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.