~silky shirt transformation~

 My friends all know I love to re-vamp clothes

and because of that I often become the recipient of

bad shirts like this:

It's OK for me to say the shirt was bad.

My friend knew it when she gave it to me 

and she never wore it herself. Her Mom,

bless her heart, gave her this shirt to wear

for a job interview......LAST YEAR!

Needless to say, my friend didn't wear it 

to the interview. Instead she gave it to me.

I love the challenge of taking something that 

is not wearable (for my taste) and transforming

it into something that I love. 

I love polka-dots and really wanted to 

find a way I could wear this.

This is what I came up with:

I wanted to give it a more modern shape.

The first thing I did was cut that elastic band

off the bottom of it and turned it under with a hem. 

After that took off the buttons and

sewed it together right up the middle. Next I changed the 

neckline to be a v-neck instead of that round crew neck (ugh).

The last thing I did was make a cut-out at the shoulder

and tucked the sleeve at the top and bottom.

 I like the final product and I think I'll wear it a lot.

It's one of those shirts I can wear when 

I'm feeling chubs because it's forgiving 

and hangs nice but it also has that little edge

I like in my clothes :) 

And really, how often do you say,

"My shoulders look fat today."

NEVER!

~DIY moto jacket made from a vest~

Remember the moto-jackets I mentioned a 

couple weeks ago? 

No?!

Here's a reminder:

 

It's all coming back to you now isn't it?

I took that old vest I had out of my donation bag

(yes...it was THAT close to being gone)

and did this:

 

  And the final result was this:

I LOVE IT.

Wore it to a play last night over a FABULOUS dress

that I purchased at the thrift store for $6.

I feel a "thrifty finds" post coming on :) 

This sweet little number took me a total of 30 minutes.

No joke.

ANYONE can do it.

I'm going to be wearing this a lot this fall.

It's so versatile....much more so than the

vest ever was on it's own. 

Funny how that works.

I wouldn't have thought that.

Sometimes I guess you just have to not think :)

Happy weekend everyone.

~shirt inspired from "I Spy DIY" book~

This book.....

....has soooo many fun ideas in it!

 

I made a shirt inspired by one of her ideas

in the book. Hers is made with a scarf and mine

was made with fabric I have had for years, not 

knowing what to make with it. I had about a 

yard of fabric and cut it out in the shape 

of two scarfs. It's basically two squares sewn

together, leaving an opening for the neck and arms.

I didn't even have to hem it.

Instead, I burned the edges.

An idea I wouldn't have thought of on my own

and it was sooooo much faster.

 

Here's my version:

 I know these self portraits are killing you.

They kill me too and I CANNOT for the life of me

get a decent shot ANYWHERE in my house.

Ugh.

 

Here's a pic of it on my dress form-it gives

you a better idea of what it looks like.

 I made the neckline extra wide so it falls

off my shoulder. The pink ribbons are just

for draping and marking on my form, they aren't

actually part of the shirt. 

I made it especially for a special summer concert

with some of my favorite gals:

 I loved the finished product and the concert

wasn't half bad either......come to think of it-

the concert ROCKED! 

I'm adding Grace Potter to the list of

celebrities I want to be friends with.

 

~shirt made from a scarf~

 I've had these scarfs for years and years and never

really worn them with anything.

The leopard scarf is one of those really big,

square scarfs and the turquoise scarf is long

and narrow. I haven't been able to find a 

great way to wear either one of them......

UNTIL NOW. 

 The leopard scarf wasn't quite

big enough to give me the coverage I wanted in

the back so I sewed the turquoise scarf onto

the bottom of it....it's in the back.

 I will take pics of this on

my dress form so you can get a better idea.

These were the best pics I could get of it on me.

 I used three blingy pins to close it up and it 

works surprisingly well. 

The necklace I'm wearing is another I've made

recently. I'll showcase it in another post soon.

If you want to see a tutorial on how to do this shirt,

leave me a comment and let me know.
Making the shirt is more simple than
making the tutorial :)

Linking up with Positively Splendid

~skirt turned dress tutorial~

 Remember this skirt:

...that I turned into this:

For any of you interested in doing this

EASY transformation, here's how I did it.

Let me just tell you before we get started...

my pictures suck! There's just no way around

that at this point so I just had to make due

with the pictures I had. I hope between the 

pictures and the written instruction, you

will be able to follow. 

First off-start with a long skirt. I got

this skirt at a local thrift store for $5. 

It can be any material but I recommend a cotton

or polyester blend....these will be easiest to hem.

IT HAS TO HAVE AN ELASTIC WAISTBAND!

Next-put the bra on that you intend to wear

with the dress once it's complete....this is important

because you want to make sure and place the

straps of the dress so they cover your bra straps.

Put the skirt on and pull it clear up over your boobs

in order to determine how long you want it and

how much you'll need to take off the bottom. 

Place a pin where you want the length to be.

Take the skirt off now and let's begin!

You've marked with the pin where you want 

the length of the skirt to end up so we need

to add a bit for a hem allowance. From the

point of the pin, add an inch towards the bottom

of the dress (this is our hem allowance) and mark

with your marking pen or chalk. 

Now, you will need

to measure the distance of the bottom of the original

hem to the mark you just made.....mine was 3".

Now go around the entire skirt, making a 

mark every couple inches to determine where you

will need to cut. Be sure to measure from the bottom of

the original hem in order to ensure a straight

hem on your new length.  

Once you have marked around the entire skirt,

you are ready to cut. You will basically just

connect the marks you just made while cutting

with your scissors or blade.

 Be sure to lay your skirt out so that you

are only cutting thru ONE LAYER!

Also-you need to cut this off in one continuous piece.

This fabric we just cut off will be used for our straps.

Once you have completed cutting the bottom of the skirt

off, put that piece to the side...we'll come back

to it in a minute.

Let's go ahead now and put a new hem on the 

bottom of the skirt. I turned mine over 1/2" TWICE

so I had a finished edge. Mark it with your 

seam gauge, pin and iron as you are marking it.

Now go ahead and sew it.

Next we are going to make our straps.

Take the big piece you just cut off from the

bottom of the skirt. Determine how wide you

want your straps to be. If the piece you cut off is

extremely wide you'll need to cut some of it

off again so it's not too bulky. I simply

folded the unfinished edge over to meet the 

center of the already finished edge and that was

perfect (My straps are 1.75" wide).

 Go ahead and iron it down.

 

 If you have a serger I would recommend serging

the raw edge before you fold it over and iron it

down. However, I don't have a serger so I didn't

finish the edge first.....I figure it won't show and

I didn't want to take the time to finish the edge.

Hopefully it won't fray too bad when I wash it.

Now you can sew the piece down.

I went ahead and made two stitch lines down

the length of the strap in the center because I thought it

looked better that way. Depending on the type of 

stitch that was in the original hem, you may already

have a visible stitch. If this is the case-be sure to

sew this down using the existing stitch as a 

guide to determine the distance apart for the 2nd

stitch you are about to put in. Does that make sense?

You want the stitches to be straight because

they will be very visible on the straps.

 Now you should have a big long piece of fabric with 

finished edges. Go ahead and cut it in half.

 This next part is MUCH EASIER if you have someone

who can help you. I didn't and it took me forever!

You need to determine the placement of the straps now

so put the dress on, pulled up over your boobs. 

Remember to have the bra on that you intend to 

wear with the dress. Have someone pin the straps

onto your dress both in the front and the back.

 You are going to sew this right onto the dress

now but you don't want to sew thru the elastic.

You still want the elastic to be able to stretch and move

so be careful to pin and sew at the top and bottom

of the casing NOT thru the elastic.

 Sew both straps on.

Almost done.....now we want to sew the sash onto

the front of the dress. This is what makes the 

sweetheart-type neckline and fitted bust look.

The skirt I bought already had a very long sash attached 

to it so I just used that. If you need to make one,

You can either use a scarf you already have

or you will need to sew another long strap that

is approximately 3.5 " wide and 6 ft long.

Most likely you won't have enough fabric from the 

bottom of the skirt to make a sash with also.

That's OK. I actually think it would have

been cuter if I had used a different fabric for the sash.

(in fact-I'm going to try that next time)

If you have to make a sash from scratch-you will need a 

piece of fabric that is 8" wide by 6 ft 1 inch long.

Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together

and stitch it together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Do not sew the two ends.

Now you turn it right side out by pulling

one end thru to the other end. Iron it

and after turning your ends under, 

sew the ends shut.

Now you have your sash.

Fold your sash in half lengthwise and pin the

center of it to the center of the bust of your dress,

right directly underneath the bottom stitch

from the elastic casing. 

Stitch this onto the dress,

being sure again to not stitch thru the elastic.

You don't need a long stitch line for this because

you want it to be sewn onto it with just

a SMALL stitch length. 

Mine is only like 3 stitches that I just

re-enforced several times using my back stitch.

THAT'S IT!

You're done.

Put the dress on and pull the sash down underneath

your boobs and pull tight around to the back.

Tie and adjust as you need to.

 Voila....

a new sundress made from a skirt.

Guess what?

You just made a dress that can be worn 3 ways.

If you want more coverage in the front you

can turn it around and wear it like this:

This offers more coverage in the boobie/cleavage

department....the tie is in the front now. 

I don't have pictures of this but you can also

wear it as a maxi skirt with a sash tied at the waist.

I've worn it all 3 ways and trust me.....

it's equally as cute each way!

Again, I apologize for the crappy pics in this 

tutorial......the tutorial took me longer to

create than the entire dress did!

 Linking up with Positively Splendid.

and

Recycled Fashion Finds

~skirt into dress~

 Remember this thing I showed you a couple days ago?

Not the most attractive like this but I had a vision for it

the moment I saw it.

 I've been seeing a lot of neon colors

this season and wanted to add some of it into my 

wardrobe without spending a lot of money. 

I feel pretty confident in saying that I think neon

will be a micro-trend; lasting only this summer.

Taking that into account, the asking price of $5

at my local thrift store made it a PERFECT option

for spicing up my wardrobe. 

It's definitely a vintage piece....I'm pretty sure

straight from the 70's. 

Check out the final reformation! 

I LOVE it!

It's one of my favorite summer pieces

at this point. I think it's going to see a lot wear 

this summer. I was hoping to have the tutorial

done by now but it's not. I'm shooting for later today.

It was super easy and I did it in less than an hour!

Seriously......a beginner can do this!

~closet peek-a-boo~

 I haven't done "A peak inside my closet" for a 

couple weeks. The reason being; I haven't really

worn much worth photographing. Since I started

posting about what I wear on a daily basis I've 

learned a couple things about my wardrobe:

1) I wear a lot of black

AND

2) A lot of the stuff I wear isn't that great

Let me tell you....it's been a real kick in the butt 

to step it up with my wardrobe. 

Here's a few outfits I've worn the past couple weeks.

I wore this to a barbecue. This outfit is another one

of those examples of "buy nice stuff and it will last you forever".

I've had the skirt, the boots and the belt for several years.

The belt is AMAZING! I bought it at a vintage store

years and years ago.....long before the cheap imitations

of belts like this were popular. The buckle is sterling silver,

the leather is genuine and is is completely handmade. 

I think I paid $30 for it. The boots get cooler looking the more 

worn they become and the skirt is a staple piece of my

summer wardrobe. I also wear it belted as a dress.

 This outfit I wore to a sushi dinner for a friend's birthday.

I originally got the outfit for my Vegas trip in February.

I love the contrast of the lace with the tailored vest.

BUT....the best thing about this outfit-THE SHOES!

They make me soooo much taller.

I'm only 5'2 so they really give me a boost. 

Believe it or not, they are pretty comfortable.

This outfit I wore to my son's pre-school graduation.

It's basically a $20 outfit. The bracelet was more expensive

than everything else combined. Again....pieces I've 

had for a really long time. This beaded shrug

is an "occasion" piece that I feel so feminine and

pretty in each time I wear. It was only $5!

I've really been trying to bring some color into my

wardrobe since realizing my obsession with black clothes.

Wait and see what I did with this skirt:

 It may very well be my favorite summer 2012 piece!

I'll show you next week. 

To answer your question Jolie about why I don't 

photograph the clothes on me....there's a few

different reasons. 

A) it's quicker and easier for me to lay them out 

than to try and take the time to get a good

shot of me in them. I never remember to do it when I'm 

wearing them. I've tried setting my timer and using my

tri-pod but haven't been able to find a good spot

in my house to do that. I've also tried having my 

little guy take the pics and it didn't go so well :)

B) my point of posting these is to inspire others

and give them ideas for their own wardrobes.

I want them to imagine THEMSELVES in them.

AND LASTLY....

C) it's fun! I love laying them out and making 

the collages. I feel like I'm doing an editorial 

in a fashion magazine or something. 

~leather and lace belt~

I love lace and I've been seeing it 

in people's fashion choices a lot lately it seems.

I got a big piece of thick lace a few weeks ago

with the intentions of adding it to a waistband

on a pair of pants of mine. 

Well, that didn't work out and I've been trying

to figure out how I could use it.

I saw this dress on Pinterest a few days ago

and knew immediately what I wanted to do with the lace:

Isn't this beautiful?

Seriously?!

Anyway, keep in mind this was just my inspiration.

Obviously I didn't make a dress like this.....YET :)

This is what I did:

I made a little lace belt to layer with other belts.

I know this shirt isn't the best with it and I didn't realize

 until I looked at the pictures tonight...yowza.

Next time I'm going to try it with a little shift dress.

Here's how I did it.

First off, buy enough lace to fit around your waist

with about 2 extra inches. Next you want to wrap the

lace around your waist where you'll be wearing it and

mark with pins the two meeting points on each end. 

Go ahead and fold the ends under about an inch.

 The pins represent the line I will be sewing my snaps on.

Now you want to take another piece of material that has

some body and stiffness to it. This is what you will be 

attaching the snaps to. I used some weird shiny black

material I've had for years. Cut a piece just big enough to

fit in between the two layers of the lace ends you 

just folded under. You'll want to use a piece

the same color as your lace so it doesn't stick out

like a sore thumb. 

 This is what it will look like:

Next you will be sewing the ends of your lace that you've

just turned under and placed the fabric strip into.

 Sew both ends under and it will look something like this:

Now the tedious part.....sewing on the snaps.

uggghh.

These were the kind I used.

 Make sure you have a "male" and a "female" part for

each snap. Determine where you want to place

them and sew them on. It was a little tricky

sewing a black snap onto a black piece of lace

with a black piece of thread....I poked myself a lot.

 Nice chipped nail polish eh?

So, once you've got them sewn on, it will look 

something like this. Remember, not both ends will

be turned under in the same direction. Since you want

them to meet and lay flat, one end will actually be 

turned up and the other end will be turned down.

Also, be sure to sew your snaps on the underside of

the piece that will laying on the top. On the other end,

you will sewing them on the top. Is this making sense?

Once you lay out the lace and start fitting it to you

I think you will see what I'm talking about.

I should have said that before now shouldn't I?

I learned this the hard way.

yeah...and I thought sewing the snaps was rough?

Try unpicking a black seam on a piece of black lace.

I can't believe I didn't destroy it.

I tried it with a couple different belts and 

it looked cute with all of them.

What a shame I didn't try a different shirt.

I am really loving the "leatha and lace" look.

Can't wait to try it with something else.