A Bit of Hemming

can't figure out how to type above the picture, sorry! i added this from the pictures on my laptop at home just so i could work on some posts while i'm away, but i forgot to make sure that i wrote something above the first picture. ugh. anyways, this is a skirt i hemmed. it isn't really a big deal, i just wanted to have an excuse to write a blog post because i haven't done one in a few days. this is a sort of sleep/lounge skirt my mom made me when i was in 6th grade, but the hem at the bottom wasn't done properly, so there were always loose threads. i hemmed it:

in the hopes that it would be wearable outside the house. but sadly, i think it's a little too worn out looking. i am glad there are no straggly threads hanging, but i don't think i'd wear this out, just because it's so faded and...well, sleepy looking.

guess where i am! arizona! it's like a whole different world. when my mom and i looked out the plane windows just before landing, it was like looking at mars or the moon or something. i don't think i've ever seen so much brown (with ripples) in one place. i thought i would hate the mud color on everything (even the highway signs are brown) especially as the houses are also stuccoed to look like adobe huts or something, but it's rather charming. there is a bit more greenery than i expected, and it's a different kind of beauty. not what i'm used to, but i like it.

although i do wish it still wouldn't feel like i was baking AFTER SUNDOWN. was not expecting to still be buffeted by hot gusts of air once the sun went down. ah, well. it's definitely not sticky.

since i'm not at home with all of my ribbons and buttons and lace galore, i don't think i'll be able to post as interesting refashions for about two weeks. i did bring about four shirts to size, but i might not post pictures of some of them because i at least do want to take some nice outfit pictures once i'm home. i will try to post at least two more posts while i'm here (hold me to it!) but don't be surprised if you're bored by them. promise that once i'm home i will redouble my efforts! looking forward to the rest of my vacation and i hope the rest of you guys are having a great summer 8D

Refashion #13: Red & Gold Trimmed Sweater

reached 100 views! thanks so much to everyone who is reading this blog; it means a lot to me. the sweater i'm posting about today didn't turn out quite that great. it gave me a really hard time. i just didn't know what to do with it once all of the sequins were off. i like the sleeves, but the shape of the sweater is just so odd that it is hard to make it look nice and fitted. but i made valiant efforts, and maybe i'll wear it slightly more often than i did before? i do like the trim.

the before:

this is a pretty shapeless cardigan. i wish i had taken a picture of it on so you could see how it hangs off of my back. you know those shirts that sort of stick out from your back? this is what this cardigan does. also, it's sequined, but the sequins were unraveling in parts, making the sweater look pretty shabby.

i think you can see where the lines of sequins have awkward gaps in them, or long dangly threads that just look unkempt. so i decided to get rid of all of the sequins, which was a pretty hard decision. i also decided to sew the cardigan together to make a pullover sweater, in the hopes that it would lie flat against my back.

the inspiration:

even though i was taking the sequins off, i wanted the sweater to fit like this one. (on a side note, i love preity!)

sewed and without the sequins it looked like this:

lots of sequins were harvested off of this sweater. enough to make a sequin pillow! the most comfortable of all pillows:

the best resting place for my little rocking horse that a friend in 8th grade once gave me (shout out to elizabeth, if you happen to read this):

sequin-less sweater up close:

i think it looks a lot better, but we can't just have a plain black sweater! what a travesty! basic staples are overrated. so trimming time it is 8)

trimming inspiration:

i decided to use this color scheme against the black, and even include the bronze-ish ribbon on the sleeves instead of using all gold. i do plan on making this blouse at a later time (super cute!)

the finished product:

i was going to upload pictures of it on, but i didn't really feel like wearing a sweater in the heat we're having.

the sweater is sort of uneven at the front, which makes the ribbon lie bendy instead of straight, which does bother me. oh, well.

here is the brown on the cuff. i do really like these. hopefully my next refashion will be something i'm more excited about.

i am excited about the following, though:

pile of clothes i dug out of the attic on thursday with afia and bushra! we found some AWESOME stuff that i am excited to show you guys.

Music:  Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer

Refashion #12: Pink Embroidered Vest

yay! wasn't sure if i'd be able to post today (so busy cleaning the house!) but it looks like i got around to it. the other day i was rummaging around in the attic; again. this should be renamed attic adventures. and i found three of my mom's AWESOME old kamizes! these look more like dresses than tunics, though. they are in the old anarkoli style. i'm only going to show you one today, but don't worry, the others will probably make outfit posts later on. they are seriously awesome. so here is the one i'm probably the least excited about, namely because i at first thought it was one of my childhood dresses:

see what i mean? it's just a little too much pink. with the matching vest, however, it is pretty cool. yes, i said matching vest! excited now?

definitely upped in cool points. i still think i'm going to take the dress apart to make a killer blouse and skirt (might bead the skirt) but it still looks cooler with the vest. the only problem with the vest is...it had been badly burned.

the before:

i don't know that you can really see, but my mom had scorched the organza in the back when trying to iron it. so originally i was going to cut the vest apart and just sew the embroidery on to the dress, as the embroidery wasn't damaged, but it almost killed me to take that vest apart. i love vests, and this one was gorgeous. so i decided to just cut off the burned part in a straight line, leaving a sort of modern blocked effect.

the finished product:

the burn is fixed! this wasn't really difficult to do, but i just wanted to show you my awesome new vest. you guys should seriously look through mom's old stuff. or grandma's. you will probably definitely find some gems.

here is my lovely friend, aubree. haven't seen her in a while, so it was nice to have her over. even nicer of her to take the picture with me <3

working on trimming a sweater now, which has given me a lot of trouble! in terms of inspiration, that is; it's not actually a difficult project. hopefully it will turn out okay *crosses fingers*

and sorry i haven't been linking the music! i was scared to post the mp3s because i don't want to get in copyright trouble D8 but my great friend, hodan, made me realize i could just link you to youtube! so let me go change that.

Music:  Love Song - BIGBANG

Refashion #11: Green & Blue Color Blocked? Tunic

hey you guys! so funny story...you know that skirt i tightened last time? hahaha...turns out one of my aunties had given it to my mom as a pattern for another skirt my mom was making her. whoops! so even though i was 'determined to make it mine' it was, alas, not mine. or my mom's. so i had to take out the stitches. sad 8( i really liked that skirt! but no worries, i will find another pink skirt (making sure it belongs to me first...) to modify in the near future ;)

i really hope that auntie never sees that last post...'hmmm...that skirt looks familiar...' awkward. anyways. i know i said last time that the project i was working on was complicated, but i changed it after a while and it turned out not to be so complicated. so sorry if you were looking forward to something intense. here we go!

oh, and the color blocked has a question mark because i think color blocking requires at least three colors. but this is close enough. i guess i could just add an orange necklace and then we'd be good.

the before:

this is the bottom half of the dress i used from refashion #7. as you can see, it is really wide, so i was going to have to pleat it if i wanted it to fit my waist. the second piece i was using:

old t-shirt from i don't know when. i vaguely remember owning this, and i must have worn it at some point, but it has been a while. 6th or 7th grade? idk. here it is on:

don't mind the blurry spots, they're from the mirror. i need to clean it D8 as you can see, it's one of those shirts that will rise up SO easily, so i needed something to cover the bottom.

the inspiration:

LOVE this sweater. i think this was something i got off of a slideshow on elle; it was supposed to be reminiscent of the recent trends of color blocking and nautical stripes, especially on the prada runway. i love these colors. so when i saw it, i immediately thought of the dress and the shirt  that i had found and got to work 8D

i originally was going to have the checked fabric line the very bottom of the shirt, which is why i needed to pleat it so it would fit the bottom, but after i'd pinned and even started sewing, i realized the logo on the shirt just looked so...childish. big surprise. i was a child when i wore it. so i decided to put the checked fabric higher up, so as to cover the logo.

the finished product:

me! and our peaches 8D i think it turned out pretty decent. here's the back:

i'm glad i didn't sew up the back of the green fabric, or else it wouldn't have fit!

thanks for reading! especially you people in germany and alaska, i had no idea you could even find this blog! i can barely find it when i search for it haha and i know what i'm looking for!

hopefully will post again tomorrow 8D

Refashion #10: Pink & Black Floral Skirt

sorry for changing the background! it was just getting hard to see the pictures, so i chose the template with a white border for the pictures instead. and haha sorry for the double post...got a little behind with posting and focused on making too many things! in my defense, this next one was way too simple. it took about ten minutes to finish, tops.

so i was going through the box of my mom's old clothes in the guest room closet looking for a different shirt i knew was in there, when i found this skirt (and lots of other goodies!) it's a size 12, so it was entirely too large for me, but i was determined to make it mine.

the before:

so you can't really tell, but the skirt was definitely really large. it was slipping down over my hips. so i fixed to fit me better by making two 1-inch pleats in the back of the waistline:

here's a close up of one of the pleats:

the finished product:

yay! the next one i'm working on is quite challenging, so don't be surprised if i tell you i've given up. oh, and i have another surprise for you!

i found these in wal-mart yesterday, in the wedding aisle:

they're fake flower petals! i think there were about 300 per box 8O i'm thinking about getting some because i think they'd make a really cool bottom half of a gown, especially if you mixed colors. like if you had green on the bottom and red on top. very cool. 

kind of like this:

http://www.bessiesboutique.com/images/products/detail/71621.jpg

it would probably be longer than this, and not one color, but you get the idea. so if i ever get around to making a prom style gown, remind me to try this out first!

Music:  Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

Refashion #9: Lacey Velvet Pants

wow. what a ridiculous name. anyways, this one doesn't really have that many fun pictures, but i'll post what i took. so my phupi (eldest aunt on my dad's side) gave me these SMASHING AWESOME velvet black pants from bangladesh about a year ago. they're really cool, but the problem is that they have awkward little slits on the sides.

the before:

you can't really see it, but they're like 3 inches high and just really awkward. so when i saw this awesome picture on...you guessed it, sea of shoes, i knew what had to be done!

the inspiration:

aren't these pants awesome?! the slit is a little high for my tastes, so i only opened the slit on my pants to about calf length.

the finished product:

all done! it's a little bit lame because when i wear them, the slits sort of close so you can't really see the lace, but it's still pretty! so i didn't take a picture with them on, because you wouldn't be able to see. hopefully i'll wear these pants more often now 8D

Music:  Just Chill - Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya

Refashion #8: Black Checked Blouse

found another one of these checked shirts! so far i've counted five old ones that my mom has 8D good for me!

the before:

pretty big and blah. at least the sleeves are already short!

the buttons are pretty, but there is one missing. also, nasty brown spot needs to be covered! there was also one on one of the pockets, but i got rid of that...

i saw a picture of an embroidered goose on jane's sweater and decided i wanted my sweater to have a goose on it. this is my fail attempt. it's cute, but hardly something i want to put on my shirt. so i just took the whole stained pocket off.

as you can see, my goose looks nothing like hers. i also decided that if i couldn't do a goose, i also couldn't very well do the palm trees on the other side, now could i? so that idea got scrapped.

the actual inspiration:

look! adorable rompers! i tried to model mine after the one on the right. got lazy with my 'lace', so i didn't put it on both sides. also, with all the extra embellishment, the peter pan collar seemed a little obnoxious (i think the pattern i printed was larger than the usual...) so i left that off, too. also didn't feel like learning how to gather the sleeves yet, so i just pleated. this was basically the project of laziness. sorry! ;)

the finished product:

close up of the shiny fabric! isn't it so pretty?! i used to have an outfit made of this stuff, but sadly, doesn't fit anymore 8(

me wearing the new shirt! hopefully it doesn't look as granny-ish as before. now off to go fix some pants!

Music: Be My Only - FM Radio

i am IN LOVE with this song. listen. now.

Refashion #7: Green Plaid Shrug

so this one didn't take that long at all! yay! that means i can move on to the next one!

the before:

this is actually a dress my mom made for me and my best friend when i was in fourth grade. i love the green plaid, and unfortunately, while we have many other colors of plaid in the house, we don't have any green. so i decided to use this!

today, i just used the top half. i needed the buttoning to be in the front, or else there wasn't going to be any way to close the top over my not 4th-grade chest. there was extra cloth folded under the buttons, so i thought that would be enough. turns out it wasn't, but that's okay. i also had planned to leave the ties for the skirt, but they were attached to the shirt piece, so i kept them. glad i did that, it came in handy later.

the inspiration:

don't remember where this is from! please don't accuse me of stealing content D8 this definitely isn't my picture (the girl scares me o.O) i really like her outfit, though. the tank is what i was going for, but since i didn't have enough cloth to spare, i had to go for a bolero-like look instead.

the finished product:

so glad i left the ties and didn't go through the extra trouble of removing them. turns out they were needed, because the back of the shrug was bunching up; with the ties, it stays down like a normal shirt. the random pink panel is to cover up the buttonholes. there was no need for them as this shirt will NOT button up. i was going to put a pink panel on the other side, but i got lazy, and i kind of like the asymmetrical look. who says things have to be perfect? loosened the sleeves a little (arms gotta breathe) and we're done! kind of looks watermelony 8D

close-up! don't look if  chest/neck areas offend you ;)