Trash to treasure

I'm back!!! So after a Long hiatus from my blogging I am now back and ready to give my sewing machine some love. It's hard to blog, work full time and plan a 2 year old's birthday all while keeping up with the normal everyday things. I just couldn't find the time to sew, so the break was a must. Unfortunately I do not have any "refashions" to post today, but stay tuned because I have some coming up. I do however have some pictures of what I have been busy doing while on my blogger vacation..

I don't like to stick to just one thing when it comes to crafts and such. I like to dip into just about everything, plus it keeps things exciting :) Here is a chair my work was going to throw out because they had no use for it and apparently no one wanted it. Well I'm pretty much what you would call a "trash picker" so this was like gold to me.

Before  ...............   After

I really love how this chair turned out and it looks so lovely in my living room.

So I guess you could sorta consider this a refashion right? Hope you this inspires you to rummage through someones trash ;)

Lace it up

I love lace and the fact that it is pretty trendy right now does not hurt. I have been wanting to refashion something with lace, but when it comes to lace you have to be cautious of what material you use and what you use it for. Lace can be tricky, but the outcome is so beautiful.

I have been getting a lot of clothes given to me since the start of my blog and it's quite overwhelming. I appreciate anything anyone wants to pass off, but now I have more clothes to refashion than I do time :( I will not be able to post as often in the upcoming weeks. Lilah is turning 2 and as usual I have made a list a mile long of crafts to get started on for her party decor. So that means less time with the sewing machine and more time with my hot glue gun I fear for my fingers safety hot glue burns are retched.

Here is top that was given to me. I'm unsure if it was a night gown, dress or long top?? Either way it was thin, which is perfect for summer and floral print and if you know me you know I dig floral.

Remember that prom dress I refashioned? Well in case you forgot HERE it is. I had alot of that lace left over and I always save the scraps from my refashions just in case I want to use them for anything else. Well I wanted to incorporate the lace in something for summer and this is what I came up with.

I usually would wear a cammi underneath this top but I wanted the lace to be visible in the picture and the lace wasn't showing up with my cammi underneath, so excuse the bare back ;) lol

Mom Jeans

I really hate that high waisted jeans have been dubbed

"Mom jeans" Seriously Moms are not the only ones who have been a victim of these Jeans and at one time they were in style and almost everyone wore them. Anyways the reason I am ranting and raving is because the other day I cam across some really cute shorts here and I swear I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but they weren't! The shorts were high waisted, apparently this style has come back again? I'm fine with it, personally I like a little high waisted pant every now and again. It got me to thinking about all the thousands of "Mom jeans" out there just waiting to be cut and refashioned. I just so happened to have a pair of old jeans that were high waisted and pretty unflattering. I only wore them to do yard work in, so if I ruined them not a hug loss.



Here are the jeans after I cut them off.

It's important to remember when cutting your jeans off, don't cut too short. This is in case you want to fold them over or if you cut uneven, always longer first then go back and re cut per your liking.

I prefer to fold my shorts over and give them that huckleberry fin look ;)

I really hate the facial expression I'm making. It would be nice if my husband would tell me that I'm making a confused look.HA!

So basically all this refashion in tales is sewing a fabric of your liking to one side of the shorts and hemming the shorts in a fold over. If you choose to not fold over and hem even easier. I will be doing some more of these type of shorts with a little bling added..stay tuned!

Jetson Flashback

Today's refashion feels Like I stepped right off the set of "That 70's show". It was a bit too Groovy baby. I don't know why I gravitate towards the strange and unusual it may be because I like a challenge or I wish I could have rocked this when it was in style or maybe a little bit of both.

I know I am strange for saying this, but isn't the pattern just awesome! I couldn't get over this gem when I came across it at the salvation army. I mean who would pass this up right? I know I know the "style" is a wee bit out of date, but other than that, overall it's completely salvageable :)

I'm looking pretty sharp eh?

After it was all said and done with I removed the sleeves, that was a MUST! Then I shortened it by a lot and then there was that dreaded 70's pointy collar **sigh** I was at a loss on how to make that thing look good and after much deliberation (with myself of coarse) I decided to cut it off and after I did that I hated it (typical) so back to the drawing board I went. I decided it needed the collar just not in the same way it was on there. I flipped it up side down and gave them a more Jane Jetson look..I always loved the Jetson's when I was a kid. Anyways I am happy with the overall look and it's more of a "going out" outfit not really appropriate for the workforce ;)

 Modern day Jane Jetson? I think so :)

For those of you who have no clue who or what I am talking about I will give you a little flashback to a cartoon I grew up watching. It's a true staple in cartoon history.

Like Mother like..

When I was a little girl I remember wanting to

dress up just like my momma. I have never really been able to wear her clothes and especially not her shoes.

On a recent visit to my parents house my mom was going through her things and pulled out this navy blue/black dress. It was really cute, a bit out of style, but overall it had potential. When she took the dress out she handed it to me and said "hear put it on I want to see if it fits you" me: "mom I won't fit in this" and after about a minute of us going back and forth I tried it on and well..it fit! My mom gave me the dress and said she hadn't worn it in about 10 years, but it was one of her favorite dresses so she could never get rid of it. She made me promise I would do something with it. 

After weeks and weeks of staring at the dress unsure what to do with it and kinda scared to possibly ruin a dress my mom treasured enough to keep for so long I finally got the guts to cut it up. My best friend Jenn had a great idea of raising the waist to make it more of a vintage 50's style dress rather than the droopy waist it had going on currently. I cannot tell you how many times I messed up this dress. I ended up walking away from it for a week before I finally finished it. Refashioning can be frustrating sometimes..grr.

So there you have it! A wearable updated dress that used to be my mothers and like her I can wear it and cherish it :)

Love you mom!

"PROM QUEEN"

There truly is nothing like finding a gem while thrifting. I was so exited when I came across this beauty that when I saw it I just had to have it. The best part about the dress was it was a whopping $15.00 and still had the original tags attached to it, which it so happened to be a genuine SAX dress :) Triple score!! I bought it in hopes to find a reason to wear it and for my cousin to wear it for homecoming next year, however there is always a silver lining. The dress was too small. Words do not express how heart broken I was. My husband was able to zip the back of it, but not one single breath could be taken. 

Say hello to my refashion model Jessie :)

She an walk, run and BREATH in this dress!

This dress is just adorable! I really hated to cut it up, but I also couldn't watch it sit and never be worn due to it not being "wearable" 

Isn't she the cutest!!

Okay so like I said I didn't want to do too much to change the overall style of the dress just a little "update". I think that it's important to not takeaway it's personality especially sine it is a vintage piece. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the dress is made of silk underneath and lace with gold hints on top. 

After...

I loved how this dress turned out. I know I say that about all my refashions but I literally almost fainted at goodwill when I saw the price on this dress, so it's kinda got a soft spot in my heart.

See the gold hints? Love it!

RAWR!! loving the blue nail polish..hehe

Okay so this dress is for sale. I usually do not sell any of my refashions but given the fact that I cannot wear the dress and breath at the same time is a bit of a problem, so if your interest just shoot me an email :)

Child Maxi

After a much needed 4 day weekend I am back to blogging. Today's post is a little out of the norm for me. I am typically what I consider a "fixer" but this weekend I really wanted to make my daughter a maxi dress from scratch. I got a lot of comments a week ago when out to dinner about her maxi she was wearing (it's rare to find Maxi's for children). The maxi was a dress that no longer fit me properly so I made it kid size and ultimately it became a child size maxi :)

So, I had a bunch of material left over from when I made my daughters  a table tent for Christmas. The material was old sheets I had purchased at a thrift store, but the print was just adorable. I really loved it and thought it would be perfect for a dress.

 In the first picture shows everything you will need to make this dress. I shirred the top so if you are not familiar with how to do that here is a tutorial on how to get started.

Second photo is after I held the material up to my daughter and cut it to the appropriate size. I will add that I do not measure anything I do (bad habit) I do not suggest this, however it's just my personal preference.

After measuring or choosing your length and width of your desire start sewing!

I used this stitch first, then I used a basic stitch after I was done just for extra security. I recommend this if your making it for a child because they are pretty rough on clothes.

I am terrible at "step by step" pictures, but honestly if you know the basics this is not that hard.

Here is the finished product!! The top is shirred and the "straps" are ribbon. I wanted this to be as simple as possible. It only took me an hour to make this entire dress and Lilly loved it.



The color purple

Can I just say how much I love the color purple. It's always been one of my favorite colors. I'm a fan of the movie too ;)

Today's refashion is an ode to the color purple. A friend of mine gave me this beautiful purple maxi style dress. It was such a cute dress and I couldn't wait to wear it. So what was the problem you may ask?

Well, zipping up the back was apparently not happening..major bummer!

See how cute it was? I really did like it, but with not being able to zip it up all the way I had no use for it as is.

I racked my brain on what to do with this beauty and came across a great idea here

I fell in love with what she did with the dress, so it was apparent what I should do. I have never shirred before and was a little apprehensive about it. It turned out to be the easiest thing ever and not time consuming..double win!

So here is how my shirred skirt turned out..

Not bad eh?

Oh I forgot to mention this is kinda like a "two for one" post. I forgot to take before pictures, but the shirt in the picture below I dyed with Rite dye a little ombre' affect to a boring T-shirt.







I love this outfit. It is super comfy and perfect for summer. I'm diggin' the brightness of this outfit too :)



Sunday best

When I was a little girl my momma always dressed me in the frilliest dresses for church. Well while thrifting I came across a dress that took me back in time to those days. If my mom had seen it she'd probably think it was the cutest dress ever..haha.

Looking pretty stylish right? HA

Reminds me of something you would see a grandma wearing at church.

This dress wasn't all that bad from a refashion stand point. The material was semi thick and all though it looked silky it wasn't, but had a great flow to it. I didn't have to take it in anywhere because it was already my size, so pretty much all I had to do was transform it's ugly parts aka:collar into something more attractive. easy

That's funny don't remember looking that pasty before? lol

I decided to go with a sundress style. This is definitely going to be apart of my summer wear and obviously will help me get some much needed sun.

Cost of this outfit:

Shoes: 7.00-Target

Dress: 1.00 thrifted

Total: $8.00!!

Neon, plaid and ruffles oh my!

I have been pining to refashion a men's button down for quite sometime. Every time I think of doing it though I don't have a shirt to work with. I could always steal one of lance's shirts, but he may not like that.

So while thrifting I came across this vintage style men's shirt it screamed Help me! I loved everything about it except that it was 2 sizes to large and well the fit was anything but flattering, even for a man. The best part about this shirt was that it had hints of neon like colors and the fact that it was plaid didn't hurt either.

Before I started to cut and sew away on this shirt I sat it down and really thought about what I was going to do with it. I had a few ideas in mind, but was at a loss what to do with the collar. Well that's when ruffles came to mind. Doesn't every girl need a little ruffle in their life :)

BEFORE

Don't you just love the expression on my face..BLAH! lol

After I finished the top I couldn't wait to wear it. Lance and I had planned a trip to Cleremont to take the girls to a pretty awesome playground so I thought what a better opportunity to wear my "new" shirt.

I was so pleased with how it turned out. Can you see the little hint of ruffle around the neck? This refashion consisted of removing the arms/neck, taking in the side and using the excess material to make ruffles around the neck and a tied belt for the waist. I just love the little pocket in the front I think it gives the top character.

On another note, the playground we took the girls too was a huge hit. It was a great day all around. Here's a few pictures from our day at the playground.

During our nature walk

Mommy had to join in the fun too:)

Rainy Days

 For the past few days the weather has been pretty dreary and it's looking less like the "sunshine state" and more like the rainy state. I can't complain too much though we need the rain. Lance's tomato's could use the extra rain too.

 Since its been so gloomy outside I thought I would brighten things up a bit with today's refashion. It kinda reminded me of a luau. The print is loud and bright maybe a little too bright for my usual toned down taste, but it was the perfect floral pattern for a rainy day.

 Have you ever had a piece of clothing you couldn't bare getting rid of, but refuse to wear? Well for me this rarely happens, however I had a skirt that was gifted to me about a year ago and for a year it hung in my closet unworn. For some reason I couldn't convince myself enough to get rid of it. I wasn't wearing it, had no plans on ever wearing it, but there it hung all sad and alone. The pattern is loud and frankly a bit obnoxious so what better reason to get rid of it right? Well the other day while I was on pinterest looking for inspiration for future refashions I came across this great tutorial. It was the perfect "how to" refashion for a discarded skirt.

Here's the link:

http://lisakisch.typepad.com/babies_paper_and_song/2011/05/silk-skirt-to-top-refashion.html

I immediately went to my closet and dug out that skirt and TA DA!! Here is what it looked like. I know I should have gotten rid of it long long ago, but now it will be put to some good use :)

See what I mean about the luau and not the good kind either! lol

I did do a few minor adjustments to the blouse that are different than the tutorial. Instead of overlapping the arms I took them in so it would give it clean lines. Just my personal preference.

I have to say not bad for a skirt that would otherwise be still hanging in my closet! I most definelty will be making more of these in the future. The style is is great and very flowy and the pattern isn't so bad afterall.

On the bright side of having so much rain look how green my grass is! I kinda blend in with it ;)

All in the family

 I realized that I have yet to introduce my family and with that being said I thought today's post would be a look into my life with my family.

This is us at Easter, yes I am one of those moms who makes my daughters match, not all the time though. I'm sure they will appreciate that when they are older, ha!

So we will start youngest to oldest :)

Meet Lilah Mae! This child is a character and most days I think she is going to be the death of me. She is stubborn, strong willed, kind and tender hearted. Barely 2 and she knows what she wants. Just seeing her face makes me melt though. I'm a softy.

 

Lillian Paige is my first born. Lilly has an imagination that never stops and very creative. She is also strong willed, but don't let that pretty face fool you she is a daddy's girl all the way and will out fish a boy any day!

I won't say who's older but you know what they say age before beauty..HA! My husband Lance and I have been married almost 6 years and together 7years. It's hard to believe we have been together that long can't wait to see what the future holds.

So that is us in a nut shell, hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about my family :)

 



Grandma Romper

What a great weekend I had I am so pleased to say that I have a running sewing machine! Thanks to my wonderful husband and his maw'maw, without there help this weeks outfits would have been hand sewn and well that would have sucked. The vintage sewing machine I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago for $5.00 is what my refashion was sewn with.

So last month I bought this hideous romper from the salvation army. I couldn't walk away from it and the more I debated putting it back on the rack, the less I wanted to get rid of it. So typical me I took it home, but hey it was only $1.00.

Here is the before...

This thing was beyond ugly and needed a LOT of work, lets just say everything had to be either taken in, shortened or both. Sorry the picture is blurry.

So here is the after...

So as you can see I turned this former ugly romper into a vintage style dress. I shortened it, took in the sleeves, the waist, replaced the buttons and cut the legs out. It was a true labor of love, but I couldn't be happier with how this dress turned out.

The cost:

Dress: $1.00 Salvation army

Shoes: $7.00 Target 70% off

Earrings: passed down from my momma

Belt: $3.00 Ross

Total outfit cost: $11.00!!!

Hope this inspires you to get out there and be thrifty :)

A day in the life...

Sewing machine is still on the fritz, have I gone crazy yet? Well it hasn't stopped my addiction to thrifting, but at this point hand sewing even sounds good (sad I know).

On another note, since I do not have refashions to share I thought I would share a few
tid-bits of whats gone on this week. thrifted outfits, hubby's new project and thrifty finds.

I paired two thrifted outfits this week that I am in love with. They are definitely keepers. I posted them to my instagram account and got some positive feedback, so I will share with all of you.

Both of these outfits cost under $5.00!!!

So my hubby has been recovering from ACL/Meniscus Surgery he had done back in March. He is starting to get a little bored around the house and well when my husband gets bored projects ensue (great for me). So he has made a few pallet benches in the past and he made one last weekend. Well, my boss requested a specific style bench..picture provided and all. I showed the picture and explained what she wanted. My husband had it made the next day (IMPRESSIVE RIGHT!?). He is now selling benches on the side and here is a picture of one of them he made.

It is so big and spacious! Perfect for a porch, patio, beach home or really any place! I am proud of him needless to say.

So every now and then I get some really good finds at even better prices. Here is what I fell upon this past weekend.....

I got all of this for $20.00 buckaroos! I was in shock at how cheap they were selling this stuff, funny part of this find was I picked them up on the way to water play date with the family. I wasn't joking when I said I never pass up a yard sale!

Fingers crossed I will be back to refashions next week!

Spring dress

So the worst thing that could possibly happen happened..my sewing machine broke**sigh** I cannot even articulate how crushed I am. Thankfully I have an amazing boss who said she would look at it. So hopefully I will not be out of commission too long.

So today I decided I would post the refashion that started it all. It was not the first one I have ever done, but it was the first one I ever posted for the world (facebook) to see. I was so overwhelmed with all the kind comments and positive feedback that I thought maybe a blog would be the right direction. So that's what I did, with a lot of help from my best friend Jennifer Martin my idea became a reality.

Thanks bestie!!

So the before picture is an instagram photo, sorry it isn't the clearest..

this was one hideous dress, but for some reason I liked it..weird I know.

and after.....

My favorite part about this dress is that  A: It's comfy B: It's the perfect color for spring!

Stay tuned for more refashions through the week, that is if my sewing machine gets repaired :(

"Lazy"

Okay so today is my "lazy post" you get one of those right? Well since I'm a momma of two and work a full time job I'm giving myself one.

I want to offer you (blogger community) so much more than just a refashion here and there. So I thought it would be great to show my outfits through the week. Everything I wear is not always a refashion, sometimes they're just gems I found thrifting that were perfect all by them self. Check out my instagram outfits from weeks past.

 

Okay, so in every one of these pictures is an outfit I bought at a thrift store and the most I spent on all of these is $7.00 and non of them are refashioned outfits.

I hope this inspires you to get out there and thrift!

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