Skinny Corduroys

Everybody has a too big pair of pants somewhere in their closet. I took some baggy corduroy pants and turned them into a trendy pair of skinny corduroys. The whole refashion probably took around thirty minutes, and I love the pants, now! It's seriously the best when you can take something you never wear and easily make something you'll wear over and over again. For free. Yes, free is the best part. Here is the entire step by step process if you're interested. 

Also, I'm offering free sponsoring on my blog, so if you're interested, I would love to have you! I hope you guys are having a lovely weekend!

Tank Dress

This dress is actually something that I made last summer, but since I WISH it were summer, I'm going to post this tutorial anyway. :) 

I made this dress using a sundress I bought on sale at least four years ago and a semi-stretched out tank top. 

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

For more pictures and more details you can find my mistakes and tips here. Also, if you care to read some sarcasm or thrifted style advice, you can stop by my blog. :)

How to Alter a Blazer

We went thrifting and I found a giant jacket for $2.06. I altered a blazer awhile ago, so I basically did exactly the same thing for this blazer.

Before

During

After

Note: I didn't photograph it, but I also hemmed the jacket several inches to make it a normal length, and then sewed the pockets closet to eliminate the bulkiness. 

Also, I'm offering free sponsors on my blog. Great, right? Did I mention it was free? I would love to have some of you lovely ladies sign up. 

Striped Color Block Skirt

This new skirt has been my favorite refashion lately. I bought that striped shirt at Salvation Army a few months ago, and it ended up being an awkward fit. It was a little bit too short and not fitted enough. So, rather than re-donating it, I decided it would actually make a nice skirt. Clearly I like refashioning skirts, whether they are high-low skirts or tshirt skirts. The striped shirt would have been way too tight as a skirt, so I cut up a blue dress that was too small.  

1. Cut the shirt below the armpits, then cut the side seams off, so all the sides are straight lines.
2. Cut two equal lengths of blue fabric.
3. Match them up, making sure the hems at the bottom are even. If you match up the original hems, you won't have to hem the bottom edge. Win.
4. Sew the four pieces together. 
5. Hem the top unfinished edge.
6. The waist of the skirt needs to be more narrow, so it will you know, stay up. I turned the skirt inside out, and on each of the four seams, I tapered in as I got closer to the waist. Since it's jersey material, it doesn't need a zipper or anything. The skirt will naturally stretch and fit, as long as it's a little bit tapered up.

And that's seriously it. I think it took me around twenty minutes from start to finish. And it was made with clothes that would have been going to the thrift store. It's a little short to wear without tights, but since it's autumn, it's perfect. 

Come see more refashions and fashion on a budget! (When I say budget, I actually mean budget. Not just buying my clothes on the sale rack at anthropologie.) I would love to have you visit my blog and visit yours!

High-Low Skirt for Under a Dollar

I've been on the lookout for a long skirt at thrift stores, and I finally found one on Tuesday. The skirt was a size large and was missing a button, but it was sixty-six cents, so I couldn't pass this baby up. Here are the too-big before pictures.

I turned the skirt inside out and took in the side seams about an inch on each side to make the skirt a little more narrow. Nobody wants a skirt that falls off. Weird... I also resewed the button that was missing on the top.

After that, I folded the skirt like it is in the picture and cut the front part off, making sure to do a gradual curve as I cut so there wouldn't be any harsh angles. I still need to hem the skirt, but the fabric doesn't ravel very much, so I'll just hem it when I get around to it.

This skirt was so fun and simple to refashion, and now I have a rocking high-low skirt for under a dollar. That's the kind of price I like. :) It blows my mind how people can buy new when there are such great deals to be found at Salvation Army.

Here are some more refashions I've done lately. Also, if you love this post so much and can't imagine your life without my semi-blurry pictures and love for cutting things up, here's a link to my blog. 

Polka-Dot Skinnies

Hey peeps, here's a tutorial for turning plain black pants into ankle-length skinny polka dot pants. Who doesn't need some of these? 

Here's the before and after

The first thing I did was flip the pants inside out and sew them down into a skinny pant. Here's a more detailed tutorial for turning pants into skinnies. After I sewed them as tight as I needed them, I tried them on and marked how long I wanted the pants to be and did a 5/8 hem on the bottom.

 Now, time for the polka dots! I bought some cheap paint from Wal-Mart and used the eraser from a mechanical pencil for the stencil for the dots.

 It was the perfect size and shape. I poured some paint in a small dish and lightly dabbed the eraser in the paint to make the dots.

 Using masking tape, I laid out the tape about 1 1/2 inches apart. Starting on the left side of the pant leg, I made polka dots every inch or so. I only did the polka dots above the tape, and when those were finished, I made the dots below the tape, trying to make the polka dots lined up the opposite direction of the tape.

 This part was very time consuming, and probably took about two hours. Also, I was nervous about getting the dots even, but it is actually very difficult to mess up on.

 The final product. I was so proud of how they turned out!

 These pants are so versatile! I like wearing them with a white tank top and sandals for a casual Saturday, or dressed up more with a bright tank top and heels.

Also, if you need (cheap!) style inspiration, I would love for you to follow along as I try to complete 31 Days of Copycat outfits this month. I'm using almost entirely clothes from second-hand stores. :)

DIY Peplum

Once upon a time I bought two tank tops from a thrift shop with great plans for them. One of them was this pink shirt. The other one sat in my refashioning pile for months, until I saw this tutorial on Kaitlin's blog. This shirt was perfect for it!

 It started out as an extra-large tank, which is just a few sizes too big to wear, but it's perfect to turn into a peplum top. I tried on the tank and eye-balled where I wanted the peplum to start. I cut it off at the waist. I turned the tank top part inside out and sewed the side seams to make it fit tighter.

I changed the stitch on my sewing machine to the longest stitch length, and sewed around the cut part of the strip. Next, I pulled the strings to make the strip of fabric gathered so it would match the tank top section.

I matched the two pieces together, pinned the heck out of it, and then sewed it. I know what you're thinking: Why would somebody use light blue thread on a black shirt? Annnnd, the answer is whenever I run out of a color of thread I forget to buy a new spool. Yeah... so I just use random colors. My mom gets stressed out when I don't match the thread color to the clothing, but I figure it's one the inside, so it doesn't really matter anyway. :)

And, it's done! To see how I styled it, you can go here.

Here are some more refashions, and if you would like to follow along with my 31 Day CopyCat Challenge, go here. :)

How to Alter Nike Shorts

The title on this post may be a little misleading. These shorts are actually Under Armour. Whatevs. I have several pair of Nike shorts and Nike-like shorts that ended up being too big. For awhile I didn't wear them because they made my legs look like sticks. Which is uncool. But then I realized that for five minutes and some thread, I can easily make them fit me. 

Here's the "Before"

I started by turning them inside out and separating the shorts part from the lining part. All I did was sew a new seam an inch above the existing seam between the two legs. It makes the shorts fit smaller and shrinks the leg holes a little bit also.

Just sew that one seam!

And then you have a pair of shorts that does not balloon out in the leg holes. Which is stellar.

Would you like to join in on my "31 Days of Copycats"? I've set a blogging goal for this month and would love your input and comments. :)

Shrinking a Tee

In my opinion, being able to make a tee smaller is one of the most important sewing skills to know. I usually avoid any shirts with pictures or words on them like the plague because I think it's ridiculously stupid to PAY a company to let you advertise for them for FREE. However, I think the graphics on this shirt are cool, so I might wear it for a workout shirt. I've botched a few shirts trying to figure out how to shrink them, but I think I finally have it down. And luckily, it's pretty easy. Here's how.

1. Cut off the sleeves, making sure they're even. I always cut on the shirt side of the seams.

2. Trim the space between the neckline and the edge of the shoulder to make the shoulder seam sit higher. 3. Cut the sleeves to the size you want them to be. Warning! Do NOT over cut. On my first few shirts, I made the sleeves way to small, because it's hard to judge the size accurately. And then I promptly got rid of my newly sewn shirts, because when the sleeve is hugging your armpit it shows every drop of sweat. Too much information? Sorry. I'm nothing if not overly honest.

4. Put the sleeve inside of the armhole, making sure they match up. For this one, the armhole part was too big for the sleeve, so I marked the size it needed to be, then tightened up the shirt so the armhole was smaller. Make sure the sleeve is right-side out inside the hole. You can look on the inside of the shirt to be certain it will be correct when you flip the shirt right-side out.

5. Sew the armholes and you're done!

Here are some more refashions!
Or if DIY is more your thing here they are as well.