Anyone here willing to share their ideas for making over thrift store finds?? For example, I was in Savers the other day and found a very cute black,red,and white flowered dress. The kind that is tied around the neck. I envisioned an apron when I saw it. So my daughter and I are going to do a super quick makeover and when we are finished should have two aprons. One from the front of the dress and the other will be a half apron from the back skirt of the dress. I'll have to hunt in my fabric stash and see if I can find some fabric to use for the waste ties. I'll make some ruffles for the sides again,something from my stash. It is going to be absolutely adorable. I LOVE purchasing clothes and making other things out of them. I made my daughter a dress and head scarf for her american girl doll out of a skirt I found at a yard sale for .25. It takes a lot of the work out of it. Most of the hems are already done so you can whip a dress up in just about 30 minutes.. I didn't even use a pattern. Just put it on the doll and figured out how I wanted it to look from there. it turned out REALLY cute and I even made a purse for it.. Anyhow, I thought maybe there might be someone else on here who does the same thing and we can share ideas.. Angela
Well, since I'm a novice sewer I can't do any makeovers but paint is easy for chairs, even stenciling. My whole dining room table has mismatched chairs and a mismatched table. I decided that I'm going to sand them down and paint them when spring comes and make the table black, but I may do the chairs different funky colors.
That sounds really cute... I would love a picture when you are finished. I just love to see the creative things people come up with.
I think I'm going to take the refashion pledge!! THANKS a million for the website. I am addicted!! There's so much to see on there and a ton of inspiration.. I LOVE the market skirts. My 6 year wants some so I'm going to whip out a few for her to have this spring and summer. I have a few skirts in my closet that I'm going to fix up for my girls as well.. Thanks again for the website! AWESOME!! Hope others join in on this topic. It's really a neat thing to do and saves a TON of money.. Angela
I made a pair of pajamas from favorite sheets from my childhood. (and that was a long long time ago.) I am not crazy about the pattern I used for the pants tho' and the top turned out a bit small. I didn't like the rise of the pant and I haven't found one that is shorter.... (I haven't done any sewing in about 3 years since going back to school) I now have some great top sheets (because the bottom ones is what wears out.) that I am saving for a set of pj's...next year when school is done.
Wow - my sister is going through a massive weight loss and passing along her "outshrunk" clothing, which are slated to become curtains, pillows (she brings me a skrit and says, Wow, I think this would make a great pillow! LOL). But I never thought of buying stuff to do this - brilliant! We are in the thrift @ 3x a month...I love the sound of the apron.
I'm rethinking the apron thing.. I may still do it with one of the dresses but I got this very nice skirt for .99 that was from dress barn and is made of linen.. I think I'm going to use it to make some of those market skirts for my very tiny 6 year old. She is really wanting me to make one.. I don't know for sure though. I'm going to let them sit around a little longer and then decide what to do with them.. I'm also going to be going through the girls clothes in a few days. Whatever my 6 year old is too tall for I will most likely make summer clothes for her.. The pants will be cut off right above the knees and I'm going to add a little ruffle and she'll have some cute long shorts.. The shirts will be cut down and have some fabric added to the bottom to make a dress.. She's into dresses. Also some of my skirts I've outgrown will become dresses for them as well.. I'm really excited. I'm going to take the repurpose oath in March when they open it back up... GREAT site thanks again for sharing it..
I am so glad you like the website!! It is super addictive....sometimes I have to force myself to get off and go refashion something! I have refashioned my dd old mini skirt into a purse for her, and a stuffed animal into a purse, and sheets into curtains for the window and closet. My first attmept at "shrinking" a large shirt I bought at the thrift store was interesting...that was a learning experience...I don't wear it unless I am staying home. I have tons of other stuff I have refashioned and I find it so much fun. I still want to refashion some of my dh button up shirts into a dress for my youngest dd.
I was just looking at a site about making the dress from a button up shirt last night. seriously want to try it, but procrastinating from fear of messing up. why do I do that?!
I am a large woman and had a black sateen nightgown that was too small for me. Just the simple kind, kind of like a triangle with the top point folded down and stitched off, then spaghetti straps at the shoulder. My 26 yr old DD saw it and asked if I could redo it into a dress for her. She slipped it on and we gathered it between her breasts and again at the sides of each. I then pinned the sides to fit her closer and stitched them. Since the hem was already in place I just had to reattach the straps to fit. We wound up with a slip dress that skimmed her figure, gently contoured her chest veeing in the middle, and had a sheen when she moved. She loved it and bought a pair of second hand black patent heels with bows on them to match a purse she had. This was an outfit she wore to a wedding and reception. Several of her friends wanted to know where she got it. She called to tell me about it. She told them she has a seamstress that she works with that stitches up her ideas, lol.
Fortheson,That is AWESOME!!!! Sounds so pretty. It's amazing what can be made out of other garments and so easy because the majority of the work is already done. I'm about to redo some skirts for my little one by adding a ruffle and some pockets to them. They are already adorable but I don't like super mini skirts on my girls. LOL so more fabric is in order. I think I'm going to try and set aside one day a month to do my projects. Hopefully I'll have more time than that. But right now I'm not pushing it..
About the only thing I've made lately from thrift store finds are my son's diapers. I made them from old cotton bedsheets and receiving blankets.
If you find an old pair of jeans with the knees worn out they can be made into skirts. Cut off the legs jus above the hole in the knees, keeping the then shorts legs even. Trim the crotch area so that it doesn't curve in, it should form a vee. Using the cut off leg bottom cut a piece to fill in the vee and stitch in place. Finish the skirt off with a material ruffle. It is cute if it is done in a bandana print, or red checked, but any small print works. For an extra accent you can cut a long strip of the ruffle material and sew it to for a tube, turn right side out and then pull through the belt loops to show as a belt. A hemmed square of matching material can be tied at the neck with a simple T-shirt in the base color to make a matching set. Or a small hemmed square for a handkerchief folded so the points stick out and tucked in the back pocket is cute. I have a bunch of other ideas.
Little girls jeans also make cool purses. I used boys jeans, because, that is what I had. but I cut two strips out of the legs...one for a strap and one to use as the bottom of the purse. cut off the legs at the crotch and sewed in the strip from the leg. I think the pockets are very handy...I put my cell phone in one and glasses in another. Then clip my keys to the belt loop. I didn't line mine, because I am lazy...but you could.
I did line mine. When I did the lining I sewed sectioned pockets on each side of the purse. Basically when you opened the purse you saw the lining with two large pouches on the front and 3 on the back. Then I put a velcro strip on each side and was able to attach a wallet to one end and my eyeglass case to the other. They no longer got lost in the rest of the jumble. I used larger jeans found at a thrift store and made them into a school bag for when I took my college classes. I was able to make one large reinforced pouch on one side for file folders, and pockets on the other side that held the calculator, a pad, and three pens/pencils. I used the velcro on the ends in this as well. Let you imagination run amuck!
I once made some throw pillows for my bed from old blue jeans. I just cut off the legs to the length that I wanted and tied one end up with a pretty ribbon, then stuffed it tight, and tied the other end. It looked like a piece of candy wrapped in blue jeans. I also stitched some binding to the edges of the denim to prevent fraying.
I made my son a rag quilt using old jeans. I happened to go into a thriftstore when they were trying to get rid of their old stuff and had all the jeans on sale for.25 each. I cut them up into squares It took FOREVER and purchased some red bandanna print fabric from walmart and cut it the same size as the jeans and sewed an X across the block then sewed around the edges and sewed the pieces together and clipped the edges. This caused lots of blisters LOL. I then washed it to make it fray. My son wanted it for his birthday and he still loves it. It's one of my favorite quilts. I love reusing jeans.. There are so many things you can do with them. Angela
I made a baby quilt from some mens flannel shirts and old camo's (1st hubby was a marine) They were worn soft. (which they don't come that way!!) and some jeans squares too. It was great. I have also done a kind of rug hooking that uses fabric strips and then when you hook up a loop you run a string through it to "hold" it up. I love this craft for two reasons...it is fairly portable. It uses old stuff. You can be pretty creative or NOT depending on your mood. I have just done small squares out of fabric I have to make trivets...and I have done fairly large sceanes out of different colors. I found that jeans do NOT work well for this craft as it is almost painful to get it through the mesh. and that sheets work the BEST. again....when school is out I will go back to all my crafty things. (not that I do a ton of crafty things....sewing and the rugs, and decorating cakes. that is it.)
My boys are pretty hard on their jeans and tend to wear holes in the knees, well I take scraps of old pieces of fabrics and stitch them to the knees of the jeans, now they have unique pants and I get a little more out of my money! I also use old fabric scraps to revive old flat pillows, I'll open them up and stuff in some scraps...voila the pillow is fluffy again.
