Blue & White Floral

I posted this pic on Instagram showing a piece I'd picked up in Michigan, posing the question, "What would you do?"

A fellow refashionista, ChiChi, (aka @itschichibaby on Instagram) suggested cap sleeves. Another, Carissa, suggested mixing it with a chambray (totally love this idea!!!). I decided to start by removing the sleeves.

I then put it on inside out, pinned it to take in the sides a bit tapering out towards the bottom. After running each side through the machine (and trimming off the excess) I tried it back on and used pins to mark the waistline.

I laid it out and cut straight across.

Then, I sewed elastic to the bottom of the top half, creating a gathered waist. Next, I attached the bottom half, gathering it as well. I did this by simply stretching the elastic as I zigzagged around.

Once the waist was complete, I took my sleeves and started playing around with them to see how short I wanted to go. I definitely wanted to do a cap sleeve.

I repinned the sleeves right sides together, and zigzagged them in place. I trimmed off the excess and tried it on, but I'd left one sleeve a bit longer than the other and had to redo it ;). They aren't quite a cap sleeve, but give a similar effect. Though, I may remove the sleeves and redo them at some point. Either way, I love the outcome! I fell in love with the print, and now I love it even more :).

Here's an idea of how I'd style it while out and about...but you'll have to imagine I've included a statement necklace and arm candy. Also, super cute with a cropped leather jacket and a scarf!

Here's the obligatory before and after shot:

 Oh, and here's how I'm actually wearing it today as I do laundry!!!

Hope you enjoyed this one :) Happy Refashioning!

Tribal Dress...Crop Set...Peplum...T-shirt?

I started with this tribal 'dress' (though I would not have been able to wear it as one). Picked it up in Michigan for a couple of dollars and figured I'd do a simply refashion that I could post about while there...

so, I chopped it in half!

Then added an elastic band to the bottom section (folded inwards) to make it a skirt. It was still a little too tiny for my taste.

So, I brought it home with me. I cut the 'skirt' straight across the middle, cut away the side seams, then sewed each equal width section to another creating a loop. Here it is folded over, but the idea was to gather the top edge and reattach it to the cropped top portion to make a peplum. Which I did.

Gathered and reattaching it...

But I didn't like it. So, I thought, how about a peplum with pleats? I tried it. I folded the loop creating two large pleats in front and back, then reattached it.

And I didn't like it.

So, I reduced the size of my loop (after cutting it off from the now even shorter cropped top portion), and reattached it making this a fitted t-shirt.

But I also added thin elastic where I sewed the top and bottom together...so that I can simply fold the bottom under smoothly and wear it as a cropped top!

Should've been simple enough to chop the length then add elastic at the ribcage to get the final product...but why do things the easy way? ;)

Whew! Now that I'm done with that, I can move onto some more complicated refashions ;). I've got a few fun things lined up, including a cropped jacket I've been posting about over on my ig account. Hope you all have enjoyed your weekend! I'm ready for week two of 'summer break'...well, I will be once we sign the boy up for camp tomorrow and pick up our pool passes!!!

Peace,
Andrea

Catching up...sort of

Hi there.

Me-made outfit: Day 22 - refashioned tee to cardigan with a tank, skinnies, and my new floral flats.

I've been sorta busy...sickness has been floating around my sis and bro-in-law's house these past two weeks...

Me-made outfit: Day 23 - refashioned t-shirt with black maxi and thrifted belt.

so getting pictures, doing refashions, and posting them has been a bit difficult.

This is my attempt at catching up...a little.

As you can see, I did a quick and easy refashion on a t-shirt passed down by my sis-in-love.

I turned it into a workout tank. Speaking of workouts...mine are suffering :-/.

This is a dress I thrifted before heading to MI. I wore it memorial day with a pair of thrifted red shoes I found while out with my sister. She's my thrifting buddy :).

For another quick and easy refashion, I took this thrifted men's shirt that had discolored white stripes.

Before leaving home, I made it into a skirt, then after washing it, found that it discolored even more. So, while here in MI I dyed it with denim blue.

And here's how I'm wearing it today :).

I plan on making up for all of the days missed, as I want to complete my #mmmay14 pledge. But that will come with time and opportunity. But, I do now have internet, so that'll make posting a bit easier ;). Just bear with me...

Peace,

Andrea

#MMMay14: Day 9

Ready for Day 9 of Me-Made May 2014?!?! I'm excited because today I'm sharing two, YES 2!!!, refashions that I've just completed :). And they make me happy...on another gray, rainy day.

First up, I tackled this lace sleeveless top. I bought it for $2.50 at the thrift store planning to use the lace for scarves or something. But then I got an idea in my head and figured I'd try it out. I started by cutting straight across the top a few inches below the bust. I then cut this portion into two equal size pieces.

I pieced these bottom two loops together by opening up the ends, gathered the top edge and sewed it back to the top using a strip of elastic. Here's how it turned out.

I wasn't completely satisfied as I'd left it loose and the width of the straps wasn't working for me, so I made some pleats along the back portion of the elastic waist to cinch it in, then bunched up the lace at the shoulders and sewed them in place. Much better.

Next I grabbed this floral t-shirt that I bought for $4 at the thrift store. It's a nice thick stretchy knit and this morning it struck me that it would make a perfect little jacket or cardigan. I don't own many cardigans with patterns (only one leopard print) so I figured a floral cardi would make the perfect addition to my growing collection ;). I started by cutting straight up the middle, then chopped off a few inches to make this more of a cropped length.

I grabbed my enamel cub of twill tape, bias binding, etc. and found what I needed to finish off the now open front. I first hemmed the bottom, then used my twill tape and bias tape to finish off the front edges. I then decided to take it in on each side a bit to get a better fit, as well.

And that was that! Here's the before and after...which segues into today's OOTD!

I layered an ivory tank top underneath my new lace peplum top, put the floral cardi over top and finished off with thrifted 'skinnified' jeans and boots for a bit of edge.

I ventured out into the misty gray day and took these shots while trying to avoid getting my phone too wet...

A messy braid and some geometric gold earrings add both to the romantic and edgy look that I was going for today...just a little edge was needed to balance off all of that floral lacy goodness!

So, what do you think? I find this one lifts my mood as the grayness continues outside...I hope you like it, cause I love it! :) And I can see myself wearing both of these new pieces often. In fact, I'm already planning how to wear them next.

Hope you're having a beautiful day...
Peace,
Andrea

#MMMay14: Day 4

Today was such a relax day for me...aahhh :). I did some cleaning and picking up, finished a book, caught up with my mom on the phone, and then finished up a small sewing project. I had the apartment all to myself and I soaked up the quiet like the introvert that I am. It.Was.Great!

Here's my me-made outfit, typical of what I wear when I'm staying at home all day:

Black and white all over with a small pop of color!

This black and white striped top is a thrifted Old Navy XXL t-shirt that I resized by laying one of my favorite tees overtop that I'd previously resized and fit me perfectly. By marking out the shape, sewing up the sides and cutting off the excess I'm left with something closer to a size small. The leggings are from my recent workout gear refashions found here.

I had another 'me' moment Friday night when my son went to Pajama Club at his preschool (aka, 3 hours of freedom for mama!). V (my husband) was working late, so I went for a run, showered without interruption...SMALL MIRACLE!!!...and then spent the rest of my evening reading and giving myself a pedicure. I'll call that an early Mother's Day gift ;). My pop of color in today's outfit is the result of that peaceful night.

My toes match the charger cable ;) Hello Mr. Unicorn!

Now, for the rest of the day, I get to make dinner and have a popcorn and family movie night before starting another week! Hope you had a great weekend and got more sewing done than I did ;).

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part VI

Did ya miss me yesterday? I had a job to finish for a client...my first! Simple panels of fabric to be placed over a ceiling. Seemed simple, anyhow, but I had my share of mishaps and learned A LOT! But on to the tutorial that I missed posting yesterday!

I started out with a thrifted t-shirt that had some tiny holes here and there but was a pretty color. It also just so happened to coordinate with two pieces of silk fabric that I'd thrifted several months back.  Now, I had different ideas on how to make these scarves but in the end I went the easy and safe route. 

I started by making my t-shirt into yarn. I did not pull it, but instead folded the entire length in half, then in half again, and then into thirds. Each 'strand' of my braid would therefore have four strands of yarn. I braided up the length which turned out to be long enough to double over. I used scraps to tie over where I'd sewn the two ends of the braid together. If you want it to be absolutely no-sew, just tie the ends of the braid together nice and tight or use some strong fabric glue before wrapping.

Now, here's where I balked a bit on my original plans. I had thought to make an actually infinity scarf with each of these pieces of fabric, but in the end couldn't do it! So, I decided I'd go the route of knots. The piece on the right was folded in half and where the corners met, I tied double knots. The bottom piece was closer to a square shape so I folded it into two triangles; the outer corners will be tied together.

Once I'd tied each one up, I looped the first around my neck just once, laying the braided scarf over the top! Again, I put on the second, looped twice around, and layered the braid over it. Two looks, and I didn't make any 'permanent' changes to the silk so that if I want to do something else with them later on, I can :). And I probably will.

Leaving the raw edges of the t-shirt yarn and the silk remnants visible may not be to everyone's taste, so feel free to do more finishing work if your fabrics require it. Otherwise, be creative with what you have and feel free to play with scarves you already own, and layer them with some of these simple braided ones.

One last look at the before and after:

Because I'm a day late, I'll do the post with all of the styling shots and mixing and matching tomorrow. Happy Saturday!

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part V

We are nearing the end of the week, and today you get two for the price of one! And that's because I didn't do a 'real' tutorial for either one....oops! But I'll talk ya through it, k? Cool. First things first, grab some old t-shirts, tank tops, scraps, whatever! Make tubes...you can either do this by taking a squarish shaped piece and fold it over, sewing along the long open side and then invert (make sure you are sewing right sides together); or, you can cut two long rectangles, sew up the two long sides and invert. To make a long chain of these tubes, you turn one inside out, slide it over another and line up the ends and sew around the edge...and continue to add another length until you have a scarf long enough to wrap as many times as you want.

Now, at this point you need to do something to join the ends, and I chose lace. Similar to the first scarf, I'm wrapping a section of lace around the raw edges of the jersey knit and sewing it in place. You can go a step further and finish off the edges of the lace, or make another tube as with the other pieces of fabric and then topstitch it over the scarf ends as shown below. 

And there you have it! I chose a mix of mustard, blush, and tribal print along with the white lace, so that I could add interest to a basic outfit (which most days my style is pretty simple). Easy to throw on for a bit of color or print and can be easier and cozier than jewelry :). Though, I love jewelry, so this can just be another layer to your accessorizing!

This next scarf/necklace is one that uses a common finger-weaving technique. A great tutorial for learning how to do this (if you don't already know) can be found here. I made this t-shirt yarn from an old stretched out top that I wore through/after my pregnancy. I loved the floral print and combination of rich colors, but it had seen better days as a top (it was thrifted and already slightly worn). This is also another example of a fabric that, when stretched, covers the print and so I weaved it trying to keep the outside of the fabric visible. Once I'd reached a length that I liked, I simply knotted the ends together and trimmed them to be the same length. I like all of the colors and raw edges (a minor obsession of mine).

And paired over a simple top it really stands out. I definitely see this as more of a necklace than a scarf, but it could also be layered over another scarf to create a different look. And, the fact that it's no-sew makes this such a quick project! Love it :).

One last day for scarves and I'm thinking this final one will be my favorite! Stick around to see how it turns out...

Peace,
Andrea