101 Crafts # 40 - Googly Eye Shoes!!!

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't posted on this blog in such a long time. I have been really busy with my new blog Style Independent and I haven't been doing as much crafting as I would have liked to.

Today I am going to share with you some lovely Googly Eye Shoes that I made.

If you would like to see more pictures of my outfit please go to Style Independent.

These started as a plain pair of gold shoes (scuffed). 

I painted them white using Acrylic and a Textile medium.

Next I bought lots of googly eyes!

I used hot glue to affix these to the front of the shoes.

And here you have the most beautiful Googly Eye Shoes in the world!

Naturally you need to leave the paint to dry thoroughly before you affix any of the eyes. Then it is best to let those sit for a while so that they stick really well to the shoes.

What do you think??

Ciao for now!

A Cute Blue Summer Dress Alteration

Hello all! I trust you have been doing well in my absence. Things were a little hectic the first few days here out at camp as I had a lot of catching up to do, thus the lack of posting.

Today I am sharing a dress alteration that I did before we left on our vacation this summer.
Of course being that I modified this dress the day that we left home, I didn’t have time to take any before pictures. The dress was quite a bit longer, did not have the flower like detailing on the left side and the straps needed shortening (it was a little scandalous before).

Can you believe that I purchased this dress for $6.00? Me neither. It is becoming a summer favourite already. The pictures were taken in Aren’s parents home (the green room) - the cacti are so huge! Needless to say his parents are avid gardeners.
Ciao,

PS. I forgot to mention that I was featured again on Totally Tutorials August 4th (while I was away on holidays). My Men's Shirt to Chic Skirt project was the project of the day! Hooray!

A Cute Blouse Refashion

Today I present to you another refashion! I actually refashioned this blouse quite some time ago but had never taken any photos. The original blouse was an XL (I am S) so there was quite a bit of fabric left over after this was fixed up. You may or may not remember a Barbie dress that I made HERE from the matching capri pants.
Basically I took the blouse in on the sides and at all of the darts (front and back) as well as at the centre back seam. I did some pintucking on either side of the button placket which served to take in the shirt as well as add some decoration. Lastly I made a cute fabric flower brooch and attached it to the left hand side. Because of the pattern you can barely see the flower when you look at the blouse straight on so I took a few closeups to allow you to see the details. This outfit has a very secretary-chic look to it, don't you think?

The skirt is by Numph, my shoes are Ecco and the jewellery was purchased while on holiday in Thailand.

Here you can see the flower and pintucking more clearly.

Hope you have enjoyed this little refashion!

How To Turn A Men's Shirt Into A Chic Skirt

How can this become ........

This???

Read on to find out!

You may or may not recognize this skirt from another post HERE where I was wearing it as a part of another outfit. Well now I am going to show you how I made this skirt. I am missing a few photos from the in between stages but I am sure you will be able to follow along just fine.

Of course first you will want to find an old men's shirt, I got mine at a garage sale for $1. Wash the shirt before you begin to sew as with any garage sale or thrift shop find.

Next I held the shirt up against my waist (true waist) and made a little mark on the button placket to make sure the length would be just right.  Once I had the shirt laid flat on the floor (or table if you want) I measured up in the middle and then on the sides to ensure an even length and then squared off a line. I then cut through both layers of the shirt. You may need to remove a front pocket from your shirt before doing this (I did).

You will need to cut off the cuffs on the arms so that you can use these for the waistband.  I cut off the entire arm and then the cuff. Measure your cuff width. Then measure it's length. You will need to measure your waist then subtract the measurements (lengths) of the two cuffs. The remaining number will be the length of strip you will need to cut to finish the waistband.

So for example: Cuff width = 2.5 inches, Cuff length = 9 inches, Waist (true waist) = 28 inches

Cuff  9+9 = 18     28 - 18 = 10 inches

You will need to cut a strip 10 inches by 5 inches (2 times the width of the cuff) plus whatever seam allowance you would like to add. I added a very minimal seam allowance as I was serging the seams together. You could also cut off the portion of the cuff you want to use and use extra fabric for the rest - your choice.

 I apologize for the lack of photos for these steps as I got too caught up in sewing!!

Now you need to sew the cuffs to the extra strip. We make the strip double the width of the cuff as it will be folded over so the top edge of your waistband does not have any raw edges.

Once you have finished making the waistband into one piece you will need to sew the waistband to the skirt portion. The skirt portion will probably have to be gathered in to the waistband. Make sure the ends of your waistband are properly aligned before you start sewing. Trim any stray threads.

Now the reason that we used the cuffs for the waistband is so that you have a ready made button hole. You may have to change the placement of the button on the other side so that it fits properly. This can be done once you are trying the skirt on. You will notice in the following pictures that I added extra buttons all the way down the skirt in order to give it a more uniform appearance and keep it from looking so much like a men's dress shirt. I also stitched closed the bottom of the button placket so that it would not flap open awkwardly. This was done by top stitching over the edge of the placket (it is almost imperceptible).

Try on your skirt and make any adjustments necessary. A brand new skirt! Voila!

I really hope that this tutorial has been helpful and perhaps the next time I have a spare men's shirt I will try to add some photos of the waistband creation. I would love to see your versions!

The rest of my outfit is as follows:

Clockhouse black tank top, Talula sweater, H&M socks, Nine West shoes, Thrift Store Bag (Daniela is the brand), Forever XI headband, Aldo necklace and assorted rings and bracelets.

I apologize if I am not able to post anything new tomorrow as this week is going to be a busy one for us out at work, I will try my best though.

Until next time.....

White Strapless Top From a Longsleeve

I have been feeling a little guilty for not posting any of the projects that I have been working on lately so today I have decided that I need to do a refashion post.

I started with a long sleeve shirt and transformed it into a stylish strapless summer top. Hope you like it!

Here you can see the original long sleeve. Be sure that the shirt fits you well - it should be TIGHTER (but not too tight) otherwise it won't stay up once you refashion it.

The first thing you will want to do is turn the shirt inside out. Once you have done this you will need to turn the sleeves back right side out. This is so you can close the sleeve seam.

Here you can see that I sewed along the sleeve openings. After I sewed it the first time, I realized my line wasn't straight when it came to the whole shirt so I had to resew it. So don't follow the armhole exactly- there will be a bit in the armpit that needs to be trimmed out so the seam is straight.

Now chop off the collar/shoulder area.  It can be straight or dip a little in the middle.

Turn the shirt right side out. Fold over the raw edge at the top opening and sew down. Be sure that you use a ZigZag stitch if you don't have a twin needle function on your machine. If you don't your seams will rip out (break) when the fabric stretches.

Now it's time for the folding! The next three pictures will show you how to do this. Basically you bring the sleeves across the shirt diagonally, twist, bring back to the side the sleeve is on and pin down.

When you pin the sleeves there may be some excess fabric. Simply trim this off. You will need to open up the seams in the sides of the shirt now.

Only open the seam in the area of the side where the sleeve is going to be sewn. Tuck the sleeve end inside and turn the shirt inside out.

As I said, you may need to trim off the ends as this would make a very uncomfortable shirt!

Once it is all trimmed and sewn down - turn it right side out again.

TADA!

A beautiful summer top!!

I hope you all have fun making this shirt, show me your results!

Ciao!