Green Fabric Flower!

So, last week when I posted the necklace that I made for my sister's birthday, I said that I would do a week of posts inspired by accessories made from old t-shirts that I found in my basement.  Consider this day one!  I used my boyfriend's old green t-shirt to create fabric circle cut outs that I used to make this green flower pin!  I wore the pin on St. Patrick's Day to go along with the rest of my green wardrobe!!  It could also be worn as a hair clip or attached to a headband or necklace!

Thrifting Tuesday....Freecycling!

I found a really awesome blog awhile ago.  It's called The Sisters Four Say More is More, and it is all about chic style and DIY fun.  I got inspired by all of their ideas on how to transform old T shirts into really cool DIY projects.  I started immediately storming through my basement storage boxes and finding old tees and other clothes that Drew and I tried to sell in a garage sale last year.  I wanted desperately to find something to make with all of them!  I think next week I am going to do a feature week of jewelry and accessories made from old clothes, and the best part is, they are all free because technically I already had all the clothes in my house!  So anyway, my sister Rebecca's birthday was Sunday, and I decided for my first project based on t-shirts to make her a necklace.  I used to wear the original t-shirt all the time in high school, it came originally with a matching boyfriend tank in a lighter hue underneath.  The fabric is so light and dainty, and I loved the final necklace!  My sister did too!  She was so surprised!

I gave her the shirt all wrapped up to surprise her....

She was definitely confused!

Until I gave her the final outcome!!!  I'm glad she loved it!

Thrifting Tuesday, February 8, 2011

For today's post, I have created a piece that can most definitely be worn when going "out on the town,"  whether that be dinner with friends or a night out partying.  This top is sparkly, sparkly, and oh, did I mention sparkly?  I used the rest of the top that first debuted in this Headband DIY Post from early January.  To make this sheer, glittery going out top, I removed the rest of the sleeve I used to make the head band along with the other sleeve, and removed all the black fabric that was lining the top.  Without the black fabric lining, I was left with just a sheer, sparkling party piece, ready to be worn with skinny jeans and heels and a black tank underneath.  Of course, this top speaks volumes in itself, so no jewelry is really necessary with this outfit, and to minimize the 80's vibe, wear it with modern, sleek pants and shoes so as not to appear too dated. 

Original top:

 Goodbye Sleeves!

 

And, the finished look!  Ready for a date night or girl's night out!  I also wore a skinny belt around it as well.

Thrifting Tuesday, February 1, 2011

For today's post I have been planning to put up an embellished T-shirt for awhile.  The shirt was old, plain, and boring, but the color was great!  I could not get rid of the shirt because I loved the color, but I find myself never wearing it any more.  So the plan was to embellish it with beads to spruce it up a bit, but I learned along the way that that is not as easy as it seems!!!  I was unaware of the time it would take me to complete it and kept putting it off, and then today, when I started to work on it, it took me hours to complete the amount I did (well, I guess I was watching TV too, haha).  I still felt like posting my "progress" on the top even though I am not done, just so I didn't have no post at all for today, because there is no way I will finish it in time to post the completed shirt today as of right now.  Today's post is kind of lame, but I would rather post something than nothing.  So anyway, here is what I have done, you can kind of get an idea of where I was going with it from the inspiration: 

I was inspired by this dress in Instyle magazine:

 

so here is my "progress":

 here is the shirt before:

 

anddd....here is all I have gotten done....it's hard work sewing all those little seed beads on!  I will have to post an update when (or if) I ever finish it! haha! 

Thrifting Tuesday, January 25, 2011

This week I want to show you an outfit that I actually re-designed months ago.  I wore this top when I went up to visit Stacey Kay at Kent in November.  I just never really took pictures of it un  til now, and so here it is!  The original dress was a crazy 80's piece from Goodwill, with a 100% sheer skirt and sleeves and a dropped but funky waist.  I didn't like the sleeves or the wierd really short sheer skirt or the dropped waist look, but I loved the fabric, black with silver threads woven in.  I also loved the neckline and how there were little rows of buttons across each shoulder.  Shoulder detailing is a major trend right now.  To make the sleeves more modern, I cut them back to cap sleeves and left the edges raw for an edgy look.  I did the same with the bottom of the top, cutting off the weird dropped waist elastic part for good.  The result was a cute top that can be worn with jeans, heels, and a long pendant for a night out, or with flats or boots for a day of shopping or hanging out with friends.  The top has just enough sparkle to be ready to party, but not so much that you cannot wear it for a day look.

Thrifting Tuesday January 18, 2011

The outfit that I have re-designed this week was a dress that I bought at goodwill.  It was a beautiful print in a large shapeless style with a giant and I mean GIANT hole down the back seam.  Seeing as how it was only $2, I bought it anyway to see what I could do to fix it, because I loved the sleeves and the amazing floral design, which I thought would be perfect for the Holidays.  I had it in my head for over a month what I wanted to do with the dress.  I wanted to take it in slightly, so it was a little more form fitting but still loose, because I enjoyed the loose look of it.  I wanted to fix the hole in the back by placing a big, black and gold jeans zipper down the back that I bought in the fabric store.  I just knew it would look great.  It would be perfect for Drew's Grandma's Christmas party.  I had been planning it since November.  Well, typical me I waited until the last minute to sew the dress, and this was also during my time of Non-Inspiration during my job-mental-breakdown fiasco, so there it was Christmas eve right before the party was going to start and here I was sitting at home with the old original dress in hand, not even having pinned it for fitting yet.  Rushed as I was, but still determined to get it done to wear to the party I enlisted my mom to help with the pinning and sewing.  Afterall, I thought, wouldn't two people be quicker and more efficient than one?  Well in our haste to sew the dress, my mother took it in too far on the bottom half.  I didn't really have time to try it on at her house, having to rush off to get gifts wrapped and prepare for the party and for spending the night at Drew's mom's house afterwards.  I trusted our original pinning measurements to be accurate.  Well, was I ever wrong.  At home, after wrapping what seemed like hundreds of gifts and my overnight bag and loading everything into the car, I got dressed and was bending over to put on my shoes when I heard the sound NO ONE ever wants to hear....rrrrriiippppp!  the dress split open up the side seam!  What was I going to do!? That was the outfit I had been planning for months!  And I hadn't even put the zipper in like I originally wanted to!  Having no time to change my outfit or really think about what I was doing I grabbed some jeans, threw them on, and tucked in the dress to create a holiday top.  It looked so cute!  And I still had the benefit of getting to wear the pattern that I loved!  It ended up being a win-win, and I was happy, though not 100%, with the outcome, and I still got compliments on the top!  No one ever even guessed that it had at one time been a dress!  Everything worked out well!  I don't have pictures of the original dress, or the altered one, but here are pictures of the "top" that I ended up with!

Thrifting Tuesday

On this hopefully re-occurring feature I would like to debut items that I have re-vamped or recreated entirely from thrift store finds.  I really became obsessed with the way New Dress a Day took an otherwise old, ripped, torn, or just plain ugly frock and re-created it into something that any fashionista would die to have in her closet.  I have done a lot of this re-creating myself in the past, with posts like my Thanksgiving Party Dress and my Leopard Print Top among others, but I wanted to make this something that re-occured every week.  I love doing it, and it definitely gives me something new and exciting to wear, which I can never seem to get enough of.  And the best part about it, besides the fact that one of these re-created outfits almost costs me nothing, is the fact that I made it myself and it is completely unique to me and my style.  No one else in the world has anything quite like it, which makes it really special, and really fun to wear!  And it is kind of fun getting to design something specifically for me, too, that I know will fit just right on me the way I want it to and look just like I imagine it looking....(well, sometimes....haha)  Anyway, the outfit that I have re-designed this week was a skirt that I purchased at the Salvation Army down the street from my house.  It was an old fashioned, vintage silk skirt, and cost about $3.  The skirt was originally very longgggg, but I thought it looked festive, and deserved to be holiday party attire.  It is high waisted, and I love the look of high waisted skirts with tops tucked in.  So I shortened the original length by tucking the skirt up inside of itself to form a poofy skirt look that was short and ready for a party!  I then wore it with a black sequin tank and black tights, with black high heeled boots to complete the look.    This outfit did "Double Duty" for me, allowing me to attend Drew's Mom's side of the family's Christmas dinner, but then afterward come straight home and host a Christmas/Birthday bash at our house for all of our friends.  The sequin top added just the right amount of sparkle!

Also, I wanted to share the bread loaves I baked today!

Glitz and Glam

This is another post I have been excited to create for a long time.  I found an amazing 80's sequin-covered top (complete with shoulder pads) :)  while on a Goodwill trip with my friend Jamie Foxx.  We were on the hunt for Ugly Christmas Sweaters for our office Ugly Christmas Sweater party, but surprisingly, even though it was December 4th, all of the Christmas sweaters were picked over, and we didn't really find anything we wanted for that.  However, I did happen to find this sparkly top buried among the racks of leftover Holiday attire. :)  I was so excited to take it home and see what I could create from it.  I can never pass up something sparkly, and this one especially caught my eye because of the color combination.  Classic black with pops of glittery gold.

  

I knew for a long time that I wanted to use parts of the top to make an accessory, I just struggled for awhile with which type of accessory I would create.  I felt that a headband was something I needed to add to my wardrobe, since I don't have really very many, and I felt I would be able to show more of the sequin floral designs from the top that way.  I have plenty of the original shirt left, I am sure you will end up seeing more from that in the near future. ;)  As for this headband, I am pretty sure I am wearing it to school tomorrow :)