too short top fix

Wow been cleaning up my blog and I have found several posts that I never published. So here we go!
I don't have a before photo but I basically had some summer tops from Ann Taylor Loft that were a bit too short for my taste. I found this lovely Venetian Lace that was long and would complement the darker color.

I attached it to the bottom of the top. I had to get creative with the side seam. I forgot what I did- it has been that long!

There is a teeny bit of an odd hang but its not too bad. Now a feel a little more comfortable wearing it.
Cheers,
Lauren

Too big tank top refashion

Time for another refashion. Yeah I am not doing many of them lately. I have not been thrifting either. I am actually not doing a lot of sewing lately period. I know it makes me sad.

This tank top was actually part of another top I got and refashioned (and can't find any info on, lol). It was a large top hence why the tank top was large too. It was super wide in the bust area. BTW this is a horrible photo of me, meh whatever.

One of the blessings of this top was the straps were like bra straps so I did not have to remove and reattach them. I could simply adjust the height on mine. Really then all I wanted to do to the top was take it in the sides. I liked the idea of having more of a drapey, not-tight tank top for the summer.

Simply just measure and sew down! I serged out the excess  and tided up the seam. After adjusting the straps, I was done!
Here's the end product

It is just a simple breezy tank top. BTW when I took these photos it was winter. I froze and luckily it did not show too much in these photos. I have the perfect pair of shorts to go with this top that I am working on and can't wait to pair together. Here is the before and after- not bad for just a little bit of work!

Cheers,
Lauren

Circus tent dress

I purchased this striped fabric one day on clearance at Hancock Fabrics (RIP, miss you!) When I got home, I wondered what in the world I was thinking! It reminded me of a tent and I asked the question to my facebook friends and no one thought of a dress. I was determined to try and make it work.

I saw this Vogue pattern and thought I could make it work with the pattern. I decided the bottom panel I could use this old bellydance veil I had to compliment the colors.

Sorry I am having issues resizing this photo for some unknown reason. Blah. First I had pull off the tiny bells that were on this veil. FYI I never used this veil mostly b/c of these bells. If you actually want to dance with this veil it is too heavy. Not to mention the bells grab things on your costume. It never worked. And this veil just sat in my costume pile. Now at least it is getting some use.

I used it for the bottom and there is me cutting. So the sew is very easy. I believe I put the bottom portion of the dress on the wrong way but I just left it and kept going.

This dress is A LOT to handle. I feel like a circus tent. I mean it is a tent. The belt helps... but...

Just wow... LOL I tried my hardest.

Thinking about it, if i was on a cruise this would work. Actually, after I took these photos, we had a cat nascar incident and my precious little fur ball put her claws into the chiffon and caused a few rips. I can't fix them. I guess it was slightly serendipitous as now I need to fix it. Call it cat ESP. So stay tuned, I am going to cut it and make it into a shorter dress. Looking at it- I might work as a shorter dress. Let's see!

Cheers,
Lauren

Ann Klein Paisley dress refashion

Refashion time! I know I have not been refashioning like I used to but I have been trying to focus on sewing up my stash of fabric than refashioning. I am managing to get some in here and there. :)

Behold, we had a semi-decently fitting dress. It is Ann Klein with a fun red/pink paisley print. The probably was the length of the dress and the length of the sleeves.

This sleeve length was not meant for my abnormally long arms....

I need to just fix the lengths of everything and be done. Right?? Well I got the sleeves fixed. Then I worked on the hem. My thought was cut it down some, then maybe turn it from a circle to more of an A-line skirt. And this is where the mistake happened....

Hmm. Darn it! I got my numbers mixed up with how many inches I needed to cut off. And I cut off too much.. I tried to save it the best I could. Its more of a peplum top than anything. I did slim down some of the sides. Here is the new top

I mean it has pockets. But you have to watch with the pocket they want to stick out.

It is wearable but not what I wanted to do with it. I really envisioned a shirtdress in the end. But overall this works. Here is the before and after.

Cheers,
Lauren

Not really a refahsion- striped heart top

I was playing around one day and I had this shirt from Ann Taylor Loft that I thought could use some sprucing up. It is not bad, just plain.

I added some leftover faux suede fabric and made a big heart (b/c I am not creative and could think of anything else). I realized it was too big and would probably not look right in the center of the shirt. I liked the size and decided to off set the heart and place it on its side. Not bad, something different.

Kind of fun and something different. It will probably make me wear this shirt more than I would have without it.

Cheers,
Lauren

Fixing up my grandmother's robe

I have not done many refashions. I am fighting quite the battle in my sewing studio's closet and I have been focusing more on sewing that fabric lump/hump. But since it is cold out, I could really use everything and anything to stay warm. This week, I will give a bonus post and that is this robe!

This is my grandmother's robe. She recently had to move into a group home with supervised care and my family went through her house. I have gotten some fabulous things from her. Soon to be a sewing machine, yeah!! This robe is sooooo old. Very retro and vintage. I have no recollections of her wearing this robe so I am guessing that it is SOOOOOOO old.  Just wow.

It needs some help. But inside it is quilted, which means warm.

Another issue is the lace is stained. And I used all of my restoration tricks to fix and these stains never came out. Interesting. So off goes the lace!

I sewed it all back together b/c the lace was between the robe and the facing. There were some other issues I had to fix- buttons, etc.

Those got all fixed. Now I can wear the robe! It is still groovy and very flower power but I don't care. I feel as if now my grandmother is here with me even though she is thousands of miles away. And taking off the lace changes the feel of the robe.Here's the recap.

Here's to keeping it in the family!
Cheers,
Lauren

Blue plaid sheath dress refashion

When I found this dress, really there was nothing wrong with it. The fit was really good. The only issue was really, I have enough dresses and I won't really get any use out of this dress.

I will get more use out of it, if it was something else. Like a top. So I decided to turn it into a top with a slight peplum. I started off first with removing the back seam and separating the zipper as well. I want to keep the zipper intact. Then I found where I wanted the waist to be. Since the dress lined up really well, I followed it across the dress.

I cut off some of the fabric from the bottom. So the dress is is 3 pieces. I am going to use the very bottom. The middle I won't use at all.

I gathered the top of the fabric and then attached it to the bodice. Pretty easy. I serged to clean up the threads. After trying it on I realized that the dress tapered and I had to keep some of the back open. So I cut the zipper so you could not see.

Done! I threw on a pair of shorts, it is not really season to wear a tank top but this would be great for next spring. I like how I kept it long as I want longer tops for work.

Here's the recap! Even though  the starting dress was great, I would never wear it since I mostly wear pants for work.

BTW next week will be my Halloween costume. It is pretty epic and something I threw together very quickly. I have a lot of photos so this post will take me longer to write about it. :) So next Monday! Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Lauren

Green shorts refashion

Again, I am always looking for shorts. Found these big shorts that might have some potential.

Time to take them in! I unpicked the hem first.

Then I took in the sides.

I hated the length, so I cut it off.

Added a new hem and shorts are done!

In the above picture- yeah I was falling when the camera snapped. LOL I have not worn heals in a LONG time living here in D.C.

Here's the recap, 2 totally different pairs of shorts.

Cheers,
Lauren

Pants to skinny jeans

This week switching up to a refashion. Do you see a sort of trend? I always need more pants and prepping for future colder weather, I wanted more skinny jeans. But I don't like some skinny jeans from the stores as they are so tight, they cut off circulation. That and there's not enough room to bend and squat, which I do a lot at work. Time to make my own! I wanted black pants since I don't have any.

These pants fit really well in the thighs and my butt and hip area. So really all I need to fix is the lower legs. So I put on my pants inside out and pinned them. Yes I pinned them on myself. Then they were a bit too long when the cuffs were unpicked with my seam ripper. So off went the length.

So here is a trick when you are sewing black thread with black fabric... it was almost impossible to find where the thread was in order to properly fuse the good portion of the old seam with the new seam- that black thread with the denim weave is just impossible. So the trick is to use chalk- it makes the seam pop right out and poof easy to sew! So I sewed my seam and then cut off with my serger.

Yeah so new jeans, semi-skinny since I have room to move but they are good to tuck into a boot in the winter and fall.

Good length too!

Here's the recap...

The side by side comparison really shows how they changed. But an easy refashion. Hardest thing was pinning them!!

Cheers,
Lauren