Day 35: The Jersey Shore Called....

Day 35!! So do you even pick something up from a store and then question yourself about your choice of clothing?

When I saw this the ONLY though that came to my mind was Jersey Shore. Maybe something Snooki's Grandmother would wear out. The worst thing was the pockets! OMG those pockets with the blue flowered fabric. I mean why???

First thing was I was going to remove those pockets! I don't know what is worse about those pockets or shoulder pads in refashions. It is a CLOSE call! I watched the Olympics and happily pulled off those pockets. You could still see where they were but at least they were GONE!

Next I didn't like the length nor did I like the top portion of this skirt. It just seemed off and didn't fit. I mean why blue flowers? First I removed the zipper. I continued to open up the seam for later so I could put back the zipper. Then I cut off some of the top. Good bye blue!

I folded over the uppermost top and sewed down.

I also reshaped it b/c the skirt was now big.

 Next I put back the zipper b/c I liked the length.

BTW if you don't have an invisible zipper foot you should get one for your sewing machine. It is a must have and makes life so easy. I made sure to close up the rest of the seam, which I used my regular zipper foot. Now to fix the top. I folded down the top again after adding a small dart. Now we were in business. I added a small hook to the skirt. And Poof! We were done.

Now I am not saying that this skirt still isn't Jersey Shore b/c it is zebra print. BUT..... at least it looks better. And sorry no fist bumping or poofs will be in any of my pictures.

For more of my 60 days of posting click here. 27 more days to go!
Cheers,
Lauren

Day 24: Madame X Bellydance Fishtail skirt

So now I am finally getting caught up with posting for my bellydance costumes. Here is part 1 of 3 for this particular costume. First I will start off with the Madame X bellydance skirt pattern. Many of us bellydancers have seen this pattern but many have not ventured to try it out. I decided to take the leap. I went for the fishtail option which has a half circle inserted into the back of the skirt. 

I don't have many pictures from me cutting. I just did black spandex. It uses a lot! 

Here are some pictures from my solo performance showing it. Though black on black makes it hard to see. All of these photos were taken by Act Natural Photography

And don't laugh I make funny faces. So the problem with this skirts which I did not have enough time to fix was the waist was super big. Why b/c I made it to the widest part of my hips. But the fabric is stretchy so I can totally just cut the waist smaller and it will naturally fit my hips just right. Which this did not! Also the legs were boxy. I need to go and and re-fit this skirt for a better shape. I can cut everything smaller. Will try again soon! Here are 2 pictures not on a black stage. It just hangs on me. Way to big!

36 more days left!! For the rest of the 60 day projects click here.

xoxoxo,
Lauren

Day 10: Granny wants her shorts back!

Wahoo survived to day 10! 50 more days of my 60 days to dc blogging torture goal. Well I got these shorts when I was home from Christmas (yes Christmas, that is correct). I love polka dots. And I loved the red accents on the pockets. But sheesh! These shorts were hideous!

So what to do? It actually had this cool hidden zipper among the pocket which was really cool. I thought this would make a fabulous skirt since it sort of had a pencil-esque sort of appearance.

Here is what I did!

First I removed the inseam seams with my thread ripper. Actually here is an easy way to remove serged seams.... Serging involves 2 loops of threads with a stay straight stitch. You want to pull out the stay stitch first! Using your seam ripper, pull out/cut the straight stitch but don't start at the very edge of a garment. I say this b/c it will not work b/c usually the very ends are usually fixed so the seam won't unravel with some sort of adhesive. So start a little bit aways from the edge of the garment.

Grab the thread and pull it out. Yes it really is that easy. Sorry I thought I had taken more pictures. Then the loops literally just fall apart and poof you are done with the seams.

Now sometimes you will have a 4 thread overlock (serger) stitch, the same exact thing can be done with pulling the other thread out. And occasionally you will have both a serged edge and then a regular sewn seam. Which makes pulling seams out fun. Next, we need to turn the shorts into a skirt. Now I only removed up past the "J" shape of the shorts.! ;)

I did the same for the back. I cut off the excess. Here is the finished result. 

yes I am having formatting issues today with blogger. Le sigh. I am too lazy to go and take everything out and start over again. Its only day 10 and we are having issues with blogger. LOL! 50 More days to go! For the rest of the days blog posts click here.

Cheers,
Lauren

Day 8: Chevron skirt refashion

Yeah made it past 1 week. I am so happy and excited. But its only been 7 days and now we are on day 8. LOL!!

Today's posts is another refashion. Actually a super easy one.

I started off with this skirt from Jones New York. I love this company.

I don't love this skirt. I am just not fond of the length. It just seems awkward and doesn't do anything for my shape. The fit is great and nothing needs to change about that. I just needed to change the length. This is an easy fix for anyone who has a serger. I love my serger! I simply cut off 6 inches with my serger doing a simple rolled hem with black thread.

Here is the final product.

Easy Peasy Mac N Cheesy! 5 minutes total on this refashion.

52 more days to go. If you have missed the other 60 Days of blogging projects click here

Cheers!
Lauren