Another pair of jeans narrowed...

I love wearing boots in the fall and winter but most of the jeans I find for 20 cents at the thrift store do not fit well with them. Beggars can't be choosers I guess. I found some black jeans (something I didn't have yet) that I knew could look good with my boots. I apologize for not actually showing an after picture with the boots but I wanted to show the taper which is what makes them fit anyhow.

beforeafter

Pardon the shadows from the flash. It makes them look kind of lumpy but they aren't.

My daughter took the pictures for me (she's awesome).

Generally, I put them on wrong side out and take a marker to the leg. Just kind of pull the fabric out to the side and mark where I will want to stitch. You have to taper both inside and outside seams for it to look right.

One thing I have some trouble with is my shape. I have big thighs and kind of big calves with rather narrow knees. This means that if I take jeans that fit fine in the thighs and make a straight taper from thigh to calf to ankle - I end up with loose bunching at the knee. This defeats much of the point of trying to make them fit in the boots. Who cares if the calves are not buched up inside the boot if the area at the knee is loose and bunchy. The photo below shows one leg with the knee tapered in just a little bit - kind of a very slight hourglass cut but mostly on the outside (lateral) of the leg. The other leg is just tapered straight from thigh to calf to ankle. I pulled some of that bunchiness out to the side so you can see. It will just bunch up all around normally but it's hard to see well in a photo of black jeans.

So on they go again and out comes the marker as you can see below.

This "quick and dirty" method of resizing pants works great on fabrics with some stretch to them. Jueans, cords, even some slacks.

NOTE: I did not take the time to rip the seam on the bottom hem of these jeans and then re hem. They are fine that way but I do recommend doing the bottom hem properly if you have the patience. It makes a noticable difference if you are going to wear them without boots.

Sweater to throw pillow...

Ugly torn up pillow.


Cozy sweater covered pillows.

This is just a simple pillow makeover using sweaters that I got from the thrift store for 20 cents each.
They were nice cable knit sweaters but the shapes were not flattering on me and my throw pillows were in sad shape.
They are faux leather (vinyl) and have been abused to the point of falling apart.
I simply used a lower section of the sweaters and cut to size, sewed inside out leaving the bottom edge of the sweater open. Turned right side out, stuffed the old ugly pillow inside and then hand stitched the open edge closed.
If I were a little less impatient I would have sewed a zipper in that open end in order to make it easier to clean them. I will most likely do that in the future because I have a house full of kids and they are bound to get something spilled on them.
They look much nicer on the leather sofa than on the recliner shown. This is a super easy project that even the kids can do.

Button down top resize

I really liked this shirt and loved the price - 20 cents.

It is made of a fabric that stretches and bounces back. Not from spandex elasticity but from the crinkeling of the fabric.

Due to the crinkeling of the fabric I could almost have worn it as it was when I bought. The only real problem with it was the under arm area that hung too low. It was also a little too wide at the torso but I would have ignored that if it were not for the ill fitting under arms. So I turned this one wrong side out. Then found a button down shirt in my closet that fit well and laid it on top. I only used it to mark where I wanted the armpits to be. Due to the stretchiness of the fabric of this shirt I couldn't get it to lay out nice enough to use the other one as a template for the sides.

I marked each desired underarm area with a pin and then eyeballed the sewing of the sides and sleeves - holding the fabric stretched as I sewed. I did not want to change the cuff of the sleeves so I tapered from the pin to the edge of the existing cuff.



It does pull a bit across the bust, as you can see. It is not too small - there is still plenty of room. It's just an issue I have with button down shirts. I will most likely add a small snap between the buttons to keep it from pulling like that but I just haven't gotten to it yet.


Sorry there is no before picture. I was in a sewing mode and forgot to have the kids take the before picture.

Sweater resize

Another 20 cent sweater.

It's super soft and I liked the colors but clearly it was a bit too large for me and it hung way low in the under arm. I just did a really simple resize by cutting off a couple of inches on each side and the underside of each sleeve.

I did not shorten the sleeves and they are still really long. And in the second picture they look bulkier than they really are due to the shadow from the camera flash - but they do bunch up unless I fold the cuff up. Also, I did not choose to do anything to bring the shoulder in. I don't mind that it is off the shoulder a bit.



I really like to wear longer shirts and it's nice to be able to have the length of an XL but custom fit the rest.

Accidental 80s Sweater...

Well, this is not how I intended this to work out and I will admit that this neckline would look better on someone else, but I decided to share anyhow.

I got this sweater for 20 cents. I liked the sleeves but I didn't like the neckline at all. I can't stand things up around my neck like that. Also, it's a bulky kind of knit and needed a little narrowing at the torso because I am already thick waisted and this just made me look fat.

I cut what I thought would be a small boat type neckline, but it's a sweater and it changed shape on me and ended up being a giant opening. I had to add a little elastic at the shoulders to keep it from falling off. I think it might be ok with a different tank under, something with just a little bit wider straps. I also decided after my kiddo took the photos that I wanted to try adding some fring type edge from left over sweater material. Didn't take a photo of it on after that but I'll include a shot of it laying on the couch.

This was my first attempt at altering a sweater, so even though I don't love it, I think I am satisfied.

Skinny Jeans

OK, they can't make me look skinny but they do fit better in my boots. These jeans are one of my 25 cent purchases from the thrift store. I've had them for about a year and I only wear them with boots because, as you can see from the before picture, they are flared at the ankle but are too short for that. So I have been folding them over and tucking them into my boots.
I decided to narrow the ankle down and it worked out nicely. They fit in my boots better and don't bunch up at the knee after I have been wearing them like they used to. Just a little tapering from the knee down. By the way, both shirts in the pictures were 25 cent purchases too. I love thrift stores.

Introducing myself...and a t-shirt refashion

Hello there fellow refashion enthusiasts! I am Staley. I am a wife, homeschooling mama, and portrait photographer (www.kcphotoparty.com), and thrift store junkie.

I have loved a good thrift store outing since I was in high school. I used to only look for things that fit someone in my home but now that I have caught the refashioning bug size doesn't slow down my shopping at all. I thoroughly enjoy looking at something and seeing what it could be with a little tweaking. Finding time to do that tweaking is another issue all together.

I am really excited to be a new contributor here!

My first official refashion to be posted is a simple t-shirt refashion from man's XL basic t-shirt to a fun "my size" split sleeved, banded waist casual top.

Sorry there is no before picture. I did this one before I knew I would be posting and it was all experimental anyhow.

I started with an orange XL man's AE Outfitters t shirt with ribbed neck that was kind of stretched out. I loved the orange and wanted to make it a little more fememinine but still keep it casual and this is what I came up with.

Simply cut off the neck and the bottom of the sleeves then split the sleeves up the top to the shoulders.

I cut a few inches off the bottom since it was really long on me and I folded that piece over to make the bottom band. I just wrapped it around my hips to get the size where it would hit. I then gathered the lower cut edge of the shirt and sewed it to the newly made band. I initially intended for the sewn edge to be on the inside but I was tired and did it inside out. Decided it was fine because it was kind of cute like that with the seam on the outside kind of like a little ruffle. The shirt was too large at the shoulders so I made some big basting stitches across the shoulders and gathered them then made a sloppy running stitch in a dark thread that matches the print on the shirt. TaDa! Super cute top that will look awesome with skinny jeans and brown boots (both also purchased at the thrift store).