Transform a T-Shirt into a Leather Yoke Tunic: My Latest T-shirt Refashion

I am so proud of my latest t-shirt refashion! I turned my husband's shirt into a leather yoked tunic!

I couldn't believe it when my husband finally let me have this shirt. Maybe he gave in after the 100th time I asked for it? I loved this t-shirt it from the minute he bought it. The bright, sparkle of the gold leaf design against the black background, the intricate detail of the eagle's wings, and the large gold outlines in the upper right corner made for a beautiful printed textile begging to be refashioned.

I knew I wanted a leather yoke for this similar to the one  made for this tunic out of a purse. But, lo and behold, I didn't have a  leather piece big enough for my yoke pattern. What I did have, was leather scraps so I sewed leather scraps together and made a large enough piece for the yoke. Here it is. I love the patchwork effect from the different types of leather. 

I kept the neck band and simply moved it slightly lower, under the yoke, creating a little peek a boo cut out. 

Lastly, I cut the hemline in asymmetrical fashion to compliment the design which was, indeed, also asymmetrical. I am so happy with the results, and have worn it several times already. It also looks really great with a black blazer or sweater. 

Easy "Cut and Paste" Dress/Jumpsuit Refashion

This was a super easy refashion, my last for the summer, and very much in line with my other jumpsuit creation. The only difference is, that in the previous design, seen here, I made the pants from scratch and bought the top. 

In this one, I used a dress given to me, and a jumpsuit I bought from a thrift shop which turned out to be too large. 

The flowery print on the dress was too overpowering for my frame and the hem was lopsided. I just didn't like how it looked on me, it also showed all my chichos (love handles). It    was made from jersey fabric and had very little structure, but I did love the top. 

The opposite was the case with the jumpsuit. The top part was too big but I loved these balloon, jeannie pants. 

Since I loved the snugness of the top, I decided to keep that part of the dress, it hugged my small torso, and I love the way that feels. This is the very reason I learned how to sew, I often felt like my body was swimming in my clothes making me feel uncomfortable. 

Heres's a close-up without the belt and with Dan hanging off my arm

Anyway, I added the top to the balloon pants to form a collage of sorts of the two outfits. 

...and with the belt, it looks even cooler! More and more, I am loving this sillouette on me, small top and giant bottom. That's actually the shape of my body and I love it. 

I also loved the little surprise in the back. 

There were, however,  some things to consider. First, was the opening of the dress big enough for me to pull over my hips? Check! It was. Would I lose the stretch of the elastic once I stitched the two? I wasn't sure. 

Normally, if you stitch two pieces of fabric together, even if it's two stretchy pieces, the stitches will not stretch unless you use elastic thread, which I had run out of, but luckily, I didn't run out of ideas!  I figured that if I cut the pant part of the jumpsuit above the elastic, I could stitch the two on the elastic and this might continue the stretch. Here's a short video I made showing this process. 

This is the first time I am working with video, so excited! but I didn't realize the audio was so low, so here is the transcription: 

"I am now attaching the top to the bottom, the underneath, of course, is the blouse portion and the black is the pants. Now, I'm stretching it so I actually get the stretch when I actually put it on." 

The only audio here is "weeeeeeeeee", lol. I stitched both pieces on top of the elastic.

It worked and I absolutely love the results. I've already worn it   several times already; to church, my museum job, and the other day, to my son's school open house. 

It really is a versatile piece and so easy to make. 

Listen, if you have clothes you don't wear anymore, chances are there still might be something about it that you love and can possibly refashion into something else. There are too many clothes that end up in land fills. Lets do something about this. Teach yourself basic sewing skills or hire someone to help you refashion your wardrobe (not me though - my plate is currently full).  Over 80% of our clothes are made over seas in Bangladesh and China and they are paying big time for the cheap clothes we buy. Recycle, refashion, it's not just a fad and although it's also about the planet, it's more about our fellow human beings. The planet doesn't need saving, we do. I plan to talk more about this in future posts, I guess it just spilled over here. 

What do you think? 

T-Shirt Refashion: Regular "El Bar Rio" T-Shirt to Bat-Wing Draped Pocket Top

My latest t-shirt refashion!

The "El Bar Rio" (El Barrio) t-shirt started out like this. It is designed by Luis Cordero, Founder of PRIDA. Cordero is a graphic artist and photographer, among other things. He also designs, produces, and sells his own line of t-shirts with Native American Taíno and other Puerto Rican cultural icons. You can purchase his tees here. 

PRIDA stands for Puerto Rican Institute for the Development of the Arts, a Project of Comité Noviembre. Their mission is to promote and provide support for the Puerto Rican artist and the arts. I happen to be a proud member. You can find out more about PRIDA here. 

Okay, now back to how I redesigned the tee. The first thing I did was to separate the front from the back, sleeves and all.  

 Next, I separated the graphic and cut it into this shape. This is all that I used of the t-shirt itself. 

I had this long black 2X dress which I used for fabric.

I used the fabric from the dress for the sides, back, and pockets  of the new top. There are no side seams, just one single seam in the back middle.  

 I then added the pockets on the sides and professionally hemmed the neckline, bottom, and sleeve openings with my handy dandy hem machine (did I just say handy dandy? lol)

 And here it is. The neck line is wide enough that I could also use it as an off the shoulder top. 

I really love it and so glad I decided to add pockets.

 Here's a side view

I love these tunic-like tops and the "El Bar Rio" (El Barrio) graphic really pops. What do you think? Would you have done anything differently? As always, I appreciate feedback and respond to all comments. 

Have a great day! 

Wardrobe Refashion: Brown Dress to Kimono Wrap Top

Hi Folks! So here's another refashion; big brown dress + coral infinity scarf = kimono wrap tunic. 

 All photos were taken by my older son. 

I bought this dress at a thrift shop and knew right away it was too big and would redesign it. I was actually hoping the reconstruction would translate into another dress but I didn't have enough fabric. 

I also had this coral infinity scarf which, by itself, was fine but I decided to use it to break up the brown color and add interest to the dress. It was also long and wide enough that I could fold over the neckline and not work to hard to create clean edges. It didn't work as good as I thought it would, though. 

All in all, I liked the way it came out. The only thing I would change would be to line, or double the fabric, on the ties. The edges are not finished and this presents a problem if I don't tuck them in on the torso portion where the ties fold over.  

Front and back 

Okay, I'll take off the glasses! 

Here I am in my best cat walk face, lol. 

I actually wore it to a friend's house yesterday.  

Que piensas? What do you think? 

Men's Shirt Refashion

Here's my latest refashion! The challenge? How to refashion hubby's shirt into something cute, wearable for work and play. 

BEFORE AND AFTER

I endeavored to make the original shirt even more un- appealing with my glasses, hunched-over stance, top bun, and crazy smirk. Did it work? 

This time I did not draft the pattern but got a little help from this baby, McCall's 6605. I have had this one in my stash for a while and I thought it would be great for this project. 

I had enough shirt material to possibly use for the entire project but since I love color blocking, I added this black cotton for the effect. 

A couple of more points to share: The material for the tie portion was taken from the sleeves and I simple transferred the buttons from the original shirt onto this shirt. Also, it's important to note that the sizing for the pattern was a little off. I cut the pattern at the smallest size and still had to take the final version in at the side seams immensely to look like this. I also cut a lot off from the sleeves. It's a already a loose-fitting shirt, I needed next to no sleeves so it didn't overpower me. 

I love the results! I can wear it to work with dressier pants or dress it down with jeans, as seen here. Hubby has since donated a couple more so I'll be figuring out what to do with them in the coming weeks. 

 By the way, all photos were taken by my older son :)

Color Block Sweatshirt Refashion, the last one for Winter 2015

I wanted to squeeze this in before the first day of Spring!

Here's my latest sweatshirt refashion, and probably my last for this winter. I can definitely say that I can't wait for warmer weather but I will definitely miss my sweatshirt recon collection.  I just love sweatshirts! It's such great material to work with.

For this reconstruction, I repurposed a grey sweatshirt, size large, and an earlier sweatshirt refashion that didn't work out (that happens sometimes).

I had three design elements I wanted to concentrate on; a flounce, a v-neck, and I knew I wanted it to be tunic. With that in mind, this baby was born! I initially thought I would not put sleeves on it but decided against that. It is a sweatshirt! It should have sleeves. 

Once again, I have the coziness and warmth of a sweatshirt and the cool chicness of a tunic.

I am currently working on some spring outfit ideas, can't wait to show you. Thanks for stopping by! 

Quick, Easy Refashion: Dress into Tunic

Sometimes it just takes a simple chop at the length of the hem and sleeve of a garment to totally transform it. 

 I bought this dress for a $1.00. That's right, a $1.00. I loved the netting on the top but the rest of it looked a little dowdy. I did wear it several times as is and sometimes with a sweater vest. The vest gave it a more boho, chic look but with summer coming, I thought it would look cuter as a short-sleeve tunic. I was right! 

 The empire waist looks a lot more passable as a tunic.  Btw, I love the way the super flash just highlights the garment and hides my face. I don't mind that at all. 

I love it and wore it to the Guggenhein Museum on Friday with a cute necklace and cuff. 

What do you think of this quick and easy refashion? 

Sew and Tell: Peplum Top T-Shirt Reconstruction

I have officially joined the peplum trend fashion craze with this new t-shirt reconstruction. 

It all started with these two t shirts. Every year, our wonderful aunt gives us a membership to the Bronx Zoo (and all the other outdoor parks connected to the membership). The membership comes with a free t shirt, well two, one for each boy. Each one is always the same size, medium, they usually do not have anything smaller than that. So, of course, my older one takes one and I take the other. I figure Dan will eventually grow into the older one's shirt. 

I had the green shirt for a while and worked well for contrast.

A medium lends itself well to this kind of peplum, princess seam reconstruction because the idea is to make it smaller. Since I am usually a small, this gives me enough room for seam allowance.

 Princess seams give such a nice contour and a peplum is perfect to accentuate the waist. Worn, with skinny jeans, it looks great!

 "Is that a polar bear I see over there?"lol. Practicing my ooh aahh stance for when I go to the zoo.

Can't wait to sport this shirt this summer when we go to the zoo. My hubby usually takes my older son to the Bronx Zoo, but with little Dan, the Central Park Zoo is better because it's smaller. I can see the entire zoo in one visit and feel very accomplished!

As always, I'm curious, what do you think?

T-Shirt Reconstruction from the Vault

I love this t-shirt reconstruction I made this past summer. I created a sweetheart neckline and added black stretchy fabric to fill in the shoulder area.

I thought it could be a mini-dress but it was way too short for me so I cut it and made it a top. I really love it.  

What do you think?