Last refashion of 2014!! #99- Lace tablecloth

I found this wonderful lace tablecloth. For some reason I didn't realize that it was circular. Don't ask b/c I seriously don't know. I thought I could make a cute pair of shorts from them but the size put me at a bit of a disadvantage with wanting to stay on the grain

Problem was if I was going to use it for anything then the color was not going to work for me. I did not care for the tan. So I dyed it using 2 different RIT dyes. Since the lace is a lot of thread, that I don't know how it is going to react, I went with 2 dark dyes- dark green and denim blue. Thanks Mom for the dye you got on clearance.

The end result was awesome! It was a grey mixed with some blue green. There was no tan left. I cut off the ruffle around the edge. My initial plan was to make a lace circle top. But then I cut the circle too deep.

It was no longer going to work as a top. I sighed and it fell down, landing on my hips. Then I realized this fit perfectly as a skirt! Win!!! I needed to line it, which I found this brown fabric in my stash. And as serendipity would have it... it was the perfect size needed with my existing skirt!  Double Win!!!

So I cut out the brown circle and cut a line down one side. This will allow me to put in a zipper. Now I need to make a waistband. I used this new sewing notion I found by chance when I was looking for something else online. It is fusible interfacing that has cut line that allow for easy folding. Time to try it out!!

So Triple Win! This made making waistbands SOOOOOO easy. I attached it to my skirt, which I had to lightly gather to adjust it to fit. Boom done! Prior to this I added an invisible zipper.

Finally, hemming. I took apart the lining from the lace and resewed them individually. This was solely because I wanted to individually hem each layer. The lace layer, I folded twice and ironed. Then sew It was really smooth. I used my serger for the brown layer.  Done!

Here is my new skirt. OMG! It was completely destined to be a skirt. How fabulous is this!

It also had a bit of a retro feel to it. It was a full circle skirt, no doubt!!

Even though the hem was a bit of a challenge it looks great!

And with all circle skirts, you have to twirl with it! It is just sort of mandatory!

Here's the recap. Before a tablecloth, after an awesome circle skirt! Yay!

So this my readers finishes my 99 refashion challenge for 2014. Wow. It was really hard as my life got in the way of my life. I also realized putting numbers on things can at times make things harder. And stop some of the creativity. All of the refashions will go stored here on this list. It was a fun challenge and I came out with some fabulous clothing.

Yes there are more refashions and sewing on the way! :) No worries, I don't know what I would do with myself if I didn't refashion something. :)

Cheers,
Lauren

Banana Republic Eyelet lace dress fix, refashion 53

Found this lovely white eyelet dress that was from Banana Republic. It appears that someone DIY'd it as the satin straps were an add on (and sort of cheap).

Upon closer inspection, there was a small stain I could not get out. 

First off came the satin ribbon straps. Already better.  Next I attempted some ombre dyeing. My arms hurt after this. Used RIT dye in dark green (thanks mom for the dye- she got it on sale!). :)

Now we are complete. Easy refashion. What is funny is I did not get green in the end, it was actually blue in color. and it is a slight ombre. Either way it is better than white with a stain on it. :)

Works much better now! Yay!

Cheers,
Lauren

Too bright yellow dress refashion, #52

More fun with dyeing. I don't have a picture on but I do have a picture of it while I was prepping the dye bath. I usually create a "holding area" while I either prep the stove or washing machine. Sometimes I use my bathtub... case in point. So it was a fluorescent, bright yellow dress. It fit well. I just bough it on clearance from Urban Outfitters a long time ago. But I never wore it. Probably because of the color.

Dark green dye again with RIT and my washer machine. I have a new dress. I can wear green but not yellow.

See you can see the yellow zipper that did not dye. 

Recap. I didn't know how short it was b/c it had been so long. But I feel quite curvy in it!

Cheers,
Lauren

Refashion Runway #2: Emerald Green, The Designing Women Dress

This week's challenge is Emerald Green, which is one of the 2013 Pantone colors. Now what I have learned from this challenge is people have very different ideas of what the color emerald is- really funny. Wow the challenge was finding something green. It was almost impossible. I had a hay day with this. I would up finding this dress that was straight off the show Designing Women, just call me Suzanne Sugarbaker!

Turns out these were real pockets but the holding seams still remained

Oh! Look at that the hanky came out.

There was only a few things holding this wrap dress together like buttons. No buttons, no ties. The gold buttons were horrible. The shoulder pads.... Wow this needed a lot of work. And plus it is not really emerald.

First! Off come the buttons and then lay on the floor b/c I am getting ready to cut it in half.

Natasha Bear!!! Bad cat! But man she is just too cute.

So I removed first the blazer part of dress. All away around the dress. Including the collar.

I also removed the sleeves, they were tight fitting. Add an odd fit and also it was hard to raise my arms.

Bye sleeves, you might get used later.

Hey look at those shoulder pads omg yellow foam!

I decided to turn the top backwards. But to do so, I needed to recreate the new neckline. I folded the top in half to create a new neckline. The old one was not going to cut it- it was literally choking me! I drew it with a fading marker first to get an idea. It took me 2 cuts to get the neckline I liked. Not bad!

I made sure that the back was even too.

Now to tackle the skirt. I actually had to cut out the real pockets that I thought were fake. They are gone and then I realize the skirt is uneven. I need to make it even to I could put a back zipper for the skirt. And there was a button hole I had to get rid of. I basically lined it up and cut. Before I cut I undid the blind hem so later on I could fold up and have an even hemline.

Here is the leftover panel. I still the need the ease to walk so I need to split this in half

fold in half and iron. cut along the ironing line

attach to each side. pin. sew!

new skirt

Now I need to get the bodice and the skirt to attach. First I need to finish the edges of the top. I don't have a lot of fabric to work with, I decided to use some scrap bias tape. Basically on the right side of the fabric, I sewed the one part of the bias tape down.

Fold that over, iron, you won't see the bias tape anymore, it is now underneath. 

Sew down. In hindsight I am really glad I did this b/c this was going to help later on and reinforce it with some strength. 

Err the top and bottom of the dress don't line up. It is understandable as the middle part of the dress where the pockets were are now gone. And most clothing is not in straight lines. 

So we need to make it line up. Or else this dress will be a hot mess. I did a small pleat bringing each side of the skirt so now I would have a visual line right at the bodice. I did this on both sides and everything matched up. 

pin the bodice and skirt together and sew. I sewed everything except that middle part of the skirt.

to which I added a zipper. this was going to be an open back dress! 

Folded up the hem and redid the blind hem. 

Now that I had my dress together I had to fit it. This took AWHILE. I had to take in the sides. And the back gaped when I moved, I did not want that. Now one of the issues with this dress is it is a loose woven fabric. And I mean LOOSE. After 2 seam rips the fabric began to disintegrate. So I had to move fast and figure out how to fix the back gape issues. I fixed this by angling the back part of the dress seen here on how I attached the back to the skirt. I also gathered the back part of the skirt just a tad also to fit some. 

This helped a lot but I still needed something else. I grabbed the piece of skirt that I pulled off that had the button hole. It was still attached to the lining. Ding! So I simply sewed the other side.

turned it right side out!

Add a piece of elastic...

Attach to the back of the dress. This is where the bias tape finished edge came in handy b/c it reinforced the edge so I could attach this strip. I also wanted to wear a bra with it and I positioned it just right that one would not see it. Plus the elastic band would pull the dress against my back, expand to allow for movement, and also let me put the dress on without being a contortionist. 

I had to tweek the size with several fittings but it got it. Basically what you need to do is have the fabric strip be a little longer than the size you wanted. Then cut the elastic a little shorter than the size you want. So then the elastic will pull it shut and yet you have a little bit of breathing room to put the dress on and bend. I hope that makes sense.

Now the arm holes...... I tried to manipulate the sleeves to work. Even pull out a seam to make it bigger but it just didn't work. My gut said leave it as a sleeveless. I tried but decided to go with my gut. I used bias tape again to finish the arm holes just like I did earlier. It was hidden so I had a clean finish to the arm holes. 

Now wait! we are not done yet! I wanted to make it more emerald green so we needed to go a little bit richer in green color. I thought I would try my hand at ombre dyeing. And just the skirt part. Now one of the issues is the fabric is part polyester and part rayon so I know that the color will not take very well. 

I went with RIT dark green, this should give me what I want. Wet the dress. Dip the entire skirt it and remove it as the time went on. I then let the bottom of the dress hand out in the dye bath for the rest of the night to give the bottom edge a nice dark green. 

Next morning I had this... I drooled! But I knew that it would dry lighter. Rinse out and let it dry while I was at work. 

Now there was one last thing... that white invisible zipper now really stands out. I busted out my green sharpie and began to color it in. And the zipper tape too. 

Done! Now this Designing Women dress is now a simple sleek ombre dress much more modernized! Paired with a jacket I could totally wear this to work. :)

see the lines line up!

Check out those arm holes... fabulous!

The back which now hugs my back and can you tell there is a white zipper on the skirt?

Giving it a whirl...

I tried jumping. This picture was just too funny to not included

The "sorority" pose

Really happy with this dress and Now I can say that I feel like I turned part of it emerald green. Yay! Whew! Now go onto The Renegade Seamstress to see more of the second challenge. And vote for my dress refashion!! :)

Next challenge is peplum. OMG do I have an EPIC, and I mean EPIC! refashion to do! Now to get started.

Cheers,
Lauren