A New Length

 Hello Readers. I love to thrift shop. I find all kinds of items but when I find something that seems to be homemade or handmade... I snatch it up. If someone took the time to sew up a garment, I am really drawn to it. They took time and energy, they made so much effort and I love to see that. If there is anyway for me to wear or use the item I always buy it and bring it home. 

This was a cute dress and the neutral beige/tan color was great  for me because I always forget to include neutrals in my wardrobe. It seemed a little long on me and I thought if it was a bit shorter, it would suit me better.  

That turned out to be the right idea because there was a stain at the hemline. I tried to get it out but it would not come out in the wash no matter what I tried. So... shorter we will do. I cut about 6 inches off the dress. We're going shorter.

I turned the cut edge under twice and stitched it down. I used a straight stitch and tried to match my thread to the dress the best I could. This new hem only took about 15 minutes from start to finish. Easy-peasy!

 

This was a wonderful thrift find and I am so glad I brought it home. Thank you to whoever put this dress together. What a gift. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

Fun For the Holidays

Hello Readers. It is time for the annual Dressember Fundraiser. What Is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S and all around the world.   Since 2013, Dressember advocates have raised over $20 million to support International Justice Mission (IJM) and its partners. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month in honor of this mission. You can learn more at Dressember.org

This refashion was a fun dress for Christmas. Want to be an elf? I've got an idea for you.

It started with these leggings. Leggings that were covered with the cutest ginger bread people you could imagine. I thought they were super cute and fun.

And really comfortable too.

I also had a big red sweater dress to go with the leggings. This would be a perfect match for the leggings but it was a little plain.

I made a little ginger friend out of felt and sewing notions in my sewing supplies.

This was easy to put together and yes, I wore this to work.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

And Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating today.

Mrs. Claus Dress

 Hello Readers. It is time for the annual Dressember Fundraiser. What Is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S and all around the world.   Since 2013, Dressember advocates have raised over $20 million to support International Justice Mission (IJM) and its partners. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month in honor of this mission. You can learn more at Dressember.org

*Repost from 2018*

 This dress started as a robe of some kind. Or was it a nightgown? Did that count as a dress? I said yes. This robe was peach and and miles too long and I just wasn't loving it. It seemed like a nylon fire hazard to sleep in it. But I thought it had potential.

The first thing I did was use dye made for synthetic fabric. This kind of dye needed very hot water and at least half an hour.

Here is what I ended up with. The hem didn't seem even so I put it on my dress form and used a yard stick to measure as I cut it to knee length.

  

To make "fur trim I used batting. I didn't want to buy fur. The whole point of this blog is to try and NOT spend money. Or at least spend as very little as possible. 

 I cut the batting into strips and made little curved cuts in it. I thought that would look more like fur. Really straight lines didn't seem like fur to me. I didn't make it perfectly even in width either.

   

 I added some white lace on top of the batting just to jazz it up. I used narrow lace everywhere and wide lace at the collar and cuffs. All it needed was a wide black belt to look like Mrs. Claus. This would be perfect for Christmas day or anytime I want to look like Santa's wife.

Thanks for reading along, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Dressember 2018; Dress 3

Let's look back a past refashion.

Hello Readers. This is the third dress in this series in honor of Dressember, a non-profit organization working to fight human trafficking. Dressember estimates that every 30 seconds someone becomes a slave, 71% are women and girls. We wear dresses all month to represent them.

Today's dress is a vintage find from a clothes swap. This graphic black and white design really caught my eye.

This knit dress fit well but this ruffled collar and these wrist cuffs were way too much for me. I hate things around my neck. I feel like I am being strangled. These seemed like they belonge in a Shakespearean play. "Be gone foul ruffles!"

Look at the cute worm on the tag. I wish he was bigger, he's adorable. And this dress was made in Italy. That had to be good. It seemed to be a vintage dress, I love finding vintage clothing. They are always such unique pieces.

The first thing I did was cut that collar off. There was no way I would wear it with that collar. I thought a V-neck would open the whole dress up a little. I also cut the sleeves to 3/4 length. This print design is so strong, I thought a little less of it might be better.

I cut off some of the length at the bottom and gave it a new hem too. I wanted it to be knee length.

 Here is a look at all the scraps I cut off. I wound up cutting more off the bottom than you see in this picture. But you can get the gist of it.

I liked this dress in the new simpler form. I think the bold fabric is great without big ruffles. The dress is simpler and the fabric gets to be the star.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Dressember 2018; Dress 1

Let's revisit a past refashion.

Hello Readers. It is Dressember again. No, not December. Dressember. It is a month-long event to fight human trafficking and modern-day slavery. It starts with a pledge to wear dresses (Or bow-ties.) everyday of December. It is a simple way to open up conversations and raise awareness about the organization and the international human trafficking crisis.

 Dressember estimates that there are over 30 million enslaved people around the world right now. You can visit their site to learn more.

I like to refashion dresses in honor of Dressember. Today is the first dress. There will be more all month. This is my daughter. She is also participating in Dressember. Today's dress is actually hers.

 The first time she let me show her on the blog!

She had a great cotton shirt dress to work with. It was a little shapeless. It was nice cotton but it had no stretch. She couldn't tailor it too much because would be uncomfortable. So what did she do?

She started by cutting off the sleeves at the shoulder seams and finishing the arm holes so it could be worn sleeveless or with different shirts under it. She thought a sleeveless dress would allow for more freedom of movement and styling versatility.

 She also decided to make a casing inside the dress and add a drawstring at the waist. She used some wide grosgrain ribbon instead of fabric to keep making the casing simple.

She pinned the ribbon in place all around the inside waist of the dress. She stitched it in place on the sewing machine easily.

You can see the casing made from the white ribbon here. She used some narrow ribbon to insert through the casing. She stitched the ends of the narrow ribbon to the front of the dress. It gathered the waist a little bit and gave the dress some shape.

Here is my sweet daughter in her shirt dress. She wore a black shirt under it. 

 The waist is gathered in but is still loose enough to be comfortable.

She came home after work and I insisted on taking a picture right away. She didn't like that but she does like her dress.

 Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Dresses For December Part 4, The Big Vest

Let's revisit a past refashion project.

Hello Readers. I am still refashioning dresses this month in honor of Dressember. You can go to Dressember.org to learn more about how they are fighting human trafficking and assisting victims as they begin new lives. What I read was eye-opening to me and I wanted to try to call attention to their work. 

 

 My project today began a big loose vest.

Is this a big vest? Or a sort of shawl? Whatever it is, I never wore it. It was soft and pretty but it was too big and it hung all over. I think on a tall woman this would look dramatic and elegant. On my 5' body it looked like a blanket. But I loved the design of it. The black and white make such a strong contrasting print.

 

I began by putting it on my dress form inside out and pinning it into a dress shape. You can see the pins in the pictures below if you look really close. I used my machine to stitch the two front sides together. This made a seam from the neck to the hem. That seam won't look very nice on the front of my dress though.

I turned the dress around and used the back as the front. That seam will be less noticeable in the back of the dress. I cut off the excess and tweaked the fit here and there. The length was a little on the short side.

I used some of that excess and cut thin strips to add to the bottom of the dress. It added a couple inches in length. That helped a lot.

Here is a look at the front and back of the dress. I tried to match up the design in the back but I couldn't get it perfect (That's OK!) and get the fit I wanted the dress to have. I wanted it to be comfortable and not too tight. I was happy with how it turned out. I was able to make a soft cowl neck at the top of this little sweater dress.

This was really fun to put together and to wear.

Thanks for reading, now go make yourself something fun.

Dresses For December Part 7, The Dowdy One

 Let's Revisit a Refashion

Hello Readers. Yes, I am still deep into a pile of dress refashions in honor of Dressember. They do their big fundraising effort in December (December/Dressember, get it?). Dressember estimates that 2 million children are being exploited. It's heartbreaking and we all need to be aware of the problem.

 

Today's dress refashion started as a very simple black dress. It was in nice shape but the style and length was more than dowdy. It was almost depressing. Black is a great color to have in your wardrobe but it can look severe and bland sometimes.

 

  Here is the black dress I started with. It was not bad as far as size but the length was very matronly on me. It was ankle length on me and that long skirt isn't doing me any favors. I look a little lost in this dress.

  I decided to give it a BIG cut in the length. It needed to be shorter and hopefully it would be more fun. I gave it a quick hem and I was finished with this dress.

  I really liked the shorter length and it was easy to wear once I was not tripping on the hem anymore.

This is my little guy refusing to look at the camera and refusing kisses too.

  Thanks for reading this post, I send you my best wishes during this holiday season.

The Pencil Dress

 Hello Readers. School is starting in the US. Sort of. If you have kids than you know it is a crazy situation right now. Some kids are going to the school building. Some kids are doing school on-line. And from what I hear, a lot of families are going to try homeschooling. I am going to homeschool my 5 year old this year for Kindergarten. I homeschooled my older kids so this isn't a new idea for me. I want it to be fun for my little guy so I have been organizing, decorating, preparing and generally trying to hype him up. That includes school clothes.

I decided to paint pencils all over this dress. It was kind of an old comfy dress. It will be perfect for being comfy at home doing school but also fun. I tried stamping pencil shapes on the dress. I had to paint over them several times to make them bright enough. It would have been easier to do this project on white or a light color.

 

 I added pink eraser shapes to the pencils.

 

 I added pencil leads and another coat of paint.

 

 A touch of gold paint between the pencil and eraser and my pencils were done. I added a little yellow trim to the neck line of the dress for a touch of color. This yellow rick-rack has been sitting in the sewing stash for a long time. Let's use it.

 

 My first day of school outfit was ready. I am wishing all you other parents and students a good school year as well.

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

And have a good day at school.