A Colorful Bohemian Retro Refashion!

Today was a gloomy day outside. After having experienced some gorgeous springy weather the last week, this week's cold and clouds has been kind of disappointing. But it also forced me to stay inside and do some reorganizing and planning for future sewing projects. A refashion was on my list- especially since I have bags and bags of old clothes sitting under my craft table just waiting to be turned into something useful and adorable. Luckily, inspiration struck when I saw these two fabrics stacked together: 

A long bohemian skirt and a '70s muu muu dress.

It's like they were meant to be together, right? I definitely thought so!

And this is what I made with those pieces. A Bohemian Retro refashion/upcycle that my daughter actually likes! I love peasant tops for summer and of course, skirts and dresses are essential summer pieces so I married the two and came up with this fun look.

I even created some rosettes: one for the neckline and three more for the apron.

So here's how quickly it came together: 

1. Cut out the four pieces for the peasant top. Two for the bodice and two for the sleeves. You can find free peasant top patterns online with the help of sites like www.craftsy.com or a new pattern place I love spending hours on is www.sewset.com. I've found several patterns on both sites that I'm going to eventually try out- they're both endless sources of inspiration, in addition to Pinterest, of course!

2. Line up the curves of the sleeves with the curves on the bodice and sew together, making sure the right sides are facing each other. This fabric was a sheer woven cotton so I kept having to double check that I was sewing it correctly.

3. Next, fold down the neckline twice to create a casing for the 1/4" elastic. Sew it down leaving a two inch opening to insert the elastic, run it through and sew it together. Stitch close the casing and then finish your sleeves the same way with elastic. In my case, I merely hemmed the sleeves because my daughter hates sleeves that squeeze in on her arms. Now the bodice is complete so on to the skirt.

4. After measuring how much I needed for the skirt, I snipped down the length of it from the elastic waistband at the top, making sure to hold on to the elastic so that I didn't lose them. I pinned the new seams together and sewed up, creating a much smaller skirt from the large one.  

5. I gathered the bottom of the bodice to make it the same size as the skirt. With the skirt right side out and the top inside out, I inserted the skirt up through the neckline and lined up the edges. Sew together and finish all the seams as needed.

6. Yay! Just made a dress! But it needs something more...right?

7. So I added a pink apron with an overlay made from the bottom of the large Bohemian skirt. I created more matching rosettes and hand sewed those in a cluster at the top corner of the apron and sewed another one in at the neckline.

And here she is modeling her fun new look for us! Sorry about the messy hair- this was right before her bath so we weren't about to doll her up just to undo all the work right after our photo shoot.

Seriously- what's more fun & easy to wear in the summer than an easy pull on peasant dress? It's also colorful (obviously) and Bohemian cool- just full of personality, isn't it?

 I love the fabric rosettes. I'm going to be making more and turning them into a fun ribbon necklace that can also be worn in her hair.

Isn't it cute? My favorite refashion ever! I'm now more inspired than ever to go through those bags and bags of clothes and making some unusual pairings with the fabrics! This one was so fun and fast, I could make one for each of the girls in my family in just a week! Imagine how colorful that family picture would be, huh? =) Looking forward to it! Happy sewing all!

Linked to Sew Much Ado's We Did It Wednesday Party!

I'm featured at Sumo's Sweet Stuff's Market Yourself Monday!
Linking up to Craft-O-Maniac's Monday Link Party.

Linked to jembellish.blogspot's upcycled clothing page.

A DIY Faux Romper

I finally got around to making stuff for myself! My daughter demanded that I quit making clothes for her because she has enough right now. But I really think she's just tired of fittings and re-fittings and photog sessions. It's not like she was overworked- she just doesn't seem to have the patience for the long hours it requires to be a supermodel. ;-)

On the other hand, I was able to make something that I'd been thinking about for awhile: a romper. I love rompers for lounging around in and since I just received my order of gorgeous soft knits from Girl Charlee Fabrics, I knew it was a sign to start on it! The bad thing about rompers: too much work involved in going to the bathroom (you have to strip completely naked! eek!) and going to the bathroom is already difficult with a baby balanced on one hip, right moms??? Sooo- I decided to make a faux romper: two easy, comfy pieces that can be worn together to look like a romper or if I want, I can also mix them up with other pieces to create a new look when I get bored. Who doesn't love mixing & matching cute loungewear???

 For my faux romper, I used a yard of the Vintage Revival chevron cotton jersey blend knit fabric from Girl Charlee- and I gotta say- their fabrics and prints are THE BEST! Soft, stretchy, colorful, and comfortable- I'd buy everything off that site if I could! And their prices are so affordable, I'd highly recommend going there for your knits before heading out to the fabric store or going to another online retailer!

In addition to the chevron jersey knit, I also used a purple linen fabric for the neck tie and the back of the shorts. I love mixing fabrics, prints, and textures and this little project was no exception. Well, that and because I had only ordered one yard of this fabric not really knowing what I'd want to make with it yet. But I absolutely love the purple linen with the chevron print!

The halter neck top is so easy to make- you probably wouldn't even need a pattern for them! All you'd have to do is measure the width of your chest, your waist and figure out how long you want it to be. Make curves for the neck and armpit area, figure out how much seam allowance you want and you're pretty much set. The back piece is simply a rectangle with encased elastic at the top hem to keep the top fitted to your body. Once the entire top was sewn together, I wove an elastic band into a casing at the bottom hem for a more fitted look.

I think the shorts are my faaaaavorite piece! I used another pair of shorts I liked as a pattern for these and they turned out even better than the store-bought pair! Funny how that happens sometimes, hmm? For lounge shorts, there should always be extra room for your bum because you sit around a lot and you don't want it riding up or falling too low, do ya? To make them deeper, cut the back pattern piece longer in the crotch area. See how in the above picture even though the shorts are laid flat, the purple linen comes forward and isn't laying perfectly behind the front of the shorts? That's what you want if you've got a curvy behind. I made my own pattern for these but since they're elastic-waisted, I can easily use the same pattern if I were to make any for my sisters, who are about the same build as I am. I can always decrease or increase the amount of elastic to accommodate their waists.

Joined the link party at SewMuchAdo! Go check out all the other crafty stuff everyone's made recently!

A Handmade Wardrobe- Part Two

Hello again! As promised, I've returned with some more pieces of my daughter's expanding handmade summer wardrobe! I'm kind of annoyed at the moment because Blogger completely erased my original text to this post when I was trying to preview it. I saved after every paragraph and yet, everything got dumped and disappeared on me so I have to re-write it again! Grrrr.... But enough of that- I will try to remember what I wrote before and hope that it doesn't happen again!

Anyway- my daughter and I have been agreeing on a lot of the same styles and silhouettes but our only sticking point is the color pink. If I let her dress herself, it's guaranteed that she'll look like a walking bottle of Pepto Bismol. Now, to her, this is pretty so I let her get away with it every now and again but in an effort to expand her interest into other colors, I made mostly non-pink, but still pretty, pieces. Luckily, she has ended up liking most of them...except for the "boy-fabric" shorts from the previous post! But other than that, she's accepted everything else I've made for her! She is this difficult with new foods, too! Life must never be made easy for moms, right? Well, at least in this case, I've come out on the winning side and now I'm going to show you how I did that!

This bubble dress is my absolute favorite of all the dresses I've made for her. The fabrics were found at the Goodwill and for about $2, I was able to create an adorable look that's also comfortable. The back has three pieces of encased elastic that stretch to make it easy to pull on or off. The fewer buttons and zippers I have to deal with, the better! The elastic at the hem also allows her to walk or run freely and doesn't hamper her one bit.

We both love the bubble skirt effect, as evidenced in the next piece!

She received plenty of compliments at the mall yesterday when she wore this little number out. Nothing is more ladylike than lace and when used in a bubble skirt, it's just so darn pretty, isn't it?

We paired it with a peter pan-collared sleeveless blouse in a dainty floral print (also thrifted fabric, by the way) and the look was very ladylike indeed when worn with blue ballet flats. 

I love modern ladylike pieces for girls. It's just too darling.

This tunic was upcycled from cloth napkins that I discovered at the Goodwill for just .99 a piece! So I scooped up all four that they had on hand and used two of them to make a little tunic for her. Don't you just love that pretty floral print on the blue background? I also love that K is small enough to use just two napkins to make an outfit. Outrageous, isn't it? I'd love it if I could do that too!

I didn't even need to sew the hem- just used the original finished napkin hem and sewed up the sides. Quickest upcycle I've ever done! With a little ric rac trim and pink buttons, it was heartily approved by my daughter. Makes me wonder what I'll do when she gets bigger? And I also had to wonder who would throw out such beautiful cloth napkins?! I have two more to use for another project but for now, I plan to work on sewing projects for my boys. That's always a challenge but it'll keep me busy for awhile! Hope you found some inspiration here for your little girl! Happy sewing all!