|day 22| Refashion Month Guest: Theresa from Theresa's To-Do's

I don't know Theresa, from Theresa's To-Dos for too long, but I genuinely adore her... so I had to have her making part of this series. I understand deeply on her quest for a decluttered and organized life, and of course, I enjoy checking every little thing she created for her twin boys or herself. She has taken the challenge to refashion all through the month, so check her blog to see all the other things she's been refashioning. 

Hello House of Estrela, I am so honored to be included in Magda’s fabulous line-up of refashioners. My name is Theresa, and I document my life projects at Theresa’s To-Dos. I have self-diagnosed Crafter ADD (which has spiraled out of control since Pinterest). I dabble in a little bit of everything, but sewing is my all-time favorite. Most of my refashioning is for my twin boys…but once in a while I find time for a Mama refashion. When Magda asked me to join in this series I was planning on showing off a little boy refashion (because that’s what I do best). Yet there was a pink glow coming from my closet that screamed, “FIX ME!” So to quiet the demons in the closet, I obliged. I picked this dress up at Old Navy a few years ago. It was on clearance for $7.97. On that particular day all clearance was an additional 75% off, making this little number only $2.00! (I think I forgot to mention that I am also a recovering clearance rack addict.)  

See that expression? It says, “What were you thinking!” There are many reasons this dress hung in my closet so long. The top ruffle paired with the drop waist just wasn’t cutting it. The bottom hem was also at a very awkward length. There is a positive here. Even though pink isn’t my favorite color, the fabric is a light jersey knit- perfect for Julys in Michigan! Let’s get started.  

The first step was to move up the waist, which also fixed that awkward length. This just required a quick snip across the top. I didn’t measure, just cut. The back was cut lower than the front. Thankfully, that hideous ruffle was removed in the process.

 

The next step is to make a casing for elastic. Fold the top to the inside. *Large enough to fit your elastic, plus seam allowance. Pin it down.

 

Sew with a zigzag stitch, leaving an opening for the elastic. Insert elastic. Sew elastic ends together, and tuck into the casing. Stitch opening closed. Technically you could stop right here and call yourself done. You now have a cute strapless dress. Strapless doesn’t work for this mama. I am frequently seen corralling a two year old boy under each arm. That alone is a sight that makes strangers gawk. I don’t want to add an awkward boob shot to the scene.

 

I cut the straps from the strip I snipped off earlier. Then sewed them in place. Next draw a vertical line down the middle front.

   

Gather the fabric along the line. Run a stitch through the gather. Tie it down, and try on! Admire your now wearable dress.

 

Refashion Month |third| Sew Along Guest: Tasha from I Seam Stressed

I've been loving July Refashion Month! I've been enjoying all those wonderful refashions and ideas shared, but it has also allowed me to find a new (to me) blog that I had missed before. That blog is I Seam Stressed from Tasha... and she took the challenge of refashion to another level, posting refashions on a daily basis! How great is this?!

Hey there!  I'm Tasha from I Seam Stressed, and I'm thrilled to be one of Magda's sew along guests for Refashion Month 2013!  I've been a refashioner for as long as I've been sewing.  I taught myself to sew five years ago, making little dresses out of drapes, sheets, and unfinished garments I rescued from my great-grandmother's estate sale.  I eventually graduated to using my own, worn clothing as fabric.  When I worked in an alterations shop, I would find myself digging through the scrap bin and saving tiny bits of 'special' material.  After a year-long sewing hiatus, I'm back at it.  And thanks to Magda's fabulous series, I find myself gravitating back towards refashioning.  I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite refashions.  Enjoy!

These are some of my earliest refashions.  The toddler dress on the left was made from a sweater that I had outgrown, and the skirt on the right was made from my favorite pair of pants from high school and an old top.

 For a while I had a thing for re-purposing vintage sheets.  I sold several of these skirts in my Etsy shop (and still have several hiding out in my daughter's closet!).

 These toddler tops were both refashioned from shirts that I loved.  They were worn and it was time to let them go.  I cut them down in size and gifted them to my younger sister.  She's since given them back and E will soon be wearing them.

 The rest of these projects are more recent; all from the past couple months.  Capris from $1 discount warehouse adult sized pants.  Toddler t-shirt from one of my own tees.

 Shorts from a thrift store sheet, backpack from an old worn out messenger bag.

And from just this week, little shorts for my baby boy due in September.  All material excluding the ribbing was from old sweatpants and shirts that were past their prime.

I love the satisfaction of salvaging some remnant of something well-loved, or finding new purpose in something that someone else might just throw out.  Basically, I'm in love with refashioning!

I hope you've enjoyed the refashions I've shared with you today.  Please come visit me to keep up with my creations.  I'm on a fabric buying freeze currently, so there's bound to be plenty of refashioning in the months to come.  In fact, I'm posting refashions every Monday for the remainder of July!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to you too Magda!

|day 19| Refashion Month Guest: Suzanne from Winter Wonderings Wanderings & Whatnot

I can't stop going back to my guest's |of the day| blog. She's Suzanne, from Winter Wonderings Wanderings & Whatnot. I started following her just a little bit before she competed for Run & Play and has been one of my favourite bloggers ever since. I love that just like me, she works on the cheap, and creates amazing pieces out of old ones. Besides, have you seen her photography skills? 

Hi everyone, I'm Suzanne from Winter Wonderings... and if you haven't been over to my blog you might not know that I LOVE refashioning.  In fact I competed in Project Run and Play through almost complete refashioning (The Cost of Competing)... I have a feeling that may be my only claim to fame ever... but I digress. I also started Operation: Project $0 last summer, and watch out - I'll be doing it again!!! I was so excited to be asked to participate in a month of refashions - HOW AWESOME!!!

Today I am going to share with you my Crumb Catcher Dress.  I was scanning through FB one day and saw a dress, I liked the dress, I looked at the dress and thought 'you, dress, are made of rectangles'.  And then I promptly forgot about the dress.  That is until I inherited a bag of cloth napkins that my mom was getting rid of.  They were cloth napkins that she had made years ago for a country banquet out of normal cotton - rectangles of cotton to me are GOLD (sheets, table cloths, curtains... woohoo)... I mean it is just fabric, right!  The great thing about cloth napkins is that all the edges are finished for you, thus saving you time and energy, win/win!!!

Now cloth napkins can vary in size and weight of fabric... I'd look for ones in the cotton-linen family (medium to lightweight).  If you have contrasting napkins - that is great, if not it will still look awesome, I promise!

For this project you will need 3 cloth napkins approximately 19inx20in (2 in your main fabric and one in the contrast if you want contrast)

This is a beginner friendly and QUICK project - it lends itself to any embellishments you can dream up (although I kept mine simpler).  This project could also be done with fat quarters... but then it wouldn't be a refashion.

All you really need to remember to make this little dress, is the number 4 - everything you cut will be four inches wide.  Yep EVERYTHING... well, except one thing, but don't worry about that ;op

You will end up with  2 main dress sections, 2x 4inch contrast sections for bodice lining, 3x 4 inch contrasting fabric for the sash, 2x 4 inch main fabric sections for the straps.  And a 1.5 inch strip that will be turned into bias for your belt loops. 

Two casings and 2 rows of 3/8 elastic are part of what make this dress achieve 

the perfect crumb catcher front.

Come on over to my blog for a full tutorial (size 12-24m, although I think this could size up to a 3 T as a top) and see how I went from dinnerware to outerwear ;o)  *And yes, it sure does catch the crumbs!

Here are some of my Favorite Refashions:

http://www.winterwonderingswanderingswhatnot.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-sheet-that-wasnt.html

http://www.winterwonderingswanderingswhatnot.blogspot.com/2012/10/lets-hear-it-for-boys.html

Thanks so much Magda for sharing your space with me for the day!
Hugs,
Suzanne

I can´t stop lovin' it!

What, you wonder? 

Being featured, of course!

|day 18| Refashion Month: my own!

When I thought about the refashion month thing last year, I wasn't refashioning as much as I have after that. I guess I've been refashioning for all my life; if you count on the clothes I would tear and remake as doll clothes, or the jeans I would just cut in my early teens to get myself some new shorts. But it wasn't really until last year that I looked at refashioning in a different way. After commiting to stop buying new clothes in September (through the end of the year), I decided in January I would try to shop my own closet as much as possible, of course, that means I had to refashion much more than before. 

Last year, my goal was to achieve one refashion for every week of July. And I succeed, made over the 4 projects. Even though they were pretty simple and easy. I believe the only good refashion I made last year was precisely the first one, check HERE for more photos. This year, I had plans to make at least 4 new pieces again. And though we still have a few days left, I'm really happy to say: I've made it again, and I'm pretty sure I might have something else by the end of the month. Have you seen my onesies refashions?

Anyway... I won't let you fall asleep, let's see some pictures. My most recent refashions (2) were made out of one pair of pants! 

Yes! I made it again. My most viewed post ever, has always been the pants to shorts tutorial, when I made a pair of shorts for me and one for my little miss out of a pair of pants mom gave me. Back then I only had to cut and sew a seam for my shorts, but this time I deconstructed the original pants and cut my short pieces out of it. With the remaining fabric I made a matching pair of shorts for baby G. like I did the first time.

I used a pattern I had tried before. I guess I have never blogged about them here, but I had used the pattern to make a pair of blue wool shorts for me a couple of years ago, for pictures check here. The original pants was much simplier, it closed at the side with an invisible zipper. For my new shorts I used a french Burda's Pattern from 2009, it had a few options and I have mixed two of them. 

Wanna check the other pieces: denin shorts here, blue romper here & black pleated shorts here. 

For G.'s shorts, I used my own pattern again. I've never used the same pattern as often as this one. Those are the 4th shorts I make out of it, and I am really satisfied at how different they can look using just a few little changes in the pattern. And the first thought was to make them exactly like mine, but then I got lazy did a few things differently. 

Picture above: details from mine 

For the back plackets from my own, I used flower shaped buttons, but even though I wanted to do the same with hers, I had no more flowerly red button, actually I am running out of cute red buttons. Even for the adajustable waist elastic on her pants I founf it hard to find a pair of buttons. I eventually did, and still they are slightly different in colour. I wasn't in the mood for shopping any supplies so, this will perfectly do.

Picture above: details from hers

I didn't used a zipper, or a button (don't you just love by button?! It was the first time I applied one of this ever) to close her shorts like I did in mine. I guess, it's easier this way. The shorts have enough room for her to grow and use them for at least two more years, so the adajustable waist was my perfect solution. 

Her shorts weren't planned! But since it is KIDS CLOTHES WEEK, and I had quite enough left from the pants, I thought Why not?!, and guess what? I loved our finished matching shorts! 

| I've been sewing along KCW, but because it's Refashion Month here, I will only write a wrap up of what I've been doing during the week, next sunday |

For our photoshoot, I paired them with refashioned tops (mine and hers) from last summer. Enjoy some of my favourite photos:

It was easier as we walked down the beach... half the way, I had a surprise for her, and sat down to fill two heart shaped ballons. =) 

It's not easy to get her quiet for photos, so I just appreciated the walk, we've played and dad kept taking lots of pictures. I had a hard time to decide which ones to cut off. 

And then it was time to come home!

|day 17| Refashion Month Guest Julianne from Made with Love by Hulibug

I just love the unique and funky looks created by Julianne from Made With Love By Hulibug, she's the guest of the day, and a true refashionist! Everytime I visit her facebook page, I tend to spend there more than expected, because her refashions are so inspiring to me. Enjoy!

Hello! I'm Julianne aka Huli from "Made with Love by Hulibug" today I am going to share with you my love affair with refashioning vintage sheets!

It all started when I was about 14 years old and made my 1st pair of "sheet pants"  (pyjama pants) out of very funky flower power vintage sheets. They were the most comfy pj's ever and I wore them untill they feel apart and then made another ;)

Since then I've always looked out for gorgeous vintage sheets at the markets, garage sales and thrift stores and have made everything from clothes to bunting, bags and most recently fabric envelopes! And of course I'm still making and wearing my beloved sheet pants.

|day 16| Refashion Month Guest: RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna

Today's guest is RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna, and if you don't know her yet go, run, check her blog, I'm sure you'll adore it! I love her style, and her incredible ideas. It was an honour for me to compete against her in The Sew Off sewing contest, and I really thought she would win, I was actually hoping she would. 

Hello House of Estrela readers!!!!
Magda and I competed together in the first Sew-Off competition hosted by Amy of Naptime Crafters earlier this year but I've been a fan of Magda's style for a while!!!  I love everything she has sewn in Project Run and Play sew-alongs and I was so honored that she would ask me to participate in her July Refashion Month series!!!

When I thought about a project I would want to refashion I automatically thought t-shirt!  It's such a huge staple in a kid's wardrobe!  And I loooove adding appliques and embroidery to t-shirts so it was a win-win for this guest post!



What you'll need:
Old t-shirt (bigger size than what you'll work with)
Child t-shirt pattern (I used Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop "Classic Ringer Tee" - affiliate link but you could also use a free pattern like at MADE or draft your own!)
Ballpoint needle for your sewing machine
Optional - serger
(no double needle is needed if you are refashioning!  If you make the pattern from scratch you may want to get a double needle for the hems of the sleeve and bottom.)



So I started out with a plain ol' t-shirt from my stash!  This is a women's size large

Taking my pattern, I lined up the bottom of the pattern with the hem of my t-shirt.  This is so that when I put it all together, I won't need to hem my shirt!!!  If you are a stickler for proportions you may want to cut your pattern piece and inch or so shorter than the pattern.  I like longer t-shirts so I didn't bother with doing any math with seam allowances on the bottom hem.



Do the same thing when cutting your sleeve piece! (I did cut the sleeve a little shorter this time - I didn't want the sleeve length to be too long.)



Just follow all the directions in your pattern for constructing your t-shirt!  I highly recommend the Peek-a-Boo Ringer Tee pattern!!!  In fact, I've sewn it up three times now!  Version 2 was for my Feather's Flights pattern tour and version 3 was for a tutorial on how to make your Classic Ringer Tee into a girly version with a scallop neck binding!

I love a classic t-shirt because you can embellish it and make it unique and one-of-a-kind!  There are some really stellar applique tutorials if you don't have an embroidery machine!
I was blown away by Melissa of Sew Like My Mom and her applique tutorial!  If you don't have an embroidery machine and you want to applique, you HAVE to check out her blog!

If you're curious about what I use, I have the Singer Futura XL-400!
(Anchor design and "Arizona font" embroidery is from Embroitique.com
Shorts are Peek-a-Boo Sailor Shorts)

I was bummed that I didn't get too many good shots of Eva Mae wearing her new nautical play clothes but you can see in this pic she is on a mission to take back her toy that she just noticed that brother has!!!  (By the way, the shorts are from Peek-a-Boo too!  They are the Sailor Shorts)
 

Thank you, Magda for encouraging us to refashion something old into something new and fabulous!  I can't wait to see what the rest of your guests come up with!

And as a bonus, I JUST finished these jean shorts for my son's birthday!

I took a ratty old pair of my jeans and refashioned them into some shorts for my son (they were literally "whipped" up so I didn't take any tutorial pictures!)

They are simple elastic waist shorts and I added some side pockets with some airplane fabric pocket flaps to go with his paper airplane theme party!

Thank you so much for allowing me to join in the refashion fun this month, Magda!!!  I've loved seeing all the great ideas from all the creative bloggers!