The Private Benjamin Top

I found this top in a charity shop, and liked the colours, but the shape was terrible. One for the reasons I don't have a lot of rtw non stretchy tops, is the general approach to make them massive and completely shapeless.

It is a stylised camouflage print with a nicer set of colours. But it makes me look like a sack of potatoes.

I look extremely glum in this before picture.. As you can see the top is super unflattering.

So I put some darts in and a (really badly sewn in!) zip and made it fit me. Much better!

Easy skirt refashion

Well its been a while. But I have finally managed to sew something! I had picked up this shapeless but jolly patterned skirt from a charity shop. It was far too long and a bit tight around the waist.

I simply chopped off the bottom and re-hemmed it to fix the length. As it is a partial elastic waist it was easy to make larger, I sewed down across the elastic about an inch from the end on each side and then made a small hole and cut the elastic between the old end point and the new, allowing the waistband to expand.

It now fits really well and is fun and flippy!

The shoulder cape vest

I made some minor adjustments (and cut masses of each side seam) to turn this odd shapeless, weird shouldered vest/tent into a pretty top with fluttery sleeves (that are somewhat over sized and feel a bit like tiny capes). More on the blog.

So-long Sarong Skirt refashion

I finished off my Roswell week UFO finishing burst with a simple jersey skirt refashion. It started off as a rather odd jersey sarong but I loved the fabric so I sewed up the sides, redid the waistband and chopped loads off the bottom. Again, not a lot of further detail to be had but what there is is on the blog.

before, weird sarong style thing, with all the fabric tied up in a bunch at the front..

after, cute swingy skirt

obligatory swirl shot!

The 90s skirt

Quite a low key refashion here, but cute. The skirt was far too wide and far too long, so I took in the side seam and chopped off the bottom. There aren't really any more details as it was so simple but you can look at my blog anyway if you like! It reminds me of the flippy skirts I used to wear in the 90s, but less limp and see through.

Before (ish -after I took in the side seam as I couldn't wear it before)

After

The pre-loved dress.

And here we go for Roswell day 2 (slightly delayed due to blogger shenanigans), and another dress.

This dress was originally a short dress/tunic that had become very stretched at the neckline and was too big. I folded it in about 10 inches in a big pleat at the front and took in the sides. as ever more details on the blog.

The unusually tropical dress

I have set myself a personal challenge to try and complete as many of my UFOs as I can in a week. I am calling this the Roswell challenge!

This is the first one, a dress refashion that had been sitting around pretty much since I first bought my sewing machine. It was a shapeless sack with a scoop neckline. I added some gathers around the waist, altered the neckline using the dress's belt and it was done! More details on my blog. I am quite impressed that I managed to hit both the Roswell challenge and Around the World in 80 Dresses challenge!

before-shapeless

after- shapely

Straw hat refashion

Hi guys! Another retrospective post - A few months ago, my friend Brenda had a hat party, with the emphasis on hats you never usually dared to wear outside.. Now I like hats, and have quite a few, but I wear them all.. clearly something needed to be done! I decided to try and do something with the only hat I owned that I didn't wear-mainly because it looked terrible on me! It was a really floppy back straw sunhat, that I had never worn as it tended to flop over my face and gene-ally look awful.  I decided to refashion it, into the sort of hat that I would love to own but would probably ever dare wear- an old fashioned semi bonnet style number. Ever since I was a little cild reading period novels, I have always fancied being a feisty heroine in a hat that tipped over one eye.. and so I made one!

before- I look like an idiot.

The construction was fairly straightforward, I basically cut the back of the brim off, and stuck it to the front brim with glue, shaping the edges, and then sewed through both layers and round the raw edges with black thread to hold the whole thing together. I then wove some thin wire through the brim to stiffen it more, and added a wide black ribbon.

after- feisty heroine! 

I could probably have added stiffer wire, as the tipping over one eye thing got slightly annoying after a  few hours, but overall I felt fabulous!

More on the blog

The Portobello Dress

Hi again,

I bought a shapeless dress from a charity shop for £3 because I really liked the fabric - I'm a sucker for blue based flowers. As well as being shapeless in general it was also too small in the bodice and armholes and the waist was nowhere near mine.

I cut the bodice and the skirt apart, and cut 10 inches off the bottom of the skirt. I used this piece to make a pleated waistband that dropped the waist down properly. I biased new armholes using my new bias tape maker, and changed the neckline. As I had to increase the size of the bodice, I created a mock "shirtwaist open over vest" look with an insert panel that buttons up using the original buttons. More details on my blog.

Overall I love it! The weather has totally perked up round here so I shall be wearing it in the sun very soon!

Hello! The London Dress

Hello everyone! I am a new contributor to the co-op, though I have been keeping up with you all and lusting after all the lovely clothes!

My name is Katie and I have a blog over at monkeysocks learns to sew that is about my attempting to learn to sew nice clothes like my mum tried to teach me as a child! Although I have only recently started sewing properly, with patterns and the like, I have always enjoyed cutting things up and putting them back together in a (hopefully) more flattering way. This had led to a serious charity shop stash problem, and my flatmates are a little exasperated-I now have to sneak the new stuff past them and then be evasive of when I bought it!

This is the first of a few posts about some of the refashions I have done recently.

I thought this dress was pretty on the hanger, but it looked like a misshapen sack on me. I wanted to wear it for a trip down to London, so I added darts, changed the neckline and it all pulled together nicely. I focussed on making it the dress I thought it would be when I picked it up! A bargain at £2.50.

before-sack

after-slinky

as ever, more details on the blog