Refashioned dress

I had this lovely dress.

Sure, it looks cute on a hanger, but wearing it is another story. I loved the fabric and I thought it might be a cute sun dress, but it's just so puffy! I kept wondering if it was me or it really was puffy then, I was trying it on one day and little C came in and told me, "Mommy, I'm not sure if I like that dress." I told him I wasn't either and asked him why he didn't like it so much. He said, "It's big and wide, I don't like wide dresses on you." Well, my little 6 year old has a fashion sense. A better one then me sometimes. Good thing the dress was on clearance for really cheap because it will become a new dress for L.

I chopped off the smocked top and shortened it. then cut the bottom to size and sewed them back together. L wasn't so happy to take a picture.

I don't like it when the dress goes straight across that it seems too low on her. So, I cut arm holes and serged the edges. She is still not happy about taking a picture, but now that C is trying to get in, she is cooperating.

Now she is just trying to keep him out of the picture.

Now she is picture happy. Now that she is playing that is. And, it doesn't even matter that it's not even January (when I'm typing this), L will just throw a jacket on and maybe some tights if it gets any colder.

Perfect summer, I mean winter dress.

Kristen

Refashion T-Shirt

Mr. C had this shirt that wasn't so old, it just didn't fit him so well. I decided to cut it up and make a smaller one for little C.

The color is a little off because of the lighting and my camera settings. I'm learning.

Anyway, I just cut the front out of the front and the sleeves out of the sleeves.

I sewed the sleeves on before I sewed the sides. I wanted to try the other way of doing sleeves. I think this way is great for t-shirts. Putting the sleeves on last I think works better for more fitted shirts.

But sleeves usually aren't a problem for me, it's the necks of t-shirts that give me the most trouble!

Can you tell? It's a little stretched out. I did have to rip out the neck and re-do it, that never seems to make it any better.

The shirt is a tad big because I used a new shirt of C's to trace that is a bit big. I wanted it to fit for a long time. I don't want to do all that work to have him grow out of it in a month. But other then that and the neck, the shirt is perfect. I guess that's not quite perfect.

Kristen

Hat from Scraps

I love I am Mama Hear Me Roar, she is crazy creative. On her site, I found these upcycled little boy hats I've been wanting to do forever! Well, since I had some old girl shirts, I decided to do a girly one for L. Mine turned out a little more plain then Cheri's did, but like I've said before, I'm not all that creative. Here are the pieces I cut for her hat.

The same day she had a little friend over so I made one for her also. Here they are without any embellishments.

Here I started adding stuff to L's hat. I still want to get some embroidery thread and make some cute designs in L's hat.

I'm glad L loves wearing her new little hat.

Kristen

Dress refashion

Yea! I'm back. I haven't been sewing much lately. It's been crazy around here, I've been packing, cleaning, going on vacation, unpacking, cleaning and doing it all over again. In-between River trips and vacations I've been very busy with swimming and beach trips, so there hasn't been much sew time. I also haven't had anything I've been dying to make. Until today! I got the sew itch yesterday.

First thing this morning I pulled this dress out of my closet.

I never wear it, it just doesn't look that cute. I bought it for about $2 on clearance. No wonder, huh. So, I cut the top off and cut down the skirt part to 1.5 times L's chest size.

I put the right sides together and sewed it closed.

Then I smocked the top and used the straps from the original dress for this new dress. Not much work at all and L loves it.

She was a little upset because I already made 2 other dresses this weekend and she wanted to wear those, but they aren't for her. So, I had to make her something too. You can probably see some of the sewing mess in the background. I have a big project I am working on that I will share with you soon. I'm so excited for it!!

The visor is from JoAnn's. L and C each brought $2 with them to pick out something. She has been wearing it ever since.

Happy sewing, I'm so excited to be back and sewing again!

OH! I almost forgot!!! I am SO excited! I got a serger for my birthday!!! It should be here between July 13th and 16th. I can't wait to get started. Oh My Goodness, I am so excited.

Kristen

Thrify Dress

Another refashion. Well, can you call it an re-"fashion" if it came from a sheet, not another piece of clothing? I don't know, so that's what I'm going to call it. Remember this sheet?

Well, I got started on a little pillow case dress. I found these cute ribbons at Michael's for a dollar each. My original plan was to get thick black ribbon with white polka dots for the bottom of the dress. But, these were only a buck each so, I decided to use them going down the front of the dress.

Then, I decided to have some fun with the stitches on my machine for the first time. I liked the way it turned out. L did too, but she didn't want to admit it.

It would have been nice if I looked at the fabric before I cut the arm holes because I did the dress upside down... oops. If you look, all the butterflies are flying upside down. Oh, well. Nobody noticed today at Lego Land.

See, L does like it, she is still trying to act unhappy about it though. That didn't last long.

I can still use the black and white polka-dot ribbon because I can make 2 or 3 more dresses out of this sheet. I have 2 cut already. Nice easy gift. I think I will do thicker ribbon on the sleeves though.

Kristen

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Upfashioned Swim Trunks

I have had these old swim trunks of my husbands for about a year and a half now. I have wanted to make little C some swim trunks out of them, but I just haven't felt excited about it. This year C finally needs some and I saw a little post on made that inspired me. Too bad I didn't get a before picture for you guys.

The only thing I needed was elastic. The string was already on the original shorts.

They are so easy because I made them with out a side seam. This is probably the second easiest thing I've ever sewed. I love doing pants/shorts without a side seam. I did it on L's bloomers for her upcycled dress.

Here is the front, I reused the string and the little flap that it ties through. I did have to cut it down a little.

I also used the original pocket to the shorts. No cutting on there because there is no side seam. See, easy!

They are a little long and a tad loose so there is room to grow since this boy seems to grow every other week!

Kristen

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Apron to Dress

Remember this little apron I got at the thrift store not too long ago?

Well, I mentioned in that post that I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I have been dying to make L's little summer dress out of it. I needed just a little bit of that white islet, but haven't had a chance to run to the store till now. So, made her little dress this morning.

Here is what I did...

I cut arm holes then got that little lace embellishment and used it for sleeves. I found those cute flowers right next to the lace and had to get it for the dress also. It went so perfect and is so springish.

Then I cut off the bottom and used part of that for the bloomers and the other part as bias tape for the arm holes. I had just enough for both arms.

There wasn't enough for the bloomers so I had a little white islet fabric for part of the bloomers.

I love the way it turned out!

It's light, airy and summery. Oh, I added some more flowers to the back of the bloomers, partly so L knows which side is the back and partly cause it was cute.

There is L in her new dress and her little friend E. They have so much fun are are just the cutest together! I brought blood oranges to Angel Day for Little League and there is already a stain running down the front of the dress. Nothing a little stain remover and wash won't get out.

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Simple Refashion

I found this cute but big dress at the Salvation Army a while back.

I'm so sad, I LOVED the Salvation Army and it was about a mile at the most from my house. But, it burned down. I can't find any information on what happened or if it will be back. I don't think it will. 

Anyway, back to the dress. My husband actually spotted it and liked it. It was about 5 sizes too big, but I loved the light flowy material. So, I decided to get it anyway, it was only $2. I knew I could do something with it. I really liked the dress and didn't want to change it too much so I decided to cut it off where I would want my waist to be, sew a casing and add some elastic. That's it! I made a super cute, light and flowy skirt.

There is me with my belly slipping out. I'm trying to hold it in a bit, but we just had dinner. But, I want to give you the full effect of the skirt.

I really love it, it's so comfy and light weight.

Kristen


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Refashioned T-shirt

A little while back I did Serve Day at my church. I love Serve Day because we are helping people in need locally. Anyway, when you do something like this at church, you usually get a t-shirt for it. I got this large shirt and I don't really wear large unisex t-shirts. This was actually the back of the shirt.

The front had this little tiny graphic near the top.

I thought I could wear it to bed, but that's a bit of a waste too. Naturally, I decided to make a tank out of it. Who couldn't use another cute tank top?


When working on my tank I used the pattern I made for this shirt. After I cut up my main pattern pieces, I used the hem of the t-shirt to finish off the neck.

This is my least favorite part about sewing tanks. The tank top took about 10 minutes to cut, pin and sew. But, I had the neck and arms to finish. It's hard because it's so darn hard to sew a straight line on the very edge of the edge. I have found it helps to sew it on like bias tape. unfold it, pin it to the inside of the shirt open and sew. Then when you fold under, you can't see that stitch. Now when you fold the outside over and sew on the edge, you will have one stitch on both sides. (Yep, that's my label sneaking in the picture.)

This time I did the neck line a little different. I folded the edge over, but didn't fold it under. I left it with the raw edge out and sew just inside of the edge. I like the look for this tank. Then for the arms, I just sewed a strip on the inside of the shirt to reinforce it a bit.

So, there is my new refashioned t-shirt into a tank.

And the cute little graphic on the back.

I made one minor mistake on this. I didn't wash the t-shirt before I sewed it. I have to remember to not dry it and for when I do forget, hope that it doesn't shrink cause it's not super stretchy. Ok, so it's not so minor.


What have you refashioned lately?


Kristen


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