Formal Dress

The Formal Dress

I needed a formal dress for a fancy event and decided, why not make it myself from re-purposed articles of clothing.

The before items:

A shirt and a plain black cotton dress.

I used the top of the shirt, and the bottom of the dress and the result was perfect. : )

The final product, front and back:

-alyrocco-

No Longer a Golfer...

My golf shirt is now a tank top.

Once upon a time, I was a golfer, but I just don’t partake in the sport any longer. I have some golf shirts in my closet not being used. 

I decided to update them with some minor alterations. 

I took off the collars and cut off the sleeves. 

Much better. : )

  

-alyrocco-

Frumpy Skirt Refash

This is a very quick re-fash..

I started out with a frumpy skirt that was not flattering on me. I hemmed it to a much shorter length...

Before and After:

 

-alyrocco-

Turtleneck Removal

This refashion is super simple but I love it. 

In my refashion pile was this super soft, long-sleeved turtleneck. I loved everything about this, aside from the neck. It is a nice earthy brown color, it has a fun sporty pattern around the arm holes, and did I mention the material was like wearing a fluffy cloud? It's fabulous. : )

Before:

 

After:

 

-alyrocco-

Silver Jeans Update

I was recently at a clothing swap and scored a pair of Silver jeans. They were outdated but fit perfectly. I knew I could make them awesome again.

I forgot to take a proper before photo, so my before picture is with the jeans inside out and already pinned up. But you can get the idea. They were way too baggy and short.

I took them in from the hip down and custom sewed them around my calves. In doing this, it also made the length perfect for the new fit.

Now I have a super cute pair of skinny jeans.

Before and After

 

After dressed up:

 

-alyrocco-

The Bulky Sweater Dress

For this project, I started out with a highly unflattering sweater dress.




I carefully snipped off the pockets.



Fixed a hole I made from accidentally snipping more than the pockets.


I cut out some red material and pressed them into strips.


I pinned and sewed both strips side by side on the front center line of the dress before cutting up the center. Then folded them over the raw cut edges of the sweater and sewed them in place.




The end result… a cardigan sweater. I really loved the colors of this, but I’m not so sure it suits my style.

The before and after side by side:
 

-alyrocco-

Black Blouse

First of all, I can’t believe I forgot the before picture!

Please try to imagine the top as a knee length tunic/dress.

This was an easy refashion and I absolutely love the end result.

All I had to do was shorten the bottom. Instead of using a straight hem, I curved the bottom in the front and the back slightly. Then I fixed a small inch wide hole that was right on the side seam.

Done : )

-alyrocco-

Flare Transformation

I had a pair of dress pants that fit quite well with the exception of the very outdated, huge flare bottom, so I attempted to transform them into skinny pants. It worked!

Here is half of a before photo with one leg as the original flare and the other with the updated skinny leg. All I did was sew in on both sides from the knee down. Then hemmed the bottom.

Here are the completed pants dressed up.

-alyrocco-

A Simple Update.. Plus an Eco-friendly Solution

The best part about sewing is being able to get clothes to fit your personal body shape. 

Before:

Too big, too much white, sweat pants.

After:

Well fitted, with the perfect splash of white, sweat shorts. 

I would also like to share an additional sewing project with you ... Eco-Friendly Cleaning Cloths.  

I decided to make these from a single large yellow towel I had. I liked the color but I had just one and it didn’t fit in with the rest. 

Here’s what I did:

First, I made my own bias tape with some cotton material by cutting it into strips and then pressing the back. 

Next, I cut my towel into squares.

Then, I sewed the bias tape onto the sides of the square cloths to prevent fraying. 

I think they turned out really cute. : )

-alyrocco-

The Butterfly Dress

This dress was the next item that inspired me from my gifted bag of un-wanted clothing. I loved that it had a hood on it and was super light weight material. I decided the dress needed some darkness, so I also chose this black athletic top to alter. 

Then I got to work transforming..

Step #1

Parts of the hem on this dress were furling up on the bottom so I decided to use that to my advantage and sew the hem up giving it a more un-polished look.

Step #2

I cut off the bottom part of the dress from the top, and cut the black top in half under the bust. Then sewed them together keeping the original stitches from the dress. 

Step #3

The dress was very wide and had no shape whatsoever, so I took it in on the sides by a lot and gave it a bit of a curve to make it a little more shapely. 

Step #4

I cut off the sleeves by the elbow and gave them a hem with a double line stitch to match the original sleeve cuff. 

Step #5

I now needed to attach the hood. I cut the hood off of the dress with a one inch allowance. I wanted to keep the collar of the black top and the dress so I doubled up and sewed the hood collar right next to the black top collar. I thought this looked kinda cool. I wanted it to be different.

Step #6

The material of this dress is very clingy so I took another article of clothing from the bag. This long, tan colour top to attach to the inside as a slip.

(inside out with slip attached)

Step #7

I didn’t quite like how the dress attached to the shirt under the bust, so I made a strip of black material sewed into a tube to cover up where the two materials meet as to even out the line. This made a big difference. 

Since this dress is very casual I paired it with black tights and casual shoes. This is usually not my style but for some reason I felt inspired to take it this way.

-alyrocco-

Cozy in Hot Pink

A lovely friend of mine, who knows I love transforming things, gifted me a bag of clothing she no longer wanted. I decided to make it my challenge to get creative with every article of clothing in the bag!

The first item that inspired me were these hot pink lounge pants. They fit perfectly but I couldn’t leave them as is, that would be boring. 

I decided to chop off the bottom and give them a hem for some shorts I could use for sleep wear. 

Next, I bought a very soft, black t-shirt and used some of the leftover material to cut out a cloud shape to tie in the shorts and the top together so that they look like a sleep wear set. My original idea was to add raindrops falling from the cloud but then decided no raindrops looks more sleep-like and cheery.

Here is the after. I think they are adorable.

The next item that inspired me was a Balinese Sarong. The material is beautiful and silky soft. In keeping with my cozy sleep theme I decided to make some eye masks to block out the light while I sleep.

I had an eye mask that I used as a template. With extra for seam allowance I cut out a piece from the front of the sarong and another from the back. Then I cut a slightly smaller piece of thicker cotton fabric to place in the middle for cushioning.

Next, I sewed the three pieces together, tucking in the raw edges. I left a couple of slots on the sides to attach a matching red elastic band, and then sewed them in.

I am now ready for a super cozy sleep. 

-alyrocco-

Awkward Cupcakes

These pyjama’s were a gift. They are new and have been sitting in my closet since I got them. I think they look silly! They seem really awkward and are either too short or too long .. depending on how you look at them. Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full? 

Even though they are new I just didn’t like how they looked. To me they should have either been full length cozy pants or casual shorts, the in between just wasn’t working for me. I thought about adding a deep pink fabric to the bottom but I really don’t like sleeping in pants so I chopped them off to make a pair of shorts. The fabric is soft and cozy and I am happy to say that I will actually wear them now. 

Zzzz..

-alyrocco-