Janeya's dress from a boy's button shirt

Before...

After

For more details check out my blog... Ressa's Revamps

Tank top to Dress Refashion

I got this tank top at Ozzfest & in my younger, pre-40's, pre-4th child days, I used to wear it all the time! As you can see it was short & in 2006, I was ok with that... 

Now that my short shirt days are over, this tank has been hanging in my closet... But the heavy metal lovin', 80's teenager, cool, rocker chic at heart in me could never throw it out... What can I do to make it wearable again? 

Much better, I think I love it! Oops, should've angled better to hide the towel on the floor & the potty chair...

And the back... Don't forget to admire baby girl's Dora head bath toy in the background. : ) For a full tutorial, check out my blog Ressa's Revamps

Before...

Pattern I used for the bodice & midriff...

Midriff I fought with & ended up not using...

After...

More details of how much I fought this project & my attempt at a tutorial on my blog Ressa's Revamps. I'm really trying to get better at writing tutorials, please bear with me while I'm learning, thanks! 

My DIY Elegant Redneck Wedding

Before ~ I was preparing for my wedding, my Aunt Mary gave me her 35 yr. old wedding dress & told me, "It's yours, do whatever you want with it." I had a really hard time with the thought of deconstructing it, this was a $400 dress in 1978, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL & fabulously vintage, I hadn't sewn since I was in high school, I'm a newbie at deconstructing & reconstructing & the thought of ruining it just absolutely broke my heart. 

Then I tried it on & realized she was about 100 lbs. when she wore this dress, I don't even remember being 100 lbs. It's beautiful, but not exactly my kind of style. And it dawned on me... Do I want this dress to continue to yellow, get fragile & eventually fall apart in a box where all it will do is take up space & never be used in all of it's glory? My answer was, Heck NO, I have enough stuff in storage!!!

I used Rit Fabric Whitener trying to get the yellow out, wasn't white enough to my liking so I used bleach. I figured if it fell apart I might still be able to use the lace for decorations if all else failed... It whitened up some, I managed to get the yellow out & it didn't fall apart, YAY!!! So, I got out the seam ripper & as carefully as possible I ripped it apart... 

Around our parts we're proud to be Hick Chic Rednecks, I knew I wanted a Redneck theme with camo dresses... I laid the pieces of her dress on my Realtree AP camo material that took me FOREVER to find & almost cried at how beautifully it went together. I changed my theme to Elegant Redneck...

After trying the bodice on my Baby Girl/Flower Girl, Janeya, I decided it should be on her dress... 

Flipped the bottom piece of the bodice upside down & used it as the waistband. Ripped the wide lace that wrapped around the entire bottom of the train off my aunt's dress & used it as the bottom lace trim of my niece, Maranda's Jr. Bridesmaid dress. 

Maid of Honor & Bridesmaid dress waist ribbons were the long strips of lace that ran the length of the train, every few inches apart. I had A LOT of this lace...

Used a scrap of the wide lace, flipped upside down to doll up the neckline of my dress & covered the straps with the long strips of lace I had a lot of. Restrung my Grandma's old pearls & used a few of them to put in the flowers of the lace to doll it up a bit more...

Made matching $1 flip flops for all 6 of us girls by gluing the lace over the straps...

Here's a pic of the wedding party... My Best Friend, Jane made her own dress & Janeya's dress. Thank you Jane! I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to say the least... I made the other 4 dresses, my husband's vest & all the ties... This was the 2nd wedding dress I made a week before the wedding because I gained some weight & the 1st dress no longer fit. The underlay of my dress is the train overlay of my aunt's dress. I turned it into a skirt so I could just slip it off when the party started... Cut her cathedral length veil off, made a camo ribbon & trimmed it. 

My sister & Maid of Honor, Lori...

My best friend & Bridesmaid, Jane...

My newly inherited children, 

Best Man & Bridesmaid, Devin & Nicci...

My niece & Jr. Bridesmaid, Maranda, daughter & Flower Girl, Janeya & her best friends, Jonnie & Lila (My Best Friend, Jane's daughters) Janeya refused to walk down the aisle without them, so I said, "Girls, you're in the wedding."

My sons & Groomsmen, Austin & Dylan

 walking me down the aisle... 

Husband & Wife, FINALLY!!! I've been in love with Beez (Brian) since I was 12 years old... Waited 25 years, hoping & praying for him to come back to me & it finally happened... This truly was my dream come true! My uncle, Calvin carved the buttons for Beez's vest out of deer antlers & carved wooden, morel mushroom tie tacks for the guy's ties... My cousin, Tiffany used scraps of camo fabric to make my flowers. Thank you so much Uncle Calvin & Tiff! 

Beautiful, baby girl, Janeya...

To see more of my stuff visit my blog...

Ressa's Revamps

Thanks for looking & I hope you're inspired!

2 men's dress shirts to a cute little sundress

Before - Sorry didn't get the pic until the 2 shirts were cut up... :)

After - Cute Lil' Sundress

Cut the red plaid shirt below the 2nd button, seamed the sides to fit my waist. Placed a bodice pattern on the white shirt material & cut it out, turned a long strip of the red plaid shirt into a spaghetti strap... Sewed it all together & ended up with a cute sundress...

Ressa's Revamps

Refashioned/Recycled dress for a dime

I picked this shirt up for a dime at my local Sr. Citizen's Thrift Store. I finally got around to digging through my attic in the 5 totes of (do something with later) clothes I had stashed from hitting sales like that... This is my 1st attempt at turning a men's dress shirt into a dress... I cut the sleeves off, then cut straight across under the second button & seamed the sides to fit me. Then, I put the sleeves together, right side facing & pinned a simple bodice pattern to it. I was super excited to find out there was enough material in the sleeves to be able to do that. I used another shirt that matched to make the bodice lining & straps, sewed the bodice & straps & sewed it to the skirt. YAY, I have a new dress for a dime!
Ressa's Revamps