sewing and some refashions

• fabric: fluffy stretch knit
• pattern: simplicity/new look S0446 
• look: d [plus sleeve and waist ribbing]
• thoughts: def shorter than i thought, hence the ribbing

look at them fancy armscyes!  all angular and stuff.  and the pattern calls for 1 1/4 yards minimum... i managed to eke it out with a poorly cut yard.  i think the fabric was a remnant i bought years ago cos its fluffy on one side and not itchy on the other.  it makes an excellent cropped sweatshirt for the lack of spring this year.  also, all that remains from that yard are the scraps on the floor

cracking under pressure

the marketing department at work sent a company wide email to the effect of "free shit in the conference room".  that consisted of shirts and hats emblazoned with our logo and one of our co-branded logos.  now god knows how long theyve been holding onto these things as.. most were xxxxl or xxlt.  someone found me a heavy cotton/canvas shirt and said "i bet you could make something out of this."  i said...challenge accepted.

welp.  slight fail.

heart this dress?

remember this little beaut?  awkward midi length printed corduroy with armscyes dangerously nearing side-boob territory.  much improved.

dress repair

i bought this dress awhile back [ahem june..] and this dress has been patiently waiting for me to repair it.

from frumpy to flattering?

after some pinterest inspiration [7 variations on my sewing board] i figured out what to do with the quintessential "vintage" dress.  it has all the qualifications of the 70's-80's - heavy polyester fabric, pleated tea-length skirt, bubble top with weird lining, awkward shoulder pads and sleeve length.  oh yea.  and the pattern.  stripey variegated floral.  yuss.

new sewing stuffs

i thrifted this a last month even though its a smidge too small across the chest.  obviously not cos i have ginormous boobs.  its just a smaller size.  but i liked the color and the rest of the dress.  anywho.  i cut about an inch off the sleeves, a good 8" from the skirt, and removed the lapels from the collar. 

i also removed the sleeves from this top thrifted back in february [apparently].  as with most button-down shirts it just wasnt quite right and removal of the sleeves allows it to fit better without pulling across the back.  i pretty much am not built to wear pants or store bought tailored shirts. 

sewing like mad

well not really, but ive completed [!] two projects in the last two nights.

yet another 90's eddie bauer dress that i cut apart and added a ruffle ala this pin:

Source: lynnnchicago.com via Liz on Pinterest

from gcb [good christian bitches] which is a hilarious show on abc.  the desperate religious petty housewives of dallas.  based on the book of the same name.

its a bit short cos i ...wasnt paying attention and i cut off too much

and i made another petticoat!  here is the crappiest tutorial ever:

thrift edits

apparently im really into ruffles.  whether or not i'll actually wear this is another matter.  not exactly corporate office or grocery store wear...  but i think its pretty obvious here that i cut the bottom off and stuck it on at the neck.  explanation complete.

so this before pic isnt quite accurate as i added the bottom dip-dye as well.  and it looks a wee bit diseased.  i cant guarantee that its better in real life.  and im thinking i might just overdye the bright green black.  but it was a weird dolman sleeved jumpsuit-style dress.  i really liked the snaps so i bought it..and then debated for almost a month before hacking off the sleeves and skirt.

aaand 90s skirt cropped for normal wear.  fin

linking up to erica's recycled fashion finds

updating dresses

both in the i-havent-posted-real-things-in-awhile sense and cos the dresses were possibly from the 1970's.

anywho.  these were purchased over the last few week and either the pics have been on my computer or the unfinished product has been hanging next to my tv.  proceed:

overly elegant polyester maxi dress.. turned into a daytime dress with removable double peplum.  the glorified belt covers a sizable snag that i guess was there when i bought it [didnt notice] and unfortunately, the right pocket.  i wore this for st patrick's day celebrations [a potluck at a friend's house] aaand since were old, we were home by 12:30.  no carousing at crazy irish bars.  but when they have to put out portapotties to accommodate all the partiers [in maine of all places].. i am more than happy to go home.

matronly puff sleeves were removed and braided into a belt.  as i was sewing the arm holes closed again i ran out of bobbin thread so there was swearing.. but otherwise a very simple fix

 removed sleeves.  fin. 

oh eddie bauer.  you keep making these almost-updated dresses but they still have that slightly out-of-decade feel.  5" later.. much better.  i'll have to figure out the right placement for the under-boob seam cos in both pics its a bit wrong.  the fabric is surprisingly stretchy for rayon and shifts around a bit

last but not least..yet another blue and white print dress, and i'm not sure how much better the end product really is...  i unpicked the inside poof in the sleeves, cut off the weird cuffs, and sewed around the faux wrap top to tack down the flappy facing layer.  after trying it on again i decided knee-length would be better than just under so i turned the bottom hem up once and sewed a double seam.

linking up to shanna of colorblind
 

from scratch and the old thrift-fix

i thrifted an "esp - extra sure pattern" from goodwill for $.50 [victory #1] and spent over an hour and half cutting out the pieces.  now i just want to point out as america has gained weight, our clothing sizes have changed.  and ummm the pattern was just 1" too small at each measurement.  oh well. 

i took this pic when i thought i was 90% done [ie facing and shoulders complete, waist and sides sewn together].  another 1.5 hours after finishing cutting pieces.  in between pics i bought new lightbulbs [daylight instead of warm] and figured out how to better dry my poufy hair

little did i know, i would decide weeeell maybe more like 75% done.  i bias-taped [is that a word?] the arm holes after making them ever so slightly larger, cut off a few more inches from the hem, and added [then removed and resewed] hooks in place of the buttons since as i mentioned, it was a wee bit too small.

oh yea.  and i added pockets.  AWESOME friggin pockets.  the other pic is just to show more of my mad gathering skills even though theyre mostly hidden by the damn collar.

based very loosely on this pin:

Source: modcloth.com via Liz on Pinterest

for magical sewing piece #2 [also a victory] i have here a dark teal eddie bauer size small ponte awkward midi dress with a stain and a slit.  compare that if you will to the unknown brand size 16 petite.  i digress.  [though it is microsuede and $2.50 worth of amazing]

honestly beyond my stand-by of chopping of the bottom i was a bit at a loss of what to do.  so i looked up over-priced under-sized [is a large really an 8-10 you fuckers?] dresses on modcloth.  and found this little sold-out gem

Source: modcloth.com via Liz on Pinterest

so i busted out my gathering skills yet again and made a triple peplum.  which to my chagrin i recently found is pronounced pep-lum.  not pea-plum.  eeeeh. 

this pic is to show how it goes from the side seam to the random off-set front seam

this pic is to show the dress from a more flattering angle.

linking up to meagan of brass in pocket's thursdays are for thrifters, harper's happening's high on thrifting thursday, and erica of recycled fashion's finds #36

recook and resew

a month or so ago i got takeout indian.  i was craving spicy meat and veggies... but the chicken korma i got was disappointing bland.  since i was going out of town and too cheap to throw it away, i chucked it in the freezer without a second thought.  welp monday i was too lazy to cook so i defrosted the korma and fixed it. 

nothing some toasted almonds, green beans, and a lot of sriracha couldnt fix!

the 5 sister wife dresses

i could have sworn these pics werent blurry when i took them in the middle of the day with mostly natural light for once.  bahh