Tambourines and Elephants

Is it just me, or does any one else think it's almost criminal how great fabrics and prints become ugly, ugly clothes? Take this shirt from the 80s... (I'm guessing it's 80s.)

So much going on here.

I loved the bright, cheery elephant print fabric. The sky high shoulder pads and weird sweater-y bits? Not so much. They had to go.

Off!

After removing the knit panel on the bottom, the shirt was way too short. To fix this, I removed the sleeves and used them to add about 4 inches to the bottom of the shirt.

Elephants on top of elephants!

Once the bottom was lengthened and hemmed, I took the top in a little under my arms, added two darts, and reshaped the arm holes and finished them with bias tape.

Much better!

And after lots of pinning and sewing and pressing, I had a new elephant print blouse.

Loving these elephants!

This is probably my new favorite summer top. Hopefully my previous favorite doesn't get too jealous.

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging Struggling to remember to blog at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

Muu-mooove Over

Muumuus are one of my favorite things to refashion. I'll be the first to admit that I have what some may call "too many" in my pile of upcoming refashions. I can't really help myself. The polyester fabric may not breathe, but it has some of the best prints and colors.

Don't I look excited?

I started by removing the sleeves, because black polyester is dangerous enough in the summer, and I didn't need to tempt heat stroke with long sleeves. Next I undid the previous owner's altered hemline. Surprising, I know, but I needed more length this time, not less.

Un-shorten the hem.

I didn't like the original front, so I decided to switch the back to the front and the front to the back. This required a little finagling, but it worked in the end.

Switcheroo!

Then I finished the arms and collar.

Finish the arms.

And I was done! All things considered, this was a pretty simple refashion. (You can see more of the how-to on my blog.) It's definitely not a good dress for daytime outdoor activities (See "heat stroke" above.) but it will be great for evenings and indoors. I love it!

And done!

There will no doubt be more muumuus this summer, so if granny dresses are your thing, stay tuned!

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging Struggling to remember to blog at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

On Dyeing (no. 1)

Summer is here! But where have I been?  Long story short between work and other things, I've been struggling to regain my mojo/sewjo. To ease myself back into creative stuff, I decided to break out my box of dyes and get to work on some of my many dingy "white" tops that have somehow been accumulating in my apartment. (They breed like rabbits!)

Does that yellow one look familiar?

The one in the middle was a cotton racerback tank I picked up last fall in California. It had a cool frayed ruffle detail in the front, but it looked like the previous owner didn't know how to sort laundry before washing it.

Objects in photo are cleaner and brighter than they actually are.

I've been wanting a black top for the summer, so I grabbed the black dye and went to town! I followed the stove-top dyeing directions on the bottle, and after about thirty minutes of stirring, the tank took the color pretty well. I was hoping for a more "black" black, but I'm happy with the result.

This is my happy face!

Some of you may remember the next shirt from a couple years ago. Way back then I tried my hand at dyeing with tumeric, and the result was a brilliant, sunny yellow. (And equally yellow hands and nails. Wear gloves.) After many washes, the tumeric had faded to butter, so I decided to go a different direction.

Trust me, red is a direction.

I dyed this top using the stove-top method as well, and I'm pretty pleased with this one too.

This is my pleased face.

So what do you think? Am I out of my slump? What have you done to get out of yours?

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging Struggling to remember to blog at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

Be Mine

So this weekend we all had the opportunity to celebrate the greatest of all holidays:  Single Awareness Saturday.

To celebrate this special occasion, I picked up this lovely frock. It had a sad, cat lady vibe, but was full of potential.

Sexy librarians have got nothing on this!

First I removed the pleated, crazy tight collar.

Sunshine Alley... of 40 cats.

Then I chopped some length off the billowy sleeves and the skirt...

Chop chop!

...and started taking in the sleeves and the sides of the dress.

Nip in the waist. Tapper those sleeves.

Once the sides and sleeves were done, I started working on a new neckline. It was still a bit tight, so I opened it up about 1/4 inch all the way around.

No more garment strangulation!

Last, but not least, I hemmed the bottom of the skirt, and paired the new dress with some black wedges, a leopard print belt, and black and gold earrings.

Much better!

I have a little more information about the making of the dress on my blog if you want to check it out. 

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

Abaya, So Long, and Farewell – Pantone Projects (no. 4)

Ever start a project with high hopes only to find you're really not into it? Well, that's how I feel about the Pantone Projects series. There’s only so much purply-pink I can take. I need some variety! So I'm discontinuing that series in favor of doing whatever I want throughout the fall and winter. Maybe I'll revisit the series again with Pantone's 2015 color. Maybe.

 But before I move on to some fall refashions, I’ll leave you this parting gift – a beautiful embroidered abaya.

Translation: “Specializing in making Abayas. Made in Jordan.”(Thanks for the translation Facebook friends!)

First things first, off go the shoulder pads and sleeves. Then, I cut off the bottom half of the abaya and hemmed a new edge.

Chop and hem!

Then I altered the top half, refitting the shoulder pad-less shoulders, adding (weird and pointy) darts, and reshaped and finished the arm holes. I also took in the sides under my arms a bit, but I don’t have a photo of that.

Shaping up!

I wound up with a  bright and breezy beautiful new summer top, and I love it! 

Favorite top of the summer!

I have a little more information about the making of this top on my blog. See you later for some new fall projects!

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

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What's a Pantone Project? Find out here.

Pantone Projects (no. 3)

I'm in the midst of a few (few - adj. from the refashioner's English for "many" or "oh my goodness so many") other projects, but I thought I'd pick something new (and easy) to get my creative juices flowing. I was gifted this shirt earlier this month, and it fits the bill.

Let's get started!

First, I removed the pockets, and unpicked the side seams. Then I removed the sleeves.

See ya, sleeves!

Which left me with a long rectangle of fabric with a hole for my head and raw edges along the long sides.

Like this.

I pressed, pinned, and sewed the long edges....

Finish them!

... and then folded the shirt in half "hamburger style," as they said at my elementary school.

Like so.

Finally, I sewed a straight line from the bottom to about 8 inches from the top, roughly 4 inches from each side. (Along the dashed line in the diagram above.)

And that was it! See? I told you it was easy.

Easy breezy!

I have more photos of the refashioning process on my blog if you're interested. It's pretty simple to do, and you can probably use a similar process to refashion pillow cases, table cloths, skirts, etc. into fun, flowy summer tops. Why not give it a try?

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

_____________________________________________________

What's a Pantone Project? Find out here.

Pantone Projects (no. 2)

Time flies when you're crazy busy, but my second Pantone project for 2014 is finally here!

Right there.

Project no. 2 is on the redder (more red?) side of "radiant orchid," but radiant it is. I found it while thrifting with a friend last year. It had a lot of potential, but the saggy neckline reminded me of that Jennifer Lopez dress (you know the one).

"Waiting for tonight, ohh-ohhh!"

The original elastic was shot, so I opened the casing, pulled out two feet of stretchless elastic, and closed the casing. (I could have replaced the elastic, but I didn't need the neck to stretch.)

Let's unscandalize this dress.

But it still didn't feel right. The top was somehow both constricting and billowy,  so I removed the purple-y polyester lining, which kept it from hanging properly while I wore it. I also chopped several inches off the bottom.

Bon voyage!

And then I proceeded to do something stupid. I decided to do some quick touch up painting while wearing my newly finished dress, because I'm smart like that. Needles to say, I got brown paint all over my dress.

After several days soaking in a mix of soapy water and "It's Awesome" cleaner (and a variety of other minor calamities) I was able to save the dress. 

Finally!

There is more about this refashion (and all the hiccups along the way) on my blog. I had originally planned on my next Pantone project being my Easter dress, but with my track record lately, maybe I should aim for Thanksgiving.

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

Pantone Projects (no. 1)

Winter is drawing to a close (Good riddance, right?) so it's time to get started on some spring projects. And what better way to get into the springtime spirit than by kicking off my spring refashion series celebrating Pantone's color of the year, Radiant Orchid?

For my first Pantone Project, I pulled this coffee stained purple dress from my stash.

You can't see the coffee in this picture, but trust me, it's everywhere.

I started by removing the awkward triangles of fabric in the neckline and unpicking the cuffs and fabric inserts in the sleeves.

Undo the sleeves.

Next, I chopped off most of the skirt, leaving only about 6 inches. Then, I tossed the soon-to-be top into the leftover dye from my last skirt refashion. The fabric is synthetic so it didn't take much of the dye, but it took on enough red to camouflage the coffee.

Before and after the dye.

The sleeves were too long and didn't have much of a shape, so I cut them in a curve.

Shaping the sleeves.

Then I hemmed the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt. I was left with a boat necked, peplum top with fluttery sleeves...

... and some confessions to make. 1) I'm not really wild about Radiant Orchid. It's pretty, but not a color I see myself wearing very often. 2) This fabric is kind of itchy. 3) And I really don't like peplums, which you may remember from my turtle jacket. I'm afraid this top may have to be relegated back to the closet or the thrift store from whence it came.

But I do like the sleeves and the neckline, so maybe there's hope. There are a few more details about this project on my blog. 

There are three more Pantone Projects in the works. Perhaps the color will grow on me.

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!

S.O.S. (Save Our Shoes) #2

Anyone here ever continue to wear a pair of shoes even after their condition can reasonably be termed "disgraceful"? Good. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I even wore them with my refashion from last month.

About a week ago I was wearing one such pair of disgraceful shoes while hanging out with a friend. I joked about how I've been putting off buying new dress boots for almost a year now, and that I'd been filling in the cracked a peeling heels with a marker.

My friend's audible sigh let me know that I had out-cheaped myself this time. It was time to do something about those boots that didn't involve a Sharpie. So last weekend I got to work...

What You'll Need:

1 pair of shoes with aging, stained, cracked, or peeling heels
acrylic paint (Cheapy craft paint will work fine this time, but nicer paint will look nicer and last longer.)
paint brushes (A thin one for detail and a wider one for everything else.)
pencil (optional)
paper towel

How To:

1) Gather your supplies. When picking your paint, choose whatever color(s) you want. Like I said in my previous shoe update tutorial, be creative. Try different colors and finishes (matte, shiny, etc.) Maybe pick a color scheme used by your favorite artist or designer, or try to copy a design you've seen somewhere else.

This is what you see in the dictionary under "disgraceful".
(I'd already started on step 2 when this photo was taken.)

2) Clean off the heels of the shoes as best you can, and peel off the old finish. (The finish on my shoes peeled off easily, but they were in pretty bad shape already.)

Got to love those old Sharpie lines.

3) Paint the heel of your shoe with the color of your choice. This may take more than one coat of paint.

4) Using the pencil, draw your chosen design(s) onto each heels. You can also skip this step and freehand whatever design you want.

5) Paint your design onto the heels. Smaller brushes work best for details. I found some gold craft paint in the back of the closet for the stripe and the inside of the heel.

6) Wear your saved shoes! Now your friends won't be embarrassed to be seen in public with you. ;)

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!