Thrift Store Refashion: Skater Skirt

                                         

My friend and I were thrift shopping when we found this really fun printed skirt. Unfortunately, it was really long and old fashioned. My friend loved the fabric so much that I told her to get it and I could make it into a cute short skirt. It's the perfect skirt for springtime, if only the weathermen would quit predicting snow.

The original skirt: 

I laid the skirt out and noticed that it wasn't a straight skirt. The easiest way to make this into a short skirt would be to just cut the skirt at the length I wanted and re-hem it, but I wanted the skirt to flare more so I decided to cut from the bottom.

Taking a yard stick, I measured up 20 inches from the hem (I added a couple inches to the length I wanted to leave room for the elastic). I took my yard stick along the bottom hem as I was cutting to cut straight with the curve of the skirt.

This is what I will make the skirt out of.

Lastly, I pinned and sewed a slit for the elastic then fed the elastic through.

Enjoy!

Thrift Store Refashion: Bustier Top

                             

You may remember this top from the top of the dress I thrifted and turned into a skirt. My friend was looking through my blog and saw the original dress and asked if I still had the top to the dress. She said she really liked it and gave my the idea to turn it into a bustier type top. So after a little creativity and brainstorming, I ended with this wonderful summer top.

This is the original top of the dress:

                     

The first thing I did was take off the frills. I thought that they were childish and distracting on the top.

                                

Next, since I took the midsection for my skirt, the top was left a little short. I went to the fabric store and found this beautiful cotton print with pink figures in it. The fabric was in the quilting section so I bought a fat quarter.

I measured along the bottom of the top to get the length of my fabric. I made if about 6 inches wide because I am going to fold it in half. I cut 2 rectangles.

I pinned and sewed one side of the rectangles together. The other side was left open for the zipper.

I ironed the strip of fabric in half.

Then I pinned the fabric to the bottom of the top and sewed.

Lastly, I put in a zipper. I choose a hot pink zipper to match the pink figures in the print.

Hope you enjoyed this thrift store refashion and happy DIYing!

DIY Bow Earwarmer

                 

                 

                  

Well its just snowed here in Missouri over this wonderful President's Day weekend, and I thought why not do another warm DIY. I remembered that I had seen these knitted bow ear warmers at a craft fair in the fall but I have no idea how to knit so I decided to try it with a sweater. This was the thrift store sweater I had left over from my boot cuffs DIY.

Supplies:

Sweater or warm/stretchy fabric

Sewing Pins

Cutting board or hard surface to cut on

Scissors

Measuring Tape

Sewing Machine

1. The first thing you are going to want to do is to measure around your head. My head was 22 inches. Lay out the fabric or sweater you will be using.

2.  Next, you are going to cut out a rectangle. I made the length of my rectangle 20 inches because the fabric of the sweater was really stretchy. The width is up to you. I made mine about 4 inches wide to cover my ears plus a little more. Note: I cut on the fold of the sweater so I divided my length in half.

Here's what the rectangle looked like unfolded:

3. Pin the right sides together and sew leaving the ends open.

4. Now time for the bow. I cut a two smaller rectangles out of the sweater, both about 4x7. I also cut a strip of fabric that is going to be the middle of the bow. Hemming the strip is optional, it is totally up to you and what kind of fabric you are using. I didn't hem the strip because I didn't want the bulkiness but I did apply Fray Check along the edges to prevent it from fraying.

5. Take the two rectangles and pin them together, leaving an opening in the middle top. Sew. Note: The opening is at the middle top so that we can flip the bow right sides out and then cover the opening with the strip that goes in the middle of the bow.

6. Take the ear warmer and stuff one open end into the other about 1/2 inch. Pin and sew.

Here are the ear warmer and bow ready to be connected:

7. Place the bow on top of the ear warmer, covering the seam. slightly scrunch them together with your fingers. Take the strip of fabric and wrap it around the bow and ear warmer once. Pin in the back and sew, then cut the extra length of the strip.

Hope everyone enjoyed this DIY and are having a wonderful winter. Stay warm!

                  

Valentine's Day Project: Heart Elbow Patches

For Valentine's Day, I wanted to find a really cute DIY. I searched high and low on Pinterest for the perfect thing to make. The first thing I found that I was going to recreate was tights with hearts painted on them, but my friend and I had attempted this DIY around Halloween (she was going to be the Queen of Hearts) and couldn't really figure out a good way to let the tights dry without messing up the hearts. Then I remembered that elbow patches were on my DIY To Do list, so why not do heart shaped ones for Valentine's Day.

Supplies:

Cardigan or Sweater

1/8 yd of fabric (I used red, but you can choose any color you like)

Embroidery floss (the same color as your fabric)

A piece of paper

Interfacing

Sewing needle

Sewing pins

Sewing scissors

1. I started with this sweater. It's cream colored with red polka dots. I looked at a couple thrift shops trying to find a black or gray plain cardigan, but I couldn't find. Then I remembered I had this cardigan in my closet that I hadn't worn I a while and I could spice it up a bit.

2. I put the cardigan on and marked a little pot with permanent marker at the center of my elbow so I could place the hearts later on.

                            

3. Next, I searched Google images for a heart outline and printed it out about the same size as my hand. You could also draw a heart, but my drawing skills aren't that great so I stuck with printing it out. I pinned the outline on the red fabric and cut out two hearts.
                               

4. Then I ironed interfacing on the back of the two hearts to make them a little sturdier.

5. The next part is going to be to pin and sew the hearts onto the elbows of the sweater. I had this tube from when I ordered a poster online so I stuffed it into the sleeve so the sleeve would hold the form of an arm.

                               

Pin the hearts to the sleeves using the marks you made as a guideline for the center.

                                

Use embroidery floss to hand stitch the hearts on.

All done!! Now, I just have to wait until Valentine's Day to wear my beautiful sweater.

                                

Thrift Store Refashion: Dress to Skirt

                                               

      

                                                   

This thrift store refashion started with this dress. I saw it in the thrift store with the tags still on it and it was only $5!! I excitedly bought the dress without trying it on. The only thing wrong with it was that the zipper was broken, but that's an easy fix. Upon getting home and trying the dress on, I discovered that it was too short for my long 5'9" frame. I really loved the dress though and it sat in my to do pile for a couple months while I decided what to do with it. Eventually, I came up with the idea to separate the top and bottom and turn the dress into a skirt. This idea would preserve the lace edging around the bottom that I loved so much.

The top that I would cut off:

                       

The lace edging that I love:

First, I went in with my seam ripper. I used a seam ripper instead of just cutting the dress across because then I could preserve the already finished edges and also I wouldn't have to worry about my cutting being straight. I ripped the seam that was between the top part of the dress and the middle section. I ripped out the broken zipper as well. I decided to leave the middle section to act as a band around the top of the skirt. I also left the strips of fabric that you could tie in the back to make a bow.  

                               

This is what the skit looked like without the top:

Next, I pinned the inside and outside of the band of the skirt together to sew and finish the seam. The fabric was already iron down towards the inside so all I had to do was pin the inside and outside together. I used a long stitch to sew them together.

                            

Lastly, I pinned and sewed in a new zipper.