Striped pants fix, refashion #66

Ahh just made my August quota. Tho- these pants I may rework. They got bigger as I wore them and could use some fiixing.

The before picture has been lost in editing land... who knows. But pair of pants with side zippers. Which I hated. Here is what I did to sew them out.

Here is the new version of the pants, which on camera made me look odd. I don't get it. It may have been the way I was standing. 

I am going to run them again through the sewing machine to just taper again in the thighs. Stay tuned! 

But hey at least I hit 66! Just in time for September. Where does time go? Seriously? 

Cheers,
Lauren

Cherries Dress, Refashion 65

I just love big, large dresses that I remember many of my teachers wearing back in the day.

Yeah it is big and has its own strings, but it is a lot of fabric and it has cherries on it!! How cute are they? 

As soon as I took apart the bodice from the skirt and ironed it.... This happened..... 

Two little cats decided to "help" me. There is a reason why God made both of them so cute. She looked at me with those eyes and I could not get mad. Smile! Picture time.

After untangling the fabric again and ironing, I got my pattern picked out. Simplicity 1650, princess bodice, short skirt, no peplum with hopefully enough for sleeves.

I had just enough fabric for the bodice and the skirt. The sleeves I reused from the old sleeves.

Basically, sew, sew, sew, get an invisible 22 inch zipper- Hancock fabrics was out of black so I got red. Done! The bodice was perfectly fine and plenty of room but the skirt was just a smidge too tight but still fit.

I seriously love this dress. This pattern is also a good pattern. I just need to do more squats. 

Like I said it just fit!! Yay! 

The back, which Toot Toot! I got my invisible RED zipper in really good! Do you see the red zipper tape? Nope neither do I!!!

This dress is way too cute! Who know it came from a mu-mu!! I still have the strings and buttons. Just a smidge, and I mean smidge left of the fabric is left. Yay!

Off to go and do some squats just to get the skirt to fit a teensy better.
Cheers,
Lauren

oh that pantsuit.... refashion #64

Yup a cotton pantsuit. In a light shade of taupe/beige. And pockets. I mean what else says I am ready to go out and have some fun?

Ok kidding. This was not working though. Bad color and the pants is meh. Just a smidge too tight. 

It did bring out that silly side of me. hey....... 

So now what? First- cut off the lower legs. Undo the seams in the middle legs. Convert to a skirt. But here is the problem- the legs taper. There is not enough room to cover my thighs if I do as is so I need to add an insert. But..... the remaining fabric is tapered too. The solution was to use the very bottom on the legs, flip it so the wider part will widen the skirt and now I can cover my thighs and you know.... walk! I sewed in those lower legs as triangles. 

This now dress is still ugly and won't work. I need some color! My paleness needs some color! I got inspired by this photo I saw in a magazine and thought I would give tie dye a try. I know I am not one for tie-dye. Actually, I am usually not a fan but I thought this circle pattern might work. I used dark brown RIT dye. Grabbed a whole bunch of rubber bands, made sure my cats were far away and won't eat them, and went to town. The dress was now a sight! Into the dye pot, let it simmer. Rinse in cold water and cut off the rubber bands. Again I had to do this on the down low for my cats. I don't get their fascination with trying to eat rubber bands. I don't get it! 

I had a super cool pattern but I needed to fix the hem. We got all thready after the tie-dye. I cut and serged, then hemmed. Done! 

Now I have a dress! 

A dress with pockets and fun patterns. 

The back, at the time of taking pictures (which are the same batch), I had slept really wrong and messed up my neck through shoulder blade, you can see my patch to calm down the inflammation. But the pattern was crazy on the back. I still like it! 

You can't see the triangle inserts now with the dye. This dress is super comfy and will be a great pool cover up. And hey I can walk in it. So challenge succeeded. Who knew it was a pantsuit?? The recap....

Cheers,
Lauren

Fuchsia Indian Tunic to dress, #63

If you know me, you know several things. I love pink and all shades of pink. I also have a thing for Indian fashion, fabrics, and motifs like paisleys. You can also throw in there peacocks and peacock feathers.

I fell for this tunic with scarf at Goodwill. It just makes me want to dance.

It is a top that I can put on and it fit but its not too tight. So no zipper needed (yay! yay! yay!). But now I need to make it work. 

First thing I did was close the side slits, that was a quick little whirl on the machine. But then I realized there was an oil stain near the waist. I need to get that out, and it didn't come out in the wash. So it shall be engineered out. ;) I cut the tunic at the waist area, then again after the stain. I gathered the top of the bottom of the tunic (confused yet?) and attached it to the bodice to create a new dress.

Here we are connecting it. Luckily didn't have to hem it! I left it as is. There is a taupe colored lining BTW. Then since it was a bit big, I added elastic.  

I also created a belt with the middle lining leftover, creating a tube and sewing it all together. I have a few options. I felt as if it pulled it together. 

Cat bombed.... I tried the belt a different way. 

He is still there behind me. 

Without the belt as you can see, it needed something. Also I learned I am not as big as I think I am, as I could have cut the elastic 1-2 inches shorter. 

This is such a fun and cute dress now. I still have the leftover scarf which I plan on using. I just lost something else so the project is on temporary hold. You just have to love the embroidery.

Cheers,
Lauren

Quickie fix- elastic hem blue shirt, #62

So I am still playing catch up here with my blog and my 99 refashion challenge, which is over half way done but oh course life is hectic busy so it has been hard to grab sewing and blogging time. Actually almost impossible. We should still be able to make it through this week, and hit my August quota of 66, yeah I divided my months on what my number should be in order to stay on track. What can I say, you can't take the scientist out of me. :)

And as you know before photos truly translate for me into how many bizarre faces can I make? This before face is priceless ladies and gentleman. Priceless.

Basically this top is a nice blue cotton top withe some crochet detail neckline. The thing I disliked about this top was the elastic bottom. I don't always like elastic on the bottom of shirts, it makes them so poofy. Great for all you can eat buffets, not so much for every day life. This is a simple fix.

First I opened up a portion of the casing. Pull out the elastic. Cut and pull it out. Sew the casing closed. Done! Easy peasy!

I then gave it a nice iron. Easy simple shirt now. 

Here is the recap. Easy refashion.

Cheers (and here's to me getting some spare time!)
Lauren

September MGAM plans

While it is still warm, I am going to make this maxi dress with this fabric I found at G street fabrics on sale. It is this fun, tribal sort of print with a lot of colors.

And I just got a cover stitcher so I hope to hem the dress with my new machine if I can get the darn thing to work properly! Let's see. I am excited about this dress!

Cheers,
Lauren

Funky Maxi dress part 2, #61

Part 2! Remember that maxi dress??

Well I used the bottom and convert it to a skirt. The serged top edge was folded down and sewn to create a casing. Add elastic. Close casing. Done. 

Yay new skirt! 

Here is the recap! Got to love 2 from 1! This dress will now be worn as a shorter dress and skirt! Yay!

Cheers,
Lauren