Skirt to Halter Neck Top

Too big thrifted cotton skirt, paired with some fabulous bed hair.

The style was pretty unexciting, and I prefer to wear patterned fabric up top, so my plan was to make this into a top.  I'm thinking a halter neck at this point.

I cut down the side seams.

At the back, I cut off some of the length (to make the back of the top lower), and I also cut some fabric off at the sides.

Then I popped it on my dress form upside down, and wrapped the front skirt 'hem' around the neck and pinned the material together at the back of the neck to work out how I want the neckline to sit.  I also cut off some excess material from each side at the front.

I then sewed the fabric together at the back of the neck - the neck is big enough to just slip this over my head.

And I sewed the sides together.

At which point it was looking something like this.

I thought it was looking pretty good.  But when I tried it on, that waist band looked terrible on me.

So I chopped it off.

After I chopped off the bottom, the hem hung all wonky, but I decided I kind of liked it this way. so I just hemmed it as it was.

This is how it looked when it was finished.  

The neck can be styled a couple of ways.

I chose to wear it crossed over and pinned with my Grandmothers broach.  

Hmmm, looking at these photos I think I got a little sunburnt while I was out and about today :-(.

As the weather was slightly cooler than it has been recently, I was able to team it with this long wrap around skirt I've had for years.

Skirt/top: $4 Lifeline, Skirt: $? Tree of Life.

Kaftan Refashion

I found this equally awesome and ridiculous kaftan at an op shop a couple of weeks back.

It wasn't a great cut, and it was also too short to try keep it as a dress.

After deciding I didn't really like maxi-skirts anymore and refashioning most of the ones I owned into other things here, here and here over the past couple of weeks.  Its kind of ironic that I decided that this kaftan would make the perfect maxi-skirt.  But I really wanted a design that would maintain as much of the original fabric as possibile, and also be in keeping with the era of this piece.

Because I was going to create a high-waisted skirt, I didn't have to cut off too much fabric from the top.

I took in the sides.  This picture also shows how this home made Kaftan had already had some alterations done to it before I got hold of it.

Rather than using a matchy matchy zip, I opted to fit this zip to the skirt as I like the way this style of zip looks with vintage fabric.  

I fitted the zip to the side seam, and this is how it looks - despite actually getting the iron out for this part, the zip fitment is still a little 'rustic' looking.  But I'm still happy with it as I only learned how to put zips in recently by watching a YouTube clip.

After taking in the sides and fitting the zip, the top of the skirt now looked a bit like this.  When I tried it on it just didn't seem right - all that pale blue fabric made the skirt feel a bit pajama like.

I decided it needed a waist band that tied in with the 'blackish' leaf pattern that runs up the center of the skirt. 

And I had the perfect thing in my offcut stash - these sleeves, and this collar that were left overs from a previous project.  

These are going to make the perfect waist band as they are already stiff, so I don't need to worry about putting any stabilizing fabric in.

I was really happy that the collar was the perfect size for the front part of the waist band.

I pinned the shirt collar to the front of the skirt and the cuffs to the back of the skirt (the messy edges you saw in the previous picture are folded over the top and into the inside of the skirt), and sewed them on.  

Done.

Although I was a little apprehensive to cut into this piece at the begining I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I like how the waist band finished off this skirt by giving it a bit of structure.

I can't usually wear high-waist items, but it seems to work with this fabric.

My daughters are a little over being my photographers these days, so it is hard to get photos where either my head or feet aren't chopped off.  Or where I'm not wearing a weird expression while watching the non-photo taking child out of the corner of my eye.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this, and I like the way the high waist is in keeping with the retro fabric, I'm also glad we finally had a day cool enough to finally wear this.

Kaftan/Skirt: Lifeline $6.50, Black Singlet: Hand-me-down $0, Button Necklace: $15.

I didn't think I would see another Kaftan any time soon, but a month later I get my hands on  another Kaftan.

Click here to see how this one turned out.

Simple Kids Winter to Summer outfit

As much as I like making 'pretty' dresses for my girls, they are pretty active kids who require lots of practical clothes.

With temperatures rising, this winter combo was not going to see any use for months, after which time those legs and sleeves would be even shorter than they already were.  So shorts and a teeshirt were the order of the day for this simple refashion.

Chop.

Hem... zig-zag so the fabric can still stretch.

Done.

Chop, chop...

Curved snip, for a bit of interest at the sides.

Two different coloured cottons for the leg hems to match the original stitching.   And these two basic refashions were complete.

These clothes were intended as play clothes on active days. So here are some after photos with these clothes being put through their paces.

After swimming lessons we stopped at a park for a fruit break and a play before heading to Karate.

With food finished it was time to race off for a quick play.  Check out that wild wet hair drenching her shirt.

These stolen moments at parks and playgrounds between activities are where I usually collect myself between the madness.  Yes, I am that mum at the park checking emails, texting, or just sitting quietly alone while her kids go off and play.

On this day however, I was chasing them about trying to catch a photo that wasn't completely blurred as they raced from one side of the park to the other ;-).

Back to the car we headed, off to Karate.  What a crazy busy day we had this day.

Busy Plaid Dress

This dress has a lot going on, and I don't know what I was thinking when I forked out $6 for it last week.  There didn't seem like there was much potential here -  I didn't like the fabric all that much, and the neck line is well... not great.

And look at this weird ruffly bit.

But then I remembered when I looked at it in the mirror at Vinnies, I had held it up back to front.  So I popped it on backwards, and was reminded that this neckline was what had appealed to me.

So I set to work turning what was the old front of the dress into the new back of the dress. 

I had an open back in mind, so I chopped out a heap of material.

And tidied up all the edges so it looked like this.

But when I tried it on, the open back didn't sit well at all, so I decided to close in the back by adding a big 'patch'.

To do this I needed some fabric to make a patch with, so I chopped a heap of fabric off the bottom of the dress, as I intended to shorten it anyway.

I sewed the 'patch' in place to close in the open back.

Then to make it fit properly I took about 2 inches off one side of the dress (the other side had a zip I wanted to keep).  And I also added darts to each side of the now front of the dress so it would fit properly.

I chopped off those awful ruffly bits, and then hemmed it.

Given that I didn't like the fabric all that much, this dress turned out better than I had expected.   

Its got a kitsch-iness about it that I actually quite like.  I would have liked to have teamed it with white shoes and some white 50's style sunnies, but I don't have either, so these glasses and shoes had to do. 

Its even quite comfy, given that the top half of it is quite tailored in its fit.

 

I teamed it with this vintage necklace that once belonged to my husbands great aunt.  

Hangin' with my pooch before heading out for the day.

So the cost. Dress: second-hand $6, Vintage necklace: $0, White Shell Bracelet: I think this belonged to my sister in the 80's, so I'd have to say $0 on this one, Shoes: I can't remember the cost of these ones.

I've recently set up a Rustic Refashion Facebook page, so please pop on over and 'like' it, you can do this by clicking the link on the top right of this page, or just look up Rustic Refashion on FB.  I'll be popping other bits and pieces on the FB page that won't always be included in the blog posts.