Another fun, fun, fun refash!!!

Hello! Today starts off with another hideous dress turned into something pretty darn cute!

Yuck. Look at those sleeves! Anne of Green Gables might have liked these for a day dress. The shoulder pads really add a nice touch too, eh? Shudder. Way too much going on with the pattern here. This did come with a matching belt, which thankfully is NOT stained with something horrifying like the last one, and will probably actually look super cute with some kind of solid top and jeans. Anyhoo..

This dress had buttons down the front (or was it the back? I'm still not sure), and belt loops for the belt. Those came off. I chopped the skirt part off, and now have fabric that is longer than I am. Pleats. Pleats. Pleats. Yuck. Yay for loads of extra fabric though!

I unbuttoned the first two buttons and turned down the fabric to make a v-neck. Sewed that up in a jiffy, and started on those sleeves. Removal of the shoulder pads followed removal of the sleeves, which I then hemmed, and you wouldn't believe what a difference that alone made. I thought, 'this is ok, but not quite cute, and it could be. What is missing?' Inspiration from my own existing closet struck and I grabbed a long black ribbon/belt thing.

What!!!!! Look at how cute it is now!!! Listen, I got a compliment the first day I wore it out, ok? The pattern needed to be broken up a bit, and that did the job perfectly! I'll be wearing this to acting class tonight!!

Btw, one month from this very day, I'll be wearing a gorgeous gown I refashioned for my first ever movie premiere for the feature film 'The Return'!!! Can't WAIT to show you those pics!!

I Was Born In The Wrong Era

Hello everyone!!! I've missed my refashioning lately, been so busy with the Passion Play for several months and then was just too tired to be creative, but I'm back! Inspiration comes from many sources, and this time I hit the thrift stores searching for pieces I could turn into a costume. I actually found a Thrift by the Pound store, didn't know we had any of those in my area! And it's on the main strip where I do most of my Goodwill/thrift shopping!! Sometimes it's the little things that make life sweet. 
So here's what I found.

It's... strangely becoming!

I'm not really sure what this was really meant for, I look like a life sized doll. You can't tell, but the front of the skirt is split all the way up to the buttons, no clasps or zippers to keep it from flapping open and flashing the world your goodies. So who really knows? But check this out!

POCKETS!!!! This little darling has pockets! Def keeping those!

So, I already knew when I saw the polka dot pattern that this garment was pretty much what I would end up using for my costume. (I didn't even try it on, which is usually a bad idea folks.) It JUST barely fit.

I cut off the skirt from the top and tried it on. It fit right where I needed it too, yay! It was several inches too long though, so I needed to chop a little. Fortunately....

It looks as if whoever made this actually added several inches onto the hemmed bottom, so all I needed to do was carefully cut that off, and voila, I didn't have to hem anything. Plus I got about a four or five inch wide scrap to use as a belt, scarf, or head tie for another outfit. Yay recycling!

So that was going to be it for this outfit, find a fancy smancy belt, and see if I already had a top to go with it, when I took another look at the top of this dress.

I didn't get pics of me removing the bib thing, sorry bout that. I cut off both sleeves and hemmed them as is. I had bought a gorgeous coral belt with gold decor on it to off set the pattern of this piece, so I grabbed that, threw on a white tank top, my black 'witch' shoes, and here's what I ended up with!

What?!?! I'm dying over here!!! So stinking cute!!!! The white gloves really make it, I think.

 

Just for fun, when I fixed my hair I walked out and said to my husband, 'Like my hair?" He turns with a smile on his face, fully prepared to compliment me as a husband should, and his smile turned to a grimace, haha.. I like surprising him sometimes... :D 

I think I was born in the wrong era. 

Garage Sale Goodie Bags pt.1

I've been absent for quite awhile, I've been busy filming various projects, and between that, acting class, rehearsals for the upcoming Passion Play, my creative flow needed a little break. But here I am, debuting a few new things. Most of them won't be anything spectacular, just some nips and tucks if you will, but still, the fun and adventure continues! I have a super duper, so excited I can hardly wait refash coming up, but I can't debut it until after a certain event where I will wear said refash.... my first ever feature film premiere!!!!

But more on that later, here's today's project.

Not bad, actually. It's a bit too big, but eh.. I like it well enough as is, just wanted a little tweaking. Btw, with the title, I got to a garage sale as they were closing up, and they handed me a plastic bag and told me to fill it up for a dollar!!! I got 12 items! This is one of them. My new blouse cost me about $0.08 cent. I'm beyond cool with that. Almost as good as free! There is something to hitting garage sales at the end of the day.. (beats having to get up early on a Saturday too!)

Anyhoo, the only sewing I did on this was to change the neckline a bit, and then added a belt so I wouldn't look lumpy. Nothing special, but I think it's cute. Here's the finished product.

The neckline is a touch lower than I would have liked, although you can't tell in this pic. No biggie really. Never try to cut something while you are wearing it, you will cut it crooked. I was being lazy. Laziness doesn't profit anyone. There, now you know. 

Like I said, nothing special, but it's very comfortable, and cute, so I'm happy!

All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go

Hello beautifuls!! Here I am debuting my favorite refashion yet!!! (Alas and I still have adjustments to make on it, as I didn't realize until I put it on for pictures, but I'm ready to show you anyway!) Be advised that the pictures do not do it justice, for some reason getting a good angle was not going to happen today.

Here is the before!

I've been wanting to do something like this since Jillian from Refashionista debuted an awesome pants to dress refash! Process pics were very difficult to get for some reason, you couldn't tell what I was doing aside from hemming stuff, so I'll just cut to the chase and show the afters!

Ta da!! I'm super excited about how it turned out! I think I will tighten the straps a bit, and pull the top up a little higher, it wasn't sitting quite right.. or maybe I just need better.. support.. for this garment. Kudos to my brother for giving me advice on the jewel and ribbon placement, and overall finesse of the garment!

I cut my head off in this pic because the pose and angle were good, and I WASN'T smiling. Grrr.  I'm very happy about it though! Now I just need an occasion to wear it!

Summer blues

Ah, summer, with the glorious, melt in a puddle heat, how I miss thee! So I have a summery refashion that I won't be able to wear for another four or five months. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this piece when I saw it, but I loved the color and potential.

Part of me was tempted to just take it in and save it for possible costume stuff (sans shoulder pads), a 50's housewife type of thing, but I decided I wanted to be able to wear this piece outside of a film set, so choppage commenced. 


First I removed those glorious shoulder pads (obvs), and took it in, and there are no pics of that 'cause I forgot. The elastic around the waste was a little problematic, but I already knew I was going to belt this baby, so I wasn't really worried about it.

Next came the sleeves. Cap sleeves probably would have been really cute, but that never seems to work for me on refashions because the sleeves on garments like these are very restrictive in movement per their design. Whatever. Sleeveless is a perfectly acceptable option in Florida, thank you very much!

I decided I wanted to do a high low, instead of the original idea of peplum (although if I want to go peplum, I still could, yay versatility!). So finally, Heather having learned wisdom, I chopped much longer than I thought I wanted it, and tried it on. Yes, more needed to come off.

I chopped again. There's something so scary and refreshing about chopping big chunks of fabric off of a garment, isn't there? I rounded it off a bit at the end of my chop. I tried it on with baited breath. And loved it!!!

The one sleeve/shoulder thing is still a little funky, but it's no big deal, it's a casual top anyway. I removed that one button on the bottom of the front, and it made all the difference! I LOVE it! (btw, belts cover a multitude of sins in the refashion process, can I get an amen?)

Can't wait to wear this top! Spring, here we come!!

Refashion or refitting?

Hello beautifuls! 

Today's post isn't really a refashion, I didn't do anything fancy shmancy, I just fitted the garment, but I really like it! I wore it to church today, and got the most comments on it that I think I've ever had on a refash, so yay!! Here's the original.

Sorry no process pics, I got a little lazy. I took out the shoulder pads, took everything in, and removed the sleeves. I LOVE it!! Yay for finding peplum that (mostly) suits me!

I have a really fun refashion-that-is-definitely-a-real-refashion coming up, it's almost finished!!! Super excited, it will probably be my favorite!

Wallpaper Blouse

"Nice dress, looks like wallpaper... Uh, pretty wallpaper!" Line off a Mel Gibson movie with Elijah Wood. So this was my version of pretty wallpaper clothes. I've been gone for most of October filming a movie called, 'The Return' in Wisconsin. I actually made one of the costumes for it, I can't wait to show you guys! This is my first refashion since coming home.

Not so very dreadful really, just too big. And still smelled like it's former owner, very strongly, though fortunately it is not an unpleasant smell. Rare for thrift store clothes, eh? But as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! I don't think I got any process pictures of this one, so it'll just be befores and afters.

Ta da!! I really love it! I cut off the black sleeves and shoulders, took it in on the sides, and left the collar as is. I fastened it with a belt because I didn't take it in quite enough, and just didn't feel like working on it, when a belt does the job fantastically.

There wasn't enough material in the back to hide the bra strap, it just wasn't going to happen, so I tried to sew some of the black from the sleeves to the back of the shirt to make up the difference, and that wasn't going to happen, so I just went with this awesome black modesty panel/tube thing. This top is a bit more casual, so I don't mind the black showing in the back. Very comfortable, very wearable, very cute!