Refashion Month at House of Estrela

Hi! Today I am over House of Estrela as a guest blogger for her Refashion Month series - 2015 edition!

I am sharing a simple alteration I made on this blouse I had only used once. It was too tight on the armscyes so I took the sleeves off and applied bias facing to make it a sleeveless top (after some adjustments on the armscye curve).

It's refashion month!

I am very happy for being part of this season of Refashion Month! I can't help looking at a piece of clothing that me or my kids don't use anymore and thinking of at least a dozen ways it could be refashioned... I just love this creative process! So I have this huge pile of outgrown clothes ready to be upcycled into something else. It was not an easy choice to get only one of them and make something for this refashion series...

Since today is my 8th wedding anniversary I initally thought of refashioning something I have used back then, in my honeymoon. How cool would have that been? 8 years later I have outgrown all the bottoms and only a few tops still fit, like this one. It fits great on the width but I wish it could have a bit more length to hide my mommy curves... :)

This is me 8 years ago. Haven't changed a bit! :)

I thought of several ways of closing that scooped neckline and adding some more length but I was not convinced by any... So this wasn't it...

Then, I thought about doing something with this beautiful chambray tunic. I have bought it after I had my first kid (in the picture bellow, 5 years ago) to help me hide my pregnancy weight gain. (It wasn't much but I felt more comfortable using large clothes and tunics...). With the use the crocheted apliqué at the front started to unreavel and honestly I think I don't like it that much now... So I have planned to take off some of the length and to unpick all of that apliqué and maybe sew some sequins or beads... But I wasn't totally pleased with the result and I didn't had the time to redo it since these last few weeks have been very very busy... So I had to come up with another refashion.

I ended up making a very simple refashion for my little girl. I have turned a 12 months size romper into a 3 year-old t-shirt! 

Before:

This is my little girl 2 years ago, when she was almost 1 year-old, at the beach walking on the sand for the first time!

This was just one of those cut & hem super quick projects! It only took me 5 minutes!
She was so happy with her new top and I was so happy to have managed again to turn a small size into a bigger size! (You can see here how I turned a top and a dungaree skirt from size 12 months to size 5!)

After:

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And you still have a couple of days to join the sew-along! Have fun!

It's Refashion time!

Today my sewing time was all about refashion!

I think it is wonderful to give a new life to non-fitting or out-grown clothes. This week is Kid's Clothes Week and Refashion week for Project Run & Play, oh and January is the Refashion Month sew-along at House of Estrela, so I definitely had to do some refashioning!

I was raised since a child to give away all the clothes that don't fit me or don't suit me anymore to someone else (usually to low income families or friends). I still do that with my kids clothes. So, when I first thought about joining this refashioning sew-alongs I was sad because I knew that I wouldn't have any old clothes to refashion... But then I remembered that I had a found a lost box of my kids clothing on our recent house move! And I was able to find a few pieces that were suitable for refashioning. Oh happy day!

Project #1 - From dress to top!

Before!

This was a 9-12 months corduroy dress that first belonged to my middle one and then to tiny. 
It is as new as it was not much used mainly because although it was a piece of garment for Winter it had cap sleeves and a gap/ opening in the front and so it always seemed to me that they were going to be cold even with a sweatshirt underneath... 

I love this thin corduroy and the color! So I was really happy to be able to refashion it to a top.

I took the cap sleeves away and redrafted the armscyes to make them larger. 

  Then, I just added lace to the edge and to the gap! 

I also changed the button (ballerina shoes, of course!) and the button placement. And that was it! 

The funny thing is that it fits both my girls (they are 2 and a half years apart, but the oldest is really thin...)!

Project #2 - From dungarees to skirt!

Before!

This was a 12 months size denim dungarees skirt.

First I have cut off the chest and back pieces. 

All separate pieces!

Then I took off one of the skirt's ruffles layer (the smaller, upper one) and took some width off of the remaining main layer (from the center and from the sides). Then I have joined the smaller ruffled layer to the bottom edge of the skirt to add length to it.

This was the harder step... Hello seam ripper and hello broken needle! 
To sew it back together was an huge test for my sewing machine as it had to sew several (I have counted 6!) layers of denim.

Waistband + main layer (with less width) + previous upper layer now at bottom edge.

I have add an adjustable waistband and voilá!

I am being inspired by several wonderful people (mainly by Magda!) to make new clothes out of used ones and I think it will be my new hobby! 
I keep finding myself these days looking at my kids clothing and thinking about ways to refashion them...

If you want to be seriously inspired check Magda's blog and all the refashioning she does every day, along with all the amazing people she invited to join her this month and stop by Project Run and Play's Refashion Week and by Kids Clothes Week (there are a lot of refashioned garments around there too)! 

Believe me when I say that you will want to join this refashion movement!