Remaking Old Clothes

I am not a seamstress by any means, but I get inspired by all the creativity on the blogs I love. Also many of you are so willing to try new things and encouraging your readers to learn new skills. So I got to work on some long awaited projects.

I had these two linen dresses that I have worn so much over the last few summers that they wore very thin where my seat belt rubbed over my shoulder and chest. That also indicates how much driving I did! Happily I've cut down on that considerably since we have moved to MA and my back is much better for it. So I have turned the dresses into elastic waist skirts, and it was so easy. It took less than an hour. I read a few tutorials then did the easiest thing: cut the dresses high on the waist, folded them inside out and sewed a 5/8" channel with the sewing machine leaving about an 2" open, pulled through a 1/4" elastic I had on hand cut to waist size, tied elastic and cut ends, sewed together opening to close and hold elastic. That's it. The waist is not elegant, but it works for the easygoing way I usually put outfits together.


Then I got to work on a old pink sweater that I should not have worn when we were repainting the porch before we sold the house. There was a paint on the front. Once I tried to get it off with a razor to remove lint. I got off some of the paint but made a hole. Now I've put a cute heart over the hole and paint.



Not very professional but it's a start. I've made some of my worn out or damaged clothes wearable again.