80's Dress to Hi-Lo Skirt Refashion

Greetings good people :]

I know that I've been pretty absent lately, and that makes me mega-sad, but hopefully I can do something about that! A lot has happened for me personally over the past... however long it's been, including moving away from all my people, getting my first big-kid post-grad job, and other various hiccups that come along with living in the real world.

But I have been at least somewhat creative in the meantime!

For example, I have done a few refashions, as well as worked on a few art pieces, which I hope to share some time soonly. In the mean time, here's a thing that I did manage to work up:

Gosh, I do love me some ridiculous 80's patterns [as well as giant 80's hair, which I decided to rock today]. They're just so ridiculously fab, how could you not love... whatever that is?

This refashion was not what I initially intended it to be. Originally, I thought that I was just going to keep it a dress because I loved that great gold button at the collar, but, well.. you'll see.

I started off by taking out the shoulder pads because while the linebacker look is great, it's just not my deal.

Then I started cutting off one of the arms of the dress following the curve of the weird shoulder-region.

When I got to the other sleeve though, I ran into a major snag. I got a little zesty with the scissors and cut the curve way too far, practically all the way to where the buttons are. Oops. Wild woman over here. So I decided to go a different route because yay problem-solving.

I decided that this dress actually wanted to be a skirt the entire time, so I gave into its wishes and cut the whole bottom of the dress off.

I then folded it my raw edge over once very small-like and sewed that down. I then folded it over again to create a casing for some elastic to be threaded through. I left a small section open though so that I could put the elastic in.

I measured a piece of 1" elastic around my waist so that it was comfortable, then added about an extra inch to that measurement so that I'd have a seam allowance.

I threaded the elastic through the hole in the casing, then sewed the two ends of the elastic together...

...and then I closed the hole in the casing.

All I had left to do was give my skirt a subtle hi-lo hemline by folding the skirt in half and cutting the hem on a slight curved angle. Then I hemmed up my raw edge and BOOM. Done.

Although this refashion wasn't what I expected or intended, I quite like the result! The hi-lo effect is not over the top, so I kind of like the subtlety of it all. I guess this refashion was just one of those happy accidents :]

So, any other accidental refashions out there?
I'll be linkin' mine up, for sure
x x x

Tassel Dress Refashion

Howdy :]

Guess who has to start school on Monday? This kid.
Guess who is completely not ready to start school on Monday? Also this kid.

So instead of going back to my new apartment to unpack and get ready for the new school year, I have a refashion to share!

[Sorry for the blurry image] But this one was a bit of a doozy. I had no idea what to do with it at first since it was so bizarre, but I think I managed to give it a little bit of an update!

That pattern was just too fantastic to pass up; I mean little gold tassels and crazy patterns everywhere? I say AW HECK YEAH. So here was how I did a major overhaul on this one:

First I ripped out the ever-so-lovely shoulder pads. I really need to figure out something to do with all of these shoulder pads I'm amassing haha. I also cut out that weird white undershirt that was sewn into the front of the dress. [You heard me. Sewn in white shirts. I don't even.]

Then I a) cut off the weird shoulder detail things and b) Cut off the entire collar of the dress. Basically, a lot of chopping was in store for this dress...

Then here is where you'll have to bear with me a little bit: I decided to turn the entire dress backwards. I knew that without the white shirt demon-thing, the front of the dress would be entirely too inappropriate, so I cut a new neckline out of the back of the dress instead.

Then it was back to more chopping- the sleeves got a good shortening, as well as the bottom of the dress.

With all the chopping done, I turned the dress inside out, then took the entire top half in a good inch or two so that it fit me a little better. Then once it was all fitted, I hemmed the sleeves, neckline, and bottom of the skirt portion.

Unfortunately, here was where I ran into a little more trouble. I could have worn the dress as-is at this point, with a super open back and everything, but I felt that if I did that, I could run into some dangerous territory. So instead I came up with this crazy idea: using a scrap from the bottom of the dress, I sewed a rectangle that was a little bit long and wide [to conceal a bra backing CLEVER ME], which I proceeded to sew into the bottom-back area of the dress to hold it together a little better.

I then did the same thing with a long skinny rectangle of fabric, this time attaching it to the upper part of the back of the dress.

And then there it was! A funky-printed, cut-out dress! It's a little weird because I have to slip the whole thing over my head to get it on [I only put two buttons on the back near the butt-region], so if I ever do something like this again, I'll probably not sew the back straps down like I did.

But regardless of that fact, I'm still pleased to knock another crazy dress out of my "to be refashioned" pile :]

Have a pleasant Thursday! [AND REMEMBER THAT PROJECT RUNWAY IS ON TONIGHT AW YISS].


Linkin' up Here and Here.

80's Shirt Refashion

Well hey dere :]

 I managed to do another refashion a little while ago:

Man, I really love the 80's. I really regret not being born during that decade [90's child whaaaat].

Like for real. Nothing says "Today is a good day" like obscene prints and patterns. I was not loving the shape and fit of that shirt though so I decided to give it a nice little update:

First, [after marking with chalk] I cut the sleeves off to make it more tank-top-y.

Then hacked off the collar to make a more flattering neckline...

Then I flipped it inside out and took in the sides an inch or two. After finishing off my hems, this bad boy was ready to be worn!

Day-um guuurl, lookin' fly [was fly said in the 80's? What decade was that? I don't care, I'm bringin' it back either way.]



Linkin' up HERE and HERE!