Fashion Upcycle 2

Well, I finished the lopsided dress. Ya, that was fun. It's not a dress anymore. In fact, it was almost stuffing for my dog bed. Some days are just not made for sewing. That day, every stitch I took seemed to lead to a problem. I should have just packed it away and started again later. But nooo...I couldn't let the bad vibes win. So, here is the result...

Pretty bad huh?  ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding!

After repeated struggles to make the previous alterations go away, I finally gave up. That seamstress even cut the darts and you can't put back what ain't there. So, I cut. Well, first it went in the scrap bin but then being the recycler (cheapo) that I am, I gave it one more try. A skirt. Of course I screwed up one more time by accidentally catching the hem in the serger while finishing a seam. That meant I had to re-sew the hem. Again it went in the bin. And again I fished it out.

Here is the finished product. Stupid dress.

Fashion Upcycle

Whew! I've been busy. Not busy blogging obviously but busy! Anyway, I haven't finished my upcycles yet but I wanted to give you and idea of what I am working on.

This dress is not my favorite but I like the fabric.

I bought it for my honeymoon (10 years ago) and it's been worn once. Don't like the off-the-shoulder or the asymetrical hem.

So....I will cut off the hem to make it even and I'll use the leftover hem to make a strap on the empty side.

All was going well until I tried it on before completing the sewing and remembered (thanks to the tight fit), that I'd had it altered before the wedding, and then I went and had 3 children. Sooooo, now I am picking out the stitches of the alterations (she cut off the excess fabric so now I have very little to work with) and working to make it fit. Fortunately it is cut on the bias so if I can just loosen the bust area it should fit fine.

Come back to find out if the finished project goes into MY closet or Good Will's.

Three outfits in one day Tutorial

Yep, I did that. But really, I'm not bragging.
Within one hour, I made three new outfits.
It's easy. First, I started with this dress.

Then I cut it in half. Using a cutting board, straight edge and rotary cutter makes this task especially easy and smooth.

For the top half I simply put in a 1/2" hem using a cover stitch machine. If you don't have a cover stitch machine, you can substitute an double needle. If your fabric is stretch, use a ball-point double needle. To make a straight hem from the front side of the fabric, I start with a 1/2" basting stitch along the edge to be hemmed. Be sure you are set for wide stitches because you are using this stitching line as a fold line and will be pulling it out after the hem is in.

Now you are ready to hem. With the fabric heading into the feeders right-side-up, fold the fabric under on the basting line you previously sewed. Continue till you are done, carefully pull out the basting stitch and now you have a new top.






















For the bottom I used fold-over elastic. Awesome stuff. Here is a fold-over elastic tutorial for you reference. I probably should have taken the waist of the skirt in a little since it was originally down at the lower hips. I had to do a lot of stretching with the elastic to get it to fit. Just and FYI.

Here are my new outfits:

Thanks so much for visiting!