Summer Dress Refashion

Hello everyone,

I love bright colors, but I tend to shy away from them if I feel they are a bit too 'loud'. I had this floral summer dress sat in my wardrobe, but I never wore it because it always just seemed a bit too much in terms of brightness.

I came up with the idea to tone it down by attaching it to a white vest top, as you can see below:

I used a piece of the excess fabric that had been cut away to make a little ruffle on the centre bust of the vest top, and I teamed it with a black waist belt to give it a more polished look.

This was very simple to do, I just chopped off the top of the dress, chopped off the bottom of a vest top, and then zig-zag stitched the gathered skirt onto the vest.

Until next time,

Jeni

Army Jacket into Cropped Jacket

Hello everyone,

For this upcycle, I turned one of my other half's old army style jackets into a cute, cropped jacket.

Here is the before and after photo:

I had to take off the sleeves to make them slimmer, tighten the arm holes, chop off the bottom, and put dart seams down the back to make it tailored. It fastened with buttons so there was no need to worry about a zip; this would be a lot harder if there was a zip in the way!

Once the jacket was tailored to fit me, I added some iron-on patches and gold coloured buttons to jazz it up a bit. All in all, i'm happy with how this turned out.

The full tutorial is on my blog here.

Til next time,

Jeni

Skull Jumper Into Cute Bow Cardigan

I picked up a black and white skull jumper from ebay for £2 with the intention of reconstructing it. 

It was certainly on the shapeless side, and the neck was too high for my liking, but the print on it was so cute... Who could resist those little skulls!

I wanted to turn it into a cardigan, so I cut it right down the centre front and bound the edges in white bias binding. After sewing on the red buttons, I had planned to sew button holes directly into the opposite side but my machine did not like sewing onto the knitted fabric.  I had to go back to the drawing board, and came up with the elastic 'bungee' fastening you can see in the after photo. I just made little elastic loops opposite the buttons, and these hook right over the large buttons I used.

To finish it off, I added a red bow, just because everything looks cuter with a bow on it!

Blouse into Halterneck Top

I never wear this blouse anymore, it was too short in the body and I felt it didn't suit me. However, I enjoy the vibrant colour and texture and I thought it would be an ideal candidate for a refashion.

I used the excess pieces of shirt I cut away to create a bias binding to use as edging, creating thin halterneck straps. I managed to make enough binding so that there was enough to tie it into a bow at the front.

Now all I need is a sunny day to show off my new top!

The tutorial for this can be found on my blog Lola Nova Upcycling

Floral Skirt into Retro Apron

I've had this mini skirt for a while, I love the print of the fabric but sadly it's coming to the ends of it's lifespan. I wanted to try something a little experimental, and didn't mind sacrificing this skirt for the cause! My idea was to turn the skirt into a retro, 50s style apron with pockets and a sweetheart style neckline.

Here is the before & after:

I didn't use any additional supplies for this (except the thread!!), it was was made entirely from the skirt fabric. The skirt had a lining inside, and after I cut that away I used it for the straps and pockets. I wanted to add a bow to the neckline but I used every last scrap and there wasn't any left.

Hopefully this will make cooking feel much more glamorous from now on! The only downside, is that once the lining was cut away, the fabric of the skirt was quite thin so I don't know how well it will protect my clothes. I think that this will be more for show than practicality. If I made it again then I would add my own lining to it to give it more substance.

Full tutorial is on my blog, Lola Nova Upcycling.

Old T-Shirts into a Halloween Costume

Oh how I love Halloween, what a great time of the year. I may be a full grown adult but I won't let that stop me from getting fully involved in the festivities. It seemed only fitting that I created a costume out of old t-shirts (old t-shirts... is there anything they can't be turned to?!). 

My boyfriend sacrificed this Thin Lizzy t-shirt because it was covered in bleach stains, so it would have been thrown out otherwise. I actually turned it inside out as I didn't want the logo to show, and the green t-shirt was just one that I don't wear anymore.

I took a panel out of the green dress to create the slashed effect at the front, and I used the sleeves from the black t-shirt to make little sleeves. I then cut out long thin strips of green to tie around the sleeves and create bows.

I think the dress I've made looks suitable for a Witch costume (just add a witches hat and a broom!) but it's quite a versatile tutorial, you could apply this technique to different coloured t-shirts to create a variety of different costumes. For example, a red and black t-shirt combo could be a 'fallen angel' or devil dress depending on what accessories you add. 

The full tutorial is available on my blog.

Happy Halloween refashioning!

Large Dress into Babydoll Top

Although the cold weather is approaching here in the UK, i'm not going to let that stop me from making summery looking clothes! Of course, if I wear this out it will have to be with lots of layers underneath.

The dress was given to me by my mum. She just didn't get along with it so was going to discard it, but I loved the vibrant blue and the ditzy floral print so decided to rescue and recycle it.

As you can see in the before photo on the left, it had a high scoop neck, and a low waist line. I've chopped off most of the top part, and raised the waist line so it now has a babydoll shape to it.

I added straps from the surplus fabric, and gathered the center front to give it a sweetheart neckline. Then I threw on a couple of white buttons for good measure... they don't do anything, I just think they look cute!

It's more of a long top now than a dress, so I shall wear it with skinny jeans.

Tutorial to follow soon on my blog.

Maxi Skirt into 50s Skirt

I bought this skirt from eBay for a bargain price; the fabric really caught my eye! Whilst I think it's quite nice in it's original format, maxi skirts aren't really my style so I wanted to make it into something a bit more retro.

The skirt was quite large, so there was a lot of fabric here for me to work with, I chopped off the top, gathered the raw hem and attached it to an elastic band.

Here is the before and after photo:

The skirt came with a fabric belt which I have decided to use as a scarf to add to the retro effect, and I will wear the skirt over a petticoat to give it fullness.

The full tutorial can be found here.

Large Men's Shirt into a Retro Dress

Hello again! This is my second contribution to this blog, and once again my refashion has a retro theme to it.
I started out with a large, over sized men's shirt that I can be seen sporting in the photo on the left.

It looks more like a robe on me, but because there was so much material to it, I was able to fashion it into a retro style sun dress! I did add a slither of plaid fabric to it from my collection to brighten it up and give it some detailing.

I utilised the button and hole strip that was already on the shirt to act as the fastener for the dress, and I used the sleeves to add volume to the skirt part.

The full tutorial can be found on my blog Lola Nova.

It comes up quite short on me as I'm rather tall so I'd probably wear it with leggings.

Until next time,

Jeni

50s Halterneck from a Long Sleeve T-Shirt, & Hello!

Hello, I'm Jeni and this is my first contribution to Refashion Co-op. Sewing is a big passion of mine, and I got into refashioning clothing a few years ago because I can never find clothes in the store that I like. A lot of my refashions involve giving clothing a faintly 50s twist as I simply adore the fashions of that era! True to that sentiment, my very first entry to this blog is a long sleeved t-shirt that I have turned into a 50s style halterneck top.

To begin at the beginning, here is the before photo, just a plain and simple long sleeved, high neck t-shirt.

I love the hot pink colour but it was a bit plain for my taste. Plus, as it's summer I wanted to make it into something a bit more suitable for the lovely warm weather.

And so the halterneck top was created! The sleeves have been tucked into the side seams to create the neckline, the full step by step instructions can be found on my blog Lola Nova where I have photographed the whole process.

I plan on wearing this with a circle skirt, denim jeans and a pencil skirt (not all at the same time though, that would be mad!).

Until next time,

Jeni