Tank Dress

Hey you know what?

It's time to do someone else's tutorial for once, yanno??

I've made it no secret that I'm a huge fan of Mark Montano. I've been a fan of his since his appearances on While You Were Out on HGTV years and years ago. In fact, just yesterday I posted about the ATC's I got from his swap late last month. And if you follow me on Facebook, you'll see that I'm basically reposting his stuff fairly constantly.

So today I ran across this old video of his with a simple enough concept: attach some knit fabric to a tank top and BAM IT'S A DRESS. You can watch the video below if you want to know how I did it. I didn't include any instructions or anything, I just wanted to make something and I liked the result so much I decided to tell you all about it!

Click "Read More" to see my materials and results:

Skirt to PALAZZO PANT!!!

Hello lovelies!

Sorry I took the week off last week, but after the ULTIMATE OMG T-SHIRT RECONSTRUCTION TUTORIAL SERIES, I was absolutely wiped. I needed a few days to recover from all the making, and to get inspired to make some new things!

Like this thing, for example!

A quick between-errands stop to the thrift store resulted in this purchase:

It's a fabulous long crushed velvet elastic-waist skirt with some pretty awesome embroidery at the bottom. I've been seeing a lot of pins on Pinterest where women are taking skirts and turning them into palazzo pants, but painfully few tutorials on the matter. The ones that did have tutorials either weren't going to give me just what I wanted, or required the use of a pants pattern. PSH. PATTERNS. PUH.

So, click "Read More" to find out how I made this fabulous skirt into a pair of statement pants!

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 5: Embellishment

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments (this)

Welcome to FRIDAY!!!! Try really hard not to get the Rebecca Black song stuck in your head, okay? :)

Today we discuss EMBELLISHMENTS! You can do these kinds of embellishments on virtually anything in your closet - you don't even have to resize a t-shirt first!

Click "Read More" for tutorials on four different embellishments...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 4: Sleeves

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves (this)

Part 5: Embellishments

Welcome back to the Handmade Hell Guide to T-shirt Reconstruction!

Today we're going to talk about sleeves. Of course, you don't HAVE to do anything fancy with your sleeves when you're reconstructing a t-shirt. It's not NECESSARY. But it is probably the number one thing you can do to bring your t-shirt reconstruction from "oh that used to be a big t-shirt" to "I wonder where she bought that awesome shirt!"

Most of the tutorials covered below assume you have already Resized your t-shirt and also selected a desired Neckline. If you haven't done that yet, feel free to check out those posts and get started!

Click "Read More" for some simple (I promise!) sleeve alterations:

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 3: Necklines

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines (this)

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Happy Wednesday everybody! Hump day and all that. Welcome to Day 3 of the most comprehensive guide to t-shirt reconstruction that I could put together in a week! Ha! I'm exhausted. And yet? I'm REALLY happy about how this is going so far. I did a lot of work and I'm proud of myself!

So today we're going to go over necklines. Many of these already assume that you've resized, so if you haven't read that blog post, I recommend you go take a look at it. Otherwise, use your ideal resizing method (if you want) before moving on to necklines.

Click Read More to get started...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 2: Resizing

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing (this)

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Hello darlings! Welcome back to my comprehensive crash-course in t-shirt reconstruction!

In Part 1, I gave you some tips and tricks for reconstructing t-shirts, from picking what kind of reconstruction you want to do, to what t-shirts you should choose, to how to sew the stuff. If you haven't looked at it yet, I would recommend you go back and read it real quick, just as a quick refresher on how to manipulate this knit material.

Now, in Part 2, I'm going to take you through six different methods for resizing a t-shirt.

Ready? Click "Read More"...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 1: Materials and Tips (this)

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Hello my lovelies!

IT IS TIME. I have put together as comprehensive a crash-course on t-shirt reconstruction as I possibly can given two and a half days to do it...

Today I am going to go over some tips and tricks for working with t-shirts. For the most part, it's extremely easy...but there are a few things to keep in mind if you haven't spent a lot of time with them on your sewing machine.

So, without further ado...click "Read More" to get started!

Coming up next week...THE COOLEST BLOG SERIES EVER

Hey guys!

Given the insanity of my day today (multiple errands, sick kid, cat getting balls removed, etc.) I have not been able to prepare a good solid "I MADE A THING" post for you today.

HOWEVER!

I have been, in between my various to-do's, brainstorming like crazy, and have I got a special (and stupidly ambitious) surprise for you...

Next week, from Monday through Friday, you will be treated to a five-part series on...

T-shirt reconstruction!

Yes, those are t-shirts above. I couldn't really think of a better way to display them. There are 12 t-shirts there, every single one of them in dire need of a revamp, a recycle, a reconstruction, and a refashion. They sit there, forgotten and bored, in the back of my drawer, unworn and uncared for.

IT'S SO SAD Y'ALL!

So this weekend, I will be fixing ALL of them.

I will do it in every different way I can think of (so that it actually results in something I feel comfortable wearing).

And I will document every painful, messy, cotton-knitted second of it for your enjoyment!

Oh you are so welcome. :)

Are you excited? I'm excited. VERY excited. 

Wish me luck! I'll see you on Monday with Day 1 of 5.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

Failure Files: Don't F*** with a Bias Cut Dress

It's been a while since my last Failure File! I don't know if that's because I'm getting better at this or I'm playing it safe...either way, I give you on this glorious Thursday...

Don't fuck with a bias cut dress. Just don't.

Click "Read More" to find out why. Because oh yeah. I documented the hell out of this failure. :D

No-Sew Jacket Recon

Hello lovely crafty people! I know it's been a while since I posted up a clothing recon (or anything for that matter - sorry about that!), but I did something really fun that I wanted to share with you! Usually I like to really go for it with my recons, but sometimes simple is better. In this case, it was just a matter of choosing fabrics, cutting, and gluing to turn a plain and simple jean jacket into something I actually wanted to wear.

Click Read More for a few more photos. :)

Necktie Purse Tutorial

Happy Impending Gift-Giving Holiday everyone!! ARE YOU READY YET???

Yeah me neither. Let's be procrastinators together!!!

Dear readers, I have a confession. I have a mild but growing fetish for...

Neckties. I just recently discovered that I can pick them up for a dollar apiece at my local Goodwill, and well...let's just say it's over. There's no turning back. I adore neckties. They're like little soft, silky jewels, just waiting to be turned into something magical.

So, I made them into something that I think is pretty magical. Click "Read More" to find out how I turned these:

Into this:

UPDATE: I happened to make this again, incorporating a lot of my "Lessons Learned" (which you can find at the bottom of this post), and made it into an Instructable! You can find it HERE!

Failure Files: The Shoe Tassel Incident

Hello my pretties!!

Flush with success from my last awesome shoe recon, I decided to do another one: replacing the tassels on my suede loafers. COULDN'T BE EASIER RIGHT??

Sigh.

After the jump, you'll see exactly why this was a tremendous and utter failure.

Color Block Heels Refashion

Hello all!

I recently tried something a little bit new for me - shoe recons! I love looking at some of the zany things people do with their shoes. I knew I would have to start small, and start with a pair of shoes I wasn't crazy about, so I hunted through my closet and found this pair of super-boring black low heels that I bought to wear at conferences to work:

They're really comfortable but I hate the way they look. They are. So. Boring.

After the jump I give a step-by-step photo tutorial of how I turned these from my most boring shoes to my favorite shoes!

Watercolor Dress Re-Size!

Fun weekend times ahead!!

I haven't been as inspired to reconstruct lately as I used to be. I know that for me, my interests tend to wax and wane, but with all my new readers from the Refashion Co-op Blog (yay, thank you!!), I realized that I needed to keep this up, even if I didn't necessarily feel like it.

Turns out, just STARTING a recon is a great way to get inspired again! I'll have to remember that for the future.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, a trip to Goodwill turned up this...um...thing:

My friend and I passed it by, laughing at it as we did. Those colors! That shape! LOLOL. What a ridiculous dress. We moved on.

But I kept looking...

And looking...

And looking back at it. Finally, I caved. "I need that dress," I said. My friend laughed as I raced back and snatched it up before anybody else could get it. I needed it. NEEDED IT.

And even though I felt like a giant watercolored monster in it...

I knew it had potential to be adorable and even - dare I say - sexy!!!

Click "Read More" to find out how I TOTALLY SUCCEEDED.

Gap to No Gap Recon!

Last week I showed you this awesome shirt I got at Goodwill: 

I loved the pattern and the fit - and the silky smoothness of the fabric feels so luxurious! But those shoulder pads...

And that gap! Ugh - my fellow compatriots in the "huge tracts of land" club can relate. I have avoided button-up shirts like the plague because of this very issue. Sure, sure, you can "safety pin" the gap closed. But who wants to fuss with a safety pin every time you put on your shirt? I can tell you right now - if I had to attach a safety pin every time I wanted to wear this shirt? That would be a reason I'd give myself not to wear it.

Luckily, this shirt surprisingly provided me with everything I needed to fix this issue...click "Read More" to find out how!

Kids Go Handmade: Tank and Skirt

The other night my family sat down to watch the first episode of Project Runway's newest spinoff, Threads. If you're not familiar with it, a quick Google search will immediately identify and define it for you as the biggest piece of garbage that has ever been inflicted upon the world, and that everyone involved in it (except Christian Siriano, because we LOVE Christian Siriano) should be exposed as the phonies they are and banished from their homes and loved ones forever.

I thought it was pretty cute. I will continue to watch it until its (inevitable) cancellation.

My daughter loved it! It immediately came upon her that she would be a perfect contestant for that show, and I would be a perfect sewing assistant for her. After all, all she needs to do is learn how to sew clothes, and she'll be brilliant!

And I think she's right, but I could be biased.

We started our fashion sewing lessons immediately, and here is what happened.

Sweatshirt to Romantic Cardigan

There is really nothing like a nice comfy sweatshirt. 

Nope...nothing like that at all...sigh. 

Truth be told, I loved this sweatshirt. It was so warm and comfy and awesome. It was such a shame though because it was so very unflattering. I puttered around the house in it in the evenings when it got cool, but I would never have been comfortable wearing it out. Besides, I bought it with the express intention of turning it into something fabulous. 

And...

I did! Click "Read More" to find out what I did and how I did it. 

The Failure Files: The Braided Tee

I guess I've been doing a lot with T-shirts lately, between the quilt and the shopping bags, but today's post is one of those posts where I show you a spectacular failure. Because sometimes in Hell, you screw up. More often than not, actually. And I don't intend to hide my mistakes from you, dear readers. Some craft blogs are overflowing with tons and tons of absolutely perfect pictures of absolutely perfect finished objects. And that's cool! I like those!

But as someone very wise once said, don't compare your behind the scenes with other people's highlight reel. So in the interest of full disclosure, I bring you:

A Failed Thing. 

Click "Read More" to witness the failure in all its glory...

Easy T-Shirt Shopping Bags

In a world...

Where careful budgeting is key...

Where combining errands saves precious gas...

And where grocery stores give you a minuscule discount for bringing your own bags...

An exhausted mom embarks upon an epic task: visit 5 different grocery stores in one day (including a brand new Trader Joe's opening TODAY, because apparently she's a masochist), incorporating a complex buying plan involving manufacturer and store coupons, sales, and specials.

Her budget? Minimal. Her shopping bag arsenal? Zero. Her willpower? As bottomless as her enormous travel mug of coffee.

With only a stack of old, unworn T-shirts and a sewing machine as her companions, Beth learns a valuable lesson about perseverance, resourcefulness, and the American Way.

Click "Read More" to learn if she will achieve victory...or return home crushed by defeat.

90's Dress Refashion

Hidey-ho everyone!

It's Thursday as I write this, which is usually Thrifty Thursday here in my own personal hell. 

And a very Thrifty Thursday it has been!

I picked up this god-awful dress at the Goodwill for a mere $3.50. I love, love, love the pattern. Florals are really in this fall and I was immediately attracted to the autumnal colors. Especially exciting to me were the little splashes of white and fuchsia that dotted the large floral pattern. I snatched it up without hesitation, and only when I got home and tried it on did I see just. How. Bad. It. Was. 

Ewwwww. It looked like a nightgown. 

It was even worse from the profile:

I wasn't too happy. I like maxi dresses, but this was not working for me. It was too baggy and overall about twenty years behind, fashion-wise. And not in the good way!

Click "Read More" to find out how I wrangled this beast into submission.