Reconstructing The Wardrobe

We go to the library every weekend for new books.  Last week as I was browsing through the cooking section I stumbled upon sewing books.  I grabbed a few about reconstructing your t-shirts and turning items you already have into handbags.  Once I thumbed through them my little wheels started turning, and next thing I knew I was digging through my closet and dresser for items I could cut, sew and Frankenstein together.  

My first project was cutting between studs on an angel wing shirt so I could wear another underneath for a little bit of color.  I used a razor knife thinking it would work better than scissors since it's so sharp, but realized the scissors would have been the way to go.  The razor ended up pulling at the fabric as I was trying to cut, next time, scissors it is.  

The black is what the white shirt looked like before I got my crazy mitts on it.  I think it turned out okay, and I like that I can wear different colors with it.

  

The next took me two whole days to complete.  I don't have a sewing machine so this was very time consuming to stitch by hand.  I acquired the grey dress from a consignment shop and loved it at the time, but is much too short for me to wear comfortably and flairs out like a teacup so my hips look even bigger than they are.  The denim skirt was a thrift shop find and I loved that it had pockets, but again when I went to wear it I decided it didn't flatter my curves too well.  

I sketched out a line in chalk to cut from the denim skirt, painstakingly sewed the bottom of the skirt to the dress by bunching even sections over and over, and sewed the buttons and straps from the skirt to the dress (a tube top is not made for what I've got on top).  The dress is very stretchy and thin so I couldn't just sew the buttons on and use the straps.  I used brown thread and followed the existing stitching around the straps to anchor the whole thing down, so the buttons are just for looks now.   

I am in love with this dress and can't wait for it to warm up so I can wear it.  The denim at the bottom twirls when I move, weighs the existing dress down so it doesn't flair at my hips and is a comfortable length for me.

I have another outfit I will actually wear instead of two I haven't touched hanging in my closet.  I'm so crazy about reconstructing other items I have and don't wear and will be on the lookout for a reasonably priced sewing machine in the future.

And of course after I was done taking pictures...

I can't lay anything down without it becoming a cat bed.