Small from Big

Here's some that I did a while back - before anyone knew what I was talking about when I said I was upcycling or refashioning. I just found the photos on an old drive.

These used to be RAAF shirts, now, man pants. My boy loved his pair of army pants.

I have posted all my old other early refashions on my Lollean page on facebook, under "Refashioned before it was fashionable"

Pretty Woman Spring Carnival Style

It's nearly Spring Carnival time, so inspired by a dress from Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts I used a blue and white spotted number to make my own version. I would have preferred a caramel silk dress to start with but for $4 you use what you can.

Here is the before, complete with a little nylon lace collar and elasicated waist line.


The inspiration for the dress



Ta da! I took off the sleeves and gathered the neckline. Ran a bias strip made from the sleeve fabric along the neckline and armholes.

I took the dress up a little and made a self covered belt from the fabric using a kit that I also picked up from the oppy for 20c.

The rosette is just made from some scrap fabric, button and ribbons from the stash.

If you want to see my teapot robot check out my Lollean page on facebook.

I'm an Iron Woman!

My old ironing board cover was well passed it's prime.

I made my new one from a thrifted dobby cotton tablecloth and woollen blanket. Then it was time to decorate. I used a stencil I printed then cut from freezer paper. Also, two of my favourite craft items, Shiva sticks and hotfix crystals.






Hopefully Aussies will get the irony (pun intended) of the wording :)

More photos of this and a sneak peek of my next refashion project on my Lollean page on facebook.

Maternity Challenge

For the maternity challenge I made this dress. I'm not pregnant but who cares. :)

It is made from the top part of a singlet dress. Sorry, I didn't take a before photo of that one. It is made from red jersey and has a halter top.

I used part of the purple satin top which I love but had a few pulls in it and an assortment of these scarves.

I did a patchwork mishmash on the skirt. I made mistake between the third and fourth tiers and had to do lots and lots of frog stitch. Scarves I discovered are rather unforgiving and I was left with hole from unpicking. I search the stash and found some large purple ric rack. I sewed this over the seam and all is forgiven.

I did a little refashion of a teapot and old door lock into some little robots also. These photos are on my Lollean page on facebook....enjoy!

Baby Punk

These two punked up vests were made from denim jackets or jean jackets (whatever you want to call these beauties). We all have them, they are a bit of a classic.

They are kid sized, not that you can really tell from the photos. Maybe size 4 and 6 kids.

I chopped off the sleeves, frayed the armholes and ripped into parts of the denim. In some places I top stitched over the holes then had fun putting safety pins into it.

I found these great buttons. One says "God Save the Queen", another has the Union Jack and the other a crown. I stitched these on too.

I also grabbed some patches and got back to the sewing machine.

Enough talking, take a look. I have more photos on my Lollean page on facebook.

Winter to Spring - robot style

This was a quick fix for my birthday boy. Spring has sprung and long sleeves would not suit on a sunny day. I grabbed this little robot shirt at the end of season sale from the shopping centre $3. I cut off the sleeves and made it more spring worthy

The party had a robot theme (can you tell).

More cake photos on my Lollean page on facebook.

p.s I just had a fresh look at that balloon photo. It's a balloon sword he's holding, just a weird angle -- blush

Baggy suit to suitable bagger

I snagged this suit jacket at the op shop for $4. Unsure of what it would evolve into it sat in the craft room for a while. I loved the large stitching on the pockets and the fabric but couldn't work out what to make it into.

Hubby has also shrunk out of his clothes, leaving me lots of shirts to play with. I decided that nothing goes better with a suit jacket than a business shirt. So I married them up into a tote.

I used bias strip I had lying around (another oppy purchase). It's a bit on the skinny side. I shouldn't have been so lazy and made my own. Next time :)

Check my Lolllean page on facebook.

Saved!

I started to make this dress from scratch (Butterick 5606). Sadly there were a few issues from the start. The fabric was a little thin (read "see through") for my liking so I adapted the design to self line the dress.




When I made it up there were several problems.



1. It was too big



2. The 'wrap' hit me over the hips and was not at all flattering



3. The instruction of the pattern was that the wrap was only single layered and unfinished on the edge (there can be no wrong side since the wrap is supposed to be able to go different ways)



4. I had no extra fabric to double the wraps and give it a polished finish.



5. It did not suit me at all. The dress looks way better on the doll than it did on me. I guess the doll doesn't move and I'm not covered in fabric, so the dress doesn't adhere to me like it does the doll.



I put it down, sighed and almost chalked it up to another failure when I had a lightbulb moment

I loved the colour of the dress. I liked the shape of the dress, although it needed refitting.

SO...I cut off the wraps to make it more streamlined and took the dress in to give it a little shape.

So when summer arrives (it is still a little chilly in Australia for this ATM) I can wear it like this.




Or, here is the light bulb part, I crocheted this dress a little while ago but had nothing to put under it. Low and behold, it is perfect!






Happy days!



http://www.mccalls.com.au/Patterns/Butterick/B5606



p.s. I dont want this pattern anymore, obviously it doesn't suit me but it might suit you. If anyone would like it just pop over to my Lollean facebook page and leave me a message. I am happy to post it to an Australian address for free. If you are overseas we can chat about the postage cost. I have cut it out as a large, which is 16-18 according to the instructions. It is a large large though.

Scraps to useful tailors ham

I have wanted one of these for ages, so I made two! One ham and one sleeve roll.

The front is flannel, it was once a pj top that my daughter didn't want (she likes a t-shirt style and the pants were too cute to pass by) and the back is made from scraps, left after I made a woollen coat. The are filled with chopped up scraps of these and other fabrics, jammed in there super tight.

I love my new tailor's hams. I dont know how I managed without one (or two) for so long. I am planning on making a super huge one too. Just collecting the scraps.....

To check out the cakes I made this week (totally not refashioned...sorry) find me on facebook, just search for Lollean.

Scraps to snuggly warm quilt

I made this little beauty a few months ago. The top is made totally from fabric scraps, the inside is an old woollen blanket from the op shop (carefully washed) and the backing is some beautiful end of roll I bought far too much of and had been sitting in the stash for ages.

Not technically a refashion but it is something new from old

Ladies jumper to boy's robot vest

I have really been enjoying looking at everyone's lastest refashion posts. Such variety has inspired me to share my lastest attempt.

What started out as a ladies woollen jumper has become a vest for my four year old, red loving, robot fanatical son.

The idea was not mine, it came from the Warm Fuzzies book.

I have posted a little explanation on my facebook page. Just do a search for Lollean and you should find it.

Tooled leather handbag to an art journal

I spotted a tooled leather handbag (not the bag below but it was similar) in a thrift store. I loved it but knew that it had a life beyond it's original purpose.







I was delighted to find that the sides of the bag worked out be a great size for art paper but the first challenge was how to keep the integrity of the tool work while turning it into an art journal.



I did colour the leather roses with shiva sticks at one stage but decided ...nope and managed to clean it off. My second challenge was how to trim the top and bottom of the cover. Being a sewer at heart I spotted some vintage lace in my stash and thought that would be perfect.







I painted the inside of the cover, then stuck on a picture from an old calendar. Painted a little more to let the picture blend in some more. There is also glitter and painted lace and other bits of emphemeria in there.






The pages are bound through the cover. The holes are reinforced with coloured eyelets.





The old unloved handbag that somebody put lots of hard work and love into, is loved again!



https://www.facebook.com/lolleancreations

Summer dress to Winter top

I spotted this dress at the thrift shop. The first thing I noticed was the pattern in the fabric, I fondled the silky soft material and then after a quick sigh for it being far too small for me, I knew it had to come home with me for a refashion adventure.

I toyed with the idea of turning it into a shorter version of the same dress. By removing the top tier it would fit. Since it is winter in Australia I decided against a summer dream and made it into this top. The satin fabric for the body of the shirt was given to me a while ago from a friend (left over from one of her projects, I made one thing from it and still had this piece left) so it is an all round winner.

I used the Vogue pattern 8581 for the top and it was all sewn up within an hour!

I have more photos on my facebook page www.facebook.com/#!/lolleancreations