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? 

Romper/Jumpsuit from Men's Suit Pants Tutorial

Hello, I'm back!

I started this project in my old place and finished it here in my new space so I thought it was appropriate for this to be my first tutorial.

My husband gave me a couple of his suits to reconstruct. I love that he supports me and always asks me if I can do anything with his clothes before he gives them away. I usually don't take everything because there are a lot of people that could use the clothes (I know I am always grateful for the hand- me-downs I get for my kids!) and I need to limit my refashioning stash. It can get overwhelming if I don't.  Anyway...

When I saw the pants, of course I knew that I immediately wanted to make a jumpsuit/romper. I wanted to challenge myself, though, and use only the pants as my fabric and not use any extra material.

I started with this inspiration photo by Junky Styling, a label well known for refashioning mens suits. They also published a book full of even more inspiration photos! You can get it here. 

Junky Styling

The first thing I did was chop off about 12 inches from the bottom of the pants. The cut pieces will become the bodice of the jumpsuit. But we'll talk about that later. 

This is what you are left with for your capri-like bottoms.

I eliminated the zipper along with the waistband by cutting all around it. 

I then cut the inseams and the crotch seam apart. I did not cut the side seams, I left them as is. 

I opened up the front and back part of the pants (still held together by the side seam) and placed a pant "front pattern" on top of each pant front side and cut around. I did the same with the pant back parts. For the pattern, I cut apart pants that fit me very well.  

I then re-stitched the inseams (front to back) and the crotch seams together. 

Now for the left-over bottom pieces. First, I unfolded the hem on each.

Then I turned it around (the folded part will be the top of the bodice) and cut one side open of each. One will be the front bodice and one will be the back side of the bodice. 

To add interest, I further cut the front bodice into three corset-like pieces. 

Then I sewed them together

This is the back

I sewed the front and the back on the side seams. Not sure why the back ended up longer than the front but that was easily remedied by chopping the extra fabric off. 

Then I cut right through the middle of the front bodice and about 1/4 inch down the middle of the pants, and stitched the top to the bottom. I refolded the top of the bodice, ironed it down, and sewed it down flat. Then I installed a zipper through the entire middle of the bodice and 1/4 way down the middle of the pants.  (I forgot to take a picture of this step, I apologize). 

I had left over fabric which I used to make a thin tube that went around my neck and was sewn right above each bodice side seam. 

There you have it! My men's suit pants to jumpsuit/romper refashion!

I love the way it came out and happy that my sister Melissa was around to take outside pictures.

I like it even more with a little sweater over it as I love the details of the straps peeking out. 

Here's a close up. 

So tell me how you like it. Would you do this refashion? Do you like it better with or without the sweater? Let me know in the comments and thank you so much for dropping by! 

God bless!

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. 

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? 

Tuesday Tutorial: Wet Dog Hood to Black Bear Hood, Replacing a Fur Hood

Here's a simple tutorial on how I went from wet dog hood to furry black bear hood. I am just kidding, this is all fake fur, no animals were killed in the making of this tutorial!  

I sported this wet dog hood all of last year, since my hubby put it in the dryer after a wash. It used to be nice and fluffy but after the dryer washing, not so much. It wasn't a big deal last year because I was wearing hats, but this year, I have been employing my hood for warmth to avoid hat hair and well, it was quite embarrassing.  

I sewed the edge of the hood on my sewing machine before cutting it off. That way, the stuffing would be somewhat contained. 

Wet dog fur off! 

I then cut the excess stuffing so it wouldn't get in the way of sewing. 

This is how it looked at this point. 

I found this cute little fake fur scarf in the 99 cents store. 

I measured and cut off the excess

Much better!

I then sewed the edge of the "black bear" scarf to the edge of the hood. Sorry for the cluttered photo. I was also listening to my iPod and on the computer while I sewed. Yes, I multi-task.

Bye bye, "wet dog" hood! Don't get me wrong, wet dogs are okay, just not on my hood! lol. 

Hello foxy mama! Or should I say black bear mama. I love the way it came out and am no longer embarrassed to wear my hood! 

Reconstructing Jesus

Top is" before" and bottom is "after"

I print cultural icons on t-shirts. I love that I do that, I love bringing attention to heroes from the past, especially, African American and Latino/a heroes that people simply don't know enough about. These images have empowered me immensely and it brings me great joy to be able to share them with others through my shop. However, my most beloved hero is Jesus Christ. He stands for, love, justice, redemption, everything I am passionate about.  

A long time ago, I decided not to design an image of Jesus in my cultural icons collection. I knew I would never be able to do Him justice. Actually, this image, also falls short. He looks too white, and most agree that Jesus most-likely had olive skin and "wooly" hair.

"While forensic anthropology is usually used to solve crimes, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from The University of Manchester in England, realized it also could shed light on the appearance of Jesus...For those accustomed to traditional Sunday school portraits of Jesus, the sculpture of the dark and swarthy Middle Eastern man that emerges from Neave's laboratory is a reminder of the roots of their faith. 'The fact that he probably looked a great deal more like a darker-skinned Semite than westerners are used to seeing him pictured is a reminder of his universality,' says Charles D. Hackett, director of Episcopal studies at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. "And [it is] a reminder of our tendency to sinfully appropriate him in the service of our cultural values."  - Mike Fillon, The Real Face of Jesus. 

I do however, love this shirt, the image is super powerful and I love that it says "won by one", more on that later. 

Anyway, I bought this t-shirt about 12 years ago. It was of course, giant, too big for me, so this is how I reconstructed it then. I simply made it smaller on the sides, cut the length, and opened the sleeve.

The length became a little awkward as years went on and it was still too boxy. Last week, I decided to reconstruct it yet again.

I added black t-shirt material on top in order to lower the image and make the shirt longer so I can war it with leggings or slimmer pant. I then scooped it out...a lot, maybe too much, but with a tank top underneath it looks fine and I actually like having it off the shoulder, giving it a little edge.

So here it is! Tell me what you think, oh, yes, the "won by one" actually reminds me of Sting's song "All this time." One of the lines in the song is "men go crazy in congregations but they only get better one by one." I LOVE this song and I always substitute the "one by one" in the song with "won by one" from the t-shirt. I'm on this journey to becoming a better person. I can't do it alone though. The whole idea of Christianity is that you can't save yourself. I need someone greater than me, I need a Redeemer and I also need people. You don't win in isolation. I know this isn't popular these days with the idea of self-glorification through social media, fashion, art, etc. Recently, I have been relying on God and people more and more as I go about my journey. Asking for help, trying to be of service. I'm a work in progress, a reconstruction of sorts, if you will. Who would have known a t-shirt reconstruction would bring about such deep thoughts, lol. 

On a lighter note, I m going to blog about these cool drapy pants next!