Plaid Refashion

I do not do much refashioning. This Eco-Princess look was my first real try at it from the Earth Day challenge. For Project Run & Play this week the challenge is Mad for Plaid and I just couldn't bring myself to spend any more money on fabric. I've been a very reckless fabric shopper lately. (Someone please ban all online fabric stores from my computer. Girl Charlee I'm talking about you.)

So my plaid fabric source is from my own closet and was a dress/shirt thingy I bought about three years ago and have worn exactly zero times. I bought it because it was on clearance and because it was so super soft, but then like so many other things I've bought, I bring it home and have no idea how to wear it. Too short to wear as a dress. Too long to wear with jeans. Would be cute with leggings but I have not worn leggings since the 6th grade. (I'm hoping for a leggings-change-of-heart though.)

So it was an easy decision to take scissors and a seam ripper to the never worn dress/shirt thingy.



Refashioning has it's benefits and drawbacks. Besides being cheap or free, the main benefit is you can keep cool features from the original item. It is hard to see in the picture but there are two top pockets, two big bottom pockets and snap up sleeve tabs that I was able to just transfer to my new top with no extra work. Of course the drawback is it takes much more planning and there are way more limitations when you are trying to design and cut your pattern. I also spent a lot of time with the seam ripper and had a billion baby threads all over me at all times. Using the seam ripper, I took off the collar from the original, took apart all the pieces, then resized and re-sewed for a smaller version of the collar.

I love that the new top is going to get a lot more use and will definitely look adorable with leggings on my 6-year-old.

Time to return to the sewing table and put to good use all the fabric shipments I've been receiving lately.