Sweater to scarf

This item was inspired by this blog.  She does some really amazing stuff and I'm kind of obsessed with her blog.  I saw a tutorial of hers not long ago and decided I wanted to give it a shot.

It began with this red, sweater-vest.

I used the back and cut out as much square area as possible.

Then I cut the piece in half, lengthwise.

Rambo is such a good helper

Then I sewed the two pieces together, leaving one end open.  I inverted the newly sewn scarf so the seams were on the inside.  Then I added two buttons to connect the ends.  No button holes necessary because it's big enough to slide over my head.

This was so easy and so cute that I want to make about 1,000 more!

Hat makeover!

Today's post is a little picture-heavy.  Bear with me.

I was super excited when I found this dress at a thrift store for $2.00.  Oh the possibilities!

It wasn't until I got it home and washed that I realized it had this giant stain on the front.

So I knew there really wasn't any possibility for this dress to remain a dress.  But I found a use for the rest of the bottom half when I found this pillbox hat.

I bought it from an antique store for $6.00.  It had some stains and was coming apart on the inside.  I'm sure that's why it was so inexpensive.  All of the other pillbox hats were at least $10.00.   I wasn't sure what I would do with it at first but once the wheels started turning I got super excited.











The first order of business was to use some tacky glue to reattach the inside band to the hat.

Then I cut the dress in half to use to parts of the fabric that were not stained.

First I used the fabric to cut out a circle and glued it to the top of the hat to cover some of the stains.

I had to make a small slit in the fabric so it would lay flat when I glued it.

Next I made this fancy decoration for the front of the hat.

For the flower/bow I gather a wide strip of black tulle and tied a ribbon in the center.  Then I created a rosette using more fabric from the dress.  Next I sewed a jewel button in the center.  Finally I hot glued it all together and then to the hat.

View from above, as most of you usually see me :)

I am thrilled with how this hat turned out.  I'm not quite sure where I'll be wearing yet, but a hat like this can't be kept in the closet!

Another twofer

This first item I wore for Thanksgiving but forgot to take a picture for the blog.  It wasn't until today that I finally decided to put it back on to show you all.  It's not that I don't like it; actually I love it.  I guess I've just been a busy girl.

Here's what it looked like before.

I bought this dress from a local thrift store for $2.50.  The print and colors totally drew me in.  It looked pretty sad once I had it on though.  The shape was just terrible.  And once again, the length was totally inappropriate for my height.

The first thing I did was take up the length.

On the left side of the picture you can see a preview of a future post.

Then I took in the sides.  That was about it.  The dress really just needed a bit of reshaping.  Nothing major.  I am incredibly pleased with the results.

This is the outfit I wore on Thanksgiving.  I am quite thankful for this dress.  I'm also thankful for God giving me the new boldness and creativity.  It's been incredible.

The next item was another one bought with my "gift certificate" to the thrift store.  It's nothing special but it caught my eye a couple of times when I was there so I finally bought it.  I think it's probably just because it reminds me of an old sweater one of my friends had when we were in middle school.

Even my face was bummed.

It was big, sad, and frumpy.  There wasn't much I could do with it other than take it in.  So I got to it, which took about 10 minutes.  I put it back on and it fit great but it was still too boring for my taste.  I decided to make a broach to wear with the recreated sweater.  I used my newly acquired skills for fabric rosette making and put this pretty, little thing together.

I attached the rosette to the sweater with a safety pin and I was done.

I am pleased.  I think I'll wear it to work tomorrow!

Sorry...

for neglecting my blog.  I've been working on a lot of Christmas projects, including gifts.  For those of you receiving Christmas gifts from me, it's best that I don't post that stuff on my blog lest I ruin the surprise.  However, there is some thing exciting coming up.  I'm going to prepare an outfit for my husband's work Christmas party.  To keep you interested, I'll tell you it involves recreating a pill box hat!  Please keep checking in because I certainly haven't stopped reworking stuff.