Making it bigger and adding some detail

My mom sent me a few items of clothing that my sister no longer wanted.  Among those items was a top from Hollister. Sadly it was a little snug, then again I'm no longer a super skinny 20 year old either.  But I just loved the color and the neck line. So I figured I'll just make it fit:~) I went to Joanne's and picked up a fat quarter for $1.99 in a print that complimented the color of the shirt nicely.

Again my trusty scissors assisted me this project.  I cut off the sleeves, up the sides of the shirt, and straight up the middle about half way. I forgot to take a picture of the shirt in the beginning yet again, but here it is after I cut it up.

I cut two 2" strips for the sides and a triangle for the back from the fat quarter.  I hem stitched the bottoms of all of them to match the existing hem of the shirt and then sewed 'em on.  I left the edge of the sleeves raw and used a decorative stitch to give it a some what finished look. It was super simple for the most part.  The only place I had any issues was sewing on the top of the triangle on the back of the shirt.  The jersey knit fabric of the shirt just didn't want to cooperate. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

 

You can see the sides in this picture a bit better.

 

Dress Refashions

My Mom recently sent me two dresses.  Both were super simple knee length sheath dresses.  The fabrics were fun but the dresses just weren't working for me.  I've been so inspired by the "refashion craze" going on lately in the craft blog world that I immediately got to thinking about how I could make these dresses work. 

Dress #1:

Cute fabric, but way short on me.  And the top portion fit way better than the bottom. 
 

So with my trusty scissors and some bias tape (Have I ever mentioned that I love bias tape....guess that's another story.) this cute dress found a new life as a super cute top. 

Dress #2:

One day I will remember to take pictures before I start hacking away but that day was not today.  This dress fit much better all over, but it was missing something.  The fabric is very eye catching, but the style was very....blah. Here is the dress at the beginning of my little project.

 

I dropped the neckline, added some decorative stitching, and switched out the straps. Here it is now....

Sorry for the terrible pic, self photography never turns out well.

Anthro Refahsion

I love my craft blogs.  Every morning I grab my coffee and sit down my lovely macbook and go through all of the craft blogs I follow.  I've noticed a trend lately among them, Anthropologie and JCrew refashions.  Two of my very favorite stores that I can't afford to buy anything from.  But oh how I love to torture myself by browsing through their beautiful selections of clothing, especially at Anthropologie.  Drool with me...

  These are a few of the tops I found during my latest torture session.  I've been so inspired by all of the other refashions I've seen lately, I decided what the heck...I can do that! So I headed to our local thrift store and Joanne's to pick up what I needed to get started. I found a knit top for $4 and some trimmings for about the same. I forgot to take a picture before I went at the shirt with scissors. But here is what it looked like after the scissors:~)

 

And here is the finished product. I used another tank top of mine to decide where the sleeves and neck openings needed to be.  I used the sleeves to make the drape in the front and the turtle neck to make the rose.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.