Seamingly Smitten: Sew Chic Upcycling Guest Post

Thrift it, Repurpose It, Remake it

and Wear it!

Also, check out another Sew Chic Upcycling creation on my co-host's blog: Sarah from This Crazy, Blessed Life

Today's guest poster is Kelli from Small Town Stitcher. Everytime I check out her blog I am completely inspired to look at fabric or piece of clothing in a new way and I know YOU will BE INSPIRED by her post today. Check out what she made!

Take it away, Kelli...

Hey y'all, my name is Kelli and you can find me over at Small Town Stitcher. I’m a kindergarten teacher turned SAHM that uses my me-time to sew. I love to make quilts, gifts, and especially since befriending Jenny, clothes for both my daughter and myself. Sorry to my husband and son...girls' clothes are just more fun! I met Jenny through a link-up party where I saw one of her awesome creations and realized this girl’s got talent. We started talking back and forth through comments and I jumped at the chance to be a pattern tester for her. If you haven’t tried her patterns, you’re missing out. She gives easy, clear directions to make super cute items!

When Jenny asked me to be a part of this refashion series, I decided that whatever I made had to come from my closet. I considered a couple of things, had a craft-fail that will soon be re-refashioned into something else, (check my blog in a week or so for that one...) and finally settled on this skirt right here. As you can see in the picture, it's not bad. It fits fine, it looks fine, it's just not WOW! But...I'm turning it into a WOW and with minimal changing, so I could always change it back if I wanted to...even better!!

But what to do with it?? I searched refashions online for inspiration and saw this:

Found here

And I had my answer. I didn't even read through the tutorial, although that was just fine because when I looked back, I realized it was a link to another tutorial in French. ;)

So here's what I did:

1. Find a skirt at least knee length, the longer the skirt the more options you have for styling. It needs to have side seams. This is a cheap, polyester knit from Walmart of all places, so fabric doesn't matter.

2. Put the skirt on inside out and flip the hem up to your shoulders to see how it will fit as a top. The skirt's waistband becomes the bubble hem of your new top. My skirt had a large knit waistband and it's super comfortable, but I imagine a fastened band would be fine if it feels fine to you. You'll need to adjust the side seams to accomodate your arms, so decide how big you want the "sleeves" to be.
On my skirt, I went for a sleeveless look, so I just left the hem intact as my shoulder seams and neckline. then I ripped out the side seams for 8 inches. Once I made sure I liked that look, I just quickly sewed down the already folded edges to hem up the armholes. By using the long skirt, it gave the neckline a neat cowl-effect as well.

3. Now here's the last step: See how I had a kick pleat in the back of the skirt? Well, that was a little too low in the back for me...I don't want everyone to see how I fasten my bra, so I just pinned the pleat closed a little higher and sewed along the hemline to hide the stitching. That way the design element of the open back is still there, but I'm only showing what I'm comfortable with. ;)

5. And you're done. Cute, right? But here's the best part: Because my skirt was mid-calf length originally, I have the option of wearing this shirt in different lengths! I can wear it to bubble at my natural waist,

at a drop-waist length, like a tunic,

and...as a cute dress!

In all, it took me A LOT longer to photograph the steps and write up this post than it took to transform this boring skirt into something more fun and hip. And with my seam ripper and 10 minutes I can always change it back if I need a long, black skirt!

I encourage you to look around the web, look around your closet and see what you can change. It's a quick and easy way to brighten your day and your look! Thanks again to Jenny for having me over! I'd love it if y'all came and visited me at my blog anytime.

And it's done!
Now it's YOUR TURN!
Link up your original upcycled or recycled fashions from August 1-12th for a chance to WIN PRIZES!
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LINKY RULES:

1. Link a CLOTHING project you upcycled or recycled.

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