Dress to Flower Pants Refashion

 I finally redesigned the very first garment I ever sewed; this brown flower dress.

This was an extra special refashion because not only was it the very first garment I made but it was also made jointly, with my mom. I remember, vividly, together choosing the pattern and the fabric, and collaborating on this project. I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I think about it and will cherish that moment forever.

I wish I had a picture of my wearing it because I wore it a lot. At that time I was fresh out of college, not making much art, and looking for new art making experiences. Sewing was a perfect fit as it generated much  needed clothes for my very first museum job. 

However, not only did it not fit me anymore, but it also was no longer my style, and, I hate to say it but, it was ugly. I mean, how did I ever wear this? It's a muddy brown, shapeless and long! But I couldn't bear to give it away as it had too much sentimental value.

Then, I thought, with the current trend being flowers, I would make it into flower pants. I made my first flower pants two weeks before so I would just follow suit and do the same with this dress.

So this is what I did. I basically turned it upside down and cut four pieces of this pants shape out of the bottom of the skirt; 2 front pieces from the front of the skirt, and two back pieces from the back of the skirt. I then cut the pockets out of the front of the top. Only the back was left. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.

I absolutely love that I can wear the dress my mom and I made again, even if it's in the form of pants. I say it all the time. Clothes have meaning!

And then my son photo bombed my photo shoot. They don't take me seriously here, lol.

Do you have a garment that has deep sentimental value that doesn't fit anymore but you can't part with it? Tell your story in the comments. 

Denim Dress Refashion

I am continuing with my denim theme here and showing you this denim dress refashion.

Our Aunt R gave me this denim dress to reconstruct. She knows I sew and that I like to remake stuff. I love it when family members think of me and throw clothes my way to see what I can do with them. It makes it a fun challenge and I always like to show them how I transformed their garment. 

Don't look at my knock knees! 

This is what I did with it: 1)cut off the sleeves and large part of the bottom, 2)cut it in half, and added a casing for elastic.

As you can see, I chopped it off too much and needed to add more fabric to the bottom later. I tend to be very impulsive when it comes to cutting. I need to do better. I don't measure, I just guesstimate, and then chop! And you saw my knobby knees, I can't afford to have my dresses too short!

It's still a little too short but I can definitely see myself wearing this on vacation, to run errands, or go to a casual dinner with hubby and the kids. Not to the park though, I tend to get on the monkey bars with my kids so it wouldn't be a pretty sight! lol.

Jumpsuit from Recycled Boy Jeans

As promised in my previous post, here's my denim jumpsuit made from recycled boy pants. 

I 

I used about four boy pants, sized 12-14, for this entire jumpsuit. 

The pattern was self drafted using this inspiration photo.

Front panel from a pant leg. I cut two of these.

Back from another pant leg.

For the waistband, I used recycled jersey from a t-shirt and I made the pant legs using one of my low-waisted pants as a pattern. I am happy with the outcome although I think I might make it a little shorter. 

I will definitely wear this in the neighborhood to run errands, at the playground with the boys, even the beach. It would look good with a swimsuit underneath. 

I look at each and every comment and appreciate your feedback! 

Tutorial: Make a Belt from Boots!

I am so excited about this new tutorial! It's been in the works for a while. It's a belt from boots!

I have had these boots for about three years and they finally broke on me. 3 years is not bad for $10 boots, right? I should be sad but it actually made me happy because there were so many possibilities. These boots had cute buckles so I had options; should I make a cuff? A belt? A hat? I chose to make a belt out of it.

To start, position your scissor ½ inch away from zipper and cut around it.

Then cut around the ankle of the boot. What you want to do is free the whole top part of the boot from the bottom.

Do this for the other boot so you can have two similar pieces like these. 



I straightened the edges of the pieces I am going to sew together to make it easier to sew in a straight line.

I measured to make sure I cut the same amount on each side. With this detail, I had to make sure it looked symmetrical.

Now they look about the same size on each side.

There was a lot of padding in this boot so I cut the edge off so it would be easier to sew.

Here it is with the two pieces sewn together (sorry, forgot to include a pic of me doing that).

I also decided to top stitch the middle seam so it looks a little cleaner.

All this time I was seing the belt detail this way

Then I turned it around and it made sense! This is the natural shape of the waist!

I then thought it was too thick and would look even better without the extra bulk on top. I also thought the buckle detail would show off better.

This is what you have left.

I also cut away more of the padding in the back for easy sewing. 

Now for the elastic! I found an elastic from a dress that I didn’t wear anymore and I cut it off the dress. However, since the belt was thick, I had to use another elastic. You can  buy this kind of thick elastic at most fabric stores. 

If you recycled an elastic from a dress, like me, cut the elastic so you have one strip. Don't worry about measuring now

Place both strips of elastic on top of one side of of belt (belt, right side facing out).

Sew slowly, making sure elastic doesn’t slide while you sew. This was too thick to pin so I just held it tight. 

Turn it around and topstitch. 

I then put it on my waist and measured to see how much elastic I had to cut off to fit me nicely.

 I cut and then sewed on the other side and top stitched.

The end result, front and back.

I have to admit, I took the lazy yet difficult way out. I wanted to finish it so bad that I didn’t want to take the time to put in snaps, that is definitely another option.  The difficult part is then putting it on over your head. Oh well, at least you have the elastic to help you. 

I love the way it came out though!

I would love to hear your thoughts! Also, if you have any questions. Let me know.  

X-Large Men's Hoodie into Ladies Hoodie Mini-dress

I love it when my husband gets into donation mode with his clothes. He donates most of it but I always get a couple of pieces that I could tranform into something cute. This is one of them, X-Large Florida Hoodie.

It started out like this:

Sorry, for the pic, I was trying to get the entire sweatshirt, but I think you can figure out what I was working with.



I basically took a sweatshirt that fit me well, turned it inside out and measured, seam to seam, for a bust, waist and hip measurement.  I then took the Florida sweatshirt apart, cutting the arms and side seams. THAT IS ALL, I CUT NOTHING ELSE. Then I applied the measurments to the Florida shirt and stitched with a sewing machine as you can see below. With a shirt as large as this one, it required to sew up some of the arm hole. 

As you can see from my measurments, I am quite a pear! lol. I also serged the seams for durability but you don't have to.

I like the fit because it is comfortable without being tight.

It looks great with leggings and boots. I have also worn it with skinny jeans. Oh, and it's oh so warm!