Lilac Bridesmaid to Lovely Day-Wear!

This past Christmas, my little sister got married, and I got to wear this dress in the wedding!

Photo credit to Sherry Lynn Photography! She did my wedding, as well!

It was gorgeous. I loved it. But . . . how often do you get a chance to wear a dress like that? I mean, really?

So of course, it was time for a refashion!

Here it is, ready for the chop!

I used a pencil to draw where I thought I should cut, so that both sides would be even.

I trimmed through each layer separately, and ended up cutting through 3 different layers, making them all slightly different lengths, the sheer top layer the longest.

Inverted V in front, a bit of a tail in back. Left the side scarf bit alone!

Now, if you've ever worked with polyester (and this was polyester chiffon, polyester satin, and polyester lining), you know the stuff can fray like CRAZY. Time to pull out the heat!

My woodburning pen burns hardly any wood, but LOTS of fabric!

I carefully ran the edge of the woodburner's nib along the cut fabric, sealing the edges, and fixing any uneveness. 

And that was it!

Ta-DAH!

You can do so many things with that long scarf bit!

Dress it up!

Dress it down!

I love leaving the scarf draping in the back! So pretty!

This new top will be up in the Etsy shop soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks for reading! 

Mwa!

 

Holey Polo to Sweet Bolero!

Ever have that cute dress or top that needs a simple cover-up, but all your cardigans and boleros are either too hot, or too formal?

Then I've got the tutorial you've been waiting for ;)

I started out with this simple grey polo.

Seems fine, right? Why refashion it?

Holes galore! Eek!

Don't be too quick to throw out items that have a few holes! If they aren't reparable, you can still use the non-holey parts to make something else!

I chopped off the bottom of the shirt, right under that pocket. Holes begone!

Then I pulled out my trusty seam ripper!

Picked out all the stitches holding the button and button-hole sides together...

And then just snipped through the remaining bit of cloth!

Last thing is to finish the bottom edge.

If you pull on stretch or knit fabric while doing a zig-zag stitch over the edge, you'll get a pretty lettuce hem!

And that's it! Ta-dahhhh!

Comfy, casual bolero!

Wear it open or button it up!

So now you know! Don't throw away holey, old things you don't wear any more - keep them out of the landfill, and get something brand new to wear and use!

Thanks for reading!

Mwa!

2 Boring T Shirts into 2 Beachy Vests! ~No Sew Tutorial

GUYS. In case you haven't noticed yet . . . it's HOT.

Which makes me feel like this.

But! With my new swimsuit I just made, I can head to the pool! However, our apartment guidelines say you have to wear something over your suit to walk to the pool, and I've been really wanting something light and easy to take on and off!

So I made two different versions of vests:

Start snipping!

One sleeve had already been harvested for other purposes

Annnnd here's where I forgot to take a picture. So I doodled for you :)

Orange lines are where I cut!

Yeah . . . honestly, I don't even know what Mighty Oregon IS (unless it's just the state . . . but the adidas logo tells me otherwise), and I didn't feel like having it on my new vest. So I snipped it off!

Then I tied the new straps I'd cut, and started cutting some fun fringes!

REALLY took me back to camp days . . . I used to fringe-ify my shirts all the time then!

And the bottom needed fringe too. Because I said so.

Left side is what it looks like before you pull on the cut pieces. Pull your fringe!

Vest #1! Boho fun!

Yay fringe!

I kept the Might Oregon "O" - why not?

My second vest started out like this!

Still hot and miserable.

Cut off the sleeves and neckline!

Cut off the hem, cut up both sides, and I widened the new back for a thinner halter-neck.

And that's it!

(To see the original/inspiration blog for this, visit Wobisobi!)

So that's it! 2 super-fast, super-easy no-sew refashions! :D
Happy Summer!

Mwa!

Fastest Tshirt Refashion EVAR! (no sew!)

So after a couple false-starts on refashions (where either something didn't work, or my end pictures didn't turn out right), I just wanted to get SOMETHING done to show you guys I'm still alive!
And I found the perfect candidate.

It's not a bad shirt! Men's Medium?

It's been MONSOONING all afternoon, so comfy clothes was the order of the day. This tshirt is fine, as far as regular ol' comfy tshirts go, but I wanted something cute as well as comfy!

I was inspired by the trimming done on this refashion by CTA Glam Couture

Someday I'll do their actual thing - the darts looks cute!

 

So I layed that shirt down and did some snipping!

I cut about an inch from the collar on both sides, and just under the collar on front and back.

 The sleeves were still lacking something for me, so I made another snip!

Right up the middle!

Then I took those two cut pieces and tied them together in a knot.

And that was it! Ta-dah!

Still comfy, loads cuter!

You know you want to go do this now ;)

Seriously, guys - it took longer to take the pictures than to do the refashion. Yay for a quick no-sew!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mwa!

From Sundress to Bathing Suit! DIY Tutorial

Are you guys ready for summer yet??

I wasn't quite feeling it in this summer dress.

I'm a stretchy polyester dress!

But I knew just what I wanted to do with it!

I started by chopping off the halter part of the bodice.

Ker-snip!

And then the halter ties as well.

I'm coming to pieces!

Then I pinned down a top hem, and pinned a couple of cup forms in place.

Stolen from another refashion piece!

I hemmed the top . . .

Whirrrrr....

And then hand-stitched the cups onto the inside of the bodice.

Once that was done, I planned the bottom.

Snipped off the bottom black strip, and put down some comfy sleepwear shorts as a guide!

 

I matched some leftover material to the crotch section of the shorts, and cut out a piece of polyester and a piece of cotton (from an old tshirt)

Apparently cotton is good for hygiene purposes.

Then I cut a small section into the bottom, to match the crotch section in the shorts.

It's about 2-3 inches long and half an in wide.

Then I pinned the two crotch pieces together, and pinned that new double-layered piece to the slit in the skirt.

Before pinning, to show how curved the slit is

Both sides pinned, right sides together (pattern facing each other)

I did a straight seam all the way around, and then went back and sewed a zigzag on the sides of the crotch piece.

And for some reason, this picture won't turn right-side up. Sorry about that!

  The last thing was hemming the bottom, sewing the sides to make it fitted, and sewing the straps on the top!

If you look closely, you can see the pins where I took it in.

And that's it!

Now, this is one refashion that won't be modeled by Yours Truly. But I can promise it's been pool-tested, and both works and fits great!

Now you can make one, too!

GUYS. I cannot tell you how stoked I am that this actually turned out! Now I don't have to spend forever searching for an affordable suit that I actually like! Woohoo!

Thanks for sticking with me! Mwa!