Embellished Plaid Tunic

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Kat

left shoulder detail

I picked up this over-sized plaid shirt at a garage sale. So sorry but my before pic didn’t turn out. This was an easy refashion but I wanted to show it to you all so you can see how some very simple changes make something much more wearable.

I took in the shirt by running a stitch up both sides from the hem to right under the arm, tapering it out to meet the old seam at the arm hole. Then I stitched another line from the cuffs to the top of the shirt, tapering it out to meet the old arm hole.

I had some appliques in my stash that matched this top perfectly. I hand-stitched them to each shoulder, going for an asymmetric look rather than trying to make them look exactly the same. Add a belt and my fifty cent garage sale purchase is now a cute new tunic.

right shoulder

the whole shabang

Paisley Poncho

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Kat

I’ve been into taking scarves that I love but never wear and making them into clothing that I will wear. This scarf was a large square which I folded in half so that it was a triangle. I cut a long oval at the folded edge of the triangle that was big enough to slip over my head. I was a little too ambitious with my cut though and it was way too big. I tried gathering the neckline to the right size and while that worked well it didn’t look very good. Solution: I left it gathered and used the sleeve from a workout jacket which I no longer wear to make a collar for my poncho

a little off-the-shoulder action

twisted rose at the shoulder

The Versatile Maxi Skirt

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Kat

I had a halter dress that I loved and wore a lot – a few years ago. The rule in my closet is that no matter how much I love it, if I’m not wearing it then it gets moved to the refashion closet.

I had an idea I wanted to try out and this dress ...

+ this t-shirt would be the perfect pieces for this experiment.

The first step is to remove the bodice from the skirt.

Bye-bye dress, hello skirt and new top.

I removed the cute little applique from the t-shirt. I’m not that into appliques, but this one has potential for a future refashion.

Whada ya' think? Pretty cute, right?

Then I cut across the t-shirt right under the arm cycles to get a tube which will become the waistband/bodice of my new skirt/strapless dress. All I had to do was sew the tube to the skirt. Since the t-shirt was too large, I had more fabric than I needed to make this a secure waistband. So I sewed up the length of the tube, allowing the excess fabric to cascade into a ruffle. When the waistband is folded down the ruffle is hidden, and when the waistband is extended the ruffle is a nice detail.