Teal Polyester Refab!!

While perusing the racks at my favorite thrift store, I found this! Stunning in all of its polyester glory, I know.

I did not waste any time. First, I chopped off the sleeves and turned it around. I really did not want to deal with buttons down the front, and this seemed like the easiest way to avoid them. 

Next, I cut off the collar and turned it inside out.

I also cut off the fabric with the buttons and the button holes. Then, I pinned the seam back together and sewed it in place.

Next, I got to work making it fit by bringing in the sides some. 

Then, I sewed the sides in place and cut off the excess fabric.

Not too bad, so far!

There was some gaping on the sides, so I put in some darts to fix this. I seriously just start pinching and pinning the fabric until it lies flat. Nothing fancy. 

The front was still a little too high so I cut off an inch there. I also knew I wanted a key hole, so I marked with a pin where I wanted it to end and snipped! 

Then, I pinned and sewed the raw edges of the key hole. 

Next, I pinned and sewed the top of the key hole in place.

Making progress! I sewed all of the raw edges around the arms and neck under and slapped it back on the dress form. 

The fit was still not great. I found some elastic and decided it would do the job. I made it about 2 inches shorter than the circumference of my waist and sewed the ends together. 

Next, I pinned the elastic to the inside waist of the dress. I made sure that I got it on there evenly by pinning it first to all of the seams. Then, I sewed it in place with a zig zag stitch (so it stretches)!

I found some very thin ribbon type stuff that I had and used this for the straps. I sewed it by hand to the inside of the fabric so that the edges and stitches would not be visible.

And, done! 

  

                         

I love it! The pattern gives it a bit of a 60s feel. 

Here is the breakdown.

$2.99 for the dress

About 30 cents for the ribbon and piece of elastic.

Total cost=$3.29

Seriously.

Polka Dot Top Refab!!

Now that the busyness of the holidays is passed, I can get back to refabbing!!  A couple months ago, I found this polka dotted top at a local thrift store.  Let's just say that it leaves much to be desired.  

I tried to strike my most 80's pose.  I think I succeeded.  Why did I buy it?  Because I like the white with navy polka dots, and because it was cheap!

First things first, I removed the shoulder pads.  I mean, that's a given.  I also made the key hole a little bit bigger by removing about two inches of stitches.  

Next, I removed the sleeves to make bringing in the body a little easier.  Also because they were terrible.  

Now to make it fit!  Also, how do you like my dress form?!  I love it.  It makes these projects so much easier!  I would also like to give a shout out to Jo-Ann Fabrics and their Black Friday sales as well as to my husband for being the first one in line to get this for me!  Back to work.  I started pinning the sides to make this thing fit.  

Time to sew it in place!

In full disclosure, I ran into a problem here.  Because the fabric does not stretch at all, I could not get this top on.  Solution?  Put a zipper in!!  I got to work pinning and sewing the zipper to the inside of the back center seam.  After I sewed the zipper in place, I removed the back seam.  Voila!  I could get it on me!  

There was a little gaping across the chest, so I put the top on inside out and pinned the darts where needed and sewed them in place.  

Now for the sleeves.  I decided on very short cap sleeves for this one.  I started with the original sleeves and cut them to 2 1/2 inches to have enough for the seam allowance.  Then I sewed them in place.  

And the final product!!!

I think it turned out great!!  Dexter seems to love it, too!

So, here it is.  

$1.99 for the top, $3.99 for the zipper

Total cost=$5.98

That's pretty great, too!

Thrift Store Refab: Mushroom Skirt

On my latest trip to my new favorite thrift store, I saw this hanging on a rack and immediately knew I had to have it. Even if I didn't know what it was. I mean, look at that vintage pattern!!  How could I just leave it there??  Plus, it was 49 cents and 50% off. So, less than a quarter. Seriously. 

Once I got it home, I figured out that it is actually a curtain. I could work with that. After much deliberation, I decided to turn it into a skirt. So I started by removing the curtain rod pocket and hemmed that edge of the fabric to match the other side. 

Next, I folded the fabric in half width wise and cut it to make the front and back. 

I love it already. The fabric is pretty thin so I knew I needed to line this bad boy.  Unless I wanted everyone to see my underwear.  And I do not, so a lining is in order. I had some plain white fabric in my stash. I laid the white fabric out, put my pieces on top, and cut out around them. That way I knew my lining and outer skirt were the same size. 

Next, I put the right sides of the skirt together and sewed the side seams.  Repeat this for the lining, too. 

Now to attach the lining to the skirt.  I started by putting the right sides of the skirt and lining together and then pinned them in place. Then, I sewed them together. Easy!!

Now I needed to figure out how to get it to fit me and close at the top. I thought about a zipper, but we all know how I feel about that. Plus, I didn't want to lose any of this amazing pattern!! Solution?  An elastic waist. Its difficult to see in the picture, but I sewed a pocket at the top to put the elastic in leaving a one inch opening (in order to insert the elastic).  

I used a 3/4" elastic for this. As for how much, I measured my waist where I wanted the skirt to sit and then took that number x .75.  That would provide the stretch I would need. The easiest way for me to put in elastic is to attach a safety pin to one end and then work it through the pocket I made.  Once I got it through, I sewed both ends of the elastic together and closed up the opening.  

It looked good, but I felt like it was still missing something.  I rifled through my stash and found some vintage eyelette edging I got at an auction at least 5 years ago.  I pinned it to the inside bottom edge of the outer skirt and sewed it in place.  Whirrrrrr!!  Now, it was finished!!!

 

Perfect!!  So, I spent a quarter on the curtain, maybe 10 cents on the edging, and a dollar total for the little scrap of elastic and white fabric I had.  Not too bad!!

Total cost: $1.35

Thrift Store Refab: Polka Dots

While I was scouring the XL and up rack at my local thrift store, I kept getting weird looks from an 80+ year old woman. She would look at the clothes, then look at me...then look at the rack and then look at me. Finally, she said, "You're not an extra large, are you?" I said, "No."  I should have stopped there, but I didn't. I started to explain to the woman that I find clothes that are too big or weird and, on my blog, do tutorials on how to turn these items into something better. Then, I picked this gem off the rack...

...and said that I would probably turn it into a skirt with the buttons going down the back. The woman just stared at me for a moment and finally said, "So you sew." I said yes. She said, "That's nice" and walked away. I was kind of irritated at first. Then I realized that this woman probably has no idea what a blog is. I must follow through with my plan for this shirt, though, in the event that this woman finds out what a blog is and comes looking for this project. I mean, I pretty much owe it to her.

Time to get to work. I started by chopping off the collar, shoulders, and sleeves.

Then, I sewed the sides closed.

Time to try it on.  Yikes!!  As awesome as this looks, that woman at the thrift store would not approve.

Next, I started pinning the sides until it fit a little better and sewed them together.

I will have to fix the fit a little later. Time for the top. I folded over the raw edge and sewed it in place.

I didn't want to have to put in a zipper (please reference previous posts regarding my hatred of zipper installation). My plan?  Keep the buttons functional. I also knew that having a whole line of functional buttons down the back of a skirt was probably not a good idea (two very real risks: losing a button and having my whole butt exposed, and idiots). I decided having just one or two functional buttons was a better idea. So I sewed from just above the second button to just below the bottom button.

Now to fix the fit. This shirt actually worked out well for this project because of the darts running down the back of the shirt (now the front of my skirt).  These make the skirt flair out a little at the bottom. I put the skirt on inside out and pinned the sides a little more and also added some small darts in the back at the waistband.

Seeeeeeeewww!!

A hook-and-eye closure at the top and a little steam, and bam!

Total cost: $3.49

Word.