upcycle/restyle #2

I had so much fun making my old shirt into a skirt for Miss B that I decided I might give this "upcycle" thing another try.

so, from what I've gathered, upcycling is when you take something you already have and turn it into something else. and re-styling is when you buy something to turn it into something else. is there anyone who's more "upcycle savvy" that can correct me if I'm wrong?

ok, so after a quick trip to Goodwill the other night, i got a bunch of sweaters and shirts to do stuff with. I'm so excited! So I thought I'd document my findings and changes on here so maybe other people will see how fun and easy it is!

as far as "easy" goes, I guess it's relative. I don't consider myself a master seamstress. in fact, when I talk to people who are REAL sewers, I feel really dumb. I don't know all the terms, or what the settings mean, or a lot of the "technical" stuff about sewing. But my mom once told me I'm a "natural," so I guess that's what it means. I have a pretty good idea of how to get the look I want even if I don't totally know what I'm doing. But using a pattern? not a chance. I guess I use a pattern for my pinkadink shoes, but that's as far as it goes. I don't get patterns, and they totally freak me out. I just like to cut and sew. :) so that's what I did.

I didn't take a before picture of the sweater, but I bought a pink women's sweater at goodwill, chopped it up, and sewed it back together, just smaller. :)

and then, a few weeks ago at church, I saw Lillian's friend Hannah had really cute leggings with a little ruffle on the bottom. I thought they were SOOO cute, and took a look at them, and made some for Lillian! So that was my upcycle. I started with these old pants I got for free one time, that were sort of weird and stretched out and I never wore them anymore.


then I put a pair of Lillian's leggings on top to get an idea of the shape, cut around them, and sewed up the sides.



I used a piece of the leftover to make the ruffle.



they were pretty cute, but still needed a waistband, which was NOT going as I planned. SO, then I took some of the extra from the other leg and made a waistband, which is still waiting for elastic, but they look pretty good anyway!


so, there's the final product, the complete outfit for 3.59.
looking at it now, I wish I had made the sleeves smaller. maybe that's a project for next week. gotta catch up on my pinkadink orders tonight since I haven't been able to do much lately with the sick kids.

I have a few more items that I picked up too, so hopefully there will be more posts as I learn a bit more about this fun new hobby! :)