ReFashionista

A Whimsical Wristlet

I scored this little wristlet for free in my most recent visit to my favorite thrift store (Being a frequent shopper has its perks!). 

A pretty, though boring wristlet

I liked its rusty hue, and its potential to store my essentials while I’m out on the town.  I didn’t like how boring it was.  I’m not usually the “crafty” type, but this little fella needed some help.

Wristlet, meet Fabric. I think you’ll get along swell.

Yep.  That’s a scrap of fabric from this not-so-fab refashion.  Don’t worry…I’m still going to do a maaaaaajor overhaul to that one (still looking for another dress to create a frankendress), but until I do, I can at least use the scraps.

I cut a long strip from the scrap.  Yes…this leaves raw edges all the way down the strip.  I keep seeing embellishments like this in boutiques where the raw edges are exposed and allowed to fray.  At first I thought, “What is this crap?!?!”  But now I like it (fickle pickle that I am), and will be using this style element in future refashions.

Le Scrap is now le Strip.

Then, I started pinning it to the front of the pouch, in a sort of swirly shape.

pinning a swirl

When I was done, it looked like this:

Pinned and prepped!

I was digging it already! 

I foolishly thought to myself, “Now I’ll just zip it through my machine and It’ll be done!”

Yeah…no.

D’OH!

This tiny pouch clearly would not fit on my machine.  Apparently I have no real comprehension of size and shape.  I had to sew my embellishment by hand, which I hate.  I always think it’ll take forever.  It only took a few minutes. 

Hot hand-stitching action!

And that’s it!  I’m now the proud owner of a delightful little wristlet! 

Tres awesome!

Up close and personal!

I thought it looked great with my dress, a refashion I did awhile back.  Sadly, I have no photos of the process, as I was going through a lazy phase. 

my fetching frock

I seriously adore this dress!

Modcloth has a similar dress on their website that sells for $47.

Look Alike!

Of course mine only cost me $1. 

With my wristlet in tow, I was ready for Game Night at The Whig with some pals, pints, and Apples to Apples. 

The face of a winner!

Cheers!

Animal Print Urges

I stumbled upon this dress at a newly discovered thrift store where all clothing is 50 cents (and no..I’m not telling where it is!).

Welcome to the jungle!

Perhaps I’m still delirious from having been a bit under the weather lately, but I liked this dress a good bit, and didn’t feel the need to change it too much.  Oh..and look at the fancy shoulders!

bedazzled!

For whatever reason, I was really digging the leopard print.  However, It was too long, and a bit too big for me.  No worries.

Check out these pointy pads!

Basement kitteh stalks the pointy pads.

They may amuse basement kitteh, but I’m not so fond of them.

Basement Kitteh has a pointy new pal!

I deftly trimmed off the excess fabric from the bottom.

Chop!

Then, I pinned down my new hem.

Pinned!

Now that my new hem was pinned and prepped, I ran it through my machine.

No leopards were harmed in the making of this dress.

I pressed my hem, and was almost done.

Now…the top of this dress was suuuuper blousy, but I actually liked it.  I took it in a bit by adding a safety pin on the back from the inside.  Seriously…you can’t tell it’s there.  I know…it’s a slacker move, but I could either spend loads of time taking it in slightly, or just stick a safety pin in the waist and get the same result.  This time, I went with the path of least resistance.

Instant alteration!

And here’s how it turned out!

Meow!

Alright…so this wasn’t an overly dramatic transformation, but I really liked this dress a lot just as it was.  Also, I bought its dark blue twin in my thrifting trip.  That’s right, I will be refashioning an IDENTICAL DRESS, except for it being a dark blue, in a different way very soon. 

about to brave the cold to catch some culture!

My new dress was a fun frock for frolicking (hehe) to the Columbia Museum of Art for their new Arts and Draughts night (First Friday of every month), where I checked out some awesome bands, got another look at my dress which is still on display, and sipped a few tasty brews!

Ooooh! It’s hot local artist, Matt Mattox!!!

Cheers!

Behind Every Good Woman Lies a Trail of Men

This dress was for a very special occasion! 

Dress or tent? You decide!

I was invited to show a ball gown I made for the 2010 Columbia Design League’s Runaway Runway recycled fashion show at the Columbia Museum of Art!  My dress was going to be displayed with the works of an “elite group of top designers” (their words, not mine).   

Obviously, I was going to have to fix this maroon number up a bit before it would be reception-worthy!  First, I took care of the extremities.

Pads are bad.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

I was going to remove that neck-tie thingy next, but something stopped me.  If I removed it, I’d be taking away the one really unique thing about this dress.  I wasn’t sure if I really liked it or not, so I decided to save it for now.

I tried the dress on inside-out and safety pinned it at my bust, waist and hips.  Then, I took it off and measured each side.

…measuring from the seam to the pin

Then, I took out the safety pins one by one, replacing them with straight pins, making sure the fabric lay nice and smooth.  If it bunches up at all, your seams will look weird.

Sorry Safety Pin. You’ve been replaced!

I added more pins all the way down each side, and ran them through my machine.

Taking it allllll in…even the sleeves!

Then, I snipped off the excess fabric from each side.

Snip. And. Snip.

Now, all I had to do was finish those raw edges.  No worries!  I got to pinning.

1″ hem for the sleeves

1 1/2″ hem for the skirt…no real reason

I put my prepped edges under the needle.

Hemmin’!

Once all my hems were done, I needed to press them.  Now, since this dress was made of polyester, I used a scrap I’d removed as a tester.  Polyester is soooooo freakishly easy to burn holes through, and I wasn’t about to get burned again! 

Testing…1 2 3!

Once I was all pressed, I was ready for my debut!

Ready for my debut!

Sooooooooo…wanna see the dress I made that earned me this honor? 

It’s made of men’s dress shirts!

 

Another angle!

The title of my design is, “Behind Every Good Woman Lies a Trail of Men”. 

Just happy to be here!

Double the refashions! Double the fun!.

Meet Carol, a fellow refashionista!

Oh…and on a side note…I’ll be serving as a judge for the 2011 Runaway Runway in April!  I can’t wait to see everyone’s designs! 

Cheers!

A Pleasant Peasant Top

Today’s refashion was super simple.  I found this guy at the dollar-a-pound Goodwill, and loved it right away.

A Kozy Kaftan!

I love the bright colors and the light, breezy fabric!  If I were of a kaftan-wearing sort, I would have kept it as-is.  Sadly, I am not. 

I’ve been a wee bit stressed lately.  All I wanted was a comfy top to throw on over some jeans for my date with some fresh-baked cookies and theeeeeese guys:

“I like being weird. Weird’s all I’ve got…that and my sweet style!” ~ Moss

This seriously might be the funniest show on the planet.

Time to do away with my stressy self and break out my inner hippie!  This will require a fun peasant top!

First, I cut off the length.

I’m totally saving that bottom part in my scrap drawer!

Then I pinned my new hem under.  Easy Peasy.

Using my sewing gauge to keep my hem Even Steven!

I wanted a more relaxed neckline, so I cut a slit down the center of my new top.

Slit!

Then, I pinned down a nice, neck-pleasing V.

Prepping that V!

All I had to do was sew it all down!

Emo Sewing

With a freshly stitched (and pressed!) hem and neckline, I was all set to vegetate!

So comfy!

So…do you have a few dresses in your closet that are really cute, but you happen to be sick of?  Why not make them into tops?  Sometimes a really simple alteration like this can make an old garment feel completely new!  It’s sew (he he) easy!

My new top matches: A. my living room walls B. my tasty beverage C. Both A. and B.

Cheers!

On Safari

When I bought this rather large shirt (a men’s 4X!!) at the dollar-a-pound Goodwill, I had no idea what I would end up doing with it.  I figured it was worth buying  just for the fabric.

Life cereal brings out the kid in me!

This shirt sat in my “before” pile for about a week before I came up with an idea of how to use it.  I decided to turn this huge shirt into a cute khaki shirt dress, like the ones I’ve been seeing/coveting in stores lately.

I seam-ripped the breast pocket off, and put it aside.  I couldn’t keep it where it was, as a seam would end up going through it.  Don’t worry!  It’s coming back later, I promise!

Don’t call it a comeback!

Now, I had to begin the taking-in part.  This wasn’t easy.  I put in on inside-out and pinned it at my underarms (where the new sleeves would start), bust, waist, and hips.  It was difficult to see exactly how much I would be taking in, given how huge this thing was.  I kept my estimates conservative.  I knew I could go back and tweak it more later.

I took the shirt off, and marked in chalk where the pins were, using my measuring tape to keep each side even.  Then, I drew a chalk line between the points to give me a better idea of the shape.

Prepping for the big operation!

Then, I pinned each side down, being careful to keep the fabric smooth.

Pinned!

Next, I carefully ran each side under my machine, making sure the fabric didn’t bunch up, which it realllllly wanted to!

Reshaping in progress!

I used my pinking shears to trim off that excess material.

It’s starting to shape up!

Now, as you can see in the pic above, it still doesn’t have much shape.  That’s okay.  I planned on having to tweak it a bit more after I got the size down.  As it was still a bit too big up top for me, I put it back on and pinned the arms, bust, and waist a tad more to give it a curvier shape.  I ran it through my machine, and cut off the excess material.  No biggie!

I wasn’t done yet!  I took that sad, neglected pocket, and pinned it near the bottom of my new dress.  I love pockets, and would hate to see this one go!

One hand holder…coming right up!

I used a contrasting maroon thread to sew it on.

Hooray for Pockets!

Now…my new dress was fitting much nicer, and was made even better with its new pocket.  However, I wanted a nice sash to cinch my waist, and give my new safari dress a bit of flair.  Luckily, I had plennnnnnty of leftover material from the sides of the original shirt. 

I cut three strips like so:

Uno! Dos! Tres!

Then, I sewed them to each other, keeping the raw edges tucked in, like so:

Hiding those raw edges!

Now, I had one, long strip of fabric.  I pinned the long ends together, with the raw-edgy side facing out.

making a tube ‘o fabric!

I ran this through my machine, making a seam on the long raw edge.

Here comes your sash!

I trimmed off the excess material, turned my tube ‘o fabric inside out, and pressed it, making a smashing new sash!

There was one more issue to deal with.  The bottom of the dress needed to be secured, below the bottom button.  In its previous life as a shirt, this would have been the part that was tucked in to some guys trousers (ewwwwwwww!!!!!!!I literally just thought about this!!!!).  I just can’t have that level of gappage at my upper thighs, so I pinned that part down.

Pinning the bottom of the dress to prevent any unladylike flashing!

After a quick sew, it was good to go!  I pressed my new seams, and was done! 

Ready for Safari!

Oh, and check out my cute lil handkerchief!  I used a scrap from my most recent refashion.  I thought it tied in the contrast stitching and my burgundy brogues quite nicely!

All hankie! No panky!

I patted myself on the back further for creating my own version of a similar dress by Michael Kors that sells for $130.

She’s not invited on my safari.

Cheers!

 

What did I wear this month?

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