REFASHION: Hello, Doctor Who!

I finally decided to use freezer paper for a few projects. Per my research, a ton of other craft bloggers use freezer paper for many projects. My turn! For my first project, I turned to a simple drawing of the Tardis, freezer paper, and bleach-water spray bottle.

I found a simple Tardis drawing on the interweb, printed it out on paper, and taped it to a piece of freezer paper. All I really needed to do was cut out the outline of the Tardis and poke out the windows.

After cutting out the Tardis on the freezer paper and ironing it on a blank navy blue T-shirt, I slid a cookie sheet inside the shirt to keep the bleach-water combination from seeping to the back. Once everything was in place, I lightly sprayed the top area with the bleach-water combo.

Because I used a light mist, I didn't have to wait too long for the bleach to work its magic on the shirt. I gently pulled the freezer paper off the shirt to reveal a beautiful Tardis! It's so pretty! I turned the shirt inside out and threw it in the washing machine for a quick spin.

For more details and pictures, click here!

Jennifer Elliott

P.S. How many bobbins do you have on hand? I have about 12 sitting in a mug next to my sewing machine -- is that a low number? Too high? I was curious how bobbins other sewists have on hand.

Dress and skirt to new dress

I see quite a few of us have been using this method recently to refashion so I'll join in with my effort.

I started with a skirt by Espirit bought for £4.99 from Cancer research UK in Warrington.

It was made from a heavy cotton/polyester fabric.

The bottom half of this skirt was made of panels which had been sewn together 'inside out' with the seams on view, and the top part was just like the top of a pair of trousers.



This made for an odd fit.

There was, however, a useful belt.

I unpicked the top and bottom half of the skirt and turned it the other way out so the seams were hidden.

I then made a t-shirt style top from an old phase eight dress than had seen many wearings but was now past its best.  I forgot to take a before picture of this dress but basically I have just used it for fabric. The phase eight dress had a draped top and a full skirt.  I made a pattern from a well fitting t-shirt I already owned, and used the pattern to cut out the t-shirt components from the dress.

I'll be better organised next time with the before photos, promise.

I made some bias binding from the skirt to finish off the neck.

When I attached the skirt element, I wasn't totally happy with it.  I'd made the top a bit long, and the fabric was quite thin so the heavier material of the skirt pulled it down even more.

I decided to fold the top over and stitch it down to shorten the length a little and add a bit of strength.

Now I was happy with it.



What I like is this dress looks like a skirt and top but is more comfortable because there is no skirt waistband.  I will definitely be using this technique again in the near future.

Friends and family are not impressed when I tell them I've made this dress - 'you mean you stitched a t-shirt onto a skirt' would be a typical comment. usually say!



Summer Dress Refashion

Hello everyone,

I love bright colors, but I tend to shy away from them if I feel they are a bit too 'loud'. I had this floral summer dress sat in my wardrobe, but I never wore it because it always just seemed a bit too much in terms of brightness.

I came up with the idea to tone it down by attaching it to a white vest top, as you can see below:

I used a piece of the excess fabric that had been cut away to make a little ruffle on the centre bust of the vest top, and I teamed it with a black waist belt to give it a more polished look.

This was very simple to do, I just chopped off the top of the dress, chopped off the bottom of a vest top, and then zig-zag stitched the gathered skirt onto the vest.

Until next time,

Jeni

News Flash: The Ugly Skirt strikes again!!

This happened in April, but it's still good!  See the transformation over at Skirt Fixation.

Pink skirt, wearing foto

As promised here is a picture of me wearing the pink skirt the refashion of which I posted about a little while ago. Sorry, not the best shot, but that's the only one my photographer took......