Earrings from a shirt?! Now that's just crazy.

I once bought a shirt for a quarter.  It looked like this...

When I "recreated" the shirt I removed the sleeves, but I didn't throw them away because they had lovely embroidery on the ends.  I cut off the embroidered ends, unsure of how I'd use them.

Then it hit me...earrings!  I love earrings and how wonderful it would be to have pink, embroidered earrings!  So I cut out two individual flowers, added an earring hook to each, and sewed three clear beads to the centers.

Here they are!  Embroidered, fabric, beaded earrings.

And this is how they look on ears.

The best part is that earrings this large usually weigh my ears down and sometimes make them tender.  Not fabric earrings!  Oh the fun of fabric :)

Double Whammy

This lovely vest came into my life after another trip to the thrift store near work.  My wonderful sister-in-law gave me a "gift certificate" for my birthday so I felt comfortable spending a little more than usual.  I think this one was $3.00.

I don't know why I make these faces

It was obviously too big, but I really liked the orange tie-die action.  I also liked the lacey trim, which you can't quite see in this picture.  There wasn't too much that needed to be done and somehow I managed to get through the process without taking any pictures.  Oops!  All I really did though was take it in on the sides and I removed what I might call the sleeves and then hemmed it up.  That's it!

Since the weather has been a bit cooler, I do need to wear it with a t-shirt, but I think in the summer it will be cute as a tank top, or open with a tank top underneath.  So many possibilities!

The second top I wanted to show you I forgot to take a picture of before I got started.  I actually did this one a few weeks ago but haven't posted it yet.  The shirt used to be giant (like most things I start with).  The only change I made was to take it in quite a bit.  Now it looks like this.

Thanks for checking in on my blog.  If you like something, please leave a comment.  It makes my heart happy :)  Even if all you say each time is "that's cute!"  I still appreciate your words.

Oh dear

I know what you're thinking; "how could this possible turn into anything worth wearing?"  At least that's what I was thinking when I brought it home and tried it on.

I honestly can't tell you why I picked it up.  I think it had something to do with the print but everything else about it was completely wrong.  It was obviously way too big, the shape was sad and unflattering, and its probably not the best color for me.  So needless the say, this dress called for a major overhaul.

First order of business was to take it in...big time.

All pinned up

Next I decided to get rid of the sleeves.  I tried it on after taking it in and the sleeves just weren't working out.

After that I took off A LOT of the length.  It wasn't happening as a dress.  Rambo supervised.

Finally I added the missing, center button.

I tied a red chord around my waist to give my new top a little shape and viola!

Wow.  I really wasn't sure about this one but I think it came out looking good.  At least good enough for my weekly trip to Trader Joe's and the local produce stand.

Dress to jacket

When I bought this dress (for $1.25 at a thrift store) I thought I could just remove the vest and shoulder pads, wear it with a cami, and be on my way.  Not so.

Powerful business woman circa 1985

Once I got it home and tried it on, I found that it was too snug around the hip/buttocks region.  This discovery forced me to get creative.  I began by removing the vest and shoulder pads which had to go regardless of my recreation plans.

Then I made a drastic decision; this dress was going to become a jacket.  I guess it's not really that drastic.  I just had to make it shorter.  But I wasn't certain how it would look as a jacket and once I cut the skirt off, there was no going back.  Fortunately everything worked out quite nicely.

Hello jacket!

I'm calling this my "voting jacket" as I felt very smart wearing this jacket to the polling place this morning.  You may also notice that I made another ruffle necklace.  So much fun!