REFASHION: adding color and a button

I weeded out some old shirts from my packed closet, and I found two identical blue shirts. I don't remember buying them, but I'm pretty sure the price had to be super low if I bought two. Nothing was wrong with the shirts -- lovely blue color and my favorite V-neckline -- but I didn't wear them too much.

What I did:

• cut the scarf in half and created a two-layer triangle

• made a straight cut halfway up the back of the shirt

• inserted triangle into the open space of the shirt

• created a bow with colorful border from the scarf

• threw away the bow because I didn't like it

• sewed a red button at the top of the triangle insert

For more pictures, details, and other DIY projects, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: short girl solutions

Summer may be ending soon, but the warm weather will continue to linger for a few more months. With enough pretty shirts in my closet, I finally summed my courage and motivation to start sewing shorts. I'm really good at turning my husband's old pants or jeans into shorts, but oddly enough, I only have three pairs of casual shorts and one pair of gym shorts I depend on.

After rummaging through my refashion bins, I found two pairs of too small sweatpants I could refashion into more comfy and roomy shorts and make them my size. I started with the red pair and cut off the legs at my preferred length, and I inserted a new panel (from the cast off legs) on each side.

For more pictures and details and other projects, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: peach perfect shirt

I found this simple peach striped shirt in the men's department for $3.50. The shirt fit just fine, but it was a little boring. Also, please ignore the the small red stain in the picture -- I had a cherry popsicle earlier in the day.

With a few fixes here and there, I added a touch of femininity to a men's plain tee. I shortened the sleeves a few inches and added three white buttons on each sleeve. I was going to call it a day after that, but then I found some lace remnant in my stash and thought it would be perfect to create a V-neckline.

For more pictures and details, click here.

Until next ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: side tie fixes everything

Earlier this year, I refashioned a plain purple T-shirt by adding a super cute multi-color trim to the bottom. Well, I curved the bottom hem and then added the trim, and I really liked the refashion. But I felt the shirt was missing something -- I couldn't figure out what the shirt needed. To add matching trim to the sleeves or the neckline was too much, in my opinion. So, the shirt sat in my closet for months until I figured out the missing element.

Even months later, I still stand by not adding more fabric to the sleeves neckline because that would look too matchy matchy (if that makes any sense), but what about a decorative side tie on the higher portion of the hem? The tie wouldn't be used to cinch or tighten anything because the shirt fits just fine. The side tie would be purely decorative. I totally visualized the idea in my mind and believed my purple shirt could be saved. Yay for brilliant ideas and second chances!

For more pictures and details, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: men's baggy khakis to skinny khakis

I recently started a new part-time job, and so far, I love it! Besides loving the job, I love the dress code: jeans and a T-shirt! JEANS AND A T-SHIRT! If I can't wear sweatpants to work then jeans is the next best thing. I have five or six pairs of jeans in my arsenal, but I know two pairs are too small and I should throw them into my refashion pile. I have another two pairs that are my favorite because the fit is perfection.

And the last two pairs I'm too scared to try on, thinking they might be too small and fearing I've gained a few pounds. Instead of trying on the jeans, I went shopping instead -- logical thinking, right? After rummaging through the clearance sections, I didn't find any pair of jeans I liked but I found a pair of nice dress pants and pair of men's drawstring khaki pants.

The men's drawstrings khaki pants were too long, too big, and too baggy on me. No problem. Fixing the baggy issue was very simple -- I sewed a new inseam. Normally, I slim down jeans or pants by sewing new side seams but the crotch area was really low. The new inseam solved the baggy problem AND the low crotch area! Yay! A new hem to fit my short length was a piece of cake.

For more details and pictures, please click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: tie it all together

I apologize for posting so many refashions during the past few days, but the month of May is ending way too quickly for me. And I am determined to complete my Me-May-Made 2016 goal -- finish five refashions. Unfortunately, procrastination and my upcoming schedule has forced me to work on the refashions as quickly as possible before June rolls around.

A failed refashion with a casual shirt and complementing paisley tie led to a simple and wonderful refashion. Previous refashions had me using bias tape, lace or the original neckline to create a v-neck. Why couldn't I use a men's tie?

For more pictures and details, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

P.S. To avoid a ton of swear words and not test my patience, I took the black bias tape route to finish my kimono! I love the final look. So pretty.

SHIRT REFASHION: a much cooler shirt

I pulled out a red long-sleeve shirt from my refashion bin. The shirt was boring and too form fitting for me. What my closet needs is more cute and casual tops for the spring and summer. During a recent trip to my favorite consignment store, I found the perfect companion item for the red shirt! For less than $1 I scored this beautiful men's button down shirt.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: jumping on the kimono bandwagon

So, this is me jumping on the kimono top bandwagon. Lately, I have been wearing dresses with lightweight cardigans because the weather has been a little cooler. What happens when the sun starts shining brightly and I still prefer to have a simple cover-up? I don't want to be the idiot wearing a cardigan during the summer. So what's a girl to do? Create a kimono top out of a $2 scarf found at my local consignment store.

I'm at a crossroads -- should I add more black bias tape around the neckline and opening or complete a simple rolled hem? I'm so torn! Suggestions would be highly appreciated! Thanks!

For more pictures and details, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: The big grey stripe

I have attempted a few refashions here and there but most turned out disastrous. So, I went back to the basics and removed the snugness out of a cute purple shirt.

For more details on the simple process, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: My first circle skirt

With a ton of shirts in my refashion bin, I need to really work on whittling down that number. So, I pulled four different blue shirts and cut them into pieces to form a circle. Once the pieces were cut, I simply sewed them together, creating a beautiful circle, and added 2-inch black elastic to the waistband. Easy peasy.

For a few more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: flowers and stripes

Yay! My confidence level just took a step up with my latest refashion! I recently bought this normal black-and-white striped shirt on clearance. The shirt fits fine and looks nice. However, during a recent shopping trip with my sisters, I leisurely combed through the clearance racks and found a lovely pair of floral leggings.

Anyway, I bought the cute floral leggings with absolutely no intention of wearing them. I immediately knew it would make my new striped shirt even better -- turning the original 3/4 sleeves into full length sleeves and lengthening the shirt hem with the floral fabric.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: a sweater skirt to finally love

I was in the process of trying to save the grey cowl sweater by turning it into a better sweater, but I made some minor errors. Oops. When I removed the cowl from the sweater, I didn't like the new neckline and couldn't figure out how to save it. Instead of putting a little more effort into the save, I decided to turn the sweater into a sweater skirt.

For more details, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: Pretty pretty sleeves

On Pinterest I found a cute sweater with multi-color sleeves, and I thought, "That's super cute! And I can do that!" Instead of a replicating as a sweater, I took one of my husband's old ringer T-shirts and rummaged through my bag of knit remnants saved from my quillow project. Dark green and dark blue complemented the grey T-shirt, and a few strips of white knit added a bit of pop.

What drew me to this project was the sleeves contained the same colors but the sleeves weren't identical or uniform. I knew I could easily create multi-color long sleeves if they didn't have to be completely identical.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: V for victory

For my latest refashion, I took an old brown polo shirt from Charlie and an old wispy blouse of mine. The process was simple but took a little bit of time (a few hours).

Quick question: When someone compliments you when you're wearing a refashioned item, what do you say after "thank you." "Thank you, I made this." or "Thank you, I refashioned it." Just mentioning refashioning is a great conversation starter.

For more details, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: stripes and ruffly dress

Dress No. 2 being way too long for my short frame, I found no other issues with the dress. It didn't make me look pregnant, and the angled stripes were bold but kind of flattering. The easiest fix would be to create a new hemline, but then a fabulous idea hit me! Add a ruffle hem! I definitely needed to shorten the hem anyway -- so why not use the extra fabric to create a ruffle hem?

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: dress to swingy skirt

During an online shopping spree, I scored two cute black and white dresses for less than $10 each. Dress No. 1 was too small in the waist area (made me look pregnant), too big in the neck and shoulder areas, and too short even for my stubby little legs. Plus, the pattern was too busy and didn't make me feel pretty or trendy. Because I absolutely love love love the swing of the dress, I turned it into a cute skirt! When I rummaged through my box of elastic, I found an elastic waistband removed from yoga pants or leggings. Perfect solution!

For more pictures and details, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: lace makes everything better

Turning one of my husband's old green polo shirts was simple but time consuming. In the end, I love the new look except for the dumb pocket. I may try to pick it off again sometime in the future once I figure out how to fix the hole and other potential gaps. If I had more lace, I would have added it to the hem. Other than the pocket issue, the shirt looks great and fits perfectly (although the picture makes the shirt looks baggy and shapeless but honestly, the shirt fits great).

This week, I'm challenging myself to refashion seven items in seven days. I like setting goals and love the feeling of accomplishment when the job is complete. For more details, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: green plaidish shirt

Over the past few weeks I have been just killing it with shirt refashions! Of course, I have had my fair share of failures but I'm incredibly happy to add a few new shirts to my closet. For my latest shirt refashion, I took one of my shirts that was little bit too snug and one of Charlie's old work shirts.

For more details and pictures, click here.

Until next time ... Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: two polo shirts one day

While poking through my refashion pile, I found a good amount of old polo shirts and searched for inspiration on Pinterest. Two ideas caught my eye and made me think, "I can do that." For the first project, I had a cut off Henley shirt (the body of the shirt removed for a previous refashion) and combined it with an old polo.

For more details (and the second refashion) and pictures, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott

REFASHION: My something more shirt

Have you ever refashioned something and think "Is this cute? Do I like this? Can I make this cuter?" I took a nice light purple T-shirt and made an asymmetrical cut. I absolutely fell in the love with a bright multi-color table runner found at a consignment store. I cut a long strip from the table runner, turned it into a long tube, and added it the bottom hem of the shirt.

Before trying the shirt on, I slimmed down the sleeves. I love the new look of the shirt -- it's simple but super cute. I love the pop of color on the hem, and the sleeves are perfectly slim. But a few questions kind of nagged me. "Is this kind of plain?"  "Does the shirt need something more?" I'll wear the shirt a couple of times and hope inspiration hits me. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please share in the comment section. Thanks!

For more details, click here.

Until next time -- Jennifer Elliott