T-shirt Mania 6; The Giant Purple One

Hello Refashion Co-op. This was the last t-shirt in a pile of refashion clothes that I worked through. It also gave me the most trouble and struggle. It was a big soft low cut bright purple V-neck, nothing exciting there.

 I took the shirt in on the sides and at the shoulders to make it more narrow and raise the neckline. Nothing exciting there either.

I added some nice bias tape that I had on hand. I thought it would break up the purple and dress the shirt up a little.

It was a mistake because the bias tape was just too heavy and stiff for the light weight knit shirt. It made the neckline too bulky and it just felt weird. I was a little angry at myself for not realizing this sooner.

I cut the neckline into a V shape again to remove the trim. I also cut open the shoulder seams and tied a knot on each shoulder to strengthen the neckline and keep the shoulders on my shoulders. the knots also raised the neckline since I had just cut it into a deeper V. 

I decided this soft shirt was just going to be  worn with leggings for exercise.

Some things just don't work out the way I think they will. 

See you next time.

I Can Work With That

Tablecloth to trousers

When I bought this tablecloth in Oxfam I thought the price (£14.99) was rather inflated. In fact, I could have bought it cheaper on Amazon.

On reflection, as I have already made this skirt out of it, and there was enough fabric to also make a pair of trousers, it's starting to look like better value. 

There are more details and photos here

T-shirt Mania 5; The Accidental Pajamas

Hello Refashion Co-op. I made some pajamas recently. I didn't mean too. I was trying to make summer clothes. When I was done I looked at them and thought they really looked more like sleepwear. That's OK, I needed some pajamas anyway.

 I started with this tank. It had one of those racer-backs. I decided to make a new back for this shirt out of a freebie white t-shirt that I already had.

   

I cut off all the trim around the arm and neck holes and put it on my new shirt so it would look more finished.

   

I also had this blue and green seersucker shirt my mom gave me. (Thanks Mom!) It was really cute material but it felt a little too thick and heavy to wear as a shirt in the summer. I decided to make some shorts out of it.

I cut the shirt so it would lay flat and I even added the sleeve fabric so I would have enough for my pattern. It was really close, I barely made it fit.

 It was at this point that I tried on my new clothes and saw a set of pajamas. They just looked like sleepwear to me. I actually needed some pajamas, so it's fine with me.

Thanks for reading this post, for more details and pictures go to I Can Work With That.

Shirtdress seriously updated

A swing dress size XL, which did nothing good for me. I also had my doubts whether as to I could make the red/white checkered fabric look like something else than a kitchen tablecloth. But I like a challenge.

- I separated the bodice and the the skirt.
- I narrowed the bodice along all its seams, until it fitted me.

- The was a lot of fabric in the skirt. I opened up the pleats, and used the skirt as fabric for a completely new skirt.

- And then I stitched the to parts of the dress back together.

The finished dress. I like it quite a lot and it is perfect for the summer weather we have now.

Skirt with points at the sides. I added a few pearls to accentuate the points.

A month of sun does wonders for pastywhite skin.

More photos on the blog: http://saga-i-farver.blogspot.com/2018/07/fra-malkepigekjole-til-moderne.html

Taming those sleeves!

This refashion wasn't a big one, but it made a big difference to me!  I really liked the colors and details of this tunic, but the sleeves just weren't going to work.  They were a bit too open and exposed more than what I was comfortable with.

I simply cut a band from some scrap knit fabric, gathered the sleeve edge and stitched the band in place.  Pretty simple!

  

And just for fun, I added some lace around the hem to give it a little more length.

For more tunic inspiration, please visit my blog, Second Chances by Susan!  Thanks!