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

Octopus Scout Tee

I got this on craftsy.com as a sewing kit.

I just fell for the octopus fabric. OMG look at those guys! :) Yay! It was actually on sale one day and I picked it up from my self. I could not find that fabric online. and I liked the shirt design so I went for the sewing kit.

Really it was an easy sew. Did a serge to clean the seams. Poor I was done pretty fast with this shirt. Honestly putting in the sleeves is the hardest. I wore this top on my trip to a meeting. I got in a day early and I was able to meet some friends. We went to the aquarium, which I thought was the appropriate place to wear my shirt. I got a ton of compliments on it!

Posing with our frozen bananas.

Searching on a boat, probably one of my favorites

Very happy with this shirt! Fit is perfect! And you got some action shots, rather than me posing in my living room.

Cheers,
Lauren

Endless Wave Pants

Now if you are not a bellydancer you probably don't know why in the world I made these pants or what they are. Basically these pants look like a skirt until you start moving. And they show off all of your moves and when you spin they are absolutely gorgeous on stage.



I have seen them made in everything, chiffon, Georgette, silk, satin, everything.

Prior to moving and giving up dance, I had bought the pattern and was going to sew myself a pair. I had this lovely embroidered pink chiffon and thought this was the way to go. Unfortunately I ran out of fabric when I was cutting the sails. This pattern uses a lot of fabric! I had to improvise and use pink georgette that I purchases that matched the colors of the chiffon. I spaced out and mixed between the 2 fabrics so it seemed intentional.

Sewing these guys was pretty fast IF you have a serger! I cut serged away and was done really fast. Add elastic to the waist and the ankles and I was done!

Here's my pants!

Just look at the volume!

Big!!

These only make me want to dance in them. :( Life is too busy for me to really dance anymore. But how lovely is that drape?

And when they spin...

You might ask are they see through? The answer is yes, somewhat. That is just due to my choice of fabric. But I could counter that with wearing pink athletic pants that I have. I also wore my polish scarf on my hips for the inseam area for the photos. I wish I would have made these pants sooner and been able to use them. BTW they are heavy, you need a good elastic in the waist and you need to cut in shorter than you think b/c they will pull themselves down. If you are tall you need to increase the length of the pants, as well as the sail.

Cheers,
Lauren

Another Julia cardigan, this time in a fun purple and green knit

I love the Julia cardigan, it is just so fabulous. If you read my blog I have previously made 3 julia cardigans... from the pattern parcel

two for my mom

and the grey stripes knit for me.

I actually gave away my grey one but I wanted one where I could have some fun print like the one I made my mom. I found this purple and green semi-knit (it feels like a knit but barely stretches, this on courtesy of the fabric hoarder I bought her stash years ago). I had to get crafty with placement and I just had enough fabric for this cardigan. There was parts that were missing the ink, holes, and writing on it. But I made it work.

Being too lazy to change my outfit much when I was taking photos, I put it over a tank top that I had on while taking my after photos.

I love the pattern. I am probably going to have to fix the sleeves, I messed up somewhere

But I am a happy girl :)

This cardigan is seriously so much fun! I have already worn it a bunch!

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