Upcycled!!!!

We have a great market that is held at our local state school every 3rd Saturday of the month.  You can buy all sorts of things, from handmade to people selling/promoting their products, produce, flowers, you name it they probably have it.

One of the things I love to do is to have a look through the secondhand clothes that some people are selling.  You know things that don't fit anymore, out of fashion or just making more room in their wardrobes.

Sometime at the end of last year I came across a lady who was selling everything at 50 cents each.  It was nearly time for the markets to close and I guess she just wanted to get rid of as much as she could.  I picked up a few things and my girl's chose a couple of things that they wanted me to make them something out of. 

Of course everything went into my project tub and was forgotten about.  Until last week!

So here are the 3 things my girl's liked:


Grace chose this size 16 shirt to be changed into a dress

Jorja liked this red skirt and this red and white flowered top:

First I will start with the top that Grace likes.  It was so easy to change into a dress.   First I measured how wide to make the dress, then drew a line with tailor's chalk as to where to cut, pin and sew.  I only had to do this to one side:

mark



pin



and sew

Now for the straps I decided to make the dress a halter neck for something different so I put the dress on Grace to make sure it fits and marked where to put the straps.  I cut the original straps off the top as they where adjustable ties and cut one in half and sewed it onto the front:

And here it is:



Just love that big smile!!!!



For Jorja's skirt to dress, I didn't need to do anything to change the size as the skirt is a size small (8 to 10) so that left me with what to do about the straps?

Why not crochet some straps.  I have this beautiful red coloured cotton for crocheting that I have never used before as I have only ever crocheted with acrylic or wool that I thought would be perfect.

To make the straps I used a 2.5mm hook (US size C) and started with 9 chains.  Turn and  inserted my hook into the second chain (count first chain as first stitch), crocheted a double crochet (US single crochet) in each chain to end.  Turn and 2 chain (count as first stitch), then crocheted a treble stitch (US double crochet) in each stitch till the end, repeat.  I made the straps 11 inches long.

Now to just pin in place and sew:

And here is my other little model with the finished dress:



Just love that red hair!!

 For the third, well I would like to do something different, maybe I might give shirring a go finally, don't know will have to put the old thinking cap on. 

Happy Sewing!!!!!