Recycling Shoes? Why yes of course!

Why am I wearing two different shoes?

Well, I'm actually not! I made the one on the left out of the partner from the other one! Not that I didn't like the blue polka-dotted ones, no - in fact, I liked them so much, that they ended up looking like this:

Yikes!!
Turn something bad into something good? Yes, of course!

Dress Shirt goes Fashion! (With step-by-step)

Hello everybody! I hope you are having a great summer!

Well I am finally back, after lots of work and some vacation, and I got around to doing another refashion for refashion co-op.

I got this old - but good-quality - dress shirt from my husband, really too good to throw away, and I needed some short-sleeve tops for myself anyway. But of course I thought what probably most of you are thinking: another men's dress shirt refashion, just cutting off sleeves and collar and turning it into a women's short-sleeve blouse? Yawn! 

A bit of brainstorming later I came up with this so-simple twist. One thing I learned: Less is more, most of the time. So I went for ONE eye-catcher on this one:

It sports a cute "cut-in" shape sleeve (as opposed to "cut-outs"....). The "sleeve" being just the yoke from the men's shirt, left entirely "intact", in front as well as in the back:

What is great about this re-fashion is that it gets rid of the parts that usually are worn down most in men's shirts: Collar, cuffs, and even the arm-pits will be cut away if you are using a shirt that is way too big on you...

It was almost too simple to give a step-by-step, but here goes:

Concert Dress Refashion: From Drab to Fab!

Here is my newest Refashion project!

As some of you know, I am a professional singer. A while ago, I refashioned a concert dress for a series of concerts around New Years Eve. Finally I am getting around to posting!

A Shirt and a Skirt getting married... (with step-by-step)

Here it is, this months contribution to the refashion co-op!

I had this skirt in my closet for a long time, having only worn it once. It was really pretty and all, just not the right length for me, and gaping a lot at the waist (see picture below). And then there was this top which was such a perfect fabric match - they were just meant for each other:

Oh let's just have a little more fun! Here goes:

Linen Remake - with tutorial / how-to!

Summer is here! As much as I'm starting to get into sewing quick t-shirts from jersey (tutorial coming up!), the best thing to wear on a hot day is loose linen or silk tops. This shirt was handed down to me from my generous husband (who dislikes the fast wrinkling...). It was in good shape, just -well- a man's cut and size...

I know pin-tucks are usually placed closer to the center, but I didn't want to take off the collar and I needed to get rid of some excess width on the shoulders anyway, so I placed them further out than normal. I think it adds a lovely twist with them going over the shoulder and all the way down the back...

It was a quick project and gave me the chance to finally start using some of those pressure feet I never use, as well as some specialty stitches from my machine.

The London Coat

Another coat?! Yes, another coat!

It's not like I need more coats. But coats are good. Coats are comfy, cozy and make winter more enjoyable. And for whatever reason, coats inspire me. Or how would you say it the other way around... when I see other garments, they often inspire me to turn them into coats. It might be strange, but that's the way it is.

What would you have made from this great 60's number?

Sweater Refashion Extravaganza #3

This is the story of how I turned a little Grandma-number

...into a funky, even casually sexy item - with pockets!

Sweater Refashion Extravaganza #2

So here comes my second sweater re-fashion project. A great example how less is sometimes more. In this case, it really didn't take much to turn this sweater from a boring never-worn item to a favorite cold-day darling. It is 100% cashmere, which is why I really wanted to turn it into something I wear...

Turtlenecks just never look good on me to begin with. The distance from neck to bust-point is shorter on me than in standard sizes, which is why this sweater also wrinkles in that area. On top of that, I had nasty little glue spots in the lower center front. These facts pretty much sent me on my way, and out came this: A two-color v-neck sweater with extralong sleeves (which, I swear, was entirely intentional!):

The Amadeus Coat

How to turn a two piece costume into a coat....
Here is my newest Re-fashion! I have actually finished it a few weeks ago and am proud to say that I am wearing it almost daily, so this one definitely goes into the book of successes! :-)

It started out as a wool costume, which I had bought at the flee market for a ridiculous amount of 5 Euros... It's a fabulous herringbone pattern wool in turquoise and purple! Swoon!

Here is the before and after:

 It was too big for me, and in general I just would have never worn it this way, so please forgive me for cutting into it...

The Cowgirl Refashion!

Or: When pant legs turn into sleeves...

Do you think I post a lot of refashions lately because I believe they take less time than clothes made from scratch? - Yes, that't true.
Do refashions REALLY take less time? - Nope, that's not true :-)

...especially if you take a guys shirt and girls pants and realize too late that the closures don't match up. More about that later...

The colors of these two items were so similar, they just ASKED for me to marry them...
Uhm yes, I x-ed out my face. I thought it would be funny to make a really silly face, but it ended up so deliciously stupid that I would for sure have landed on some list of "worst pictures people post of themselves"...

T-Shirt Refashion-Extravaganza! Grand Finale - Full Tutorial/How-To!

Here is the grand finale of my T-Shirt Refashion Extravaganza: Made from small scraps of jersey, and some crepe added for the skirt parts:

As you see, I made two versions, slight improvements and variations between them. And yes, it comes with a full how-to/tutorial!

The differences are the sleeves versus a neck holder, the different hight for the waist, and a small change on how I put together the skirt. I will give you both options in the tutorial, so lets get right to it!

T-Shirt Refashion-Extravaganza! Project 3

Well, after my 3- and 4-shirt re-fashions, what can follow? Sure, the 5-shirts would be obvious, but no, I am following up with a simple t-shirt from a t-shirt. But:

It's a refashioned refashion!

I am totally in love with it now, which is why I find it worth reporting even though it is such a small little project.
The first time I made this, it started from a thrifted knit tank:

T-Shirt Refashion-Extravaganza! Project 2

As promised, here it comes, my next t-shirt-upcycling-project!

This one is a little less beach and a bit more elegant than the first project. Same basic idea though - an easy-to-wear jersey dress made from shirts I don't wear (anymore). I originally chose a different combination and meant to make something roughly like this:

T-Shirt Refashion-Extravaganza! Project 1

Is there anything better to wear in summer than a one-piece-jersey dress? No double layers and bulking at the waist, and you can just throw it in the washing machine like a regular t-shirt and don't even have to iron it afterwards. Well, it was time I made myself some of these!

I had cleaned out my closet a while ago, and - being a Re-fashionista - it took care of the problem in the closet, but made the one in the sewing room much worse... The ever growing pile of fabrics and clothes-to-be-refashioned...!

Look at the huge pile of T-shirts I had sorted out - some because of the wrong fit, some because of stains, some from my husband, and well, many because I just actually don't really wear t-shirts at all:

Much better than the sales bin at a fabric store, right? :-)

Original Vintage Refashion!

Yes, I promised a new free pattern, and I am almost ready with it. But first I had to fit in my monthly contribution to the refashion co-op! After last months huge success with the 9 shirts off his back, I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to live up to the expectations for my next project... :-) But how about this - an original 1943 Refashion project?

I own a few German pattern magazines from the 40's and they feature a one-page refashioning section! They certainly had to use all the resources they could get their hands on. In this example, they suggest using an old long-sleeve blouse on which the collar, buttons, underarms and cuffs are torn up and turn it into this cute short-sleeve version, for which you can cut away all the problematic areas...

9 Shirts off his Back!

*** I cleaned out my closet! ***

Doesn't that always feel fabulous? All that new space for new clothes! But then again, being a re-fashionista, the pile in my sewing-room grew bigger and bigger proportionally... even more so since my husband went ahead and cleaned out his side, too...

What was I to do? Well, nine shirts later I got to this:

I used up nine shirts, most of them from my husband, only two from myself - one is missing in the picture below:

Some were short-sleeves, some long, some had stains, others were just out of style, others worn-out in some places. I tried to keep as many elements from the shirts as possible, like the collar, hems, buttons... But see for yourself, I'll give you a little how-to:

Fab Coat Now Wearable!

Here it is, my February contribution to the Refashion co-op!

I would say there are two categories of refashion projects:

1. The ones you make out of items that are just not fashionable anymore the way they are.
2. The ones you make with garments that don't fit anymore (or that need mending...).

Slashing that Stash: Bathroom Rug Tutorial!

Ta-Daaaa, here is a great project to get rid of a bunch of fabric in your stash:

It's a rug made from fabric braids, I made mine for the bathroom. It's really quite simple to make, and what I love about it is that you can incorporate fabrics in your stash that you wouldn't know what else to do with anymore otherwise. You know, the sales-bin fabric that upon closer inspection is a really nasty synthetic fiber, not suitable for a garment. Or the one that looks different in daylight, or the left-overs from a garment, for which you bought twice the amount than you actually needed. You get my point.

The only thing you should think about is that you can wash it in the end - so no fabrics that bleed heavily or that aren't washable. Make sure you pre-wash all the fabrics, too.

How-To: Make the Bodice for the suit-refashion Overall

Welcome to my second How-To post for how I turned my Husbands old suit into the overall below!

And what perfect timing for the "Sew Grateful" series, happening over at My Happy Sewing Place, which truly is right up my alley :-)

Not only am I sew grateful that my husband gave me the suit (he has learned to give me just about everything that remotely resembles fabric before throwing it away), I have also used thread, needles and a rotary cutter that my mom has given me, and I am also ever sew grateful for the on-line sewing community, which really has kicked off my sewing hobby to a new level. I have learned so much from the many sewing-bloggers out there, thank you ever so much. I can only hope that the one or other project/tutorial on my blog will inspire others, too!

In the first How-To post HERE I showed you how to fit the pants, today we will fit the jacket to make the bodice. Of course, depending on the suit you are starting out with, and also depending on your shape, things might be a bit different. However, I think these steps should get you there in most cases, if the initial fit of the suit matches the description in my first post (basically, it just really has to be too big)...

Slashing that Stash...: Envelope Cushions How-To

Welcome to my new Guest-Bed/Sofa:

Well, the actual guest-bed isn't new, but I finally got around to making pillow-covers for it. I decided I needed to do some drastic diminishing of my fabric stash, and that is the first of a few projects that I came up with for that purpose.