Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Toy Hooks!

Time to start the LONG process of playing catch up!!! I've been SO, SO, SO busy! I have seriously almost 50 projects to post here to get current. I apologize for the delay :) I'll start with this toy hook project. This project was fun, easy, practical and best of all...CHEAP! I needed some hooks to hang toy bags in the boys' room. I started with a piece of wood I got out of the scrap bin at home depot...it set me back .51. Good stuff. I sanded it smooth..Slapped some green paint on it...Finished it off with a sealer...Screwed it to the studs in my wall...Screwed the hooks (that I found at the dollar store) to the green board and done! And it cost under $5!!!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Really Ugly Skirt Into A Cowl Neck Top

I love working with skirts and dresses and I haven't played with them in a while. I stopped in at my favorite thrift store while I was in Utah and as usual they were having a .25 sale. I picked up 6 different items for a grand total of $1.50 (that's right, I'm a baller!!!)...one of them being this hideous skirt.

BEFORE-This thing is BAD. It had a zipper up the back and a slit up the side. SO CUTE. I started playing around with it...putting it on every different way I could think of. After playing with it (and looking like a total freak of nature)...(btw, that's how you know you're doing it right.if you look wierd/crazy doing it. lol) I decided this skirt would end up upside down..and with only a tiny bit of tweaking would make the perfect effortless cowl neck shirt.


I decided to sew together the bottom part of the slit. I just rejoined it at the very bottom and planned on keeping the slit open to use as an arm hole. (This skirt is ending up upside down when I'm done with it)


Opening up the seam on the opposite side of the slit. This will be my other arm hole :)


Taking off the excess fabric. I was kind of bummed out because I wanted to keep the length...but when I turned it upside down the waist part was too small to fit over my hips. So, I cut it off just below the zipper and hemed the raw edge. It was just the perfect length after that..although I wish I could have kept it longer.


AFTER - Here it is...I hemed the side seam that I opened up for the arm hole. Then all that was left to do was kind of form fit it to my body. (For this I just put it on inside out and pinned the fit I liked. Then sewed it up and that was it! Really easy project! I want to do this again...I can't wait to get my hands on another skirt! :) (Oh, and P.S. this after pic is awful...I did this project while I was in Utah and I finished it in the middle of the night...that's why I'm looking so good lol. And thanks for taking the pic for me, ma)

Men's Dress Shirt Into a Cute Frilly Top

So, this is a shirt I made a while ago...I didn't document the making of this along the way, but here's the before and after. (Sorry, I forgot to turn the flash off on my camera...bad pic...I'll redo it later) This project was pretty easy and straight forward. I just unpicked the sleeves and sized it down. I cut a scoop neck out to get rid of the collar. Then I cut 2 long strips out of the sleeves (maybe 3" wide and the entire length of the sleeve. I gathered the strips and layered one on top of the other one. I sewed these onto the hemed scoop neck and finished it off with a brown braided leather belt. Half of the time I wear a belt high waisted like in the pic...and the other half of the time I wear a thick brown belt around the hip area. (I'll post a pic of it this way soon!) And that's it! Fairly easy and super comfy :)

T Shirt Scarf

 Before and After. I saw a scarf similar to this on P.S. I made this and I ecided to make one of my own. Here's how to do it! (Super easy!)

 Start with a regular old T. I chose a purple one with stripes because it's what I had in my suppy closet and I thought it would make a more interesting scarf instead of using a plain T. But you can use pretty much any colored T and any sized T.

 Cut it off just under the armpits...not sure why this pic is upside down...it will NOT let me turn it. lol.

 I kept the bottom hem of the shirt in tact so I didn't have to worry about heming it myself. I just cut a bunch of strips in a length and width that I thought looked good. Believe me, this is not a scientific process lol. (This pic is about halfway done. I ended up cutting each of these strips in half because I wanted thinner strips.)

After...seriously, SO easy to make and fun to wear :) Love it!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hey guys :)

For the love of everything good and holy...I've been INSANELY busy. It's inhumane. Seriously. BUT...I have been getting a TON of stuff done!!! I've been working really hard to get all of my projects documented and all in one place (here)...as it turns out, I have WAY, WAY, WAY more projects done than I thought I had. I mean, I knew I had a LOT of things to get pics of and get all up on here, but I haven't even put a dent into my stash yet. It's pretty cool :) So...slowly but surely I'm taking more pics...and posting more stuff. I have another big batch of things to put on here in the next couple of days. I'm heading to Utah tomorrow and I'll be there for a week, so hopefully I can hit up my favorite thrift store and make something fabulous while I'm there :) Prepare yourselves for a whole lotta thrifted goodness...<3 

Friday, February 10, 2012

Golden Girls

I had this awesome Golden Girls shirt. The before pic just really doesn't do it justice...at all. I picked this one up for .50 or .75...I cant remember. All I had to do with this one was take off the sleeves and size it down. Done deal. :)
BEFORE-Oh, ya know, I just got done hanging out with Betty White. Blanch wouldn't be caught dead in this number.

Picking off the sleeves. I swear I am allergic to sleeves. It's like the first step in every recon I do...

AFTER-I really just freehanded the shape I wanted onto this bad boy and sized it down (minus the sleeves of course lol)! Easy business. For some reason I wouldn't buy this color normally, but I LOVE how it looks. That's one of the great things about buying things from the quarter sale at the thrift store...it pushes my color/texture boundaries. I ALWAYS end up with things that are fabric and colors that I normally wouldn't buy, but I end up loving them the most! Who would have known ;) Oh and PLEASE excuse the SUPER lame bathroom self pic!!! Ugh. Anytime I have a self pic it's because I literally could not round ANYONE up to take one for me...it's a last resort...yikes.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Altering Pants From Flares To Skinnes

I had these two pairs of cords that I found in my stash...I was not feeling them with the wide leg. I got out my trusty sharpie and sketched out the basic shape...and them serged them up :) These are my new favorite pants!

BEFORE-These were very flared...and a bit too big.

I turned them inside out and rough sketched the shape I wanted with a sharpie.

AFTER-Serged up the sides :)

BEFORE-These fit alright at the waist,but I wanted to make them skinny on the legs.

Turned inside out and used the trusty sharpie again...

Only took in the legs...

AFTER-Serged them up the sides. They're cute on :) I'll upload a pic of that soon.

Jersey Dress

I found this jersey fabric. It's red and black with some gold. I wanted an easy comfy dress. I sewed the jersey together into a tube...then cut the torso off a black T...sewed that to size and attached it to the jersey tube. Easy and comfy :) I could live in this...

BEFORE-Awesome red fabric that I found for $1 a yard.

Plain black T

I cut the T and folded the thickness in half.

AFTER-Front. LOVE THIS!

and back. Seriously...I'm never taking this off. You NEED to make one.

Two T-shirts Into A Tube Top

This was a fun project :) I took a red oversized t and cut the torso off so it was a tube...then cut about 8" off the bottom of a grey t so I had a smaller tube. I sized that to my hips and folded it over. I gathered the red t on one end and attached it to the grey band. Then I put elastic in the top of the tube. I cut some 1" strips of grey and sewed them on into flower shapes. That's it :)

BEFORE- Plain Grey T

BEFORE-Plain Red T

I cut the red shirt under the arms...

Cut the band out of the grey...plus extra 1" strips for flowers

AFTER-This is the front.

Um...wtf? I found a stray thread.

And here's the back...thanks for the pics, P :)

Vest Out Of A Navy T :)

I saw this a few places and wanted to try it...it's THE easiest project ever. Take an oversized t...cut off the neck and arms...cut up the sides...and that's it! Then just put your arms through the neck hole and drape the fabric over the front of you. Pretty sweet.

BEFORE-plain navy T

Cut off the sleeves and cut out the neck. Then cut up the sides.

AFTER-here's the back. All I did was put my arms through the neck hole so one shoulder of the shirt is around my back and one is around my neck and the shirt fabric is draped in the front.

Front. I even kept the pocket on :)

Side view...THE easiest project ever. Seriously.