Angora Sweater and Eyelet dress Refashion

Hello there!!  I haven't posted in a while - I've been so busy this Summer, but I've really been enjoying seeing all of the fabulous work by all of you!
 
During a recent visit with family in Connecticut, we all went to a Tag Sale... I was so lucky to pick up a couple of sweaters, Drapes, curtains and other odds and ends that I knew I would use in my projects.. Woo Hoo!!!  Here's my latest, which I am pretty pleased with :) 

I started with an Angora/Mohair sweater and an Cotton eyelet lined dress - they matched beautifully, but came from different people at the Tag Sale!

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them at first, so I did my usual -- stood there staring at them, waiting for inspiration. hahaha   I had an idea that I wasn't too sure of... I turned the sweater around to get the right angle to cut it, and voila! ~~ a better idea came to me!  Without going into all the turns, changes, doubt, seam ripping (arrgh!) and such, I ended up with this set...

In conclusion, sometimes you just have to start cutting and seam ripping and thinking and doubting and changing your mind and trying different things... 
And, Tag Sales Rock! :)

Happy Creating!!! 

Vintage Vibe Skirt from Culottes and Mini Skirt

Hellooo Everyone!  I haven't been posting for quite a while, but I've been reading everyone's fabulous work :)  Some amazing things being created!
Now, I want to share with you something I just finished working on... I rummaged through the bag of cast offs that my daughter gave me looking for inspiration.  For some reason these two items grabbed my attention:

That's a pair of grey culottes and a paisley mini skirt... I don't know why they reached out to me, but I went with it! :)

















Sew, first things first... my absolute most dreaded part of Refashioning:

 


     

      Yuck!  













I took the cuff and hem out of the culottes and then pick pick picked out the inside leg seams.  Then I completely dismantled the mini skirt, including taking out the zipper and sewing up the seam.  I was left with two pieces - front and back panels... I measured how long of a wedge panel I wanted and cut them out of the paisley "fabric".  (Its is no longer a skirt, right?)  After hemming the edges of the seams I opened on the culottes, I lined my paisley panels up underneath, pinned them just so, and stitched them in place... remembering to put secure stitches at the top of the point.  OK, almost done!


I added a vintage black leather button, (purely decorative)

Created a shabby chic "flower" out of the left-over fabric, ...I want to mention that I sewed a safety pin onto the back of the "flower" so it can be used where ever I want :)

And added some decorative stitching around the entire hem.

So that's it!  I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out -- didn't expect the vintage vibe, but super happy about it! :)

 
 


Apologies for the color discrepancy -- grey is so hard to photograph!!  :/

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous day!  Happy ReFashioning :)

Re-Love That Old Jean Jacket!!!

Hello there!  Do you have an old jean jacket that is just blah?  It hangs in your closet, year after year?  Maybe you bring it out occasionally?  Well, I did!  I kept packing it away every Winter, and taking it out every Spring... But never wearing it... It finally ended up in my donate box... Now, I am a Re-Fashioner, an UPcycler, a RePurposer -- why would I even HAVE a donate box for clothes?!  I'm not sure.... I guess there are the occasional items that I look at and can't even see myself using for one of my designs... This jacket fell into that category. 

  

Well, today I looked at it and thought... hmmmmm... I had an idea... would it work?  Would it look dopey?  I figured - what the heck?  I don't like it or wear it any way!

 

So, here's what I did:

I sewed an awesome handmade doily that I'd picked up at a yard sale to the back of the jacket...  Double seams - one straight and one zigzag for strength.  Then I just cut out the material that was under it from the back side.  Now, it's unique, it lets air through for the summer, AND whatever color shirt I wear shows through the doily!!!  Cool!

I was really happy with how this looked, but when I thought about wearing it I realized one thing:  NO pockets!!  This is on the front - a phony!!  it's just a flap!  Grrrrr!!  

I am funny about pockets - I need to have at least one.   Soooo, I used the piece of fabric I cut out of the back of the jacket and made a pocket :)   Then I just sewed in onto the inside, behind the "impostor" :)  and slightly behind the front placket -- more secure there  :)   

And here's how it looks from the front:  Not really noticeable, which is great, but even if you can see the stitching, it's OK because it looks like it's a pocket! (which it is! hehe)   --- By the way, that dark spot on the bottom corner is a stain from ages ago; I don't even know what it was from... This is a pretty old jacket... ;)

 
That's all Folks!  Have a fabulous day!

Easy Lace Refashion

Good Evening Everyone!!  I am so excited -  I've had a dress for years that I've worn one time... I love the dress, but didn't realize until I put in on that the four 18" slits that are equidistant around the skirt would be sooo open and, well... not for me :(
Here's the dress pre-refash, and a couple of pics of the slits.  (just ignore that little bit of black peeking out -- I kinda forgot to take a picture before I even started ;/ )

 
Now it so happens that 5 years ago, I strolled into a fabric shop in NYC and purchased a couple of yards of the most beautiful black lace...  Well, finally after all this time, it occurred to me -- that black lace could fix my dress problem!!!!  So I measured the slits, decided how wide I wanted the inserts to be, and set to cutting out my triangles of lace.  I simply sewed them in place on the inside of the dress, and Voila!!  I can now wear my dress, and I actually think I like it even more!!  Woo Hoo!!!

Knowing me, I might just take it a step further... who knows? :)

Thanks for looking!!

Pink and Grey Tablecloth = Great Dress!

Hello fellow Refashioners!!  
 I saw this tablecloth at my thrift store and went nuts...  I don't mean I liked it, I mean I went nuts.  I don't know why, but there was just something about it - I HAD to make myself a frock out of it.  So, here's what happened:  I cut a center hole in the round tablecloth, and picked out things I wanted to use with it... A grey lace-trimmed tank, a pink tank and a pale pink T-shirt.

  

I decided to use the grey tank for the top, so I added a few appliques from the leftover piece of the tablecloth to tie it in more, and cut off the bottom of it...

 I sewed the top to the bottom, using a stretch seam binding lace...

 I cut the bottom few inches off of the pink tank and hemmed it to use as a waistband...  when I looked at my work, I knew it needed something else special... so, I cut off the eyelet from a dust ruffle I recently scored at the same thrift store, and added it to the bottom!  Now we're getting somewhere! :)

OK, you know how I can't ever just leave a project when it could be finished... I always think it needs something else... something to make it WOW...  I looked around my stash, and sat and thought... Oooooo, that antique lace doily!!!  Yup, that's the ticket!  I cut it in half, and sewed it to the very bottom strip from the pale pink T-shirt... and added some long grosgrain ribbon in grey and white... now it can be a hair wrap, waist wrap, shoulder wrap, etc.!!  :)  TA DA!!

Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it!!  Maybe get some ideas, or inspiration?
See you next time! :)

That Dress Used to be a Shower Curtain?!

Hello all you Refashion lovers!  Today’s post really proves that you can Upcycle just about anything into eco-friendly, trendy and fun clothing!
Yes, you read the title correctly; I started with a thrifted Shower Curtain   When I saw it in the store, the fringed valance really caught my eye… so, this project starts with cutting off that funky fringed valance!

 

I knew I wanted to have a lavender tier next, so I went through my T shirt stash, and found one… then cut off the bottom 14″… as you can see, I cut it on a diagonal and sewed it up, because I wanted to have a bit of a dip in the back… you’ll see how it comes together in a few more steps :)

Now I had to decide what color I wanted for the top of my dress…. oh, decisions… decisions….

 Some of you may disagree, but I selected the light blue one from J Crew...  I just liked the way it looked next to the lavender… I cut the bottom half-ish off of the tank...

 
Then I pinned my two pieces together, and sewed it up with a zigzag stitch so it could stretch.

 And here you have how that looked… see how that “dip” is working?

 The next thing I had to do was to gather the top edge of my shower curtain valance so that it would fit right with the bottom of the lavender section… so I measured, gathered, and sewed them together! Woo Hoo, it’s getting there!

 Here’s what I’ve got so far:

 Now, if you know me at all, you know that I can’t just leave it at that. hahaha …  I had to embellish it somehow… I decided to make – you guessed it — a fabric “flower”! … and sew it to a safety pin so it could be used wherever it was needed :)  I finished it with an adorable vintage sunflower button…

So here you have it… my new Shower Curtain Creation :)  This was fun!!!  And I’m really liking the little dip in the back!

 

EcoFriendly Fashion is Creative and Fun!!

I'm really enjoying designing and creating One of a Kind clothing from cast off things!  Today's project was particularly satisfying for some reason...  Thought I'd share the process, step by step to show how easy and creative it can be :)
Again, I started with Thrift store scores:  T-shirts and Vintage sheets.

I just LOVE this color combo!

 I decided to start with the pale pink T-shirt -- I cut off the bottom 7", and cut off some of the width - this will be my waistband.

Then I picked the one sheet for the next tier -- so I cut off the top colorful section, and opened the seams at the edges to give it just a bit more length:

Pick Pick Pick.... :/

I sewed a basting stitch along the rough edge so that I could gather it... I made sure I gathered it to the same length as the waistband it was going to be attached to... then I ran it through my machine to hold the gathering in place before sewing it to the waistband.  After attaching the two pieces, I sewed around again with a zigzag stitch to hold down the seam, and prevent fraying from the woven sheet.

 I lined up the rough edges, right sides facing and ran a straight stitch seam down the length... then did it again with a zigzag stitch, and finally"pinked" the seam allowance.

 

 Here is what I had at this point:

I could stop here, and have a cute short skirt... But I'm not comfy with short skirts anymore, sooooo.... I'll have to add another tier! :)  Cut two bands 5" wide from the green T-shirt, sewed them together and attached them to the floral tier... adding a hand pleat every 5" or so to make it fit just right...  I added a pretty little decorative stitching in pink, just for a little something extra :)

Just a little something cute :)

Aaaannnd, here you have it -- the (finished?) skirt.... well, maybe.... I'm already feeling like I need to do something else to it, hahaha!  And I probably will!  I'll let you know when I do!! :) :)

  

Have a fabulous day all!!