-
May 13, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
I LOVE hoodies. I have 3, at the moment. I would have more if I could afford more right now. You may remember the brown one I altered a few weeks ago… this is my 2nd hoodie alter. I will have a 3rd sometime soon when I add some more “punk” to my punk hoodie. For now, I wanted to make this mustard colored hoodie a little less mustard and a little more fun.
I had a Converse dress/shirt that just wasn’t me. A little too prep for my taste I think. But I didn’t want to waste good material… so I used some of it for patches on my hoodie! I stitched a chunk onto the back of one front panel and another chunk on one sleeve. Then I turned it right-side out and cut around the inside of my stitches. Now the pattern is a little more broken up… and it gives it even more of a vintage look (I think).
Category Jackets | Tags: Converse,hoodie,hoodies,patches,sewing,vintage | No Comments
-
May 13, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
This alteration was basically to save a shirt I really liked. This is an Express cowl neck shirt that I LOVE. It’s long; it looks great with jeans, dress pants, leggings and whatever. BUT, I wore it cooking and got grease stains on it. You may see one of the bigger stains in the before picture. Today I got a great idea while sorting through my closet: cover the stains with POCKETS!
I had just finished destroying a pair of gray camo pants that just weren’t me, but I thought would make good parts for future projects.
So, I simply measured out where to place the pockets and pinned them in place. Then I hand stitched them on. Easy, though the sewing was a little timely. Now the stains are covered and my shirt has a little more life to it!
Category Shirts | Tags: camo,Express,gray,leggings,pocket,shirt | No Comments
-
May 13, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
I am sure some people look at my altered clothes and they think “what was she thinking?” Then again, I am sure some people look at my clothes and think “wow, that’s pretty cool…. I wonder where she bought that?” Some people probably just wonder “why” in general.
Why do I alter my clothing?
Altering my clothing isn’t a new thing for me. Ask some of my GR friends who have seen me wearing skirts with leg warmers and dresses that say “Naughty” on them. I haven’t lived in GR in about 7 years, so I have been altering for a while. Only recently did I realize I could find a good outlet online to share my creations with other. I am not trying to make money off this, though that WOULD be nice… I am really just sharing ideas that you can easily do at home with some clothes, scissors and some needle & thread.
You can go to the store and buy a shredded shirt, or you can take 20 minutes at home and make one yourself. There are numerous books out there on altering clothes, or you can be like me and figure it out yourself!
I alter my clothes because I am bored AND because I absolutely HATE knowing there are hundreds of other people out there wearing the same thing as me. I think there is pretty much NOTHING more embarrassing than walking into some place to find that some other woman is wearing the same shirt as me, or the same skirt…. etc. Especially if she is hotter than me in it! So, I create one of a kind clothing to fill my closet with.
Of course, another way I work towards not having the same clothes as others is by shopping resale, thrift and vintage.
Instead of tossing a shirt with a stain; I put a patch where the stain was. Instead of donating a shirt that is too short; I make it longer. Why layer when you can make your layers one? Why being part of the flock when you can be the wolf!
Maybe when I “outgrow” my current collections (or lose enough weight that they no longer fit) I will have a special altered clothing sale! Hopefully this happens AFTER we have moved back to GR where there are cool people who appreciate the eccentricities of altered clothing. Nothing against my “thumb” friends, but this county is pretty closed-minded!
Category Words From The Thread | Tags: altered,bored,clothes,resale,ripping,scissors,sewing,shredding,stains,thread,thrift,vintage | No Comments
-
May 12, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
So, this was probably the easiest of any of the alterations I have done. No sewing here- just CUTTING!!!! Be sure you use nice sharp scissors made for cutting material on these projects. It makes cuts smoother, just try not to chop off your fingers.
This shirt started out with some ugly front piece. I should have taken a before picture… it was hideous. It had buttons and flat ruffles (if that makes sense). And this color on so much of a shirt was bad too. So, I cut off the ruffle/buttons part. That was it. In the photo I am wearing it over a black ribbed tank. Love it!
Category Shirts | Tags: alteration,assets,buttons,cut,shirt | No Comments
-
May 12, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
Here I go again, just making another ripped shirt from a couple of ill-fitting shirts. We’ve gone over this before. Although I am probably going to have to drag out the iron for the hem on this one when I get around to wearing it.
Won a “lot” of shirts on Listia and although they were all my size, none of them fit. The girl who wore them previous to me apparently had a few more pounds on her than I. Most of the shirts I liked, and just had to do some tacking under the arms to touch up the fit. But then there was this heart tank that was cute, but teenager cute…. not pushing 40 cute. And there was a tee that was too short…. so they became one.
The tee stayed whole, and I used the bottom of the tank for length and did ripping with some hearts behind for a cute look! (But not teenagers cute :)
Category Shirts | Tags: alteration,clothes,cute,hearts,short,tank,tee,teenager,teens | No Comments
-
May 4, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
I made a shorter pair of “hand” warmers, rather than arm warmers. I started out with a shirt, and I still have one piece of it left to use in a future project. For this fun little project I used the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt.
For the hand warmers I simply stitched a “hem” in and pulled through the desired amount of elastic. I finished off the elastic and then finished off the hem. Done. Not much to them.
Then I made another scarf/belt/bracelet. This one is shorter than the purple ones I did because I was working with less material. You can find the instructions in the previous scarf post. I even think this one would look cute as a hair tie for long hair or as a headband.
Category Other Accessories | Tags: altered,belt,bracelet,gloves,hands,Pink,scarf,shirt,tie,warmers,white | No Comments
-
May 4, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
This was a shirt/dress I wore often, but it got a couple stains on it and it’s always full of static. I decided that I needed to do something with it, but what?
Well, I thought maybe I would make a scarf, but I could find a tutorial that would work with a skirt-like piece of fabric, which was what I had after I cut off the bust part of the shirt/dress.
This meant that I had to get clever all on my own. Inspired by braids, I got an idea. And it was a good one because it would warrant me TWO scarves from one piece of clothing. But somehow I ended up with more than just a couple scarves.
To do this project I spread the material onto the floor (looked like a skirt) and I cut six strips from it, across, from one side seam to the other. Then, because each set of three were a different length, I put three together and trimmed one end to make them all the same length. This also made each one a long piece of fabric once unfolded, since one side seam was still connected. I tied a not in one and and put that between my toes, then proceeded to braid it. Tied off the finished end and trimmed it to be even. Then I just repeated these same steps with the second scarf.
When I finished I thought it would be too skinny to be a scarf, but it would work as a great tie belt. Then I tried it on as a scarf anyway and decided it makes a great and stylish decorative scarf. And after that I thought, for an eclectic look, it would also be a great bracelet!
What a versatile accessory!
Category Other Accessories | Tags: alter,belt,dress,fashion,necklace,purple,scarf,shirt | No Comments
-
May 4, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
Well, it’s more like a 3/4 sleeved shirt. Nonetheless, I had a hideous, grandma-like, dress shirt in solid purple that I did not like (obviously). And I had another Walmart tank top… that I also wasn’t a huge fan of. A tanks a tank to most people, but I don’t like ribbed tanks and I am not a fan of neon pink when it covers too much of a shirt. Since I already have a few tank tops, I thought I would try something different with this shirt.
First I made the shirt longer, which you can learn how to do by reading any of my other altered shirt posts. This one is a little extra long, so it will look cute with leggings in the fall too!
Then came the hard part, which wasn’t really as hard as I thought it was going to be. I cut the sleeves off the dress shirt and attached them with straight pins to the arm holes on the tank. I made she to keep them taught as I hand stitched. I double stitched to make sure it was sturdy. It actually turned out super cute, and on it looks like the sleeves are original to the shirt! Fantastic!
Category Shirts | Tags: altered,purple,sleeves,tank top | No Comments
-
May 4, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
This is my favorite project so far. I picked up a dress shirt, somewhere, that was just too busy for me. I can not do busy. This is why 99% of my shirts are solid colors. I have never been a fan of busy shirts and patterns. BUT, this shirt was cute, with ruffles at the bust area. I thought it had some sort of potential, maybe covered with a blazer.
Sorry for the lack of a before picture, but I was lazy.
The other shirt in the project was a simple Miley Cyrus black ribbed tank from Walmart. I picked 3 of them up on clearance a few months ago. They were bland and a size too small for me, but they were like 2 or 3 bucks a piece, so I couldn’t pass them up… and now I am excited to use the other 2 for future projects! That’s how much I LOVE how this one turned out.
This project took a little more work than past ones. Because the ribbed tank was small I needed to have it stretched out to sew the new chunk of material onto the bottom. Since I don’t have a dress form I used a lid from one of my plastic totes that seemed to measure about my waist size in circumference. I pulled the tank top over it and then cut the bottom off the dress shirt and pulled it over, pinning them together. Then I hand stitched them. Next I chopped off the ruffle part of the dress shirt and pinned it to the front of the tank and stitched it on. I didn’t stitch the “V” part though, only cut a matching “V” into the tank.
It kind of looks like a dress for a skinny person in the picture, but once it’s on me it’s more like a long shirt…. and I LOVE it!!!
Category Shirts | Tags: dress,favorite,Miley Cyrus,ruffles,tank top,Walmart | No Comments
-
May 1, 2012 by Yvonne M. Glasgow
My last trip to the Free Store sent me home with a brand new shirt from Chico’s. It was in my size, so I couldn’t pass it up… but it is like a lime green. Umm, that doesn’t really fit into my wardrobe. But, I also got a striped shirt, and I am not a fan of stripes. So, to make these shirts more “Yvonne friendly” I decided to combine them in a fun and interesting way.
Now, you may wonder what I mean by fun and interesting, because when you look at the after photo you will automatically think it just looks like my other ripped shirts. But alas, it is just a tad bit different (and I am wearing it as I type this)!
Per usual, I cut of a length off the bottom of the striped shirt and hand stitched it right to the hem of the green one. Easy. Here’s the fun part. To change it up I stitched on a chunk of the striped shirt, which was horizontal stripes, in a way that when I cut through it would instead be vertical stripes. Now we know that vertical stripes are generally a fashion faux pas, but since only a small amount of these stripes would show I just went for it. What came out was something fun and unique!
Category Shirts | Tags: Chico's,Free Store,green,kermit,stripes,Yvonne | No Comments