Earlier this week, I was asked to speak to a group of women from my church about refashioning. Here's a few of the tips and tricks I shared with them that I thought you might find helpful as well.
WHY REFASHION?
- It's saves money.
- It's environmentally friendly.
- It's fun to create an unused item into something new!
- Create original clothing. Once I showed up at church and two other ladies had on the exact same dress that I had purchased in Florida. I was sure my dress would be unique because I'd purchased it so far from home. While talking to the other ladies, we laughed about the fact that we had each purchased our dress in a different state! If you refashion your clothing, I can almost guarantee that you'll never find yourself in this situation.
- Create an article of clothing that preserves the best features but changes it into something new & more fashionable.
- Gather together the items you want to refashion and put the elements into a pile, include a photo or sketch of how you want the refashion to look like once it's complete.
- Change
the color of the item you want to refashion by using: fabric dye, tea staining, staining with coffee, tumeric, paint, bleach,
Sharpie markers or stamping.
- Resize an article of clothing by making it smaller or larger.
- Add a pocket, stitching (embroidery), additional fabric, or layer on lace.
- Transform one thing into something completely different.
- Combine more than one item into a refashion.
- Look at your fabric. What can it do? Is it stretchy? See through? How does it drape? Is it heavy? How does it feel? What kind of item would profit from these properties?
- Reuse the best features of the garment you’re refashioning. Ask yourself the following two questions: What don't like about the garment? What do you like about the garment?
- Always turn the garment wrong side out to re-size.
- Invest in a good seam ripper and sharp fabric scissors.
- When possible, use the original hem of the garment (like in this Hand-me-down Blues Dress.)
- If you're going to purchase something to refashion, buy the largest size possible. You almost always spend the same about of money but you'll get more fabric.
- Shrunken wool sweaters make great stuffed animals & baby pants (felted wool is very absorbent for baby clothing). See HERE & HERE.
- Have no fear, just hack away. Mistakes can result in some amazing refashions not originally thought of. (per Karen Ellis of Rude Record)
- Sometimes just changing the buttons on an old article of clothing can give it a pick-me up. (per Agatha Lee of Green Issues by Agy)
- You can also add a fun pocket to give new life to an article of clothing.
- Keep all scraps you've cut off the items you're refashioning until you’re completely done with the refashion. You never know when a small piece of fabric might be needed.
- Sometimes, simply change the neckline will make your garment more wearable.
- Keep a lint roller near by, it'll help pull loose threads out of fabric and off you as you unpick and rip seams.
- Look for unusual sources for your fabric like, pillowcases (as pictured above), curtains, sheets and tablecloths. (per Amy Mayer of Sews n Bows)
Great blogs with fun refashions - Remember the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Find refashionists that you enjoy and learn from what others have created. I've got quite a few refashion projects on my blog which I hope you'll check out HERE. Four of my favorite blogs that feature refashioned projects are:
- Second Chances By Susan (Featuring really nice and modest refashioned clothing.)
- Creating My Way to Success (Hundreds of links to refashioned clothing.)
- Refashionista (Funny and crazy before photos.)
- At Second Street (Cute ideas for children's refashions.)
You might want to find other blogs that showcase their projects by searching Pinterest. For additional inspiration, I created a Refashion board HERE. Please feel free to join.
It's still Spring which is a perfect time of year to clean out your closet and start having fun refashioning what you don't wear. If you have a tip or trick to refashioning that I didn't mention, please leave me a comment & I'll add it to this list. xoxo Grandma
Linked to: Crafty Allie, Diana Rambles, Sustaining The Powers
It's still Spring which is a perfect time of year to clean out your closet and start having fun refashioning what you don't wear. If you have a tip or trick to refashioning that I didn't mention, please leave me a comment & I'll add it to this list. xoxo Grandma
Linked to: Crafty Allie, Diana Rambles, Sustaining The Powers
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Love to hear what you think...xoxo Grandma