MadMama Refashions

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog to share some of my past refashions with you.

This bulky sweater was very unflattering, until I refashioned it into a cute, warm miniskirt...

I used some of the leftovers of that refashion to make myself a pair of warm, cozy slippers...

Sticking with the sweater theme, I also refashioned some sweaters into a comfy maxi skirt...

...and used the leftover scraps to make some fingerless gloves:

Isn't refashioning fun?

Make sure to swing on by the Diary of a MadMama blog to check out my first week of Me-Made-May '14 posts.

~Jen

MadMama Refashions

Hi there!

Jen here from Diary of a MadMama.

I haven't posted in a while. My family and I have been busy moving. :/
I thought I'd take a break and share with you some of the refashions I've done...



This 49-cent sweater was too tight for me and too long for my daughter, so I refashioned it into something she could really use... a pair of leggings:

For the full tutorial, check out the refashioned leggings post here.

I also found this bulky sweater for (you guessed it) 49-cents, but it was not very flattering at all, so I decided to refashion it into something a little cuter:

For the full tutorial, check out the sweater skirt post here.

One of my favorite recent refashions originated from a red, wool skirt that was too tight (and kinda itchy). I quickly transformed it into a cute rose clutch:

Feel free to check out the Red Rose Clutch Tutorial here.

Take care ya'all!

~Jen

American Girl Doll Dress Refashion Tutorial

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog.

I wanted to show you a quick and super simple refashion I did recently for my daughter's American Girl Doll.

I started out with a 49-cent infant's vest that I found at my local thrift shop.
After taking it in at the shoulders and side-seams, it made the perfect little sweater dress for an 18" doll.

If you'd like to see the full tutorial, check out the full post at Diary of a MadMama.

Have a great day!
~Jen

Lumberjack Swants (Sweater Pants) Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

Howdy!

Jen here, from Diary of a MadMama

Have you heard of Swants? You know, pants made out of sweaters?

When I first saw this YouTube video, I just had to make myself a pair.

The problem was that I didn't have any sweaters (that I hadn't already cut into) appropriate for the job... but I did have this:

Do I look like a lumberjack?

Pretty snazzy 'eh? I love the plaid (or tartan?) print.

The only problem is that it's not a pullover stretchy sweater, like what's used in the Swants tutorial.

I really wanted this to be transformed into pants anyway, so I decided to improvise and come up with my own tutorial (if you will).

After chopping and rearranging a bit, this is how they turned out...

Look, pockets!

To see the full tutorial check out the Diary of a MadMama Lumberjack Swants Refashion Tutorial post.

Take care!

~Jen

Some Recent Refashions and a Giveaway!

Hello everyone!

I'm really excited to tell you all about a giveaway I'm hosting in honor of the one-year anniversary of the Diary of a MadMama blog, but first, some recent refashions:

First off, using some shrunken wool sweaters, I cut them up and refashioned them into several pairs of warm woolen mittens...

Find the full tutorial here.

Over the holidays I was lucky enough to get a visit from my best friend. 

She had a favorite summer dress that she felt she would no longer be able to wear as-is, but really didn't want to part with, so I refashioned it into something she would wear. 

Check it out:

To see the full tutorial of the dress to skirt refashion, click here.

And finally, my most recent refashion was created entirely of scraps.

Aren't they cute?

These owl cases are perfect for keeping your phone or iPod safe.

You can find the step-by-step directions here.

As I mentioned earlier, yesterday marked the one-year anniversary (or blogiversary if you will), of the Diary of a MadMama blog.

It has been such a joy to be able to share with you all through my blog and on here as well!

To thank you all for such a terrific year, I'm hosting a giveaway.

You can enter now through February 9th (when I will be announcing the winner). 

The prizes will be a custom-made owl case (like shown above), a custom-made pair of mittens (also shown above), and a custom-made infinity scarf.

For more information you can read all about it in my Blogiversary and Giveaway post, and enter to win on the Diary of a MadMama Facebook page.

Thanks for such an amazing year and here's to many more to come! :)

~Jen

Christmas Refashions

Happy Holidays!

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog.

I wanted to show you some of the gifts I've been refashioning lately.

I have a huge stash of wool sweaters that's taking up entirely too much space in my house, so what better way to declutter, than to transform the sweaters into Christmas gifts?

I used some cashmere and angora (rabbit hair) sweaters to make this super soft, winter infinity scarf...

This festive sweater worked perfectly as a new Christmas stocking...

My daughter grew out of her old hat that I made her, so I decided to make her a new one in her favorite color...

...while I was at it, I made a bunch more...

We donated the extra hats to a local women and children's homeless shelter.
My kids are really enjoying giving this year. It's really making the holidays more enjoyable to see them getting into the holiday spirit.

I hope you have a fantastic holiday season too!
~Jen

a.k.a The MadMama

Refashioned Leather Owl Purse

Howdy folks!

Jen here from Diary of a MadMama.

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas lately.
We do mostly "homemade" Christmas in our family and with only 47 more days until the big day, I know that I need to get busy making stuff!

I've banned my only daughter from reading my blog until after Christmas so that I can share with you one of the presents I made for her from some scraps of leather that I got off a pair of pants that I previously refashioned. (They only cost me 49-cents and I still have lots of scraps leftover!)

Add caption

You can check out the tutorial on the Diary of a MadMama blog.

Have a fantastic weekend!
~Jen

Scary Zombie Halloween Refashion And Some Former Refashions Too.

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Jen here, from Diary of a MadMama, and I wanted to share a Halloween refashion I just finished for my daughter, and some older refashions I haven't shared yet.

First off, my daughter wants to be a zombie for Halloween...and even though she has dance class during trick-or-treating time, her teacher is allowing the class to wear costumes.

To make a costume she can wear while she's dancing, I decided to refashion a leotard I bought her for 49-cents several years ago (also as a Halloween costume). Since the leotard no longer fits her as-is, I thought I could make a tutu out of it for her...

I did want to make sure she could wear the tutu again, so I didn't splatter fake blood on it or anything.

I decided it would be her hair and makeup that would make the costume Halloween-ey! ;)

As promised above, here are a few older refashions...

Have a great weekend everyone, and feel free to swing on by Diary of a MadMama to check out the details of these refashions and many more!

~Jen

Some Former Refashions

Hi there!

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog.

I haven't posted on here in a while, so I thought I'd do a few of my former refashions for your perusing pleasure!

The first one started with a 49-cent t-shirt and a wrap-around skirt that was just gathering dust in my closet...

You can view the full Wrap-Around Skirt To Maxi Dress Refashion here.

Next up, I upcycled these two t-shirts (that each had issues of their own), into cute little shrugs...

You can view the T-Shirts To Shrugs Refashion here.

When I saw these Vera Bradley pants in my local thrift shop for 49-cents, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven!

I mean, I just LOVED the print. Unfortunately, the fit was too tight. I bought them anyway, hoping that I could lose some weight and fit into them, but considering that they are a size that I haven't been since middle school (when I was also 3-4 inches shorter), I figured that was a pretty unrealistic goal.

Not wanting to part with them, I decided to refashion them into something that would fit...

To view the Vera Bradley Pants Refashion Tutorial click here.

Last but not least, I was pumped to find these bright coral pants second-hand, but not so thrilled with the bagginess of them, so I turned them into skinny jeans...

To find out how, check out the Refashioning Baggy Pants Into Skinny Jeans Tutorial.

For even more madness, check out the Diary of a MadMama blog! I can't wait to see you there! :)

~Jen

Men's Dress Shirt to LBD Refashion

Jen here from Diary of a MadMama.

I have a TON of very large men's dress shirts lying around waiting to be refashioned. 

My hubby lost a lot of weight and blessed me with all of the shirts that are too big on him now. (Lucky me!)

When I saw this black one, I thought I could try to transform it into a little black dress. 

What do you think?

To see the step by step tutorial, check out the Diary of a MadMama blog.

Have a great week!

~Jen

Polka Dot Peplum Dress Refashion

Howdy Folks!

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog.

I wanted to share my first (successful) peplum refashion with you today...

This was a surprisingly easy refashion.

I just trimmed off a panel from the bottom of the dress, hemmed the bottom of the dress, and gathered the panel to fit my waist, then attached the panel (now peplum) at the waist.

If you're more of a visual person (like me), you can find the step by step instructions here.

Have a great weekend!

~Jen :)

Latest Refashions

Hi everyone!

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog!

Just wanted to show you some of my recent refashions…

I was so excited when my 9 year old daughter chose these two 49-cent tops at our local thrift store with the purpose of a refashion in mind! I love the way it turned out!

This was my "Copycat"-themed refashion for week 3 of the Refashion Runway Competition. The inspiration was an Anthropologie outfit that altogether cost $146.00. My version began with two shirts that I purchased for 49-cents each and the pants came out of my closet. So including tax, the total cost of my version was $1.04. What a huge savings!

This was my week 4 "Summer Dress" themed challenge for the Refashion Runway Competition. It began as a frumpy top and scrub pants that I purchased for 49-cents each and turned into one of my favorite dress refashions ever! :)

I used the scraps from my dress refashion to make little fabric flowers to upcycle this beat-up lampshade. (I ran out of glue sticks before I could finish this unfortunately, but you get the idea for what the finished product will look like.)

These ruined shirts got cut up into strips…

…and I quickly braided the strips to make this patriotic headband…

…and this matching bracelet for my daughter. What a great way to use up scraps, huh?

For the detailed tutorials on any of the above refashions, come visit me at the Diary of a MadMama blog!

Take care! :)
~Jen

Hi everybody! Long time no see!

Jen here from the Diary of a MadMama blog.

I just wanted to share some before and after pics of my most recent refashions.

I loved the color of these pretty purple sweatpants, but the fit was just a bit too snug, so I turned them into a comfy skirt!

For week one in the Refashion Runway Competition, the theme was stripes.
I decided to take these shirts of mine that I couldn't sell at my garage sale, and turn them into a cute maxi dress.

When I saw this dress at the thrift shop, I couldn't pass it up for only 49-cents! I just loved the feminine floral print and the pretty shade of blue, but it definitely wasn't very flattering as-is!

And for the second week in the Refashion Runway Competition, with a theme of "denim", I decided to change these unflattering jeans into a funky-fied new jean jacket, that can be worn multiple ways.

If you want to see other refashions of mine, stop by the Diary of a MadMama blog.

And don't forget to check out all of the other awesome competitors and their amazing refashions at the Refashion Runway Competition, where you can not only vote for your favorite, but also sew along each week to the themes!

I can't wait to see what you all have done!

Have a great week!

~Jen :)

What I've Been Up To Lately and Refashion Runway Competition!

Hello Everyone!

I realized I hadn't posted anything on here in a while and decided to fix that by showing you a few of my most recent refashions.

Here's some before and after pics...

For the detailed tutorial on any of the above refashions, visit the Diary of a MadMama blog!

I also wanted to share my excitement about the Refashion Runway Competition that my friend Beth is hosting over at Chic Envelopements!

I'm so excited to be one of the 8 competitors in this awesome competition!

Here's a list of the themes we'll be working on each week:

Week One: Stripes
Week Two: Denim
Week Three: Copy Cat from a magazine, catalog or celebrity
Week Four: Summer Dress

Something super cool about this competition, is that you can sew along with each week's theme and submit your before and after pics of your awesome refashions too, as well as vote for your favorite refashions!

Hope to see you there!

~Jen