Refashioning thrifted clothes

 I love thrifting.  Sometimes I find something great that doesn't fit quite right - enter refashioning and my developing sewing skills.  Even better, because I've only spent about $1 on each item, if I completely screw it up, I am not that upset about it.  In the meantime, I'm developing my skills as I go.  Yippee!

First up is this striped jumpsuit.  I loved it so much - and look!  It's the right length!  Only problem?  It's a child's XL with no zipper and once I got into it it wasn't easy getting out of it - not the best idea in a romper you have to pull down and up to go to the restroom.  

So, I had this zipper that I had taken from a different thrifted item last year.  

(Sidenote:  If you find something at a thrift store that has great parts for sewing - get it and deconstruct it!)  

I decided if it had a zipper, it would be easier to get in and out of.  

So I literally just pinned the zipper to the back, cut down the middle and sewed it on.   

Not very glamorous, but it works.  After I stitched it on with blue thread, 

I decided it needed a little more something so put another seam in yellow.  

Next up was this dress.  And I have to be honest.  I had no idea what I was doing.  

I just tried to figure it out as I went along.  

It was a big shapeless blob.  Way too big for me and long to the floor.  

But I loved the color.  

So first I set it beside a dress with a shape that I love: 

I turned them both inside out and used the red dress as a pattern and just started cutting.  

And then I remembered there was a zipper.  So I stopped, removed the zipper, 

and then continued cutting.  

I pinned the bodice to the skirt without trimming the skirt - so I folded over 2 pleats in the front to allow the material to match up.  I matched the seams in the back and reattached the 2 pieces together.  I then put in the zipper.  Not great, but my first attempt at actually sewing a zipper in, so I was okay with it.  

I tried it on and realized that it needed to be made "petite" by taking up the straps a bit.  

I really really really wanted to just sew across that strap, but I knew that wouldn't look good at all, 

so I began taking out the whole seam.  

I cut off the amount that I had measured, 

and then kind of folded it until it looked like it had before and sewed it.  

(I just have to give a shout out to my mom who has kept all of her and my grandmother's thread from over the years and because of that, I had the EXACT color of thread that I needed!)

Here is what it looked like after I sewed the shoulder back: 

And here is the finished dress - not perfect by any means, 

but I practiced a lot of skills and it only cost me $1.25!  Yay for Last Chance Goodwill!