Zipper madness

I'm changing it up this year from my usual yard sale hunts. Normally it's furniture and household items I'm searching for but this year I'm searching for fabric, zippers, belts, lace and anything that I can use for my new hobby of refashioning. I scored a bag of zippers for $2.00 from an elderly woman who was thrilled that I was going to put them to good use. There were 12 zippers in that bag, anyone that has bought a zipper lately knows what a deal I found. Using the same concept of cutting up t-shirts to make a cute summer dress here's what my latest refashion looks like.

I cut off the light purple shirt under the arm holes to use for the bottom of the dress. 

I kept the dark purple shirt just as it was and added the light purple do the bottom.  I added one of my new zippers to the front.  I just simply attached the zipper to the front keeping it exposed because thats the look I was going for.

Another dress to add to my summer wardrobe for work or out to dinner. 

Free beach cover-up refashion

Last year Sister #1 gave me this terry-cloth dress, I kept trying to figure out what to do with it. I didn't want to throw it away or give it away, but it wasn't working that way it was. The weather in Western Pa was rainy yesterday so I had some free time to sew and I finally got around to refashioning this dress to a cute beach cover-up.

not bad but just too long

I removed the sleeves and cut off the bottom. I love my new beach cover-up!!!

update to my new summer dress

A few days ago I posted a refashion of a new summer dress made from two old shirts. I told you I was planning to use the band from the printed shirt to make a belt. I didn't take any pictures of the process but it was very simple. I just folded the strip right sides together and sewed a straight seam the length of the band. Turned it right side out and just slid it over a brown leather belt that I already had. It's not permanent, so I can slide it off and wear my leather belt without the sleeve on it. Here is a picture of me wearing my new dress before work one day. It was about 4:45 a.m. and I woke hubby up to take my picture so I could show you all how it looked. He thought that I had lost my mind. So many times after a refashion he takes my picture with no makeup and ugly hair and I just don't want to post it. This one was blog-acceptable.

New Summer dress for free

My newest addiction is to refashion old clothes in my closet to something new to wear. For this upcycle I took 2 shirts that I've had for about 2 years each, cut them sewed them together and I now have a new summer dress to wear to work or out to dinner.



I removed the band at the bottom of the shirt by using my seam ripper.  I'm planning to make a belt from the piece.

Here's the bottom of the shirt without the band.

I cut the top of the shirt right under the arm hole to use for the bottom of my new dress.

Here is the finished product.  Now I have a new dress that I can wear to the office with a cute pair of shoes.  I love it. 

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Refashion with lace

Western PA weather goes from 80 degrees one day to 40 degrees the next. Until Spring and Summer really arrives for good, I have to have a few outfits that can go either way. Another color block refashion, same concept as the others this time I just added a little lace to make it look just a little different. I was able to wear this shirt over a pair of stretch pants.

Again, 100% cotton T-shirts.  These two came from the clearance racks at Walmart for $2.00 each.  I purchased the lace at Joann Fabics for about $1.97 a yard.  I have a cheap shirt for under $5.00. 

another refashion

Here we go again, same concept just two different T-shirts. The white one came from the clearance rack at the end of the season for $2.60. The blue one came from the $1.00 bin at my local consignment store. It still had the tags on it and the original cost was $36.00. For $3.60 I have a cute summer dress that I can where to work. This was my first attempt, but it was too short.

Totally love my husband but he doesn't take very flattering pictures.  He doesn't get the angle thing!  Anyway like I said, it was too short so I just added the leftover white from the white T-shirt to the bottom of the blue.  Again I didn't have to hem the dress because I kept the original hem of the T-shirt.

Another cute and comfortable dress that I can wear to work.  I have an obsession with 100% cotton fabrics, anyting other than cotton is just not comfortable to me.  Sometimes it's a little tricky to find 100% cotton summer dresses.  If you know how to sew you can make your own.   Happy refashioning all, I'm warning you it's addicting.

Color block refashions

New additions to my Spring and Summer wardrobes. I’m going a little color-block crazy with my refashions. These are all T-shirts that I already had in my closet, a few cuts, a little sewing and here’s what you get.

The gray on the top and bottom is just one T-shirt that I cut.  Keeping the original hem of the gray one means that I don't have to hem my dress. 

Now what to do with the leftover part of the pink t-shirt that I used in the center of the above dress.

check this out, I just added a piece of white from the bottom of a white shirt that I bought new on the clearance rack at Walmart for $2.00.

Here is my new summer shirt.

Totally cute, right?

Two new dresses

I refashioned these two new dresses for Sister #4. In my excitement to get started on these I forgot to take before pictures. She gave me this t-shirt and cute little skirt. All I did was sew them together to make this dress.

Next up, this one was two seperate T-shirts. I just cut the bottom off of the solid green T-shirt to use as the bottom of the dress.

Boring dress to cute shirt refashion

 Again, I can't say enough about my new addiction to refashioning my own clothes. The weather in Western Pennsylvania is finally improving and it was time to store away the boots and sweaters and bust out the Spring and summer clothes. I realized I did quite a bit of shopping off the sale racks at the end of the season last year. What a pleasant surprise to see so many new items added to my wardrobe that had tags on them. Who can pass up and maxi dress for $5.00 on the clearance rack. I sure can't. I've been a busy lady refashioning my own clothes. I'm warning you its an addiction. If you know how to sew you really have to give this a try.



this is an old dress that i already had

 


skirt from walmart clearance rack $2.00



My adorable new shirt

So here is what I did: 1. cut about 5 inches off the bottom of the dress 2. cut off about 2 inchest from the bottom of the skirt 3. added the bottom of the skirt (polka dotted part) to the bottom of my new shirt. Just pin the rights side together and stitch. I didn't have to finish the bottom of the ruffle because it was already finished. Very very easy project, total time was less that 30 minutes from start to finish including taking pictures.

No sew redesign

Another new interest of mine is redesigning clothes.  Pinterest is absolutely filled with so many amazing ideas on how to refashion clothes that you already have to something way more stylish.

I got so excited with this one that I forgot to take a before picture.   I found an old T-shirt of hubbys that was just hanging in the closet.  I made a few cuts and this is what I came up with.........

A stylish new vest for Me!!!!

All I did was cut off the sleeves, cut around the collar, cut of the side seams.  The hole wear you used to put your head is now the halter part of vest.