From Recycled T-Shirts to Fringe Scarves

Tags

accessory, crafting, crafts, DIY, fashion, no sew, scarf, scarves

Scarves are my favorite autumn & winter accessory. I love to wear one over a short or long sleeve t-shirt, with skinny jeans tucked into my knee-high boots. I have at least 20 scarves in my closet (well, Hubster DID insist that I reduce the amount of shoes I own)…

I saw this quick tutorial for a fringe scarf last year and added it to my to-do-list. While cleaning out my closest, I pulled aside a few stretched out & stained shirts that don’t get worn. I decided it was time to tackle this quick craft. It was so simple! I used my rotary blade to slice the fringe.

Before: Three Worn T-Shirts

After: Purple Fringe Scarf

Are you a fan of fringe scarves? What is your favorite autumn accessory?

Chandelier Earring Refashion

Tags

beads, chandelier earrings, craft, crystal beads, jewelry, jewelry crafts, jewelry making, postaday2011, repurpose, repurposing

It’s been half a month since my last blog post, that’s all of July! We had a houseful of visitors for the first week of July and then we had a few days to get back to work on our house. That didn’t last long, since the third day back I ended up in the ER with horrible chest pains and shortness of breathe! Hubster did a great job taking care of me. I have half a week left of all my meds and hopefully I’ll be feeling like myself again. I feel horrible when I’m not able to cook/bake, craft/create, blog and not do anything but sleep.

We had a cousin’s wedding to attend yesterday and I spent 10 mins making something for me. Without an ounce of energy left in me, I needed something to still make me feel beautiful. Earrings are always my solution…. even if I sat down through the entire reception (so not me!).

I bought a pair or earrings when Hubster and I started dating and quickly lost one. I held onto the mate hoping to find it hidden somewhere in my life. Eventually the time comes where you have to toss it or refashion it into a new pair. I love the new earrings I made, but I was hoping to find two more teal crystal beads, one for the top of each earring (the second bead under the hook).

Lovely But Lonely

The Happy New Couple

What do you think of my earring refashion?

Summer White Tank Top

Tags

button, buttons, clothes, clothing, handmade, homemade, postaday2011, ruche, ruched, ruching, shirt, t shirt, tank top

I had this awful white shirt a horrible shape. I wanted to refashion it, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. I cut  the shirt straight across, just below the armpit. I used the bottom hem as my new top hem. Next, I took in the sides and made and attached two straps. Then I ruched a few inches of the top in the center. The shape was loose and cool, perfect for the hot summer days. I don’t normally wear with and it looked too plain to me. That’s where I ran into trouble. I tried adding blue and green braided trim, then some blue and green fabric flowers, then ruffles… I wasn’t happy with the results. Finally,  I remembered that I had some cute buttons and decided to stitch them across the top of the tank. It was cute and I actually liked the result. Something was still missing and I decided that it needed asymmetry; I added buttons to the outside of  the left strap and at the bottom right corner. My new summer tank top was finally ready to wear.

Sumer White Tank Top

Shapeless Shirt

Of course we had a week full of 90 and upper 80 degree weather, and yesterday when I decided to refashion this, the high was 70°F. Go figure…

Christmas Cheer T-shirt Refashion

Tags

beading, Christmas, clothing, embellished shirt, shirt, t shirt

I have this cute flutter sleeve t-shirt that I’d like to wear on Christmas. The problem is it’s a very plain shirt, white and colorless. I never wear white, so this pale shirt was in need of a little pop of color. First I looked through my craft materials, I looked at ribbons first then opted for some shimmery beads. I embellished the neck, making an asymmetrical pattern to my left hand side. I haven’t decided if I’m going to do anything to the lower right hand corner, I need sometime to stew it over.

Before - Plain T-shirt

After - Cheerful & Festive

Now I just need to figure out which cardigan to pair it with…

What do you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yellow Sundress

Tags

dress, halter, halter dress, refashioning, sun dress

I found a yellow maxi dress last fall on clearance that I loved, but I knew I’d never wear it…  It was too tight, too long and completely see-through (haven’t these people ever heard of lining dresses?). I love the feel of the soft cool cotton and the bright cheery yellow. Hmm… decisions, decisions. I bought the dress and hung it in the back of my closet until last weekend when it was ready to be refashioned.

I had enough fabric in the skirt to line to entire dress. I started by completely tearing the dress apart. I used the bottom of the skirt to create a new pleated skirt, giving me a non-clingy dress. I added more fabric to the waist sash, reconstructed the top of the halter to give it more shape, as well as adjusted the line in the back. The dress turned out really well. I love this dress it’s so fun!

Cheerful Yellow Sun Dress

Here is the before of the maxi dress… Notice the brown gown next to it?.. That’s my next refashioning project…

Before

How do you like my dress?

Refashioned Tank Top

Tags

DIY fashion, Refashion, sewing project, summer top, tank top

Degree in Refashioning
I think it’s funny that refashioning is a trend now. My mom used to do this when she was young. Why aren’t I refashioning more, when I have a degree in it?! No seriously, My undergrad degree is in costume design, some things were purchased or made,  most things were refashioned. I worked in two costumes shops, it’s how we made new costumes, we’d plan, we’d shop our stock and refashion things into our ideas. However, I definitely don’t know everything, and my time and creativity have become a bit stifled. I was making everything from scratch or by using a pattern… I need to re-awake my inner refashionista (not the hardcore “let’s make the pledge”… I love the occasional sale hunting).

I stumbled across a really cute blog and decided to try her refashioned long sleeve shirt into a tank top. She even shows you how to make a cute matching headband, but I’ll leave that out since I’m not really the headband type.

I started out with a lavender fitted long-sleeve t-shirt I’ve had for many years. Due to deodorant stains on the shirt, it’s become just a PJ top buried at the back of a dresser drawer.  So I decided it was time to breathe new life into my past loved shirt. I followed Jessica’s directions, except that I cut across slightly below the arm holes to get rid of the deodorant stains. The top started to stretch so much, but I decided to go with it. As I was finishing seams and sewing I knew mine was not turning out so well. The top continued to stretch and stretch (the fabric must’ve been more worn than I thought). The shirt was also a bit short to start and the bottom was up just a bit too much. It was a flop! So much for using my degree, my Profs. would be so disappointed.

My Analysis/Reflection:
If I thought about it ahead of time, I would have used the bottom (since it didn’t have that worn out stretch) of the shirt as the new top and hemmed the top to become the new bottom. Next time, I’ll definitely use a longer t-shirt. Instead of taking the time to redo this, I cut it into strips and place the in my box of rag strips for a project I have planned for the future.