Short and Sweet

Hi everyone!!

It's been a while since I've done any refashioning, so I started off simple.

I found this in my (very large and messy, organised!) stash. I think I found it for a couple of ££'s somewhere ages ago....

I actually bought it for the white fake pocket handkerchief, but unfortunately it didn't make the final cut (no pun intended....)

Essentially the jacket part of the dress worked. I wanted to keep this one simple, so I chopped off the skirt bottom and tried on the jacket. It was just waaaaay too dated, but I didn't want to be dealing with the sleeves and taking it in still looked dated.

So I chopped off under the first button and stitched up the raw edges.

I'm pretty happy with it now, it adds a dash of colour to my predominately black wardrobe!

As always, the full process can be found here....

60s maxi dress saved to see another day!

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of before shots on this one; I had to re-fash quickly for a night out last night! Imagine a long (to the floor!) 60s maxi dress with a front seam and long to the wrist sleeves that slightly puffed out...... scary! All for 5 quid :)

So  I chopped off the sleeves completely, hemmed and stitched them up and then went in for the kill and made it a mini. I had to make sure that the horizontal seam along the hemline was straight so as to balance with the vertical front seam.

Pretty happy with this dress, although the material is a pain to sew (pure polyester methinks).

Once again, a longer version is over at 2nd spin....

Thanks for reading!

☽AliceSaysNo☾

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☾

Art Nouveau Dress

Hi all! It's been a while since my last post, but luckily this was a nice easy refash from a long skirt to a cute 60s style dress. I am in love with this print, so when I saw it for a fiver, I couldn't pass it up....

With a bit of unstitching, some darts and a dress form I came up with this. Did I mention how much I love this pattern??

You can read the full blog post at Second Spin

Thanks for reading!

 ☽AliceSaysNo☾

Skirt to dress

Hey all!!

In part two of the copycat kimono (last post)/dress combo I'm attempting, I started with this grey skirt....

After much choppage (yes, choppage!), some stitching and a bout of unstitching to boot, I completed the grey dress (now I hope it gets warm enough to wear it soon!)

You can see the full process here at 2nd spin, along with the copycat photo...

Thanks for reading!

 ☽AliceSaysNo☾

Two Part Copycat.....

Hi all!

I'm really looking forward to the coming summer here in London, I'll (hopefully) be able to ditch the layers and wear some dresses!

I recently fell in love with a picture of a model wearing a grey cotton dress and a Indian print kimono - you can see the image and how I made the copy-cat here....

I had found a Queen sized bedspread in a brilliant little junk shop in Hastings and picked it up as I'd already had this kimono in mind.

This bedspread was huge!! It was probably King sized but as I've never  had the luxury of a King sized bed, I couldn't tell you!!

I only used half of this gigantic piece of material, which meant the the pattern wouldn't be asymmetrical but I thought I'd just go for it....

After halving the material I folded it again and again so it was an inside out rectangle. I measured elbow to elbow across the shoulders, underarm to the desired length and underarm to elbow. I drew where I wanted to cut (and allowed a bit extra for a seam) and cut. 

This left me with this.

I cut right down the middle from bottom to top, or top to bottom if you want :) and then a triangle at the top for a v-neckline.

I hemmed everything up only to find that the length was really dowdy (my word for the day....)!! This meant I had to cut off the two floral borders at the bottom (and leaving me having to hem the bottom after all)! 

And this is the end result..

I'm 'pinning' the side with my hand on hip accidentally!

All in all, considering that it was stiff cotton and not flowing silk, I'm really happy with the kimono and it's fun to wear.

Thanks for reading!

 ☽AliceSaysNo☾

Spruced up!

Spruced up!

Hello and happy Chinese New Year!!

I found this cute red dress which said it was my size, but it wasn't. I bought it anyway (that's what's sooooo good about refashioning!)

Slightly too everything...

I popped it in a tub of dye - Rosewood Red from Dylon to give it a less tartan-y and deeper and richer feel. I know, it's still pretty damn tartan-y...

Way too long

I then popped it on a dress form and brought it in, there was a side zip thank goodness - and raised the hemline.

It was just a little spruce, but it made all the world of difference. It will now get loads of wear instead of being looked over because it's wasn't quite right.

You can see the full details here..

2ndspin

Thanks for reading!

☽AliceSaysNo☾

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Skirt to Dress

Hi all and Happy New Year!! 

I'm so excited about 2014!!!

Unfortunately for this entry I don't have any before pics (sorry - there's a resolution for this year in the making.....) but essentially it's a beautiful calf length wrap around skirt I found for a couple of quid at a charity store.

The elephant pattern was at the bottom of the skirt; I chopped it off and used it as a lovely fitted piece just below the empress line.

The remaining pattern below the elephants makes the bodice. I joined it all together by putting a zipper in the back. This also allowed me to make it fitted (I didn't really have any material to spare on this one!). By using the bits and bobs I got a great patchwork feel to the bodice, which is one thing I love about the dress (along with the colour!)

The wrap around tie became a halter neck solely because a) there wasn't enough material for sleeves/straps and b) they're cute!



Now I'll just have to wait for summer :/

See the process at 2ndspin@AliceSAysNo

Thanks for reading! ☽AliceSaysNo☾

Hi!

I use a lot of canvas bags for all sorts of things - especially instead of plastic grocery bags - in the UK we have one supermarket with hideous orange ones that are blowing everywhere in the autumn wind!!

 I'd bought a cute coral coloured tee with lovely birds flying all over it - I don't wear that colour, but I couldn't leave it in the shop.... I also had a great canvas bag with Mick Jagger on the front. I love Mick, but the picture was very unflattering. So bag+shirt = great new refashion!!

Sorry, I don't have a full pic of the before T-shirt, but it was a size 14 that came up too short just above the hips......

I sewed up the sleeves and the neck, using the bottom hem of the shirt for the top hem of the bag.

And the end result....

This makes the bag stronger for all those heavy root veggies I'll be buying for winter!

The full process can be seen here...

http://2ndspin.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks!! - ☽AliceSaysNo☾

Too Much Maxi

Hi all! This is my first Refashion Co-op post *excited*!!

I found this maxi skirt at a market and fell in love with the retro patterns. It's actually a H & M skirt, so it's not that old. I live in black most of the time, so I liked the colours breaking it up. I would have just brought it in to fit as a maxi-skirt, but I needed some work clothes - so a dress it will become.

Too much maxi...

I'm holding this back, but it's 3 sizes too big.

So I have a great dress that is wide and square-ish at the shoulders and elasticated in the middle which I copied the style for this skirt to dress refashion. I've never stitched an elasticated middle before, so this was entering new territory for me.... I've blogged the full tutorial is at 2ndspin.blogspot.co.uk

 

So, the end result was great (the pattern's an eye-catcher!) but you may see this one again. I threw on a belt but I'm not really happy with the elasticated waist or the sleeves, so it pretty much back on the project pile methinks ... 

Thanks for reading!!!