first (of many!) refashion project: frumpy sweater into fun cardigan

What is a "refashion project" you might ask? Well, it is taking something old, used, recycled, worn out, too big or too small for you clothing or whatever it might be....and refashioning it into something fun, fabulous, new and totally usable again! It reminds me of the concept of an old book that my mom used to have that I was obsessed with and it was called "From Trash To Treasure". I loved looking at all of the projects and pictures wondering how they took something as simple as empty pop cans and turned them into a Halloween wreath! And after all of the pinning and Pinteresting I've been doing, I needed to take my turn at refashioning and I think I found a new favorite hobby!

What sparked this project was a trip to the consignment store that Kat and I made over the weekend when they were here. Which by the way, the weekend was an absolute blast. The Hawks won and we had a great time with Scott, Kat, the kids and our friends! Lots of laughs, good chats and talks with one another and an overall, fun time! So like I was saying, Kat and I made a trip to Stuff and we hit the jackpot! We each got a ton of awesome items, some still with tags, and some looked barely used! And as always, we got it all for one hell of a price! Several things we bought were only a quarter...yes, only $0.25!!!! And the rest of it was pretty much all $2.00 and under with a few exceptions! Kat had originally pulled this sweater off the rack but then saw the size and said it'd be way too big or could be paired with leggings, boots and a chunky sweater. But then I had a lightbulb go off in my head.....my first refashion project! I snagged it up and said, "I'm going to attempt to make this into a cardigan..." And that is exactly what I did!

I successfully turned this size XL sweater from H&M, which was originally priced at $38.00 and I got for $1.75, to a size M cute and cozy cardigan! The project only took me about an hour total! And that's because I added 8 buttons and button holes....some of the holes aren't 100% perfect by any means, but since it will be buttoned up anyway, I wasn't too worried! And I had thread that perfectly matched the sweater so it helps to disguise some of the crooked stitches around the button holes! I can't wait to find the next sweater at Stuff or Goodwill that is waiting to be refashioned!

Sew Cute: tank top dress

Before my parents left to continue their roadtrip around the midwest before heading back to Texas, we did a little early birthday celebration here for me with Jordan, my parents and Janelle. My mom first gave me a present that left me super confused. It was a sewing kit and a huge book called "Guide To Sewing" and she had wrote a really sweet note in it. The only reason why I was confused was because I didn't have a sewing machine....and she knew I had been wanting one for a long time! Mainly thanks to all of the awesome projects I have seen on Pinterest and also so I can start being awesome like she is and just make my own stuff when I can't find what I want in stores! Anyway, so in my head I was all like, "gee thanks a heap for the sewing kit and sewing book...just rub it in that you have a sewing machine and I don't!" until she totally blew my mind and handed me another box with a sewing machine in it!!!!!! Ah yesssss!!!! Is this seriously my life now, married, turn 25 and freak out about getting a sewing machine?!! Yes, yes indeed it is and I love it. So, I practiced for a little bit with a test piece of fabric that I had and then scoured Pinterest to decide what my first project would be and I decided to go with a tank top dress! 

total time: 4 hours....this really IS a simple project BUT since it was a first one, I admittedly used the seam ripper a lot more than I would have liked to and spent more time rethreading the machine than probably necessary.

total cost: $9.00. The tank top was $3.50 from wal-mart and I found the fabric in the 60% off section at JoAnn's Fabric

tutorial: I followed this tutorial from A Small Snippet Blog and it worked out and was pretty easy to follow along with actually! I changed the sash by adding elastic to it and used snaps instead of keeping it long enough to tie. 

And here's my final product.....

my first handmade tank top dress!