Sweaters and Skinny Jeans 4

Hello Refashion Co-op. This is the last outfit in a series. This "series" was a pile of clothes I wanted to fix for myself. The sweater was a men's 2XL. The pants are not jeans, they are basic cotton twill pants the are too baggy and long.

I made the sweater smaller and moved the binding on the cuffs and waist so I could keep the dark and light color stripe pattern in place. It should have been easy but my machine went crazy and I broke 4 needles. The thread broke over and over and over. I finished it but it was much harder than it should have been. 

The pants are baggy and I want them to be more fitted, like a cigarette pant. I made them more narrow little by little. The calf area needed to be altered more than the rest of the pants. I also shortened them a bit. The pants were easy work.

I love the new outfit and these pants seem to go with everything. 

Thanks for reading, for more details and pictures go to I Can Work With That.

Frankensweater

Valentine's Day is on the way, and I have the perfect refashion to get in the spirit! For this project, I took two red sweaters – one that was too wide and short, and one that was too narrow – and combined bits and pieces of them into a new tunic-length creation.

Before

After

My favorite part of the finished product is the dark red ends on the sleeves; they were an afterthought that I think ties the whole thing together.

On the other hand, I'm not happy with the waist and might try to clean it up in the future—after I've had a break from this project, which, thanks to all the mistakes and re-dos, took a full day of work.

Process photos can be found on my original blog post!

--The Unfashionista

90's Jacket Makeover

This 1990's cashmere blend jacket was thrifted a while ago. While I love the fabric, the colour and how well made it was, the shape was not flattering for my broad upper body, particularly the huge shoulder pads and  the too-long sleeves.

I decided to refashion the jacket : narrow the shoulder seams and shorten the sleeves to 3/4 length. And now it looks like this:

I think it now looks better for my proportions. I'm happy to have a better fitting, warm and colourful jacket for the cold months!

You can see more pics at my blog.

Tunic Dress Refashioned Into Top

I thrifted this very short dress at Value Village for only $10.99 but I had a 30% off coupon so it only cost me $7.77.  I loved the fabric and the cut of the top but it was too short to be a dress and I don't wear tunics.

So it was a simple matter of taking my seam ripper and removing the band of fabric that covers the elastic on the waistband.

Once that was done, it was just a matter of cutting the top to the right length, iron the hem over twice and stitch it down.

Then I ironed the wrinkles out and I had a great new top.  What do you think of my refashion?  Check out my blog at Vintagethrifter51.  Cheers, Michele

TBT: Peasant Top

I'm digging way in to the archives for this #TBT post, you guys. Lately, I've been focusing on sewing for other people (something I NEVER thought I'd do...) and have not refashioned for myself much.

This is a favorite from four summers ago. I bought this dress at a garage sale and had intended to simply shorten the hem and wear it as a Cami.

Sorry it's blurry... 2007 camera phoning it in through 2013...

Stains ALL over the bodice (that I didn't initially notice), however, made me switch gears... Instead I used the bottom have of the skirt. It was loose fitting enough that I had enough material to make long sleeves.

I added elastic to this top raw edge to make a fun off-shoulder look.

I was pretty happy with the result.

For my full tutorial, click here.

Happy Throwback Thursday.

<3 Laura

Brought to you by the letter S

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'S' for too SMALL ... yes the 'girls' had a wee bit of trouble fitting in to these shirts... so i googled how to make them bigger and let my imagination do the rest.... ... I hope you like them!!! I love them for fun, everyday wear paired with some of my skirts or jeans...

The first one I simply added on to the sides and put on some fabric buttons.   I like my everyday shirts loose and shapely. I took my favorite t shirt laid it underneath to see how much i wanted to add. Cut the sides all the way up to and including the sleeves... sew... And Ta-Dah!

The next one i added 2 black and white pattern triangles to the front and 2 to the back.  For this one i made a triangle pattern the size i wanted. Then i cut 2 slits in my pattern, from the bottom of the triangle almost up to the point, so I could stretch the triangle for a little flair. Laid it on top of my material, cut and Then top sewed it ... and another Ta-Dah! 

The final one I added to the sides and added rolled roses for deoration

 

Sweaters and Skinny Jeans 3

Hello Refashion Co-op. I am making progress through a pile of basic casual clothes that I wanted to refashion. Today is a fabulous fuzzy gray sweater. I love finding things like this. I have never seen a sweater like this.

Look at the beautiful gray fuzz!

I made the sweater more narrow and shorter. I removed the lower sheer section and gave it a more classic shape. It was a pain to deal with, my sewing machine hated it too. It was thin and open like gauze. The fuzz kept hiding my thread. Ugh!

The jeans were a nice fit in the waist and hips but the legs were out of control. I made the legs more narrow and shorter.

Thanks for reading, for more details and pictures go to I Can Work With That.

vogue 9004 - trousers to top

I had been meaning to try vogue 9004 for a time, and had forgot I had these trousers in my 'stash'.  the fabric was perfect and it also made a lovely gift for my sister - www.theupsew.com

Black and White

I love black and white stripes, prints, geometric shapes, etc!  I always seem to be drawn to them when I visit the thrift shops.  Check out these fun retro black and white numbers from the 60's.  I love them!

Editor: Collage removed.

Well, the other day at the thrift shop, I noticed a 2XL dress that was really speaking to me.  It was saying, "Come on, for only $2.50 you can pick me up and make a retro-inspired mod dress!"  I couldn't ignore the voice, so I purchased it!

I loved the black and white striped pattern.  I didn't love, however, the fit, the bulky gathered skirt, and the uneven sewing on the waistband.  I put my 60's playlist on and dedicated the evening to sewing.  After a fair amount of tweaking, I was happy with the results.

For more pics and a tutorial of the steps I took to complete this dress, you can visit my blog, Second Chances by Susan!  Thanks!

Sweaters and Skinny Jeans 2

Hello Refashion Co-op. I am working my way through a small pile of everyday basics. Today it is a gray and black outfit. The sweater almost fits but the cowl neck is stiff and in the way. The sleeves are too full and long. The jeans are too loose in the calf. They aren't a straight leg and they aren't a skinny fit either.

I narrowed the sleeves from the elbow to the wrist. I also cut the cowl/turtleneck off. I left the seam intact so the neck would hold its shape. I didn't expect the scoop neck to be SO low. 

I added a lace panel to the inside of the shirt to cover the low opening. I had it on hand and I wanted to stay with the black and gray color scheme.

I didn't change the jeans much at all. I took more off the calves so I could tuck them into boots easily. I made them a bit shorter as well.

That's all folks.

Thanks for reading, for more details go to I Can Work With That.

Bathing Suit Redo!

Hello all!  I'm sorry it's been a while! Hope everyone's creative juices are flowing and that you have had a good new year so far. For this refashion I knew as soon as I bought it that it was going to need some help. I bought this bathing suit new on an app where you can get very cheap things but sometimes the quality is questionable. However for $6 I knew I could figure out some way to fix it!

It fit fine, however there was no padding, support or elastic to hold up the top! There was no way I could wear it without doing something. Then I had an idea! I dug through my bag of clothes that I was waiting to donate. And I found an old bra that didn't fit me very well anymore but would be perfect to add into this bathing suit to give it the support that it needed.  I stitched it into the bathing suit so that it would be a permanent solution. 

After fixing the support issue I realized that the ears of the bathing suit wouldn't stay up. Luckily I saved some shoulder pads from previous refashions. I cut up portions of shoulder pads that I handstitched into the ears to make them more stiff. 

That was the last issue to be fixed so this suit was ready for a day out on the water! My husband, myself and a couple friends spend the day wake boarding and tubing on the ocean. 

Until next time, thanks for looking and if you want to see more step by step As well as more refashions head on over to my blog Here.

Scrub Dress Refash

I picked up this white scrub dress because it was a total blank canvas! It was also in my size! Perfect! But what to do with it?! Should I dye it? Make it into a nurse's costume for next Halloween?!?

I decided to dye it!!! I went to my stash of Rit Dye and selected purple! A color I really like but don't wear enough of it.

I followed the directions on the box of dye. I let my dress soak in the dye bath for 30 minutes. After I checked on it I decided it needed to soak more. I left my dress in the dye bath 1 1/2 hours before turning on the wash cycle. This left the dress a rich purple color, which I was super happy with!

I wanted to add some details to the dress to break up the solid color. My idea was to add appliques made of black lace. I drew 2 hearts on the back of some heat n bond.

I took some lace that I had leftover and folded it once. I ironed the heat n bond onto the lace. I placed a sheet of wax paper down underneath the lace so the heat n bond wouldn't melt on my ironing board.

I cut out my heart design. Peeled off the white backing. Ironed it onto the back of my dress. I also did the same with a smaller heart and ironed that onto the small pocket in the front of my dress.

I used black fabric paint to finish off the appliques.

See the heart on the pocket?! I also added pyramid spikes into the collar and changed the white buttons to black ones!

I hemmed the dress by 2 inches to bring it up above the knee.

The back!

Better than just a plain white dress!

Happy Refashioning!!!

Check out my stash of refashions on my blog:http://therefashstash.wordpress.com