In The Pink

Hello Readers. I managed to collect a lot of pink clothing that needed to be refashioned. I always seem to end up with a lot of one color at one time. I don't know how I did it, but here's the first pink outfit.

It all began with these pink jeans. I really love this blush pink color. The fit was not great on these jeans but that's fine, I can fix that. I also the pretty ombre pink shirt in the picture above. I loved the colors but it is very sheer. It drives me crazy when clothes need other clothes because they are COMPLETELY SEE-THRU! Anyway....I also had this darker pink t-shirt that was loose and baggy. It was a great color but it didn't fit under the sheer top like this. 

I started work on the jeans first. I wanted skinny jeans with some distressing in the legs. I thought they would be cute and casual for summer. And the distressing would make the jeans more comfortable in the summer heat too. Those rips and holes are like air-conditioning right? I used various kitchen items and some scissors to tear and scratch holes in my pink jeans.

I also noticed that the back pockets were very low set. Half of the pockets were on my upper thighs, that's how low the pockets were. I didn't take a picture of my backside in the jeans.(It's not that kind of blog.) I unpicked the pockets, placed them higher, and stitched over the old stitch marks. I couldn't really get them any higher than this unless I attached them to the yolk at the top of the jeans. The pocket below on the left is in it's original place. The pocket below on the right has been moved up. The old stitch marks will fade away in the wash.

I made the legs more narrow and shorter, and washed them so the distressing would fray and they would be ready to wear.

I got to work on the t-shirt. I wanted to make a tank top shirt with a high neckline. Why the high neck? I am tired of everything being so low cut that it's like a cleavage show. I wanted a fitted cami to wear under the sheer top but every cami I find is way too low cut. It feels like half my chest is coming out the top. Why even wear the cami if it isn't going to cover anything? (Is it just me?)

I cut the sleeves off the t-shirt and kept the neck band in place. I wanted it to be fitted under that sheer top, so I made the shirt more narrow and stitched new side seams too.

I stitched the cut edges of the new arm holes under and I was done.

I was happy with the new look. I liked the fitted shirt under the loose sheer top. And the pink jeans are a new favorite for sure!

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

*Year end update- I love these pink jeans SO much. I wear them in the winter because I love the color. The shirts ended up in my daughters closet. I don't mind sharing.

Staying Warm In Blue

Hello Readers. I hate to be cold, winter weather is difficult for me because I can never seem to get warm enough. I am refashioning a big pile of warm clothes in the hopes that they will keep me warm. I wanted to do something with this cozy soft blue sweater. As you can see it had really tight skinny sleeves and a big loose body. These sleeves were really tight, and the body was really loose. It didn't make sense to me, they didn't seem to go together. The difference was too extreme.

I decided to alter the body and make it more compatible with the sleeves. I made the body more narrow. I wanted a more traditional shape.

I also had a pair of black pants that were too big around the waist. I don't know why women's pants are always too big around the waist. If I want them to fit around my caboose then the waist is too big. If the waist fits then the hips will be much too tight. I usually try to find clothes that fit the big parts of my body and alter the parts that are too big.

My favorite method of taking in the waist is to make 2 tucks in the back of the pants.

I make the tucks as long as I need to take in the excess fabric. Sometimes I just need to take in the waistband. Sometimes I need to extend the tucks lower and they can end somewhere behind the pockets.

When I am done with the tucks in the back of the pants the waist lays flat against my back.

Now my cozy blue sweater is fitting me better and my pants are not gaping out in the waist.

Thank you for reading, now go make something fun and warm for yourself.

*Year end update- I didn't wear these often. I always wound up picking other things from the closet.

Staying Warm In Green

Hello Readers. It is the middle of a deep cold snap where I live and all I want to do is wear layers of cozy sweaters and hide in a pile of blankets. I gathered all the sweaters from my refashion pile and made them all a priority. I need sweaters ASAP! As usual, I was starting with clothes that didn't fit well.

My mom gives me hand-me-downs sometimes. This sweater was one of them. (Thanks Mom!) I loved this shade of green. I didn't like the fake shirt attached to it and it was too big and loose in the body. Could I take the sweater in and remove that shirtless collar?

(And why is there just a collar? Why wouldn't I want a whole shirt under the sweater? Am I unable to choose a shirt to wear under this sweater? Someone somewhere doesn't trust me to dress myself.)

I used a seam ripper to take the collar out of the sweater. It was easy to remove. I took the body in on the sides and arms. This made a fitted style sweater that I really liked.

I was also given these brand new pants quite a while ago. (Thanks Kathy!) They don't look like it but they are actually cropped Capri pants. They are a great length on me because I am very short. I really liked these navy blue pants and decided to try to improve the fit.

I really liked the zippers on the hip pockets. They seemed a little cool and edgy. Well, as cool and edgy as a suburban mom can try to be.

I wanted to make sure not to damage the zippers. I would need to take in the sides and keep the zippers and pockets intact. I wound up removing fabric from the back of the legs along the side seams. I didn't remove any fabric from the front of the legs.

I narrowed the pants and made them into a skinny fit. I thought they would tuck into boots nicely and that would keep me warm.

The sweater and the pants now have a nice slim fit and the zippers are still there. I thought if these clothes were more fitted I could wear a big long cardigan or jacket on top for even more warmth. Layers people, I want lots of layers!

I bundled up and went out to a movie with my daughter. Actually she took me! She wanted to see The Greatest Showman. It was a cute, slightly cheesy musical. We liked it.

(It is possible that while at the theatre I walked into the clearly labeled "MENS" room. It is possible that I made a weird surprised squeak sound. It is also possible that this is not the first time that I have done this.)

Thanks for reading this post, now go make something fun and warm for yourself.

*Year end update-I still wear these pants a lot and I like the fitted sweater because it isn't bulky.

The Black Sparkly Mini Dress

Hello Readers. Something rare happened recently, I found a fabulous dress that was too short. This is not something that happens often when you are 5' tall. Everything is usually too long, finding something that is too short made me feel a little tall. The fit of this short dress was great so I decided to shorten it even more and make a top. 

I don't go anywhere that I need a sparkly black mini dress. I am a small town SAHM. If I show up at the playground in this, I will look very over dressed and a little crazy. I need to calm this dress down.

There is a generous amount of bling on this knit dress, but it was really comfortable so I decided to embrace it. I didn't want to change it drastically,  I just wanted to shorten it. I measured and marked where I wanted to shorten the dress to make it the right length for me. I cut it all the way around.

I turned it under and gave it a new hem so it would look nice and neat. It was easy as pie. 

I like this shirt a lot. It is basically a soft tank top but the sparkle makes it so much more interesting and fun. (Bling, bling.) Wearing it with jeans helped to make this top more casual.

These jeans were in my refashion stash, I don't know where they came from. I liked the fit of these jeans but of course they were too long. I usually expect to shorten pants, no big deal. 

 

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

 

 

Lots O' Dots

Hello Readers. Spring is here, at least where I live. Flowers are starting to bloom, the sun is out, I am sewing and thinking about Spring. I saw some cute polka dot jeans on Pinterest a while ago and wanted to try to make them myself. When someone handed-me-down a pair of dark wash jeans I was ready to try it. The jeans were close to fitting and in great condition. 

(Thanks Kathy G.!)

Here is the funny part of the jeans, they are capris y'all. They are supposed to be cropped length and they are full leg jeans on me, It's the curse of the short legs!

The first step was to take the jeans in a little to improve the fit just a little. That was no big deal. The length was perfect already, so it was time for the dots.

To add polka dots to these jeans I used some basic chalk and some acrylic craft paint.

I made some diagonal lines across the jeans. I used a yard stick to make the lines straight and parallel to each other. I thought if the lines were even and straight my dots would be evenly spread out on the jeans. My lines were not perfect, the fabric moved a little. I didn't worry about it, I just kept making lines. Who has time for perfection? It isn't brain surgery.

 (If you are doing brain surgery, please find time for perfection.)

I made chalk lines in the opposite direction and that gave me this X pattern all over the jeans. I made a small dot of paint at all the intersection points. I painted the dots with one thick coat of paint and let it dry for a few hours. 

Here is what the front looked like when it was dry. I flipped the jeans over and used the same chalk/yardstick system to paint the polka dots on the back of the jeans. I let them dry for a few hours again. That night I threw them in the washer to remove all the chalk lines.

My toddler interrupted the drying process and made a little smear on the waistband in the back. It's OK, it's all part of making things by hand. I will remember that little tiny hand grabbing my jeans and trying to run away with them whenever I see that smeared polka dot.

Here are my finished jeans with polka dots all over. I love them. They seem very cheerful and perfect for spring. Come back next time to see the sweater I refashioned to go with them.

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

Sweaters and Skinny Jeans 4

Hello Readers. This is the last of four sweaters and skinny jeans post. If you have had enough of these basic clothes, don't worry, this is the last of it. I have made some nice progress in my stash of refashion clothes so I can move on to other things. Today's sweater is a 2XL men's cotton V-neck sweater with some nice blue stripes. I have a confession; these are not truly jeans, they are more like dress pants.

First, let's work on this sweater. It is too big obviously but I really like stripes. I began by putting it on my dress form and pinning the sides. I needed to remove some fabric to make it fit me well. I pinned and pinned and then stitched new side seams. I used a zigzag stitch to stop the fraying and so it would have a little give when I put it on and off.

Here is a picture to show what I removed. The dog was really sleeping in my way but I took the same amount off both sides.

The arms were much too long. I cut the wrist binding off and moved it up the sleeve. I reattached it and cut off the excess fabric. The stripes influenced the placement of the binding. I wanted to keep the light and dark blue pattern so I attached the dark binding to a light blue stripe.

I did basically the same thing with the biding around the bottom of the sweater. I didn't want the sweater to be longer than hip length. I used a zigzag stitch to secure the raw edges so they wouldn't fray. I attached the dark blue binding to a light blue stripe to keep the stripe pattern going. I kept the sweater big enough to wear over another shirt because it's COLD out there.

These dress pants/trousers/slacks, whatever you want to call them, are too baggy. They aren't awful but I want to make them more fitted, like a cigarette pant. I narrowed the legs and shortened them a bit as well.

Here you can see what I removed from the pants. I was cautious and did my best not to make them too tight. I gave them a simple hem at the bottom and that was it.

I love these new pieces. I really like the dress pants, I don't have anything like them in my closet. I am pretty sure I can wear them year-round with tons of different tops.

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