white dress quick dye, refashion #51

Another dress that was white and I didn't know what it was. The knit was so thin. Is it a dress, a nightie, a top? Who knows but I realized I didn't like the white.

Another spin in the washer machine, and teal RIT dye. I messed up my soak time so it was only in the wash for a short period of time. It needs to be longer. But what I wound up with was a light color, which I liked.

After thinking on it, I realized this garment would be best served as a sort of  a nightie. Too thin for outside public wear. Changing it to a blouse would be really hard to do a bottom hem, and I don't think I would like it anyways. Keep as it, but at least it isn't stark white!!

Will make a super comfy nightie!

Cheers,
Lauren

Mummy shirt redo, refashion #1

I found this cool shirt, which I called a mummy shirt the way it looks like it is wrapped. Not a bad fit.

The problem was there was a small stain I could not get out. 

I decided it needed to be dyed. This was a nylon blend so the best way I could dye this was with my Acid Dye in Honey Mustard. I made a dye bath and away we went. OMG it turned out great!

Here it is on! A better fix and you can't see the stain anymore. It blends in. Now I normally can't wear yellow but this is a gold, paired with my navy blue skirt- it is a great color combo!

Love my first refashion. Good bye stains! 1 down 98 to go!!!! :) It is going to be long year.

Cheers,
Lauren

white tank dye try- RIT sunshine orange

Ok quick post to end the year. This really isn't a refashion per se but a test run of some RIT dye in the color. I am curious to see what I get.

First just a simple sort of white cotton tank top that is what I wear for sleeping. Easy soft.

Here afterwards with sunshine orange. It is bright. Wow, I could not wear this separately too bright for my skin tone. But great for PJs.

 Cheers,
Lauren

Wahoo last day of the year and I have been busy prepping for sewing and refashioing. OMG I have a lot to do in 2014!! Eek!

Peacock feather stamped scarf

Well happy President's Day everyone! So excited to share this project. I am again giddy! I first started with a plain white silk scarf I got as a bonus gift after purchasing from Dharma trading. I had to do something with it, I dyed it aqua using RIT dye aqua. Love the color!

Before:

with dye

I decided it was too boring so I must do something with it. Then one day casually strolling in Hobby Lobby I saw that stamps were 50% off. Score! And then I saw this beautiful peacock feather. Had to have it! I decided I wanted to stamp my scarf with this stamp!! First I practiced on a thin piece of cotton to get used to stamping b/c frankly i have not stamped since I was like in grade school... I also used Tulip's soft fabric paint in brown. I also diluted this to not make it so thick and leave the fabric still flowy. 

Stamp!! I placed cardboard underneath to catch the water and paint. As you can see I had 1 plate with my mixed paint. One side is thicker than the other. I stamp on the right side (the thinner side) then I stamped on the other plate (located on the right) then I stamped the fabric. 

Close up, I had a few hang ups but overall it was looking good. I realized perfection was not going to happen. Now to do the other side. 

OOps! This is what happens when they don't match up. Feathers don't look good 

Here is after I was done. I filled in the rest of the scarf with smudges since I got 2 from my stamp. 

Let dry! And we are ready! 

Now I need to learn how to wear it but it looks fabulous on my red purse! :) Won't mistake my purse for anyone else's!

Hope you enjoyed this. Now I am obsessed with this stamp and would love to create my own fabric..... Oh wheels are turning!!!!

xoxox,
Lauren

Pink shirt makeover

Whew it has been a long day. I woke up early bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to get to work and conquer all. As I was packing my bag, I had a sharp pain in my stomach. Didn't think much of it but thought I was going to be fine. Long story short, I never made it into work. I had what felt like 5 bowling balls bouncing around in my stomach with the weirdest noise ever. I am finally keeping food in and I am finally feeling somewhat stronger. I am able to sit it now and thought I would finish catching up on some of my projects.

I thrifted this shirt while I was visiting my family in Florida. The shirt was in great shape and would be great for work but I hated the color. I thought I would dye it and make it better. :) It was polyester/nylon mix so I had to go to iDYE (which btw is now available in some stores! exciting news!) I had blue and purple. I opted for purple, I mean violet, b/c the and violet would just make a purple and I could live with that!

What I did not expect was the outcome! Holy cow! I was in love with this color!

What I could not get the camera to pick up was the color, it is actually much richer and jewel tone than my camera can pick up. I tried different lighting and no luck. I can't switch my camera's color mode either. It was enough for my boyfriend to go wow! He then spent the rest of the night dyeing his plastic disc golf discs which came out awesome!
What I love is the beads which were clear really stand out on the purple. I honestly did't know they exsisted until after I was done dyeing!

Sometimes all you need is some change of color!

XOXOXOXO,
Lauren

Dyed Cardigan Take 2

This is take 2 b/c my first dyeing attempt on a white cardigan left me an electric tangerine cardigan, now given to Sonja to refashion into an item. When she is done I'll post it. Until then I'll start with take #2!

So another boring white cardigan. I wanted a mustard/beige cardigan to go with more items for work. This time I decided to try a Acid dye from Dharma trading. Yes I was slightly scared too when I first read it but thought I would give it a try.

I used their Honey mustard. I didn't weight the powder out, I just slopped it into the pot! LOL. Heated it up and made sure it was in solution (which I probably added too much b/c I did get some chunks but it actually didn't affect the dyeing process) washed my cardigan and mixed the two. The directions then called for adding vinegar. Luckly the boyfriend wasn't home and it didn't smell as bad as I thought it would. Instantly we had emulsification!

The end product.... a nice beige cardigan for work.

I am the cardigan queen! LOL! Much better than the stark white bland cardigan.

White shirt makeover

I found this lovely white button down Ann Taylor Loft shirt for $0.99 one day at goodwill. I loved it and it was in good shape.

But I have a bunch of white button down shirts in my closet and I thought I would challenge myself to change the color. It had wonderful black buttons so I thought why not try gray.

When I actually cut off the tags, I realized the shirt HAD NEVER BEEN WORN BEFORE! It still had the magnetic security tag in the shirt! OMG!!!

Maybe it is because I am in saving mode right now but I can not image spending a lot of money on a shirt and never wearing it. I just can't. I usually buy something and pretty much wear it! But then again I just got out of grad school, I have a different mindset.

I chose RIT dye in pearl gray. I had no idea how this was going to turn out b/c it was purple until it was dry.

The end product no hemming or alterations needed. And since it was a blend of fabrics I kind of got a heathered gray. Very happy! Perfect for work!


XOXOXO,
Lauren