away with it).

Check out more photos here!

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Miche from Buttons and Birdcages

Updated cashmere coat

I suffer from at bit of refashion fatigue right now, but decided to finish the stuff, I had in the just-need-the-last-little-something basket.

I blogged about this coat some months ago. Now I have finally finished it. Lovely red cashmere wool duffelcoat. But I would rather have a simple, fitted coat.

So I took it in.
And made the hood into a collar.
I removed the sleeve straps, the pocket, the loops, and the duffel buttons. I left the leather patches as I think they add viaul interest.

Since there were marks, where the pockets had been attached to the coat, I needed to cover them in some way. I finally decided to use red velvet ribbon. I ironed it on using iron-on interfacing with glue on both sides (it was actually strips of it, that came with a pair of curtains, I once bought from IKEA).

I also put it on at the sleeves to pull the design together.

And now it hangs in my closet untill autumn....

Blogpost: http://saga-i-farver.blogspot.dk/2015/04/forenkling-af-uldfrakke.html 

Blog: http://www.sagaifarver.dk

From Vintage Refashioned To Newly Refashioned!

So I have had this little number for a very long time. Since high school. I got it at a thrift shop back then. Believe me when I say that was a long long time ago! Its a super cute mod mini dress and I am certain it was refashioned into this at some point during the 80's or 90's. I can tell that it was at least re-hemmed from a much longer version of itself. The current hem is hand cut/sewn and if I were to let out that hem it would be fairly long. 

So here is the catch- I love this dress but the netted lining inside the sleeves is painful. Itchy, ouch painful. Its old. The netting has to go if I want this to be a keeper. So I started by cutting out the netting. But it was still stuck into the seams and there was no good way to fix that problem. It still itched and rubbed against my skin. So I cut off the sleeves. Oh- I also cut off the buttons on the front because they were falling apart.

The culprit!

Did I mention I also dyed it purple? Well the off-white was a little dingy and needed a little something. So purple was that little something in a box of Rit Dye. 

After dying and snipping I sewed the top of the sleeve holes. Like so:

 Here is what it looks like in the end:

Selfie style!

Hi Presley!

So while I loved it with the sleeves and the buttons, I couldn't wear it that way and what use is a dress you can't wear?! I think it turned out pretty decent. I plan to add some buttons back on the front but will have to find some really cute purple ones first. Its also so short I could wear it as a top. I will most likely at least wear leggings with it!

You can see more pictures and detail from this refashion at my blog post about it here. 

Have a great refashioning day!

Reversible sunhat from dress

My daughter wore this dress to the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebration in our street - it was perfect!

Now she has outgrown it, I refashioned it into a sunhat:

A reversible sunhat at that!

More photos and details of this and other refashions can be found at my blog:

Sew Selena

Happy refashioning!

Less is more

I found this dress and just loved the vintage print and flow of it.

And if it's not broke, don't fix it, right?  I just brought the hemline up a little and cinched it in from the back.

Voila! Come check it out on my blog!

Give the Cat a Name 

A Jumpsuit Gets New Life as a Dress

I started with this Sheri Martin, New York jumpsuit that had lost it’s size label a long time ago. This quirky number was built for the very tall, jump-suit adoring woman… aka not me. (I am actually wearing jeans under it in this photo!)

I knew I wanted to make this into a dress, so the first thing I did was rip out the leg seams so I could put it on my dress form. From there, took in all of the too big parts, made a couple of new seams and shortened it to my desired length.

The end result was a dress that I could wear to the office.

To see more details and pictures from this refashion, visit my blog at probablyrachel.com.

Grandma's shirt rehashed

Well hello! It's been a while since I have last posted. Deep apologies for that. My returning refashion has actually sitting for a while on the refashion rack. This was my grandma's shirt/blouse:

My sewing machine was causing some issues while I was at this rather simple refashion, which led me to stray from the initial (simple) plan and improvise (go to my blog if you care for details). However, I managed to finish it somehow. And I kinda like it!

A Quick Blazer Embellishment Tutorial

Need to add a quick bit of snazz to a boring blazer?

Here’s how to take those jackets from dull to delightful in minutes:

+ how to make your own lovely lace front tee

Breezy Tank Refash

I am TRYING to push this Michigan weather towards summer by refashioing myself a nice breezy tank top! But it's Michigan and our weather is always wacky! 

 I wanted to accentuate the collar pattern at the top with a different color material. I used this beautiful blue/purple shimmery fabric that I had left over from helping a friend add more fabric to a t-shirt.

I began by tracing the collar detail and made my very own pattern! looks like a sock

Pinned it on the material and began cutting it out.  

  

 Pinned my 'socks' to the shirt.

I began sewing. Everything was going smoothly...

Then THIS happened! 

GRRRRR! You've got to be kidding me!!!!! After I calmed down after my fit of rage, I used my seam ripper to get rid of this boo-boo and started again.

Then I wanted to add a fabric flower to the bottom of the shirt. I made my own pattern by tracing an image of a flower. I really wanted this flower to have a full look rather than being totally flat so I pinned and cut two flowers!

With my trusty sewing machine I sewed the bottom flower on... Then I stitched the top flower on with some embroidery thread that matched the shirt color for some extra pizzaz! But I wasn't done there! Oh no!

 

I added three buttons to the middle of the flower too! 

 I am so super excited about how this turned out! My face doesn't really reflect how excited I am but trust me, I can't wait to wear this on a hot summer day! Happy Refashioning!

Come check out my stash of refashes on my blog: www.therefashstash.wordpress.com