Refashion A Skirt Into An Infinity Scarf

From This...

To This....

 

Here's how....

This started out as a long straight skirt.  I cut off the waist band, used a seam ripper to take the zipper out, and took out the back seam to open up the skirt. I put it out on the floor to measure and cut the fabric. I wanted my scarf to be on the skinny side because I don't feel comfortable with alot of bulky material around my neck, so I measured 7 inches from the bottom of the skirt and cut from one side to the other. I realized that my strip of fabric wouldn't be long enough for an infinity scarf, so I cut two strips of fabric the same width and length.

 

I cut two strips so I could sew them together end to end to make them long enough.  It made my fabric strip 70".  That was just the right amount for my infinity scarf to wrap around my neck twice and be the length I was comfortable with.

Next, I folded my fabric in half lengthwise and pinned. (At this point, check to make sure both ends are the same size...if they aren't, trim them with scissors until they match. This will make it easier when you sew the ends together later on.)

  



Now, onto the sewing...

I sewed down the long side with a 1/2" seam allowance.

Once I was finished sewing, I ended up with an inside out tube of fabric.

 

This would be the point where you would iron the seam open. I didn't do this because I'm lazy and didn't want to drag out my ironing board. I do recommend this step if you a) like things perfect or b) you are giving this as a gift.  Neither of these applied to me so I didn't care. ;)

Next, I turned the fabric right side out.

 

Now this is the tricky part. (not really tricky to do as much as it is explaining how to do it.)  To join the ends together, I matched up the inside seams and pinned. I put the fabric in the machine then sewed my way around the circle sewing the ends together until the circle got too small to sew. At this point, I took the fabric out of the machine, folded the raw ends under and put it back under the needle and sewed the gap shut.  This method makes the seam visible. I, however, didn't care because this scarf is for me and I knew my hair would hide the seam.  If you like things perfect or are giving this as a gift, you should hand sew the rest of the opening shut instead of putting it back in the machine.

And that's all there is to it. Super easy!

So easy, in fact, my 6 year old daughter sewed most of this one and one for herself!(With guidance, of course, but still.)

And I love that I didn't have to go out and buy fabric for this. I just used old clothes that I don't wear anymore! =)

 ****NOTE****

The scarf for my 6 year old was made the exact same way EXCEPT the fabric was cut 7" x 48" and we only cut one strip of fabric.

***If you have some time, swing by my Zibbet shop and take a look around!***

 http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo



The Prettiest Way To Wear Sweats

Ahh, Sweats.  So soft, so comfy.  Totally unattractive.

Not anymore. I decided to transform this pair into a cute skirt! 

First, I cut off the sweats to a reasonable skirt length. Next, I grabbed my seam ripper and took out the seams of the crotch and legs.

It looked like this:

I turned the "skirt" inside out, and pinned up the seam to make it straight.
Then I sewed along those pins.

I did that to the front and the back.

Now, onto the ruffle.  I used the legs of the pants that I cut off.  I cut the cuffs off of the legs, and opened up the legs by cutting up the leg seam.

Next, I cut strips about 3"-4" wide from the legs.  I sewed them together to make one long strip.  Once I did that, I put a gathering stitch in the strip to make the ruffle. I did a gathering stitch by putting my thread ease on 9 and my stitch length on 5.

Then I attached the ruffle to the skirt. I did this by having the skirt right side out and pinning the ruffle on the outside of the skirt with the right sides of the ruffle and skirt together.
I sewed the ruffle on.

And this is what the comfy sweats look like now:

Pretty right?

Now it's possible to wear Sweats to the office. ;)

The new prettier way to wear sweats and a tee!  =)

**If you have some time, swing by my Zibbet shop and take a look around!**

www.therufflybuffalo.com

Thanks! =D



Almost Forgot To Post These...

I just realized I forgot to post a bunch of refashions that I did in the spring!
Here they are:

I had planned on wearing brown riding boots with this, but once I changed the neckline, shortened it, and took out the pockets, I realized I looked like I was ready to go on a safari. So I added a blue belt and wore my favorite blue wedge sandals. =)

I think this has to be the best refashion ever for a couple of reasons. #1 This dress was free! It was given to our girls as a hand-me-down.  and #2 All I had to do was remove that collar and sleeves and voila! a fancy and expensive looking dress!

 I found this shirt at goodwill. It was probably only $1 because that's usually the only stuff I buy anymore at goodwill. lol  I loved the pattern and knew I could use the blue belt and sandals (again).

 This dress was reaaaaallly old fashioned.  I love the way it turned out!

 I originally bought these thinking I would keep them as capris. But I'm glad I made them into a skirt instead. A skirt is much nicer in the summer than capri pants.

 I'm not a fan of this dress refashion (or the after picture of myself lol...I look like a deer in headlights.) I tried to do a ruffle, but I think the fabric was too stiff or something. When I put it on, it felt like a tutu. The ruffle was sticking out instead of down. It was weird. =P Good thing it was only $1.

 I love this refashion! I got this dress at a yardsale for 25 cents! (I love yardsales so much!) However, this dress will never be seen in public with those shoes. Those heels are so high, I almost fell over just standing in them. lol

This was my Easter dress. The only thing I had to do was add the strip of fabric to the middle to match my shoes. =)

Keep an eye out for the refashioning of these beauties =)

***If you have some time, swing by my zibbet shop and take a look around!***

http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

Thanks! =D

I'll Wear Your Grandma's Clothes. I'll Look Incredible.

  About 2 years ago, I bought a gorgeous polka dot skirt for myself at a yardsale. It was 10 cents. It was a great deal as it was in perfect condition and my size. However, I never wore the skirt. It was a chiffon-y kind of fabric and the only tops I had to match it were knit. I just didn't feel like they would go with it.  One day, while refashioning other clothes, my youngest asked if I would make that skirt into a dress for her. I decided it needed something else with it in order to make a pretty dress so we headed off to Goodwill.  That's where I purchased a ladies yellow skirt (for $1). 
First, I reworked the yellow skirt for the dress and accented it with pieces from the polka dot skirt. It was pretty easy to do. I just had my daughter try on the skirt and pull it up under her arms. Then I pinned the dress on the sides to make it fit. It already had a button and zipper. Then I sewed up the sides where the pins were. I hemmed it to a length comfortable for her.
 I made the straps with leftover yellow fabric from the skirt and covered them with the polka dot fabric.  I sewed those on the top.  Then I made a belt with fabric from the polka dot skirt. I sewed the belt to the yellow skirt on each side so the dress wouldn't move around much while she played in it.
I LOVE how it turned out! My daughter wore this to the Mother's Day Tea at school and she looked so cute! (Of course, she looks cute no matter what she wears.) =)  This dress only cost $1.10. YAY!
PS- I also made that bow on her headband. ;)

I also made this dress. I used to same format. I thought it turned out pretty good.

 

The blue dress cost $2.

***If you have some time, swing by my zibbet shop and take a look around!***

http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

Thanks! =D

Romper Room

The moment my eyes met this glorious romper, I knew I had to have it.  I didn't even second guess myself OR try to envision how I would end up refashioning it.  I just knew it would work. And the bright yellow buttons made me happy.  I was double happy when I saw that it was only $1.  (I know, I couldn't believe it either! lol) 

The first image I got in my head when I saw this was Angela Bower from "Who's The Boss".  The second image I got in my head was a pregnant woman from 1990 and I thought "WHO in their right mind would wear something so ridiculous?!"  So I knew I couldn't just leave this as a romper.  It had to be made into a cute summer dress.  When I put it on to take the before picture, I must admit, I kicked around the idea of keeping it exactly the way I bought it.  It was just so comfortable.  Then I realized why someone would wear this.  (But I'm still not sure why anyone would wear it in public.)

The first thing I did to this was rip out the bow pockets and the cuffs on the legs.  Those came off easily.  Then I had to take out the seams in the crotch and legs.  Once that was finished, I had to lay it together and pin it together to form a dress.  This took a little more time than taking off the pockets.  For some reason the construction of any article of clothing with legs...be it pants or shorts...boggles my mind.  Making them or taking them apart, it doesn't matter.  (see my blog entitled The Point Of This to read about "the great boxer short incident of 1996"). 

Once I pinned it in the form of a dress, I cut the bottom straight across to the length I needed.  Then I started sewing.  I sewed the front and back seams to make the dress and then hemmed the dress.  Once I tried it on, it was frumpy. Really frumpy.  I decided to put darts in to make it more fitted.  I made huge darts and I liked the way they looked and made the dress have a little more definition, but the dress was still frumpy in my opinion.  I decided to leave it that way however, because it was super comfortable. 

I wanted to add a cardigan to "dress it up" a little. During the goodwill shopping trip when I purchased this beauty, I also picked out a long sleeved coral ribbed t-shirt to make into a cardigan.  I knew I wanted ruffles on the front, so I found another long sleeved tshirt in (almost) the exact same color. 

The first thing I did was cut straight down the front of the ribbed t-shirt. I then folded down the neckline just a little so it formed a rounded v-neck and sewed that in place.  Next I cut strips out of the other tshirt.  2 strips that were 2.5 inches wide and 2 strips that were 1.75 inches wide.  I placed one of the smaller strips on top of one of the wider strips.  I set my sewing machine stitch to 5 (the biggest stitch length) and my tension to 5.  I sewed the strips straight down the middle to form a ruffle.  I then pinned the ruffle into place on the ribbed tshirt and sewed over the stitches I made to form the ruffle. (I made sure to change my sewing machine settings back to normal first.)  I did the same thing with the other strips of fabric and I was finished. Easy Peasy. =)

On a side note, I really think a yellow cardigan and yellow shoes would have been better with this dress.  But goodwill didn't have any yellow shirts I liked and I don't have any yellow shoes.  So I had to settle with what I could find.  But all in all, I think it looks pretty darn good for only having spent $3. =)  (That doesn't include the shoes. I've had those since 2006 and I paid $19.95 for those at Payless.)

***If you have some time, swing by my zibbet shop and take a look around!***

http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

Thanks! =D



Another Woman's Trash Is This Gal's Treasure!

I can't believe it's almost been a year since I posted anything! About a month ago, I wanted to go shopping for a pretty dress to go with a pair of riding boots I got back in October for my birthday. (I've been hooked on the show Nashville and I love the style of the character Scarlett...boots and short flirty dresses) Except, I didn't really want to spend alot of money. Where did I go? Goodwill of course! I love love love that store. Especially my local goodwill. They have tons of clothes. And every week they have a sale where certain items are only $1. That's right. $1!!!! Sometimes I let myself splurge on the regularly priced $5 dresses. Especially if I love the fabric and have a vision of what the dress could be. I took my daughters with me (bad idea). They were NOT in the mood to stand around while I searched the dress racks for hours. But I did find a perfect dress for my boots that day. YAY! I altered that dress and I love it. I ended up getting a great response from alot of my facebook friends on my cute little dress and it sparked an obsession for refashioning more dresses.
 So I made a few more trips to goodwill.
 Lets just say, I'm gonna be wearing only dresses this summer. Now I wish the snow would stop and sunshine would start because I'm chomping at the bit to wear my "new" clothes.

Here they are:

Dress #1 (Where the obsession started)
This dress was $5 and 3 sizes too big.
Here's how I fixed it...
1) It came with a belt (but it also had those string belt loops...I cut those off)
2) It had an invisible side zipper and I really didn't want the headache of taking out and putting that back in, so I took it out and left it out.
3) I took it in evenly on each side.
and
4) I cut off the bottom to the length I wanted and hemmed it.
Now it's perfect! I just wish I had a brown cardigan so I could wear it right now!

Dress #2 :
I look like a school teacher from the olden days in the first picture. (yikes) But once I removed that awful collar and football shoulder pads most of the ugly was gone. After that I:
 1) removed the sleeves and sewed the edges on the armholes.
 2) Sewed the edges around the neck from when I removed the collar.
 3) Took up the shoulder seams a tad so the armholes weren't too big.
and
 4) Cut quite a bit of fabric from the bottom and hemmed.
And now I have a dress that I would totally wear out and feel good in.
This was a $5 splurge dress...I told you I had a vision ;D

Dress #3

I fell in love with this dress because of the retro look and the fabric is beautiful. But I don't do long sleeves on dresses. I just don't like the feel of it.

So I:

1) Removed the sleeves with a seam ripper and sewed the armholes.

2) Put 2 darts in the front to make it more fitted. You can't really see in the before picture, but there was a very thin belt...I got rid of that.

3) Shortened the dress and hemmed it.

and I was done! Now I have a cute "date night" dress.

This dress was $5.



Dress #4

When my boyfriend took the before picture, he said "How are you gonna make that dress look good?" To which I replied, "magic." lol

And to be honest, I didn't have to do much.

1) I removed the sleeves with a seam ripper and sewed the armholes. (Are you starting to see a pattern here? haha)

2) I cut a little off the bottom to shorten it. Then I hemmed it.

and

3) I made a belt from the fabric that was taken from the bottom. The dress was missing the original belt that was supposed to cover the elastic waistline.

The best part is, I already had jewelry to match this dress!

This dress was $5.

Dress #5

This dress was waaaay too big on me. My 10 year old said it looked like I could be pregnant with tripletts in this dress. The whole time I was fixing this dress, I referred to it as the "triplett dress".  I love the color.

1) I took the dress in evenly on both sides.

2) I brought up the shoulder seams because the armholes were much too big for me.

3) I shortened the dress and hemmed it.

4) I took leftover fabric from this dress and from dress #2 and made a cute fabric flower pin.

Best part...This dress was $1!!!!

Dress #6

I love gingham!  I remember women wearing dresses almost exactly like this in church back in the mid 90's. This dress was also too big for me. 

1) I took off the small collar that was on this. Then I sewed the seam.

2) I removed the sleeves and sewed the armholes.

3) I removed the 3 decorative buttons.

4) I shortened the dress and hemmed it.

5) I made a belt from the leftover fabric from the bottom and sewed it to the front of the dress. It ties in the back.

6) I made two strips and cinched the shoulder seams and tied the strips into knots.

Now it's a super cute summer dress. This dress was $5.



Dress #7

The fabric on this dress is so feminine and soft. The colors are pretty, too. Sage green with light blue, yellow, and peach flowers. The before picture looks like a nightgown. This one fit, but it was still too loose.

1) I shortened the dress first. Then hemmed it.

2) I removed the pockets and sewed up the seams. I'm not a fan of pockets in a dress...I think they are pointless and who needs the extra bulk on the thighs, right?

3) I removed the buttons. I had to get crafty on this part, because those buttons were functional and had buttonholes. I sewed the flap together.

Then (and this is my favorite part...)

4) I made a ruffle and sewed it over the flap of buttonholes.

5) I noticed that it was still too loose. It almost looked like a maternity dress. So I put in 2 darts under the bust and it was just right.

I also made the fabric flower in my hair. I used the leftover fabric from this dress and fabric from a vintage sheet I bought at a rummage sale over the summer.

This will totally be my favorite dress this summer. It is so comfortable! And it was only $1. =) 

So that's it for now. I went to goodwill this past Saturday and I have more dresses just waiting to be beautiful. =)  I will post more as I finish them.

***If you have some time, swing by my Zibbet shop and take a look around!***

http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

Thanks! =D



I Don't Mean To Brag...

I've been sewing for a few weeks now. I've mostly just tweeked clothing I already have, but I'm still counting it! ;) I've made some aprons, and I've also been working on a memory quilt made from my mom's clothes. I'll have pictures on that one in another blog. For now, though, I have pictures of some of the clothing that I've re-fashioned or made. (Sorry, I don't have before pictures. The idea to blog about this came after the projects were finished. =) In the future, I will take before and after shots.)

I'll start with my favorite! These were a pair of jeans! =) They had a hole in the knee and were one size too big. This was super easy to do. Here's an up-close view:

This dress was the best deal EVER. I bought it at walmart last fall for $5.00. It sat in my closet with the tags still on until now. The problem was that it had short sleeves and a crew neckline that had a big braid made from the same fabric around the neck. So basically I made it sleeveless and changed the neckline from a crew to a cowl. And when I did all of that, it shortened it to just the right length! Love it!

This shirt started out with a peasant neckline and short sleeves. It was an XL and was kinda big and blousy. So I turned it into a halter top! =)

And here they are! My Boxer shorts!!!! And it only took me 16 years and one (more)try! I'm so proud! And they have pockets! Yay Me!



***If you have some time, swing by my zibbet shop and take a look around!***
 http://www.zibbet.com/TheRufflyBuffalo

 

Thanks! =D

The Point Of This

Here's a fun fact...Sewer (as in seamstress) and Sewer (as in sewage) are spelled the exact same way. Sadly, I didn't realize that when I created this blog. Oh well, moving on...

When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a fashion designer. I wanted to design wedding gowns and be the next Vera Wang. This has actually been the only attainable career I've ever wanted. When I was really young, I think I wanted to be an actor, model, and rockstar. And well, lets just say, I wasn't qualified for any of those.

My Grandmother was a sewer. She used to have this big yellow sewing box full of supplies. I used to LOVE looking through all the buttons and thread. She even had this strawberry shortcake zipper pull in there that I thought was the coolest. thing. ever.
Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away before she could teach me how to sew. My mom never learned how to sew, so it was pretty much up to me to learn on my own. When I was about 14 years old, I got my first sewing machine. It's a Singer sewing machine(18 years later, I still have it and it still works perfect!)

In high school, I had a plan. I signed up for a Fashion class and a Sewing class. However, during the semester I took the sewing class, I got mono and was out of school for a full month. I was supposed to make a pair of boxer shorts in that class. So the teacher told me to try to make the shorts on my own so she could see how I did. It took me 6 tries to get a pair of shorts. 6 !!! And even then, I didn't do them at all right. When it was time to take them to the teacher, all the other students gathered around. And they.all.laughed. No joke. EVERYONE. at me! I think even the teacher was trying to stifle a giggle. Trust me, there is nothing like 20 teenagers laughing right in your face to really build up your self-esteem. (BTW, I call this the Great-Boxer-Short-Incident-of-1996.) Needless to say, I put the machine away and gave up for a couple of years. I've taken it out from time to time since then and made simple projects (curtains and an A-line skirt), but I haven't been able to do anything more complicated.

So, now that I'm in my 30's, I've decided to pull out the ol' Singer, blow off the 2 inch layer of dust, and follow my dream. In this blog, you'll be able to see the journey of a So-So Sewer! ;)