Monday, February 16, 2015

Refashioned Beach Dress



  Do you ever go to the beach and end up buying stuff you'll never use? ..or is that just me? Well, if you haven't guessed, I bought this dress on a beach trip. I don't even remember which beach. Everything seems to look better at the beach. Maybe if you live on a beach you wouldn't think so, but I don't and in fact, it is snowing here, right now.

  I love the fabric, but I didn't really like the top part of this dress. I'm not so busty and can't pull it off, so I decided to turn it into a maxi skirt.



  First, I held the dress against me to the length I wanted it. I folded the top and cut at that point.  It came out to be 3 inches shy of what I would cut a maxi skirt for myself at, but I'm going to use part of the top as a waistband.


  After cutting, I had to make my lines a little straighter and cut one seam so I can make it smaller.


  I made it to be 4 inches smaller than my waist because the material is really stretchy. Then I sewed the band closed again to make a circle and folded in half lengthwise with right side out. I tried to hand baste a loose straight stitch, but ended up taking it out because it didn't allow the material to stretch enough to pin it to the skirt.


  I think this is the hardest part for me - putting these two pieces together. I placed the band on the outside of the skirt and evenly pinned the two together. Sewing was a pain because I had to stretch the band as I went to match up with the skirt. I guess I need more practice with that because I had a couple holes. I had to go back over to get it right.


   I think I got it right, and I'm diggin' my new skirt! I don't know what I'm gonna do with the top part. I'm past the days when I would wear it like that! Maybe I'll make some type of headpiece.



Sunday, February 1, 2015

Sweater Refashion

   I realize that to get better at sewing, I'm going to have to practice. I refashioned one of my husband's old sweaters into a skirt. I didn't take enough pictures to make a tutorial, but click here for a link to one with really cute skirts. I should've put elastic in the wasteband, but other than that, I think it looks cute!



   Next was my weekend project. I wanted a cowl neck hoodie. I used a couple sweatshirts that I had as a pattern. I am very happy with how it turned out. Not so bad for a beginner, and it's something that I would actually wear in public! I must say that fleece is very forgiving.