High Low Maxi Skirt

Let's face it, when it's in the nineties or over one hundred, a maxi skirt is HOT, HOT, HOT!

So I decided to turn this Tie Dyed Maxi Skirt made earlier this summer into a High Low Maxi Skirt.

This little trick made all the difference in the world when it came to staying cool in a maxi!

You can find the "how to" at The Renegade Seamstress

Hope you're staying cool where ever you are!

Beth

Anthropologie Inspired: The Collection Necklace

From one pile of broken jewelry . . . 

. . . to one Anthropologie inspired eclectic necklace . . . 

Inspired by Anthropolgie's Collection necklace ($48)

See more details on my blog.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, What were you thinking?

Shesh Ka Bob, Eddie! 

What were you thinking? This dress is so unflattering! No wonder someone dropped it off at the thrift store. They probably laid it on the doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran. :)

But at least you chose some great lightweight stretch denim so it had some promise.

I cut out the middle, resized it to fit better, added some ruffles and changed the sleeves to make this dress much more fun. I think Eddie needs to get out more on Saturday nights.

Come on over to the Renegade Seamstress to get the full details on how to make this dress.

Enjoy your day!

Beth

Valerie's Vintage Dress Refashion

Lucky me!!!

I've always been so fortunate to have assistants who also become my friends. Valerie is no exception! She joined our team last January and I'm thrilled to have her with us.

Valerie calls herself Seamstress Interruptus. So appropriate considering she is the mother of not one, but TWO sets of twins!

That being said, I felt very honored that she felt inspired enough by my 1960's Mad Men Inspired Dress Refashion post to take some of her precious time to try this herself. 

Since she doesn't have her own blog, I thought I'd share her refashion with you.

She started with this vintage dress she found at a yard sale. 

Fit her somewhat like a potato sack. But the fabric is fantastic!

 So she refashioned it into this:

I think her new dress is so flattering and beautiful on her.

You can see exactly how she did it here at The Renegade Seamstress

Enjoy your day!

Beth

Back to School Refashion

It's that time of year again.....

Being a teacher, everywhere I go I'm asked the same question.

Are you ready to go back to school?

Well, sort of.....

My school clothes are ready at least.

This has been the summer of sewing for me.

I found this skirt and top at the thrift store. 

Both were WAY too big for me.

 And there was a bleach hole near the top of the skirt.

So quick as a wink I started cutting.

I added some quarter inch elastic fit to my waist around the top by sewing and stretching at the same time. This creates a gathered waist.

And now I've got another Back to School Outfit.

I'll go get my classroom ready just as soon as I feed my chickens. :)

I'd love a blog visit from you. 

Come see some how I refashioned the shirt and more refashions at The Renegade Seamstress

Tom Binns Inspired Colorful Cameos

Tom Binns necklace ($445)

Tom Binns Earrings  ($365)

Tom Binns Necklace  ($515)

While these pieces are very beautiful, they just don't fit into my budget.  

So I created my own  - - - >

This is so easy to do.  All you need is a cameo, some nail polish, and a chain or bead necklace.

This was one of mine before painting.
Paint the cameo with nailpolish colors of your choice.  I used a toothpick to help get the nailpolish in the little nooks and crannies.
Attach to a chain or beads and your necklace is ready to go!

See more photos on my blog.

A DIY Pencil Skirt Refashion

I'm a sucker for anything blue and white so when I saw this thrift store skirt, it was a "must have" item!

But it just didn't do much for me in the hip department.

So, I cut away the fabric from the waistband.

Cut off the excess fabric.

Sewed a new side seam.

Added a casing at the waist for elastic and wah-lah.....

A new summer skirt!

The full photo tutorial can be found here at 

The Renegade Seamstress

Aeropostale Sweatshirt Refashion

What do you do with a sweatshirt that's not your style? Refashion, of course!

Step One: Cut off sleeves to correct length

Step Two: Cut off pocket

Step Three: Realize that you cut the sleeves too short, so you have to improvise to make the sleeves long enough to fit.

Step Four: sew fabric to the front of the sweatshirt.

Step Five: Reattach front pocket.

Pretty easy, right? Go refashion a sweatshirt today! Here are additional pictures.

Recycled Paint Roll

I've been painting my bedroom and, as it happens, I ran out of painters tape.  I was about the throw the roll away and it struck me!  AHA!  Bracelet!

This project didn't cost a thing because I used materials I had lying around the house.

As my hot glue was heating up, I ironed the material and cut a piece large enough to wrap around the tape roll.

I wrapped the material around the roll and folded the excess material inside the roll.  I secured the material by hot-gluing the material to the inside of the roll.

I wasn't very concerned with how neat the bottom layer material looked because I planned on wrapping a layer of lace around the roll next.

I angled the lace so that it wrapped around the roll easier and it looked cleaner.  All together, this project took a total of ten minutes to complete.

I had a really hard time taking a picture of my arm.

And there you have it!  A ten minute project that cost nothing!

Visit my blog for more projects!

Shirt Dress Refashion + An Easy Boxy Sleeve Fix

This dress was a $1 garage sale find - bought mainly because I liked the color.

A few snips and new hems and here's my dress now:

Something I'm much more likely to wear~

I removed the sleeves and shoulder doo-dads.  Re-hemmed the sleeve openings and then chopped off about 6 inches and hemmed the bottom.

But I was still left with really boxy shoulder/sleeves.

Luckily there's a really easy fix for that

Before and After

See my blog for a quick tutorial for this shoulder fix

Man's Shirt to a Fun Beach Dress

Need a new dress for the beach?

Start with a large man's shirt.

Turn it around backwards, the buttons will now be in the back.

 Cut new bodice length and cut new neckline.

Cut off the sleeves, pin and sew side seams to fit. 

Using fabric from sleeves, make a new waistband.

Now you've got a new beach dress:

For the full photo tutorial, come on over and see me at

The Renegade Seamstress

Beth