80's Lady to Modern Mama

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Happy snow days to those of you experiencing winter wonderlands.  I'm sure some of you might think I'm crazy, but I would love to be walking down a snowy street, hand-in-hand with my sweetheart.  Hawaii is gorgeous, but I always long for a little snow about this time of year.  I guess the grass is always greener...

Anyway, I have a great blouse refashion to share with you today.

I snagged this beautifully colored crepe blouse at a garage sale for $0.50.  Even though it screamed 80's Lady, I knew it had real potential.

Holy shoulder pads!  These are about the biggest I've seen.  I got rid of them right away and then went to work with my seam ripper.  I removed the collar, sleeves, and sleeve bands.  I then seam ripped the shoulders apart.

Refashion Runway Season Two: Halloween Refashion

I've awaken from the dead (a dead sleep, that is) to provide you with some details about this week's Halloween refashion challenge.  For me, it was perfect for Halloween... a nightmare.

I returned from my trip to Oklahoma on Sunday and spent the next five days in a foggy jet lag haze.  Although I had looked forward to this week's challenge from the beginning, I had no idea what I wanted to create.  So, I gathered as many black and orange pieces that I could collect and began making a dress that started to resemble something that I might wear to an Oklahoma State football game.  It didn't quite sit well with me.  Midweek, I scrapped the dress and decided to make a butterfly costume.

My vision for this refashion far outweighed my sewing ability, and as I burned the midnight oil trying to complete it, I stumbled across challenge after challenge.  Throughout this process, there was a little voice in the back of my head telling me to just let it go – throw in the towel.  Yet, I couldn’t.  I had imagined a butterfly dress fitted with long silk chiffon sleeves and a wing skirt, and I wasn’t going to stop until it resembled the picture in my head. I stayed up late and got up at the crack of dawn.  My very supportive husband stepped in to pick up the slack.  It took up until the last minute on Friday to complete this butterfly dress, but I am proud of my creation.

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While I was in Oklahoma, I purchased two dresses (one silk and the other polyester crepe) from an estate sale for $0.25 each.  I had planned to use them for another refashion, but since I had no other options for my butterfly dress, they had to be used.  Also, I had recently purchased a silk chiffon scarf from Goodwill for $2 (it was half off of $3.99), which I had originally planned to use for flowers for my first Halloween dress.  I decided to challenge myself and create a top and sleeves from this beautiful slinky fabric.

The black dress is silk and the green dress is polyester crepe.

Refashion Runway Season Two: Leather

This week I'm in my beautiful home state of Oklahoma, which works out great for this week's leather refashion.  I had to leave my dress form at home, but  I'm lucky that my gorgeous sister, Amber, volunteered to let me make a refashion for her.  She even modeled for me.

I found this neon green leather skirt at Goodwill for $10 (leather is not cheap in Hawaii).  The zipper was broken, and I began to wonder if there was any way I could save it.  Just when I was about to give up hope, I remembered that I had tried to make a dress out of a tribal print skirt, which didn't quite work out, and I had a pair of jeans that were too big. 

Before

Refashion Runway Week Three: Funky Corduroy Peplum

Note: I'm traveling this week, so this post is going to be brief on descriptions and heavy on photos. 

I found this amazing corduroy muumuu at a Goodwill fundraiser and knew right away that I had to get it. I even paid $10 for it, which is way more than I usually pay for a piece. 



This lovely muumuu had only one pocket.  I wonder why there couldn't have been two.

Refashion Runway Week Two: The Very Emerald Muumuu

About four years ago my husband bought me a sewing machine, and since then I've been teaching myself how to sew by trial and error.  It often happens that the design in my head doesn't quite match my sewing skills, and I end up spending hours upon hours trying to figure it out.  In the case of this week's refashioning challenge, I found myself up against a steep learning curve.

Because there were very few emerald pieces to be found, I ended up with this very emerald muumuu from a church thrift shop for $2.50.

Refashion Runway Plaid Refashion Details

I had so much fun creating this week's plaid refashion.  It was a perfect way to kick off the Fall season, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

This is not to say that I didn't stumble upon some challenges along the way. I had originally planned to make the plaid skirt into a strapless dress.  A few weeks earlier I had cut up another strapless dress that was too small.  I used the top of this dress to cut a pattern out of the bottom of the skirt.  I tried several different styles, and in the end it didn't quite work out as I had imagined.

Just when I was about to revamp the whole idea, I remembered that I had a black skirt.  This black skirt had already been through a transformation.  I had made it into a pencil skirt that ended up being way too tight.  I actually wore it to work and walked around in little half-steps all day.  It was quite comical, but very uncomfortable.

Anyway....  I took off the zipper and cut the top off of the black skirt. I then fashioned a halter top of sorts over my dress form.  Using the piece that I had already cut for the plaid strapless dress, I created a color block top by attaching it to the black halter top.  I then cut the zipper out and shaped up the top of the skirt (to use for the bottom of the dress).  There was a strip of the black skirt left, so I connected the top and bottom of the dress with it, creating a color block middle.  Once this was done, I  added a zipper down the back.

When it was completed, the dress looked good, but it was missing something.  My sister suggested that I add some metal studding around the top.  This week's challenge wasn't easy, but I am so pleased with my new Fall dress.  Here's a few photos that show the process.

These photos were taken at a little French Bistro by my gracious husband.  I think he did a fabulous job.  The funnest part was having my son came along, and he loved being a part of it all!

Refashion Runway Week One: Plaid

Voting for the first challenge of Refashion Runway begins today!!  So, don't forget to vote for your favorite refashion. 

I was so happy when I found it out this first week would be plaid because I had just bought a beautifully printed plaid skirt at Goodwill for just $3.50.  Here's a little teaser before photo of the refashion.  I'll post the afters in a few days, but for now, to see them head over to The Renegade Seamstress.

Refashion Runway Season Two and Before and Afters

I have some great news!  Beth Huntington at Renegade Seamstress is hosting another season of Refashion Runway, where competitors complete a weekly refashioning challenge (kind of like an online version of Project Runway).  And I get to participate as a contestant!!  I can not tell you how excited I am. This is such a fabulous idea, and I feel really lucky that I have the opportunity to be a part of it.  

You can check out the contest details and the other seven crafty ladies who are participating here.   I hope that each week you'll check in and vote. 

On another note, I have some before and after photos to share.  These refashions were done before I thought about doing a blog.  So, I didn't take any photos as I was refashioning and they aren't the best quality. 

 

Bergdorf Goodman Silk Skirt - Goodwill $2.50

Cute Dress Refashion

Terrible photo.  Garage sale aloha shirt - $2.

Summer top and a little cutie.

Outdated fold over dress.  Garage sale - $1.

Chic Summer Dress.