chilly morning

No, it's not morning anymore, but it was earlier when I was wearing this and took this picture.

 

I am wearing: a Boston Proper wool jacket from the thrift store, Anne Taylor Loft trousers from  the thrift store, and a shirt that I sewed quite a while ago - back when I actually bought fabric new on a regular basis. And a scarf that I knit last winter from recycled yarn.   

That was a lot of yarn!  The sweater that I pulled for it was a long cardigan/coat thing, and there was no yarn left at all once I had put on the fringe.  Actually, when I first knit it, I didn't like it very much.  But that was last winter at least and now I think it goes pretty well with my style.  I really like the look of it with the navy and stripes.

I am also wearing some navy Keds, but you can't see them in the picture...oops.

a sleeved poncho

As a rule, I usually don't go for the poncho look. But when I saw this pattern on Ravelry, I actually thought it was kinda cute. The sleeves and vine pattern give it a much different look.






This is actually my first knitting project that I didn't modify, at least for the most part. There is one thing with the bobbles that I think I did do wrong, and something funky with the neckline, but that's a whole lot of technical knitting mumbo jumbo, and I won't get into that.


Even though I like the result, I'm actually considering pulling and making a pullover version of it. I can't help but think of how much more convenient it would be like that. But that won't be for a long time.

the size 14 to size 6 shorts

This is a pair of shorts that I resized, once a 14, now my size. Just a pair of shorts from a thrift store.
I took them in on the sides and center back seam, ripping the waistband enough to take it in from the inside, and then top stitching it in place. This is a little tricky, trying to turn it around enough to keep the taking-in even and strait - but it's doable, anyway.

There's a couple of options to where you can take them in - the sides are the simplest place, which is good if you have a pair of pants that are just a couple of inches too big. The biggest problem with this is that if you take them in too much, you'll make the pockets too tight for your hands.

This isn't so good (trust me, I've done it more than once!), so if you need to take it in more, you can slide the back out so that there is a bigger seam allowance in the back than in the front, which you can use to control how much you want to take in without taking too much from the pockets.

Or, you can take in the back seam too. You have to make sure that the new seam has a nice, smooth curve down to the inseam, meeting the old seam before you reach the inseam.

Since my shorts were so much bigger, and I like big pockets, I had to do both the slidy thing a lot and the back seam thing a lot - the end result is shorts that are kinda baggy with wide legs, which I think I like better than if they had been my size to begin with!

The jumper is from the thrift store too, a vintage lambswool sweater for a dollar - It's like my favorite sweater.

skirt refashion

The original skirt was large and very long, and had waist darts for shaping.  All I did was cut it short from the bottom to reuse the hem and added the casing and elastic.  I was pretty stupid and didn't line it, so it rides up with tights.  For summer that's fine, but I wear tights and leggings all the time right now, and a slip would be so nice!  It's one of those things that I really need to make (my mom has a ton of slip fabric) but isn't exciting enough to make instead of a cute top or something.  Oh well, I'll get to it eventually!

thanks jason!

Hi! My name's tori.

After a few months of posting on Wardrobe Refashion, and all of my teen life sewing and knitting whatever my fashion-loving heart desired, I figured it was high time to start my own blog. This is my very first post!

This is one of my favorite refashions, made from a military jacket with the name Jason written in marker on the tag. It's also basically the only bag I use (crazy as it seams, I am not really a bag and shoe girl - I admit it! I'm sorry!).

the front

the back

and the inside

I used the strap from my sister's old ballet bag for this bag's strap and some thin black cotton for the lining.

I really like the military styling, which is something I try to work into a lot of my outfits. My favorite shoes are some black suede Converse boots. Don't let this scare you! It's not like I walk around wearing all camo or anything.

I have another similar project planned, using a tweed or herringbone men's coat or blazer or something. When I do, I will be sure to take pictures of what I did, and make a tutorial. Unfortunately, when I was working on this, I didn't really think about having a blog so I didn't take any pictures. I don't really even remember exactly what I did...