Too many winter tunics

I unearthed a box of some of my old winter clothes, which strangely contained 5 tunics in varying shades of grey, 4 of which had short sleeves - so impractical for winter.

This is the first one to get the chop.

I don't actually think this is all that bad.  But over the years I have worn this to death and had no desire to keep it as it is here.  

But I did have a burning desire to turn this into a winter crop top...

Chop chop.

This is how I kept the new hem even - using my thumb to measure as I sewed so that I didn't have to use pins.

I did two rows of stitching to match the sleeve hems.

Done.

I suppose some people may like my crop top better as a tunic, but I'm happy with the change.

See that chair back there? I bought 6 of these from a local facebook buy and sell - when I have time, I'll be giving them some TLC to give them a new lease on life.

No more shoes for me this winter.  I bought these black Dr Martens from Gumtree the same week I bought my Cherry Arcadia Doc's.

More tunic refashions to come I suspect ;-)

Tunic to Crop top Refashion: Old wardrobe item, Grey dress: Thrifted $8, Black Singlet: Old wardrobe item, Black Dr Martens: $55 Gumtree, Jewellery: Old pieces from my collection.

2 Up Top

This post includes 2 tops.

 Top 1 was a cheapie from last winter.  I really like the colour, but I've never liked this trapeze style on me. 

Top 2 is a top I bought new about 10 years ago, and have worn a lot over the years because I did and still do love the colours.  But the style was a little tired, so I decided to try turn it into an asymmetrical cardigan.  

 To change the trapeze style of top 1 I marked where I wanted the new side seams to be with chalk.

And then sewed along the chalk lines.

Then chopped off the trapeze sides to complete top 1.

For top 2, I first chopped off that huge 'turtle neck'.

(All cut edges in this refashion were stitched after cutting to stop fraying).

Then I marked and cut the middle of the front to create the cardigan.

After which it looked like this... Not quite enough 'drape' for my liking.

So I cut the 'turtle neck' offcut into two even sized pieces to provide the extra drapey bits.

I rolled and stitched the edges that would not be hidden on the inside of the cardigan to give the top a more 'finished' look.

And then I had a bit of a play with where these two extra bits would sit, and decided on this position (one on each side).

Then sewed them in place.

Lastly, I made the sleeves smaller so they would fit better.  And that was my 2 tops completed.

Top 1 - ended up a little tighter than I planned, but I still think it suits me better than the trapeze style.

These jeans are my other pair of thrifted jeans that I took in from a boot leg style using the same technique I used for my last post.  This pair was a lot easier to alter as they were a pretty stretchy denim, which made it easier to get a skinny jean look without having to worry too much about leaving them wide enough to get my feet through the bottom of the leg hole.

 I love these asymmetrical cardigans as they can be worn and wrapped in different ways to get different looks.  I have a large kilt pin I use to fasten them with rather than adding buttons which limit the style.

I've accidentally created a punk look with this hair cut and outfit combo.

My 'new to me' Cherry Red Arcadia Dr Martens. 

Jeans: thrifted and refashioned $4; 2 Refashioned Tops: both old items from my wardrobe; Scarf: old wardrobe favourite originally purchased from Tree of Life; Boots: Dr Martens purchased from Gumtree $30.

Skinny Jeans

Despite all the dresses you normally see here, I am actually a regular jean wearer.  Unfortunately jeans don't alter that well, and they are probably an item worth buying new.  But as I pledged to not buy 'new' clothes this year, when the weather started showing signs of getting cooler a few weeks back I realised that my pant size was a couple of sizes different than it was at this time last year, so I headed off to the op shop in search of jeans.  I must admit the pickings for decent second hand jeans are pretty slim, but I was lucky that the first two pairs (one black and one denim ) that I took off the rack actually fit quite well and being JAG and Calvin Klein seemed better quality than most of the other pairs on offer.  However both pairs were a straight cut, and I wanted 'skinny', or a 'relaxed skinny' style, so this is a straight cut to skinny jean refashion (or alteration if you prefer).

Well, this photo isn't actually that good at showing what I'm working with, but these jeans are actually a straight leg jean.

This gives a better idea of the jeans looked like before I started. 

I started by turning them inside out, and made the outer leg seam lay flat.

Then I got my old jeans a laid them over the top.

And I very roughly traced the cut of my old jeans onto my 'new' jeans in chalk.

Then using a large stitch (so it would be easy to unpick if I got it wrong) I sewed about a centimeter in from my chalk line.

I tried the jeans on to make sure I hadn't taken them in too much before I chopped off this bit.

After this it was just a matter of trying them on and taking them in a little bit at a time over and over again until they were how I wanted them.  Generally I really dislike alterations, and this was no different, but this is a handy little alteration if you are wanting to reinvent the cut of your jeans.


Jeans are so versatile, and can be dressed up or down, but I personally like them dressed down for everyday living.

 Like going to the beach in Autumn.

Running around with my kiddos.

and hangin' out.

Not my jeans, but I'm loving my mothers day present.  This silver pendant was designed and made by my talented husband.  

Thank you Shane, I LOVE IT :-)

In the evening we even got to play with fire... and camera exposure.

Again, you can't see the jeans but I just thought this photo was cool.

Although it might do these jeans more justice if the after photo were more 'styled', but in all honesty these jeans are for to me to wear on a regular basis around the house and doing things with my kids, so I'm not going to pretend I wear them with heals or expensive tops.   As pictured here, they will be worn with my wardrobe basics, and for this reason I'm not even going to bother pricing this outfit because aside from the $4 I paid for these thrifted jeans (and the recently aquired thrifted scarf that appears in the fire photo) all the other items have been in my wardrobe for years.