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I found this dress at the Salvation Army.  The top part of the dress left much to be desired.  The designer obviously thought it was fashionable, but the fit was not right.  But the bottom … what a great material!  Reminded me of handkerchiefs.  Upcycling this into something better should be easy. Don’t you think that material is great? I machine-basted the bottom together, so it wouldn’t wiggle around on me while I worked. Separate the top from the bottom. The actual construction of the shirt was fairly simple using satin quilt binding.  The only problem that I had was ironing out the binding itself.  For this, I used a metal ruler (it was really hot, so be careful when touching the metal after ironing it!!), sliding the ruler out and ironing some more. Pin it together. This created the hem on the outside of the shirt.  Putting the right sides together, I hand-basted the collar to the shirt. And I got this.  Now it’s folded over. So I can machine sew it into place.  This gives me a single blind stitch. I started on the “V” part of the shirt.  There isn’t one, so attaching the binding created one. I’m going to have to hand-stitch this into place, and then machine-stitch on top of it. Next time, I want to think about turning the collar at the shoulders, so it doesn’t seem like I have a bulky collar in the back.  Maybe two more “V”s at the shoulders.  But I’m decidedly very…

So I read that red was supposed to be a hot color (pardon the pun!) for the summer.  I picked this up at the Salvation Army thinking to be in style, but I hate maxi dresses.  (I look like a drowned rat in them!)  Time for some restyling. I was perusing the mall … and came across this cute little top at NY & Company. That chain is so cute!! I had to have it.  So I cut the top of my dress off and then sewed up the side, leaving some room for the armpits. Ironed out the top to make a tube. And now we sew the tube together, on both sides. The dress came with little ties, so I used those for the two tubes, feeding them through with a safety pin.  I made sure to pin the ends together. Using some hemming tape, I measured the chain strap length. Sew the chain into place.  So the peasant-part would come upraveled (embarrassing moment, anyone?!?!), I also sewed the ends, where the chain meets the tie, to the tube part. The shirt would have been done now, but I want it to poof a little.  So I sewed that hemming tape to the inside near the bottom of the shirt. Fed an elastic through, tied up all the loose ends (no pun!) and here we are! Turned out great!  Here’s Joseph and Lex! Final: With love, Follow me on Pinterest! Let me know what you think in the comments….

I found this knit top during one of my thrifting store scouts.  I love the kind of pleated detail in the front, but the top itself was too big and I wanted a summer top, not a winter top.  So I decided to make it exactly what I wanted. 🙂   If you don’t have a sewing form, have a partner help you out. Since the sleeves weren’t tooooooo large, I used the line at the seam as a cutting point to cut off the sleeves. Sewing the sleeves up. Following the pins, I sewed up the sides. Make sure the seams at the underarms will stay put. I think it turned out pretty good! Here’s a close up of the pleat and the sleeve. With love, Follow me on Pinterest! Let me know what you think in the comments. Sharing some WordPress.com love: scoop top free pattern and tutorial (skirtastop.com) The “Pretty” Play Shirt: an Updated Tshirt (hownottosew.com)

Salvation Army had its annual 50% off day and that’s the perfect day to pick up some great finds for your refashion collection!  But I find that most people don’t head to the new section — anything with a tag still on it is marked up about 40% more than the used stuff.  At 50% off, though, it makes it worth it.  This vest is one of the things I found and today, I’m going to remake it into something better. I love vests but a recent fashion trend (which I STILL don’t get!!!) is not to put buttons on the vest. Um, hello, cheap manufacturing?!?!  My kids tell me “get over it” all the time, but it still bugs me.  What if I want to close up the vest and wear it over a shirt, like, um, a vest is SUPPOSED to do?  My solution to this vest, however, was to close it up permanently.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it the moment I saw it. I don’t know if you can see the seam in this picture.  It is part of the front panels.  I am going to use these as a guide. Here’s a better picture. I tried on the vest, and put a blue mark on the inside where I wanted the shirt to start, e.g. the neckline.  This will make a sexy “V” neck ruffle shirt.  Sorry about my head shadow. 🙂 Starting at the blue mark, it’s time to sew…

I mostly shop for things that will look good, because I’m just too lazy to follow any kind of fashion trends.  This spring, however, stripes have come back into style.  Fashionistas, get out all those great shirts and sport them this season!  I was so psyched when I found this shirt at the Salvation Army.  It fits perfectly and it’s sexy.  Too bad it’s too short!  Time for an upcycle into something better. Here is Lex, being very cold while modeling the shirt for me: Since this shirt needs to be longer, I need to find another shirt to cannibalize.  Into the closet we go … and we find this cami that has been sitting there for oh, about five years.  Love that little rose on top.  Hate wearing it to bed. First thing is first.  I have to undo the neckline.  This isn’t entire necessary, but since the seam will be black against the white stripe, I have to be mindful that people are going to see it.  The seam has a double line which my machine won’t do.  One line is just going to have to cut it.  I took the seam down all the way from one strap to the other. After the seam is gone from the front, I cut into the neckline to make it a little more plunging. Cutting up the cami, making sure to put enough for the new neckline. Although I like the look of the lace against bare skin, I think the…

I got this shirt from the Salvation Army.  There isn’t anything wrong with it, except I think it’s a little too coy for my taste.  I’m not a big fan of the keyhole on the front of the shirt at all.  So today, I am going to show how a small change can make something that you own into a favorite piece. Here is a closeup of the keyhole: It isn’t bad, really, I just don’t like it. This is going to be a relatively small and easy change.  Since there is a little bow in the front, there is extra of the edging around the collar.  I undid the bow, and undid the edging around the front. Next, I made the front of the shirt into a “V” shape, by hand.  The edging kind of looks like it is attached, but it isn’t. Next, I just have to sew the edging back onto the “V” portion of the neckline.  Since the material is very stretchy, I chose to do it by hand. And then, just remake the bow! Voila!  Perfect! With love, Follow me on Pinterest! Let me know what you think in the comments.

My friend gave me these three long summery dresses.  I love them, but I also hate dresses.  Actually, I hate skirts too, but dresses even more.  There was a time when all I did was wear dresses like these, so I was pretty stoked to get them.  Until they sat in the back of my closet, for like, years.  Time to remake them into something that I’ll wear! I decided to play around with the blue one.  I’m going to make myself a shirt. Lop that puppy right off! The strings had to be cut off too, since there wasn’t any point for them anymore.  Here’s the extra material … hmmm … I’m thinking another tutorial is coming up. Hemming the bottom is easy since this is cotton. But it needs some fusible interface because the hem frayed almost right away. Oh, so gorgeous!  Here is Lex modeling the shirt for me. And this week from around the blogs, I spotted another tutorial about shortening things called How to Shorten a Top Without Hemming.  It says without cutting or hemming, but then the instructions tell you to cut the material, so … yeah. The web site is worth a look around.  The tutorial are fabulous and the pictures are even better.  She has a pretty nifty style, even though I don’t love everything she does.  (She also needs to learn how to spell, but that is just a blogging pet peeve of mine!) With love, Follow me on Pinterest! How…