Asymetrical plaid dress refashion

I found this great blue flannel plaid dress but it just needed a few tweaks. That asymetrical hem was just too much! The other issue was the top was too big. I evened out the hem and adjusted the top by doing some very clever darts and folds.. I love my new dress!

More information on this refashion here.

Cheers,
Lauren

My Halloween Costumes: Marie Antoinette and Katy Perry

I know it has been 2 weeks since Halloween but I just finally got to blogging about this year's costume, which I refashioned from a white corset dress.

Basically I took a white corset dress and used scraps of fabric from previous clothing articles to make an ice cream cone. Then I just blinged it out with everything I could find that was candy/cupcake oriented. I didn't have a lot of time to make everything so I had to purchase iron ons, etc. But it came out pretty fabulous!

I had a lot of fun in this costume. More info here.

The other costume I wanted to feature is something I truly refashioned- my Marie Antoinette costume which can also dub as Renaissance. I started out with this pale blue formal dress that I got for $1 and then added a lace top.

I basically used everything to make a shorter, sleeveless dress with lace inserts, as well as, arm sleeves. By adding or removing the front bows I can totally change the look of this dress from Marie Antoinette

To a medieval lady..

More info and a LOT more photos on my blog here. 

Cheers,
Lauren

Sheath Dress to a peplum top

Hello everyone,

I have finally decided to stop being a slacker and take some after photos. LOL and they even are not that good. But I thought it was time to get some blog posts done. I found this blue plaid dress that only cost $1,  and really there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It fit great! But in all honestly I don't wear a lot of dresses anymore. I mostly need more tops that are long that I can wear with pants. That is what really what I need more than anything.

I cut out a middle portion and used the bottom to make a peplum. But what I didn't realize that the skirt tapered so I left a little gap in the back. But I still was covered. And now I have a nice top to wear for when it warms up. Right now it was 34F in the morning and I needed a sweater and a jacket... For more info and pictures, check out my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Pants to skinny pants

After last year's sewing feast, I approach this year with not so much on a refashion # but more of adding things to my wardrobe that I need and would wear a lot. Something that I wear a lot are pants in the lab.

One thing that I love and need- are a pair of black skinny jeans. I just never seem to find anything that fit me. It is almost impossible. To fix this I stumbled on a pair of black pants with some stretch. They fit perfectly in the hips and thighs, I just needed to fix everything below the knees.

I pinned the pants while wearing them. Then I sewed them on both the inside and outside of the legs so they would twist. I also removed the bottom cuff, which you can't really see in the picture. And got rid of that cuff. The beauty of making your own clothes is the fact that even though these are skinny jeans, they are not super tight and cut off my circulation or anything like that. I need to be able to squat and move and I can't have things being super tight.

For more information check out my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Birds of a feather...

So I have a thing for feathers, all kinds of feathers- peacock and non-peacock. I found this dress and I just had to have it. Turns out this dress was a home-sew and unfortunately the wrong type of fabric was used for the dress. When a dress consists of multiple pieces, having a large pattern is really difficult and really requires a lot of thought. I saw some potential in this dress, if it lost the sleeves and tie and length change.

So off they came and I fixed the hem. Poof! Much better dress. For more pictures and what I did, check out my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Ahoy Mates!

Hello refashioners!

It has been a while since I have refashioned or been active on my blog period. A lot has happened. Opening up a lab and getting research started has really taken a lot of my time. Then I took on a sewing commission that really took up my time. I also had a moment with all of my things and realized that I didn't need more clothes (since I refashioned 99 things last year) but I really needed to purge. I have been on a purging in my apartment. So a break was needed.  But I am happy that I am slowly back refashioning

I found these multi-button pants that were not working for me. They were so cute if you only looked at the top portion. So that is what I did- only use the top portion and turn them into shorts. I really need shorts, I struggle to find shorts, either they are way too short or just matronly. So this is something that I will use a lot on the weekends. Here is the finished product... Love them

For more on this refashion, click here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Lace tablecloth to an awesome skirt

I found this lace tablecloth that I didn't think it was round, I somehow missed that at the thrift store. Oops! I dyed it 2 different RIT dye colors (denim blue and dark green) to get rid of the white and tan colors. My original plan was to turn it into a top but I cut the neck hole too big. When I sighed in dismay, the top fell to my hips and I realized this would be a perfect circle skirt! And thus it became this awesome skirt!

I am so happy I turned it into a skirt. It is so fun to twirl in! This marks the end of my 99 refashion challenge I set last year. This year I have been really busy with work and also been working on some bigger projects like a tshirt quilt (oh yeah and the entire month of February I have been and am sick) that I haven't done many refashions. I hope to get back to sewing :)

For more on this refashion click here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Adding modesty to a strapless dress (and roll tide!)

Another dress I thought would work as is, but when I put it on I felt sort of exposed with this dress. Rather than add straps, I used leftover fabric to create gathered shoulders. With a sort of a drapey feel.

I also fixed the waistband  some with some odd buttons. It is hard to see in the photos. Now I have a dress that I am much more comfortable wearing. Also great way to use up fabric scraps. For more information, click here.

Cheers,
Lauren

They put what on a button down shirt?

Hi everyone,
I am slowly getting back to blogging and sewing. And when I mean slowly, I mean slowly. Some of my last refashions from last year of my 99 refashion challenge are also making my blog. Life has just been that crazy and busy.

Today is just a quick refashion.... I found this awesome denim long button down but it just did not hang right on me. It was so frustrating. The shirt sort of floated at my hip and waist area.

The reason why was due to the fact they put in POCKETS. Yes POCKETS! In a BUTTON down top! No matter how much steam and ironing I did to this shirt, it always floated. Grr. The easy solution was to sew it out. Poof. Problem solved. Seriously, I did nothing else to this top- no slimming or whatever. I just took out the pockets. For more information on this simple refashion click here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Oscar de la Renta's striped clown top

May Oscar de la Renta rest in peace. I found this top with his label on it that I was drawn to the colors. But it again just screamed "clown"- with the magenta and black stripes and then the collar! Oh the collar!

I removed the sleeves and the collar. I adjust the neckline and used parts of the sleeve to make a tie. I didn't take it in at all but I did fix the arm holes. The end product is something worthy of wearing to the office! Yay!!!

For more on this refashion, check out my blog here!

Cheers and Happy New Years!
Lauren

Union Jack sweatshirt

Hi everyone! I am super excited about this sweatshirt. It started off as a men's small but it was too big and bulky for me. I pulled off the arm and waistbands and took in the sides. I then hemmed everything with a twin needle which BTW if you have never tried a twin needle it is truly not that intimidating and the end results are wonderful.

I next wanted to turn this blah and boring sweatshirt into something with a wee bit more personality. I have been seeing a lot of Union Jack flags and thought I could add that to my shirt. Since the background was blue, I just needed to add blue and red. I used scraps from another sweatshirt that was red and a white t-shirt for the white. To be as accurate as I could possibly be- I downloaded and printed a flag and traced it with paper- one for the white portion and one for the red. I simply hand sewed on the fabric with some embroidery floss and I was done.

And the end result is something I just adore and has already scored a bunch of compliments when I wore it out. For more information and more photos check out my blog here.

And if you have been following me, you know that this year I have set out to refashion 99 items, and I am almost at my goal!!! This particular refashion is #91. Crazy huh?

Cheers,
Lauren

Workout wear!

I have finally gotten back to some sewing, not much but some. I found this spandex top at the thrift store, that was quality spandex. I have been working out more (mostly aerial yoga) and want some sort of snazzy workout wear. I converted the top to a sports bra and a pair of hot shorts. I just love this pattern. Can't wait to wear them.

More info on
My blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Kristina's Challenge Dress

On a thrifting adventure with one of our editors and writers, Carissa, at the very end of the trip our friend Kristina challenged this dress. I took on the challenge. BTW hopefully if I can get some sewing time (!!!) there will be more information about our little shopping trip.

This dress was navy and white complete with a gold/black metal embellishment on the pointed collar all coupled with a built in peak-a-boo bodice. I used pink poly iDYE since the fabric was 100% polyester. I got a purple and fuchsia mix in the fabric. I used a pattern and converted the bottom skirt into a new long-sleeve top, something simple I could wear to work.

More pictures and information on the blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

the WTF skirt

That was the only phrase that I could describe this skirt. When I got the skirt, I did not fully look at the skirt to see the craziness in the design. When I got home my jaw dropped. OMG what did I get myself into?? Seriously!!!!

The skirt had hook and eyes all down the center of the skirt and they were NOT for decoration- they were functional! EEK!!! Then it had an asymmetrical front and back hem! I sewed out the hook and eyes. I will never run out of hook and eyes for the rest of my life because of this skirt. I fixed the waistband and then evened out the hem. Done! Now the skirt is wearable and I won't get any odd looks!

For more pictures and more information on this process check out my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren
(btw today is my bday!) Wahoo!

Paisley cord skirt to pants!

I scored these paisley corduroy pants at the Goodwill by the pound when I went to Alabama. These pants did not work for me- too big. I converted the pants to a skirt with pockets! Love pockets! Yeah!

The bonus is the skirt is really warm since it is corduroy! More information on this process here on my blog.

Cheers,
Lauren

Another fabulous Indian tunic top refashion

Yup, if you follow my blog you know that I love Indian tunics with all their lovely embroidery and paisleys. I can't help myself when I find one when I am thrifting. This one was no exception.

All what it needed was a small face lift. I removed the trim on the arms because I felt it did nothing for the top. Then I simply shortened the hem, which also removed the trim fabric as well. I now have a fun long sleeve shirt for winter. :)
More information on my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

The dress from Iran

This outfit has sadly sit in my refashion for longer than I care to admit. I will say this- it survival a move that I recently just celebrated a 2 year anniversay of- so that should say how long I have mulling over this refashion. I always thought it had potential but it just took me a while to figure out exactly what to do.

I got this in Alabama and it cost a whopping 99 cents for 2 pieces. The plus was it had this lovely embroidery. I thought the gold and blue embroidery was a bit too stark for my color taste. I first muted it down by using blue iDYE for polyester.

This caused the gold to become a blue-green without touching the cotton background. Yeah! Then I cut the top and the skirt and attached together to make a tunic top with some elastic. And it has long sleeves which is a bonus here with the now winter weather that has arrived here in D.C. Here's a recap.

More info on my blog here. I paired it with skinny jeans and boots and got a ton of compliments at work. I was surprised.

Cheers,
Lauren

Refashion leftovers

Two of my refashions from this year had leftovers, that I just could not toss. I decided to use them together to make a new top.

I used the bottom skirt of a flowered dress with the scarf from an Indian tunic together to make a tone-toned top!
More information on my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Ruffled collar shirt fix

I found this large long sleeve top that I loved the pattern. And the fabric was soo soft. I always need long sleeves. It was too tight in the neck, which had horrible ruffles that went down the placket. Also the gold buttons needed to go.

I took off the ruffles and the buttons. They got replaced with dark purple buttons. Finally I took it in for a fitted feel. Done! Now I have a new lovely winter top. More information on my blog here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Easy fixes on 2 button down shirt

Today 2 tops, that were just so every so slightly too big. I took inches off the both of them in the sides and then fixed the hems in order to give a finished feel.

Sometimes it is just the little details that make the difference. :)

More information on my blog here.

Cheers,

Lauren