The EFFORT though.

Fewwww!

Another weekend is here! This week, I've spent basically every evening working on refashions. I'm trying to get through SOME of my pile so I can justify buying more things at the Flagstaff Goodwill next weekend ;) (my sister is coming to visit so Saturday is Grand Canyon/Flagstaff day, and their Goodwill is aawwesssooommeeee).

Let's 'cut' to the refashions, shall we? (I crack myself up)

All of my projects have been pretty intensive (for a novice). Here I have a lovely, Indian-looking tunic that has been sitting in the pile for some time. Problem: too tight in the sleeves, neckline too high for my liking, and sleeves in an Arizona summer are NOT an option

This is how the sleeves were stitched in: a weird, square seam with a extra gusset thing.

After approximately one century, I FINALLY had the sleeves off!

Pin and sew. The hem was teeeeeeny narrow so I had to slow my sewing machine way down to keep everything straight

So you unpick the sleeves and the armpits get all flopped out and weird... What on earth

THIS is the problem. This stupid little triangle here. I sewed this about three different ways, all resulting in the bust becoming absurdly too tight, before I settled on...

This! This didn't tighten the bust and allowed it to lie straight under the arms. This, plus two tiny pseudo darts in the front allowed the tunic to FINALLY lie flat on my body

I thought about making a v-neck, but I really love the "Oh this top button just casually flopped open of its own accord" look that shirts never do in real life. So I stitched down a few wee stitches to help it do what I wanted!

The excitement is real folks! Now it's sleeveless and fits great, and the neckline isn't touching my throat! I was so pleased I wore it to work the next day with a dark grey maxi skirt and looked pretty fly!

Next adventurous project:

I did this about a year ago? My first refashion ever actually! I wore it once: it was too tight and then the little tie thingies needed to be ironed, and there were just issues with it. So, today I took my rotary cutter and chopped off the top section just under the top button

I thought maybe I'd make a skirt, but it just doesn't fit in the hip area. So, a top it will be! I used the back of the rejected shoulder/sleeve portion to cut out these pieces for straps

I took the body of my to-be top and made an elastic casing so it would sit properly at the neck and not just be a floppy potato sack

Straps, sewn and serged

I pinned the straps and sewed them to the front first so I could try it on and decide what I wanted to do with the back

I decided on a simple square knot. I tied it and did a little hand stitching so it won't get wonky when it goes through the wash

Finished! I'll be getting MUCH more use out of this now! I sewed down the button placket too to avoid any potential malfunctions, and serged the inside seams where I had taken it in originally

And here's the back. The straps sit a little nicer than that; I was just standing like a weirdo

I'm evolving I think! I'm slowly doing slightly more complex things each time I craft and I'm feeling pretty smug. I'm nowhere NEAR some of you talented ladies here, but for the level I'm at, I feel good!

SUNDAY: A FANTASTIC project that I'm excited to show off (don't worry editors, I made sure to finish the project correctly before I built up any suspense ;) )