Halloween Costume: The Rest of the Costume!

I finished my halloween costume in time for Saturday night's Howling Halloween Bash!

I decided to add a few layers to the mask, some jewels and a third eye. For you Game of Thrones fans, you know that young Bran Stark has a recurrent dream about a 3-eyed raven in the 2nd season. I finished it off by adding a hole-punch on each side of the mask to thread black ribbon through so that I can tie the mask around my head. The several-year old elastic that the mask originally came with has since lost its elasticity. Here it is!

Next I put together my top. I used an old black, long-sleeved tee I had and sewed a right angle triangle of black lace under each arm to give the look of wings.

Next, I attached about 6 inches of black ribbon at the end of each arm, at each shoulder seam, and at the middle of the neck so I could easily attach the feather boa. In the photo below you can see the ribbon at the neck and shoulders.

Add a plack skirt, these creepy fishnets, and a pair of black shoes and I'll be good to go! Ideally I'd wear a pair of pointy black heels but since I have to wear flats post-surgery, black ballet flats will have to do. I'll post a picture of me wearing the hole ensemble this weekend!

What Can You Make From a Sarong?

I found this plain white sarong laying around the house and decided to make it into a dress. Typically, sarongs are 36x72 inches or 3x6 feet not including the fringe at each end. Plenty of fabric to make a variety of things. And the best part about sarongs is they come in some many colors and patterns and the fabric is like egyptian cotton its so soft. 

I made this simple sundress by the following steps:

1) I first cut the sarong in half.

2) With the first half, I sewed the sides together to desired width for a skirt then attached an elastic band to desired waist width.

3) I decided to trim off the fringe because it as tangled and ratty-looking and hemmed the bottom.

4) Next, I got to work on the 2nd half to make th top. I made the back with a simple dress pattern. As for the front, I experimented by trying to make a draped neckline reminiscent of cowl neck sweaters.

5) I attached each side and hemmed the neckline and arm holes then attached to the skirt. 

Here is the finished dress. It didn't come out quite as I expected, specifically the front neckline, but that's what I get for not following a pattern! The dress is still fun and will loan itself well to the tropical climates of Hong Kong and Bali (where I am bound for in 9 days!) since its a thin material and the fabric is lose-fitting.

After I finished the dress, I got to thinking... "What else you can make with sarongs?" Here is the list I came up with.

1) simple sheath sun dress
2) short bath robe
3) teddy
4) short or long A-line skirt
5) short of long wrap-around skirt
6) shrug
7) strapless dress with elastic over bust and at waist

Please add to it by leaving a comment! I have changed the settings so you don't have to be a registered user to post a comment!

Making a Skirt from a Maternity Top

I found this cute top on end-of-season clearance for $3 last year. I wore it once then washed it and it shrunk up rather than in. One of the reasons I bought it was because of its length. Hitting below my hip bone, it would have been good for layering. But since it shrunk, I'm not sure I ever wore it again. Another item for the closet aka black hole. 

I pulled it out again today thinking about taking it in to give it a better fit, but decided instead to make a t-shirt to skirt conversion. You can see how this top lends itself to becoming a skirt with its A-line cut.

I cut the top off right below the arm holes, then attached a 3-inch band of green printed fabric to the top for a waist band. Next step was to create an enclosure for the band at the waist. I loath sewing in zippers and the only thing worse is sewing a zipper on stretchy fabric. So I added some character by using these buttons made of recycled plastic.

Here is the finished skirt. This was a pretty simple project and inexpensive, too! The original shirt was about $3, the buttons were also $3 but I used a 40% off coupon, and as for the darker green fabric and thread, I had both of those laying around the house from previous sewing projects.

Detaching a Bodice from its Skirt: Take Two

A couple years ago, I bought this dress on clearance a Kohl's mostly because I wanted the big black belt that it came with. But I kept the dress, hung it in my closet thinking that someday, perhaps, I would wear it.

The thing is, the t-shirt top was too big for me though the skirt fit fine and every time I tried it on thinking I might wear it, I felt uncomfortable because it didn't fit right. So back in the closet it went until recently when I decided to detach the two pieces, discard the top and make a skirt out of the bottom.

This skirt had to have been the easier remake! Step 1: detach top from bottom. Step 2: buy 2 inch width elastic from the fabric store. Step 3: pin elastic in place and sew. And done!

Updating a Skirt

I got this skirt on clearance years ago at Old Navy. I wore it over the summer then buried it away in my black hole of a closet thinking I would someday wear it again. The thing is, though, its too poofy and ruffly for me and I feel too old for the style. So I put my thinking cap on and grabbed my scissors and got to work.

I decided to take in some of the flare at the bottom of the skirt. There was so much fabric that the skirt looked poofy at the bottom so I took in each panel seam by 1 inch so there was not as much flare. The photo below captures how much flare there was before I took in the panels. 

Still not satisfied with the adjustments, I decided one layer of ruffle I could handle but not two, so I cut the bottom layer off.

Still not satisfied,  I decided the pink needed to be toned down a bit. The thing is, I don't really wear pink. Yes I'm a girl but too much pink makes me feel, well, too girly.

So I have this perfectly nice skirt that came with a sash you wrap around the waist. But the skirt is perfectly fine without it and the sash just adds unnecessary layering which bunches and needs to be adjusted constantly. So I removed the sash from that skirt, see photo on left below and added the sash to the pink skirt. Its kind of GI Joe meets Barbie!











And I don't know if I'm satisfied yet, but I've had fun remaking this one!