Fixing an Uncomfortable Sandal

I have two pairs of sandals (one in black and one in brown) that I picked up inexpensively and of course I was so happy to add them to my “collection” that I didn’t walk around in them much before deciding to buy them. The first time that I wore them I found that the beautiful beading rubbed against the top of my foot and made them into “10 minute shoes”. Not what I had in mind when I purchased these.

It took me quite awhile to figure out how to fix them but once I had the idea it was pretty easy to implement. Check out How To Fix Your Sandals for the details.

Scarf Doodling

I’ve been playing around with my scarf collection lately, transforming ones that I haven’t worn in awhile into new tops, ponchos, collars, belts … and I thought you all might be inspired by my latest scarf doodling.


I came up with a bunch of ideas which I snapped pics of and posted over at my blog. Here is a pic of my favorite one though.

simple ruffle

The idea is that this could be used to update a cardigan, either by placing it along one edge or if I had a long enough scarf do it all the way around the back of the neck and down the other side.

In the end, this scarf went back into my refashion pile, but it will sleep well knowing it performed a service to all us budding refashionistas and dream that someday it might leave the stash and become part of a fashionable ensemble once again. Scarf Doodling

Frogs Gone Wild

Remember this refashion?

Refashioned Black Cable Knit Sweater

I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret - I cheated on this refashion. Instead of sewing the frogs on, I pinned them to take the after pic. Every time that I sat down to permanently attach them I thought of all the fabulous things that I wanted to do with these unique frogs and I just couldn’t condemn them to a lifetime on the front of just one sweater. Then it dawned on me! I could sew a couple of brooch pins on the back of each frog and then I could use them on whatever I wanted.

Wanna see how I’m using them now? Homemade Brooches

Drab Guess T-Shirt Brought To Life

Yes, I bought another olive green t-shirt. I seem to be drawn to this color, then I get it home and realize it’s kind of lifeless. Thank goodness I have lots of colorful t-shirts I can cut up to refashion into a garden party on the drab newcomers to my closet.

An almost exact replica of my before top.

Please don’t hate me – I forgot to take a before pic, but I did pay my penance by spending hours searching the Internet just to bring you all a before pic.

Awhile back I refashioned this top:

before

after - sorry for the blurry pic

Problem is I still don’t like the top. I wore it a couple of times just to justify the time I spent refashioning it and then it took a long vacation in the back of my closet. Take a look at the after picture below and you can guess what happened to the refashion project above.



Not much to figure out here but if you want to see some of the steps in between check out Refashioned Guess T-Shirt.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Gets A Grown Up Makeover

Once again I forgot to take the before pic. This is a similar dress with wider straps.

A friend gave me this little sundress because it had a light blue stain at the bottom of the skirt. She thought I’d slash off the skirt and make it into a cute top, but I had other ideas for this sundress that I didn’t tell her reminded me of something Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm would wear. It had worked for her with her straight blonde hair, but me with my red curls would look like I’d just stepped off the farm.

I had a pair of little boys swim trunks that was covered with black velvet leaves and flowers. This was the choice for a little boys swim trunks? Go figure! That’s probably why I was able to pick them up for .25 at a garage sale. The little boy they were intended for probably refused to wear them, as any little boy would.

I bought them knowing that I would use the leaves and flowers on something so I had already started cutting them out and had a large pile of them by the time I was given this sundress. I popped the sundress on my dress form and started playing around with the velvet foliage.

To see all the steps from start to finish check out Sundress Refashion.

Drab Olive Green T-Shirt Blooms

Once again I jumped right in, forgetting to take a before picture. I searched the Internet trying to find a pic of the original Kimchi Blue top but couldn’t find one so you’re just going to have to trust me that it was pretty blah before I started.

I sat down to a good movie with a needle and thread.  A couple of hours later I had my new t-shirt ready to wear.


Or so I thought ... t-shirt makeover to be continued

Cashmere Leftovers

Today's refashion was never supposed to be. This is a rescue refashion made from the leftovers from another refashion that I had intended to use for a set of potholders. 

comfy but not wearable (yet)

1 comfy cashmere sweater + 1 soft tunic length t-shirt = 1 very soft poncho.



To see all the steps in-between head on over to Making a Poncho From a Cashmere Sweater.

Gray Slasher Scarf

I love scarves. They can turn a drab outfit into something fabulous. They can keep you warm on a chilly evening. They can be used as a tourniquet after an unfortunate kitchen accident … That said, I do have a scarf collection that needs a little help. For instance, this gray scarf is – well, gray and so it isn’t going to turn a drab outfit into something fabulous. It needed some help. I could have dyed it but I didn’t have any dye around that I wanted to use for this scarf. What I did have was a pair of scissors. Hint – don’t give a girl with a hankering to change something a pair of scissors. Strange things can happen. 


Like this:
 

See the tutorial at Scarf Refashion.

“Golden Girls” T-shirt Gets Glammed Up

love the pattern on the fabric

the fit - not so much

I picked this Golden Girls style t-shirt up at a garage sale for – you guessed it – $1! I figured that if I couldn’t turn it into a wearable top that it would make a great skirt. The fabric is super soft but very thick so perfect for a skirt. Once I tried it on though I really liked how it looked with my skin tone so I was determined to turn it into a top. I played around with it quite a bit and even considered making it into a halter but the fabric was so thick that when the weather was hot enough for a halter top I would be sweating it out in this top. Back to the drawing board – or in my case – the dress form.

And here's the end result:

To see how I did it and a little more details of the end result I've posted a tute at T-Shirt Gets Glammed Up.

Black Cable Knit Crop Top

"Blah" sweater just minutes before being decollared.

I have had this little black sweater in my closet for years. I keep it there because I need little black sweaters that I can throw on over a dress or a tank top and jeans. The thing is that I never pick this sweater. There isn’t really anything wrong with it, it’s just kind of blah. So after years of folding and refolding the same sweater over and over I decided it’s time to move it to the refashion drawing board. My refashion drawing board is really my dress form. When I have no idea what I want to do with something I put it on my dress form and stare at it for awhile. If I still have no good ideas then I leave it there and I look at it from time to time throughout the day and generally by the end of the day I’ve come up with something.

Here's the end result:

To see what happened between the "before" and "after" pics head over to my blog post for all the in-between steps complete with lots of fuzzy, badly lit camera phone pics. Sweater Refashion

Too Much Bling Bebe!

I acquired this super-soft brown top at a clothing swap. Trouble was that it was terribly outdated with white satin collar and faux-cuffs and that blingy-sparkly “bebe” logo in the chestal region. Not happening in my closet! Time for an infinity scarf. Check out the tute over here which is also a lesson in zero-waste refashion.

Cropped T-Shirts - Dressed Up & Dressed Down

The other day I dug into my t-shirt collection, eager to create something new and different. This refashion took ten minutes per t-shirt and I’m so in love with the end result that I have to restrain myself from taking the scissors to a whole pile of t-shirts!



This t-shirt will end up being worn sideways so decide which direction you want the print to go before cutting, if it even matters, which in most cases it won’t. Lay the shirt flat on a work surface with one sleeve at the top and the neckline to the left so that basically your shirt is sideways on your work surface. Mark your neckline with the first mark an inch or two above the armhole seam and the 2nd mark two to three inches below the bottom armhole seam. Then trace a gentle curve from Point A to Point B.
Mark your second cut at the bottom of the t-shirt roughly along the same lines as the line you marked for the neckline.
Cut out your neckline and your new waistline. Try on and make whatever adjustments you need.


I promise you that this photo doesn't do this refashion a bit of justice. You can find a tutorial and pics of the 2nd cropped t-shirt over at The Irish Attic - Cropped T-shirt Refashions

Sweatshirt Makeover # 1

Sweatshirt makeovers are difficult for me. I love sweatshirts. They’re soft and warm and I really don’t want them to be anything other than something comfy to throw on over my top on a day turned chilly, but then I don’t want them to look like most sweatshirts tend to look, boring and/or frumpy.
Somehow or other this white Olympic style sweatshirt turned up in my clothing stash.

Go team!

While watching a Tivoed sitcom I turned it into this:


Now I can wear it with jeans and a tank instead of just hanging out at the gym. Check out the tutorial - sweatshirt refashion.

Zero Waster Sweater Refashion

I don’t know if “capelet” is really the right word for this refashion, but since that was my original intention when I started out on this little adventure I’m sticking with it. What it turned out to be is a shawl, scarf, poncho, skirt and oh yeah, a capelet too.

ALMOST a before picture, I've already cut the bottom off.

I love that this redesign allowed me to make this a zero waste refashion. I didn’t use the label in this refashion but I promise I’ll use it in another one.

Check out the full tutorial at Zero Waste Refashion.

Holy Tank Top Batman – This Needs Refashioning!

There’s this little store in a town about twenty minutes from where I live that has a rack at the back where they place their clearance items which are priced between $1 and $5. Whenever I’m in the area I stop in to check out that rack and I’ve found some amazing things. Just before I left for my summer vacation I found this grape purple tank top with a gathered front and a blousy silhouette that just needed a little TLC before I packed it for the trip.

front of tank top

Holy back!

After looking at the before and after pics I’m glad this top had a holy back which forced me to refashion it. I think the front is much more feminine as a halter than it was as a tank.

front of new halter

back of new halter

Done! To see all the steps between "before" and "after" click on over to tank top refashion.

High-waisted Shorts Made Over

I’ve been looking for shorts for the past two months and have not been able to find any that work for me.

Then I remembered that I had a pair of shorts that I loved – except … they were leftovers from a time when high-waisted was the only thing around and now they looked more “Sierra Club hiker” than “Summer of 2011″.

Allright, this isn't me or my shorts, but they look just like the shorts I'm refashioning.


Now I have a pair of shorts that will be a wardrobe staple this summer and I didn’t pay a cent for them. Wish I had thought of this before I wasted all that time shopping for summer shorts.

The shorts I'll be living in this summer!

Check out how I Refashioned High Waisted Shorts.

Rolls Royce Halter Top

It’s summer so you’ll be seeing a lot more t-shirt refashions coming out of the Irish Attic. It’s hot in Southern CA and it will be hot and humid in Michigan, the two places I’ll be this summer. So t-shirts will be a wardrobe staple, but there’s nothing that says they have to be the same-o-same-o boxy crew-necks that or fitted v-necks that I see all over the place.

This isn't my t-shirt but I found an exact replica on-line.

And this is what you’ll end up with after following the tutorial How To Make a Halter Top



I've included instructions for two different ways to do the back. Oh and if you shy away from halter tops I've also included instruction for making this as a tank top.

Boxy T-shirt Made Over into Cute Workout Tanktop

I have a bunch of these t-shirts from the Spirit Run race and I get new ones every year. They’re the typical event t-shirt, boxy crew necks that are unflattering on one and all.




I don’t even like wearing them to sleep in. I don’t feel pretty in these t-shirts and I want to feel nice even when I’m just lounging around the house and so I began to look at these t-shirts to see how I could refashion them into something that I would enjoy wearing.

Here's a closeup of the end result:



I posted the tutorial at Boxy T-Shirt Make Over

Quick and Easy T-Shirt Makeovers #1

I didn’t think that each of these quick and easy casual t-shirt refashions warranted it’s own post but I did want to share with you all how quick and easy it can be to makeover a t-shirt from ordinary or unwearable into something that you love.

Too short t-shirt grows up.

Boring T gets a little detail.

Crew neck T goes off-shoulder.

 For details head on over to Quick and Easy T-Shirt Makeovers.

Little Red T Becomes a Brand New Halter

There are so many ways to quickly and easily make your own halter top and with summer coming I’m sure I’ll be making lots of them. My first one this season is a refashion made from one of those boring crew neck t-shirts that’s been hanging out in my closet since the 80′s. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I loved the color and the graphic on the front so I wanted a halter design that wouldn’t mess with the graphic and this is what I came up with. I’m not claiming to have invented this design, the triangle halter is a common halter design, but I had to figure out a way to make it work with my t-shirt and if you have a t-shirt that you want to try this with check out the step-by-step below. One thing I wanted to show you with this tutorial is a way to deal with a common problem with refashioning t-shirts and that’s that the cut edges often sag and don’t look finished. This is just one way to handle that. I’ve since made a few more of these t-shirt halters and each time I came up with a new way to deal with the saggy sides and back. I’ll post those tutorials a bit later in the month.
Once again I was so excited to get started on this refashion that I forgot to take a pic of the t-shirt before I attacked it with my scissors. Imagine a crew neck t-shirt that fits you fine but is just plain boring. Got the pic in your head? Good. That’s my before pic.

Not my t-shirt, but a close approximation of it.

After a bit of playing around both on my dress form and on myself I ended up pairing a fabric belt from a pair of pants that always struck me as silly on the pants, but worked great with my new halter. Check out the finished product below.

For detailed instructions on how I got from the "before" to the "after" click on over to Halter Top Refashioned From a T-Shirt.