Unflattering Dress Gets A Make Over

I bought this maroon dress on sale and somehow neglected to notice how unflattering the empire bust line was on me. I'm sure that it would have worked on some people, but it just made me look pregnant. A few years ago, I would have chucked it into a bag for the op-shop, but with nothing to lose, I decided to do a bit of experimentation. Because this was pre-blog i.e. last week, I haven't recorded the process, so you're just going to have to use your imagination...

First I cut off the low-waisted bottom of the dress and took in the sides.

I added a band of Japanese fabric around the hem and then decided to cover a panel of smocking on the front with the left-over fabric.

Tie Post #3 - The coin purse

Find a fun, patterned tie in an op-shop or an unsuspecting man's wardrobe. I generally go for a pretty dark colour because I carry around a lot of crap around in my handbag and my purse tends to get grotty. Fold the tie over, add a zip, stitch. Voila!

Tie Post #2 - The Tie Top

Start with an old black top which you've already started wearing as a pajama top

Find a tie at an op-shop.

Pin the tie around the collar of the top. Use a loose tension when you're sewing to avoid the tie bunching up
.

Cut a V shape in the back neckline of the top and sew the two pieces of the tie to match the V.

Use the left-over pieces to make two small strips for the sleeves.

Pin, sew and ask Genevieve to model it!

Tie Cuff

When I was at uni, one of my male friends occasionally wore a tie...in an ironic, hip sort of way. One day I grabbed it off him, put it on over my top and spent the day receiving a multitude of compliments. This is the pivotal moment which sparked my love affair with ties and hence began my collection.

For a few years, I just collected the colours and patterns I liked, but eventually I began to feel that I should DO something with with my stash. I couldn't really pull off the Marlene Dietrich look, so I started wearing them as hairbands, and then stitching them into all sorts of bits and pieces.

Here is post #1 in the 'Tie Series'.

Genevieve

As you may have noticed by now, there are no pictures of me wearing my upcycling projects. While I am an extrovert in real life, I'm a little bit shy when it comes to social media. I use Face book and Twitter for work, but must be the only person in the world who doesn't have a personal account.

So...until I'm ready to reveal myself, my mannequin Genevieve will be my stand in. I bought her for about $130 from Tinnafashions http://www.tinnafashion.com/ and I absolutely love her. We have exactly the same measurements, which is important because she can't be adjusted and her torso is made of foam, perfect for pinning clothes. I named her Genevieve so that I wasn't sticking pins into a version of myself in a sort of voodoo style ceremony.

Here Genevieve is wearing my favourite $6 op-shop coat, a maroon non-leather handbag from David Jones and a brooch I made from a game piece.

Tea towel skirt

Summer is just starting to hit Melbourne and I started thinking about the holiday we took in 2003 to the Greek Islands. I found a tourist tea towel of Sicily at an op-shop and that combined with some left-over red cotton was enough to inspire this skirt.

This was also the first piece that I used to try out my BRAND NEW over locker. Unfortunately it's very easy to get carried away with these things and so this nice little 'Island of the Sun' patch is actually covering a boo boo i.e. frustratingly large hole.

I'm not really a hugely curvy person, but I had made the skirt so straight, that it was difficult to walk in. I generally find walking to be a necessary mode of transport, so I fixed the problem by putting a slit up the back and decorating it with pieces cut off the edge of the tea towel.

Tea towels have huge potential as an upcycling material. They generally have bright, colourful graphics and opp-shops are generally only too pleased to find somebody who actually wants them!

Steampunk Jacket

Two weeks ago, I was intending to go to the Clockwork Butterfly Steampunk Ball, but ended up with a horrible flu thing and couldn't go. Here is part of what I made as my costume:

A $5 black suit jacket from an opp-shop (thrift store to any American readers!)

$12 worth of striped satin(ish) fabric, black satin ribbon and 8 metal loops.

Cut the fabric into strips and fold over.

Sew down the edges and turn inside out.

Sew on some black lace.

Using some pieces of satin ribbon, sew on the loops by attaching the flat part to the jacket.

 

 Lace up the loops using the rest of the satin ribbon and start attaching the first layer of the bustle.

Finished Product!

Here I need to stress that unlike most of the projects on this blog, this wasn't my own design. I'm seen quite a few versions on etsy and wasn't sure who to credit as the original designer. Let me know if it's you so that I can give you proper credit!

Upcycling

From the age of sixteen, I've had a compulsion to cut up and reconfigure my clothing. As a self-taught sewer it was a fairly dodgy process, often ending in total disaster and a healthy supply of scrap material. Over the years, through a system of trial and error, I actually learned to sew properly and was ridiculously excited to find that there is a name for what I do: Upcycling! This blog is a type of archive for all the bits and pieces I make. Enjoy!