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Before                                                 After

Denim and Lace

Before   

After

Such a Stud

Cinch bag from Victoria's Secret ~ $26.50

Pyramid studs on Ebay ~ 200 for $6.70 and free shipping here.

And Bam! From Victorias Secret to Urban Outfitters.

You can find a cinch bag like this anywhere. You best bet for the best price is a resale shop like Goodwill or Salvation Army. I just really liked this one.

Get This Look : Victoria's Secret Slouchy Crew Tutorial

Victoria's Secret Slouchy Crew Tutorial

Things you'll need and where to get it:

(Besides thread, pins, and a sewing machine, of course.)

tailor's chalk

Joann's 

a crew neck sweatshirt

Target $6

3/4-1 yard of lace

(for safe measuring, but you'll most likely have some left over)

Joann's about $5

(don't for get your coupons! sign up on line here

or get the app on your smart phone)

Before we start have a large flat surface to do all of your work on. 

The directions for each picture will be directly below the picture. 

And of course if there's anything more you would like know, do not hesitate to ask.

This is the  sweater I chose. I'm a size 10 and I picked a medium which is still pretty slouchy on me.

Remove all stickers and tags and smooth it out really flat on your table.

     Lay your lace over the sweater and smooth it out very flat, as well. Trim a square about and inch larger than the sweater on each side from shoulder to shoulder and neck line to bottom hem.

Draw a straight line from the armpit to the outside edge of the the neckline with tailors chalk.

Trim lace leaving a half inch for seam allowance.

        Mark the center line with your tailors chalk before removing lace from sweater. 

Fold lace on that centerline and trim the other shoulder line.

Smooth lace over sweater and everything should be symmetrical so far.

Trim lace to the top edge of ribbing on neck line. Notice that the neck line and the shoulder lines of the lace do not come to a point. These are the seam allowances. Please be sure not to trim these away.

Make small snips about 1/4 of an inch into the neck line around.

(We do this on a curved line so that it will lay flat when its folded over and sewn.)

Pin the neck line under right at the bottom of the ribbing, making sure to leave the shoulder seam allowances on each side unpinned.

Topstitch the neckline 1/8 of an inch from edge. 

But Wait!

Begin sewing an inch form shoulder line and end an inch before opposite shoulder line.

(This is to leave room to fold 1/2 inch seam allowance of shoulders.)

Try not to stretch the sweater too much when feeding it under the foot.

Fold over seam allowance on shoulders. Pin and sew, topstitching 1/8 of an inch from edge.

Be sure to start sewing an inch in from armpit to leave seam allowance for the sides.

Do this for both sides.

So now the neck line and the shoulders should be sewn leaving the sides untouched.

Smooth out sweater under lace so that it lays flat. 

Pin lace a few inches in to hold lace in place. Do this on both sides.

Open sweatshirt so that the side faces up. Fold over seam allowance. Pin and sew, topstitching 1/8 of an inch from edge.

Do this for both sides.

Now all that should be left is the the bottom hem. We're almost done!

This picture is upside down just to show you the line that we will be sewing on. This is the bottom hem. 

Trim lace a half inch from that very hem line at the top of the ribbing.

This is what it will look like before we pin it.

Fold seam allowance under and pin starting at the corners and working inward.

Gently smooth sweater under lace if any bubbling and puckering happen while pinning.

Pin one pin at a time alternating from side to side inward to help keep things straight and even.

Sew, topstitching 1/8 of an inch from edge. 

Trim all thread tails and you're done!

Victoria's Secret

$50.00

DIY

$11.00

Preview for the next "Get This Look"

Check back soon!

"Jean" Wilder

My latest piece made from a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I used a pair of my boyfriends old levi jeans but you can find jeans at the goodwill for about 7 dollars. The sweatshirt came from target for $7.50 in the men's section. And, lastly, the snaps and rivets came from Joann's. 

Total cost: About $18 

Neon Trees

There will most definitely be a tutorial on this one. These things take time. But, for now, enjoy.

Mellow Yellow

 When it comes to refashioning I like to stick to one general guideline:

The bigger the better.

Oversized garments will give you plenty to work with. 

I loved the texture of this yellow blouse with the large fabric covered buttons. 

This garment in particular will leave plenty of room for multiple projects.

This is just one refashion that I've completed so far, and I have to say I really like how this one is working out.

This was done with just the sleeves and 2 of the buttons from the front closure. I made the biased tape myself because I couldn't find anything already made to really give the look I wanted. I may still add some dainty straps just for support.

Skull Candy

I like to take down time from constructing garments and let my creativity breathe with small things like accessories. this is a lace collar with a little shimmer. It made for a quick and easy DIY.

 I started with a bit of lace from a lace pillow case. The sequin ribbon can be found at Hobby Lobby. 

 The closure is a simple hook and eye hidden from view.

This gold skull was an ode to my personality. I found it on a pair of large hoop earrings at a resale shop.

Tropical Splash

Very simple strapless shirt that I'm excited share with you. I found both of the fabrics at Hancock Fabrics. The floral fabric is made of rayon. I like using woven rayon because the drape is beautiful. One down side is that woven rayons tend to warp on the bolt so you'll want to straighten the grain before cutting the pattern, which I'll be demonstrating in the tutorial which is soon to come. Also, rayon tends to fade faster so I recommend dry cleaning any rayon prints, which can be an unwanted expense but also worth it.

Neapolitan Dream

 Another men's shirt refashion. Quite easy really. And it left two sleeves from both shirts used to make 2 more blouses.

Total Cost: About $6

Pretty in Plaid

This is a men's shirt refashion. I kept this one myself because I'm in love with the colors. I found this particular men's shirt at goodwill, where I find most of the things I upcycle. There will most definitely be a tutorial for this one coming soon.

Garters

 

 These are just a few of my first garters I ever made. I'm hoping to get a tutorial together soon, but for now, please enjoy.

I use a lot of different materials to make garters, but, I try to keep the fabric rather delicate for the nature of the item. Most ribbons work well depending on what you will be pairing the garter with. When paring with any formal wear I stick to delicate silks or material of the like. When pairing with costumes, especially steampunk and period pieces, just about anything is acceptable for me as long as my sewing machine can handle it.

Orange with White Flower ~

The orange strip is 100& silk.

*My boyfriend used to work at an interior design store and they would discontinue different fabrics everyday. So, they would get rid of the samples hanging in there store and pretty much up for grabs.

If you have any in your area you might want to stop by and see what they have. They're free.

The white lace is from Hobby Lobby.

* Hobby Lobby 50% off their spooled ribbon very often. I check them frequently and stock up when I can.

The white flower is made from costume satin from JoAnn Fabrics

* Joann's has costume satins for $5 a yard. Also even if you don't sew much, sign up with them to receive personal sales ads through the mail. They send wonderful coupons that help me save a lot of money on all kinds of craft material and home organization.

Black and White Striped with Pink Flower ~

The black and white ribbon is from Walmart

* Some Walmarts don't have their fabric depts anymore but keep a look out because some of them still have a couple of aisles with yarn and ribbon.

The pink flower is made from costume satin

* Here is a great tutorial for making fabric flowers like this

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/03/03/how-to-make-satin-fabric-flowers/

Blue and White Striped with Silver Heart ~

The silver heart is something I found at a resale shop

* Goodwill is a great place to find thing but self owned resale shops are the best for quirky little things. Their suppliers tend to be the collector types and since they aren't run by a corporation they don't have as many regulations on what they want to keep in the store. Goodwill, while being a resale shop, still competes with major name stores so they tend to sell things that are similar to big chains

Cheetah and Rainbow ~

Both of these garter sets were made with things straight from Walmart and Joann Fabric. Still full of character and originality even if you don't have any neat shops to find unique things.