Another WInter Tunic Refashion

A few weeks back I unearthed a box of my old winter clothes, which contained FIVE grey winter tunics.  Most of which had short sleeves, which just isn't very practical for winter.

The first one to get refashioned from that stash of grey was this one above.  

To see how that one turned out check it out here.

But the grey tunic I tackled this week, was this one.

The first step, which I forgot to take a photo of, was cutting 14 inches from the original length of the tunic.

 From the 14 inces I chopped off, I cut 4 seperate pieces from which I would create the sleeves for my re-jigged tunic.

I sewed the four bits together to create two pieces from which I would make the sleeves.

NB: When I sew any fabric that has a bit of stretch, I use a small zigzag stitch as it allows the fabric to continue to have a bit of stretch after it has been sewn.

Then I chopped off the bits with pockets because I didn't want pockets on my arms.

And pinned (and then sewed) the new 'sleeve' pieces onto the old cap sleeves.

Once it was sewn on it looked like this... not quite a sleeve yet.

So I  turned it inside out, then pinned and sewed the edges together to complete my sleeves.

See... sleeves.
And after a bit of finishing off (read zigzagging) of raw edges this tunic was done.

Another tunic to crop top.  This time with sleeves added.

Although I could have, I didn't hem the bottom of the top where I cut length from the original tunic (the raw finish kind of reminded me on one of my favourite tops from the 90's).  Instead, I ran a stitch all the way around the bottom of the top a couple of millimetres up from the raw edge to stop it fraying too far.  

That raw hem is a little wobbly, but I like that it is imperfect.

Sleeves that are now not only long enough to keep my arms warm, but also my hands on a chilly day.

I do like the new style of this top, but I am craving some colour in my winter wardrobe which still seems to have way too much grey and black... Hopefully there will be some some colourful winter refashions in the not too distant future.

Refashioned Tunic: $0 old wardrobe item, Dress: $0 gifted, Boots: Dr Marten from ebay a few years ago, Black Leggings: old wardrobe item.

Teeshirt Refashion

If you have a look on Pinterest you will see all sorts of amazingly creative teeshirt refashions, this is not one of them - this is a pretty basic teeshirt upcycle project that only takes about 10 minutes and anyone could do.

It's that time of year again where all my 'before' photos include me in my tatty old Ugg Boots.

Showing my age here... on Pinterest this would not just be called a 'teeshirt' that happens to have a picture on it (thats what I would have called it).  It is actually a 'Graphic Tee' - see how it has a 'graphic' on it :-P

Anyways, it was a tad too big for me so I grabbed this purple top that I wear to bed to use as a guide for my alteration.

I pinned along the chalk lines.

Note to self - I really need to get some proper sewing chalk, the kids jumbo chalk I use just isn't that easy to work with.

Sewed along the chalk lines.

Chopped off the extra fabric, and ta-da I have myself a new 'graphic tee'.

Perfect for casual sunny winter days, if you happen to live somewhere that has a subtropical climate that is.

I chose not to alter the sleeve length as I quite liked this length for a winter tee.

Layered with a casual thrifted hoodie.

THRIFTED AND GIFTED OUTFIT - $11

Teeshirt: gifted, Jeans: thrifted and refashioned $4, Shoes: thrifted $4, Hoodie: thrifted $3.

Rags to Dog Pillow

So my husband had a clean up of his clothes today, and you know how when you go through your old clothes there are all those things that aren't good enough to give to the opshop and are only really  good enough for rags.

When I threw these clothes onto the floor with the intention of sitting down to cut them into rags, my dog lay down on them straight away... giving me the idea to make him a dog pillow - we have enough rags anyway.

I grabbed these old shorts from the pile and cut out the crouch seam.

After which I turned them inside out and pinned the cut edges before sewing them.

To make them look like this.  

Then I turned them back inside out and sewed the waist edge together, and most of the bottom edge (I needed to leave a gap to put the 'stuffing' in).

After I had done this I stuffed the shorts with all the other unwanted clothes before sewing the 'pillow' closed.

This project took me about 10 minutes, and was a great hit with my dog who hopped onto it as soon as it hit the floor.

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.