T-Shirt to Underwear!

While trying to think of a new way to repurpose a nice soft t-shirt with a tiny stain on the front, I also considered another problem I have: most store bought underwear is too skimpy for my curvy behind. So I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone - make panties that fit from the stained t-shirt!

I found a link to a wonderful tutorial for sewing panties on the sewing blog verypurpleperson. The tutorial has great photos and is very easy to understand. It even shows how to enclose the crotch lining seams, which are often left unenclosed on store bought panties. The only thing missing from the tutorial is how long to make the elastic for the leg openings. Since I didn’t want the elastic to fit tightly, I just cut each leg elastic piece one inch shorter than my panty leg measurement. Perfect! I forgot to take a before photo, but I think we all know what a t-shirt looks like.

Fifty Shades of Grey Refashion (Minus 47)



This refashion is a combination of three old clothing pieces: a nightgown, a sleeveless tee, and a pair of men's pants. In three different shades of grey. Since the sleeveless tee fit well, I just crafted sleeves from the nightgown and sewed them onto the tee. But because the two shades of grey didn't match, the top looked odd. So I cut out circles from the extra nightgown fabric and a thrifted pair of men's pants to create a more interesting color palette and appliqued them to the top. More info here.

Discarded Wool Clothing to Shoulder Bag Transformation

This shoulder bag was made from five moth-eaten wool skirts and one pair of men's wool pants. I deconstructed all the garments, removing the hems, waistbands, and darts to create flat fabric and cut out Kwik Sew pattern #4093. I used the rear pocket from the men's pants as one of the patchwork pieces on the front of the bag, adding design interest and extra storage to the purse. I entered this bag in the PatternReview.com Handbag Contest. Voting is open until December 8th. I'd love you, my fellow refashioners, to show your support of recycling by voting for my bag! Thanks for your support!!! (More on the bag and the contest, here.)



3 Shirts to Dress Refashion

This dress was constructed from a black woman's button down top and two coordinating black and purple men's button down shirts. The men's shirt fronts become the front and sides of the dress skirt and the back of the men's shirts become the back of the skirt. The men's shirts are seamed together alternately, then gathered at one long edge and sewn to the woman's top which is trimmed to waist length. I added a thrift store black leather belt for a little pizzazz. Please see my blog post for info on the Refashion book that was the inspiration for this dress. It's a fantastic book with 20 cute and easy projects, perfect to inspire avid refashionistas!

Kimono to Wrap Skirt

For this refashion I started out with a thrift store polyester kimono. It had a beautiful print design but the sash was missing. Using a pattern and instructions from the Craftsy Project Upcycle class I made the kimono into a reversible wrap skirt. For more info on this project click here.

Perfect Halter Top For Warm Weather

This refashion started as a Chico's shirt with bleach stained sleeves. Because of the stains I got it for free at the thrift store where I volunteer. I thought I'd just need to shorten the sleeves to remove the stained area and I'd have a super simple refashion. But the top made look like a 1950s candy striper so I decided to drastically change it up. The halter top I ended up with is perfect for the 92 degree day we're expecting tomorrow.

Jean Skirt + T = Asian Flair

This refashion began as a thrift store t shirt and jeans skirt with a high back slit. The t shirt was too small for me, but I fell in love with the dragon decal on the back. The jeans skirt fit perfectly, but when I tried it on at the thrift store I didn't notice how large the back opening was. When I got home I realized that I couldn't wear the skirt as it was - most of the back was missing! Since the t shirt was a great color match for the skirt I decided to use the dragon decal from the t to close the back of the skirt. I had to add a seam just above the dragon to have enough length to fill in the entire back opening. The seam looked unattractive, so I hid it with a strip of frayed denim. But the denim strip looked really plain! I decided to cover the strip with Chinese writing. I looked up the word beauty in Chinese on Google Translator and printed the characters on the strip with an indelible magic marker. I sewed the denim strip to the skirt with two buttons which resemble Chinese coins, using embroidery floss in colors from the dragon decal.

Ombre Dip Dye Dust Ruffle Skirt Refashion

This refashion is unusual because it's not a transformation of readymade clothing to something more wearable. The skirt above started out as home décor. I think it was either a bed dust ruffle or a window valance. This was the easiest refashion ever and would have also been the quickest except I decided to do an ombre dye technique, which took an additional 30 minutes. The original white color looked too much like a half slip. A tutorial and more info can be found here.

Too Small Slip To Nightgown Refashion

This refashion is not a complete transformation but it does take the slip (shown above) from unwearable to wearable. I bought this vintage slip decades ago. While I can still fit into the lace bodice, the rest of the slip is now extremely tight and unflattering. Thinking losing weight would solve the issue, I held onto the slip while working at getting fit. Although I did achieve the goal of being able to get into the slip again, resembling a stuffed sausage was not the look I was hoping for.

To solve this unsightly problem I removed the lace bodice and hem from the slip and discarded the rest, and sewed on a larger piece of slinky fabric from my stash. But because the fabric I had was a much darker color than the original slip fabric it didn't look quite right with the light colored lace.

In order to tie the two colors together I cut out some of the roses from the original lace hem and appliqued them to the front of the gown. Since I don't wear slips anymore I'll be using this transformation as a nightgown. For details on sewing the gown and a link to the free downloadable pattern I used for the bias cut body of the nightgown shown below, click here to go to my blog post.

Sweater To Purse Transformation

Have you ever accidentally machine washed a wool sweater? I have! This is my refashion solution for a now way too small sweater - make it into a purse. I found the pattern for this Asian inspired shoulder bag in the book "Making Vintage Bags" by Emma Brennan. For more information see the DenverSews blog.

2X Women's Denim Jeans to Shoulder Bag Transformation

 

Size 2X women's black denim capris.

 

Transformed into a shoulder bag. A quick and easy project! For instructions to make this purse please see my blog post.



Bag Refashions

Above are 3 of my shopping bag refashions. They're fun and easy to make! 

 

I shop at thrift stores often and it always bothers me to see hand stitched art there, selling for just a few dollars. Knowing countless hours of effort go into stitching each of these artworks, I hate to see them discarded. I think donated needlepoints and crewel embroideries deserve a second chance. 

 

But although I think these needleworks are lovely as framed art, they don't really fit my modern home décor. So even though I've been "rescuing" them from thrift stores, they've ended up stored in my closet - which doesn't do them justice. Finally I thought of a way my thrift store art could be used, even though it didn't look right on my walls: just remove the frames and sew the canvas to the front of a thrift store tote bag. All you need to do is measure your canvas and find a bag that's the correct size.

 

For a more detailed tutorial on making these bags see my blog post at http://denversews.com/2014/02/26/bag-refashions/.

Shirt to Skirt Refashion

 

My latest skirt refashion started out as the Gant men's classic oxford shirt pictured above. This refashion cost me exactly zero, the shirt was free and the zipper, thread, and additional fabric for the facings were all leftovers:)

 

 

This skirt has a side zip so I sewed the button placket closed. Then I added the leftover buttons across the top of the pockets and to the front waistband. I sewed the "Classic Oxford" label onto one pocket for added interest and I used the back yoke of the shirt for the skirts back waistband. The yoke had an embroidered Gant logo and I used that as a design feature on the skirt back since the back was so plain compared to the front.  

For more info on this refashion please see

http://denversews.com/2014/04/05/shirt-to-skirt-refashion/

Neon Orange Scarf & Tablecloth Scout Tee Lounging Outfit

This is my daytime pj outfit, to wear when I'm hanging around the house all day doing nothing but sewing. The top is a modified Scout Woven Tee. I made the Tee front and sleeves from a silky Bill Blass scarf I picked up in a thrift store for under $5.00. The scarf  (a 33″ square) wasn’t large enough for the whole top. So I rummaged through my stash and I got lucky when I found a thin cotton tablecloth in the exact orange of the flower print. I purchased the tablecloth years ago at a thrift store for $1.50, making the total cost for my project $12.95, including the cost of the Scout Woven Tee pattern download. For more information please see my blog post at http://denversews.com/2014/03/08/g-is-for-grainline-studios/

Denim Skirt Collage

I purchased a plain denim maxi skirt for a few dollars at a thrift store. It fit well, but I found it kind of boring. I tend to wear a lot of solid colored separates and since I’m no whiz at accessorizing, my “look” can be pretty dull. So I decided to try to add some pizzazz to this plain denim skirt. Using a stained vintage tablecloth from my stash and leftover fabric scraps from other projects, I used the denim skirt as my "canvas" to create a fabric flower collage. More details are available on my Blog post.

Have you ever wanted to get into a stranger’s boxers? I have and I did (shhh, don't tell my husband). And here are the photos to prove it!