India!

I'm heading to India today.  I'll spend the first week in the state of Haryana, home of Delhi where I will meet new friends and get to know existing ones much better. 

On Sunday I'll travel to Agra where I will get to check off another item on my bucket list, "See the Taj Mahal."  Then Tuesday is Diwali and I am excited to be in India for the celebration!

The second week, I will be traveling with my friends to Rajasthan to visit Jodhpur, Jaipur and Pushkar.  Jodhpur is where we got the name for the classic riding pants.  Jaipur has a step well like the one seen in "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" that I am dying to see and we're going to a camel fair in Pushkar.

I am so excited to experience this country and it's culture. I love the food, the music and the people.

Refashion Alert!

I spent some time in my sewing room today (sweating my butt off).

I made this shirt from a men's shirt and a necktie I picked up at Goodwill, Savers, or Salvation Army (can't remember which).

Loving it! Now I want to make more.

New Chair

I have been searching Craigslist and eBay for a chair to go in our Living Room that I could reupholster. They were so expensive or the shipping was cost prohibitive.

Then, one day last week, when I was driving to the grocery store, I found this on the side of the road.

Now the search for the perfect fabric is ON!

You made this from that?

Don't ask me why but when I saw these 1970-esque, red white and blue, granny polyester pants, I had to have them.  I bought them on my inaugural trip to the thrift store back in December.  I knew I wanted to turn them into a shirt but wasn't sure how I was going to do it (or why for that matter LOL).

The first thing I did was open up the waist band and take out the elastic, which I set aside to use in a future project since part of the reason I am doing this is to reduce waste.  Of course, we all know that the main reason I am doing it is to ensure NO ONE will have the same outfits as me.  People can try to come close, but they will never be exact.

Next, I cut the legs off just below the crotch and opened up the seam so I had a tube.  I decided to put it on the dress form and see where it would lead me.  I put it on upside down and it just started to materialize in my head.

This is what I came up with.....

Here is a shot that shows the armhole.  I took the cuffs from the bottom of the legs and sewed the raw edges of the top inside the cuff and extended them over the shoulder area to make a boat neck.  I also took part of the legs and added a band to the bottom to extend the length. I finished the look with a flower  made out of the leftover fabric by sewing a running stitch,  gathering it like you would for a ruffle but then rolled it into a circle and sewed it together.

Viola!!   Here's a close up of the top and the flower.  I can't wait to wear it!!

The Perfect Shirt??

What do you do when you know exactly what you want but can't find it?  Make it!

I decided I want to wear the skirt I made at the end of December for a work thing this week, but, I didn't own a shirt to match.  I've really been loving the color mustard lately and the skirt had it in the design.  So, I decided to try to find something at the mall today.  All I could find was this shirt.

They only had it in a 3X but it was on clearance for $4.  In other words, it was singing the "Refashion Me" song.

I took the size down quite a bit.  The I took the scraps from my alterations and added some pleated ruffles to the top.

Viola!

Here's a close up of the top.  I love it and can't wait to wear it with my skirt and mustard colored tights.

China Shirt Refashion

I bought this shirt/tunic/mumuu/whatever-the-heck-it-is in Beijing when I went to China in April. The colors grabbed me, but once I got home and tried to wear it, I looked ridiculous.  I tried tucking it in and that worked ok, except there as sooo much excess fabric that it made it a pain in the butt when I needed to use the bathroom and needed to tuck it back in several times a day.  Plus, it looked like a huge shirt would look when it was tucked in.....unflattering.

So, it hid in my closet for months until I finally tossed it into my Refashion pile and tackled it today.

A web search turned up this pretty Butterfly Shirt from etsy (link to shop under pic).  It is also a refashion, and fit the vision I had for this shirt from the moment I bought it.

Butterfly Shirt

First I took in the sides a little bit and trimmed off a few inches from the bottom.  Then I cut off the sleeve area turning it into more of a tank top.  I hemmed all of the new edges and the sleeves.  Then I sewed a couple of gathering stitches.  I ruffled the sleeves as I pinned them onto the shoulder area.  Finally, I shirred the bottom using elastic thread.

Let me know what you think!

Skirt Refashion

Once again, I forgot to take a before picture.  Ugh! 

Imagine a very ugly black skirt that fell somewhere between the ankle and the knee with back pockets.  It wasn't very flattering so I never wore it. But for some reason, I held onto it.

My refashions up until now have been on clothes I found at Thrift stores or eBay.  So, it was time to refashion something out of my own closet.

I love it now!  I cut it just above the knee and added the ruffle so it will fall just at or below my knees. It looks exactly how I planned it.

I took the excess fabric I removed and cut it in two.  I then sewed it together so it was twice the old circumference. I hemmed both sides before sewing a gathering stitch and pulling it into a ruffle. Once it was back to the original size it was easily reattached to the bottom of the skirt.  Such an easy update.

Satiny Blouse Refashion

I had a different plan for this shirt when I bought it on eBay.  I found another idea on Pinterest after I got it in the mail.

I keep forgetting to take a before pic on my refashions.  As you can see, I remembered it on this one just after I began cutting. 

 

 I followed the tutorial on the Viola & Pearl blog.  Excellent instructions.  My shirt came out fabulous. 

I flipped the shirt around so it would button up the back and removed the sleeves.  I made the ruffles from the sleeves.  Rather than serging my edges, I hemmed them.

The pictures are a bit deceiving. It's not as shiny as it looks.  It's a satiny material so the flash was reflected back at me.