a quick upcycling

so we repainted the kitchen and felt that a wall ,that was so blank and dull,was  able to carry an idea i had for some time.
You know how ikea has those small ,adorable quirky paintings of creatures and other stuff featured? well i thought i’m gonna make ’em maself. -and that’s all the other english accent i got.
So i already had these small paintings:

and did this to them :

sanded them lightly,  coated them in primer, spray painted them in white and then gently spray painted the sides with a reflective silver paint.
I then printed two nice pictures and framed them .
the result is this:

Shirt into top – camasa in bluza

I was thinking of what text to add to this post , yet , at this time of day , I’m not really feeling inspired , so, here’s just the process and the outcome. HOPE YOU LIKE IT.

I came across this beautiful salmon-pink shirt , it’s 100% polyester and what got me to buy it was the beaded detail . I mean it’s gorgeous, but the shirt just ain’t working.

see what I mean?

The ugliest thing about it were those buttons…I don’t know …they didn’t win me.

So i removed the collar , the sleeves and then it just looked like a hot salmon shaded mess.The very next thing I did was fold the edges resulted from the removal of the front placket. It looked better.

Tessie agrees . She’s nodding her head in confirmation.

Then I sewed by hand the insides . Never done that before. I’m not very satisfied with the result , but i can still mend it in the following step.

Tops into dress

When you look at someone or  something , you know how to estimate its level of potential. Looking at a white sheet of paper , you can estimate how much you can write on it , when you take a rubber band , you can estimate just how much it will stretch before it will burst. I found that this hobby of sewing demands a certain level of estimating.

In this case , I found a nice blouse. It is an Esprit. The fabric is perfect , It doesn’t appear to have been worn , except it features a big , ugly brown stain ……

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Cand te uiti la cineva sau ceva , deobicei sti cum sa estimezi potentialul sau.Privesti spre o bucata de foaie goala si cam sti cat scris ar intra pe ea , iei in mana o banda elastica si iti dai seama cat de tare poti sa o intinzi pana la punctul de rupere. Am aflat ca si in ale cusutului e nevoie de o anumita cantitate de “sa iti dai seama cam cat”.

In acest anumit caz , am gasit o bluza draguta. E firma Esprit. Materialul este superb , nu are nici un semn de uzura , in afara unei pete mari, maro si urate …….

……right about there.

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……..aflate cam acolo.

This other polo was worn and abused in its lifetime, and except for a rug , until this refashion , I was in doubt whether I could use it for something. It works with the turquoise blouse because of the complementary color palette.

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Acest tricou polo a fost purtat si abuzat pe durata vietii sale. Zacea in spatele dulapului, fara un rost , fiindca in afara de covor, chiar nu aveam nici o idee ce sa fac cu el. Apoi am gasit ca este o culoare complementara bluzei Esprit si adaugate pot forma ceva dragut.

From what I cut , the scraps came back from their ashes and transformed into this large pocket , making the dress more interesting.

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Din ceea ce am taiat din bluza , resturile s-au ridicat din cenusa si s-au dovedit ideale pentru un buzunar mare si larg, mi se pare ca face totul mai interesant.

What do you think?

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Ce credeti?🙂

Plaid skirt into bag – Fusta modificaa in geanta

This skirt I received as a gift a loong time ago . I think I wore it once , only to realize it is a bit too short for my taste. It has been sitting in the back of my closet for a couple of years now , but not it got to see the light of day again , and look fabulous doing that!

I am a rookie at sewing and also a bit too lazy , so it was natural to leave the lining of the skirt in its place. I did not add another lining – it would have looked funkier with a fun patterned fabric , but it was late at night and laziness kicked in- but I somehow prefer it this way .

The next step was to adjust width just to make it more compact.It looked cute , like a uniform skirt for little girls.

Then I just sewed together from about a palm from the seam of the skirt . For a final touch I sewed the fabric belt and made it a handle for the bag

Et voila! What do you think ?🙂

My first copycat – Men’s shirt into blouse

You know when you go shopping and just after having entered your favorite store , your eyes stop upon that beautiful piece of shirt you wanted for a month now , but has not been accessible for your budget , to say the least . Well now you see its selling price is 70% less than the original. Whaddaya do? Of course you don’t think about it , you just move towards it as fast as you can, hoping that no one saw what you did and you grab that object of desire. Triumph!

This is what happened to me last year , only it was my husband’s shirt. I bought it without checking it’s size , well , I did stretch the shirt to measure it optically, and I thought it fitted , but after I got home and made him try it , it was a size too small. The price was great though , I had a 50 % off coupon and the original cost was around 40 euros, which was then lowered to 34 euros, then to 24euros . So I got it for 12 euros .

The fabric is light linen , it has wooden buttons and the color it white , not beige as seen in the photos.

Now for the copycat part , I was in a H&M store and they had just brought in the lace collection  , you know, the ones where everything has lace on them. So I was browsing this collection , but the prices seemed a bit too high for my taste. A simple polyester short sleeved shirt with a 2 inch strap of  applied lace cost around 25 euros , where one without the lace was around 12 euros. (It is not exactly this model  , the one I was looking at had more lace on it and it looked more casual)

So I was thinking , how fun would it be if I could just upcycled the  white shirt that just sits in the back of the closet :

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The first interventions were : removing the pockets and cutting the neck collar.

The I cut the buttons and the button holes. After that I cut a strap of fabric from a t-shirt I failed to refashion once – its purpose is to enlarge to shirt , to make it more comfortable .

Then I pinned down the lace straps on the shirt ….

…..and then sewed them onto it.

This is the end result …well… not really… I still have to do a little work at the neckline – it is a bit too loose. – But for now , I am pleased with it, it is wearable!

What do you think , should I apply more lace to it  ? I’d love some opinions  , Thanks!

My mint masterpiece

Sewing is a passion worth exploring, which renders so many opportunities and can provide so many outcomes. At first glance, I ‘d have never thought it would ever look like this, I’m proud of it. I call it my masterpiece because it’s my best work so far.

While I was  surfing the internet , this  inspiration came to me, check the retail price :

I like this shirt so much, I will be using it for a second refashion.

What I used :

My husband’s t-shirt which is now too tight for him to wear –

This 1 euro thrifted mint shirt, made from a lovely silk-like fabric.

The shirt -bone was removed, together with the neck collar

Half-way through

I realized I had cut too much from the length, but then  remembered that I had purchased  lace a few weeks back, which harmonized with the light mint and dark green.

C&A Moccah skirt refashion

A skirt again extracted from German grounds. It appears very little worn , the fabric is ideal for autumn, but I have a bit of problem with the length. It  may work for a tall german gal, but for my size, it’s just too overwhelming .

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O fusta din nou extrasa de pe teritoriu german. Pare sa fie putin folosita , materialul este ideal pentru a fi purtat toamna, totusi neplacerea mea provine din lungimea fustei. Ar fi potrivita pentru o nemtoaica inalta, dar pe mine pare prea mult.

Operation cut and re-hem was carried through , resulting in this :

Mango tango german shirt

      This shirt I’ve been saving for a year now and I’ve been reasoning with myself about how to refashion it and about the desired outcome. It was initially thought as a dress yet this piece of garment just  didn’t want to go in that direction. You know when you are so uninspired and just browse aimlessly on Pinterest and then you find fragments that seem to make sense as a whole when put together , only to later turn into micro-muses ?  – this is what happened to me. – and I doubt it never happened to you🙂. Anyway , the muses just made me want to go sew and this is what I did.

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Aceasta camasa am tinut-o in dulap de un an aproape,  tot gandidu-ma in ce anume sa o transform. Initial ma gandeam ca ar functiona ca si o rochie , dar camasa s-a cam opus . :)  Stiti cum e cateodata , stai plcitisita pe Pinterest si tot dai acolo pe cate un produs si parca la un moment dat se aduna anumite detalii acelor produse care ar parea ca functioneaza asa de bine odata puse impreuna. – asa mi-a venit inspiratia si va rog nu negati ca nu vi s-a intamplat si voua ceva de genul….Oricum , aceste muze minuscule m-au facut sa vreau sa cos,simplu.

befores. \ inainte.

befores

About this shirt : It’s a women’s XL shirt with a light, dreamy fabric. The tag says ”SML”  – I’m not sure if  it stands for Small-medium -Large or if that is the name of the brand  , however , the shirt seems to have been born in the late ’80’s.

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Despre camasa : este pentru femei , marimea XL iar materialul este usor si ..de vis. Pe eticheta scrie “SML” – nu sunt sigura daca asta inseamna small-medium-large sau daca asa se numeste firma care a produs camasa. In fine, dupa model pare a fi de la sfarsitul anilor ’80.

First thing on the to-do lst : remove shoulder pads , \ In primul rand am inlaturat buretii de la umeri ,

Next , cut off neck collar and keep it for this kind of refashion .

Apoi am taiat gulerul , pe care l-am pastrat peuntru o transformare de genul linkului pe care il gasiti chiar deasupra aceastei propozitii.

 

Then the bias tape was brought out from the back of the drawer – I never used one until today :)

Banda a fost scoasa din intunerecul sertarului  – pana azi nu am folosit asa ceva.

And the new neckline was created. \ …si a fost pusa in aplicatie la guler, creand un nou guler.

The long sleeeeeeves were cut into short ones and then they were plied 2 times and later sewed with the smalled stich on the sewing machine.  – also my first time doing this.

Manecile lungi au fost taiate scurt ,pliate de 2 ori si apoi cusute cu cea mai mica , cusatura la masina de cusut.

Ain’t that bad , ey?

 

Now, for my last magic trick I remade the hemline of the shirt , reducing the length by about 15 cm ( 6 inches).

Ca si ultima aplicatie am scurtat lungimea cu 15 cm  si am refacut tivul.

The result :

Flamingo stripes work –

Look at these stripes, ain’t they pretty  ? This shirt would work for any quirky man! I sorta  felt bad after the refashion for not having saved more material from it, actually the neck collar and the sleeves were saved and shall be used in the future.

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Uitati-va la dungulitele acestea, nu sunt dragute ? Mi se pare ca s-ar potrivi oricarui barbat :D   ..M-am simtit putin prost dupa ce am facut rochia pentru ca nu am reusit sa salvez mai mult material , dar mi-a ramas gulerul si manecile pe care le voi folosi in viitor.

This material is about 5 meters long (about 16 feet) and 0.5 meters in width (1.5 feet) – it was just lying around so I thought I should use it somehow.

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Acest material are cam 5 metri lungime si 0.5 metri latime. – statea aiurea si m-am gandit sa il folosesc cumva.

 

Then I cut the part above the bust and measured and cut the black stripe , which was then sewed to the shirt. Also from the black material I made two straps and then sewed them to the upper part of the dress.

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Apoi am taiat partea de deasupra bustului si am masurat si taiat banda neagra, care a fost cusuta mai apoi de camasa. Deasemenea din materialul negru am facut 2 bretele pe care le-am cusut de bustiera rochiei.

End result.

Gold leaf men’s polo refashion – tricou polo barbati in bluza

  Gold leaf farm, has anyone heard about it?  Google says it’s a foundation in North Carolina, that’s about it. Well, the tag behind the neck says it’s from The Limited, so I guess they manufactured some polo shirts for this Gold leaf foundation.

This men’s polo shirt is in great condition, I don’t think it’s been worn very much, reason? : the sleeves are a bit small and rigid, so if you’re a muscular dude, your arms would numb from he lack of blood-flow bellow the cuffs.

The material is so comfy and light , perfect for this weird weather .

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Gold leaf farm – a auzit cineva de aceasta? Google ne informa ca se afla o fundatie un Carolina de nord cu acest nume, dar cam atat. Pe eticheta din interior scrie The limited,presupun ca au fabricat niste tricouri polo pentru aceasta fundatie.

Acest tricou de barbati l-am gasit in stare exceptionala , nu cred ca a fost purtat prea mult, motivul ? : manecile sunt stramte si rigide iar daca esti un tip musculos , care se incardeaza in marimea M, s-ar putea sa iti amorteasca bratele de la obstructionarea circulatiei sangelui…hmm..

In fine, materialul este foarte confortabil si usor, perfect pentru vremea ciudata din aceasta perioada.

First , measurments were made and then the collar and a small part of the shoulders were cut  off. 

I wanted to leave the two buttons ,- this is what I originally did – but then someone suggested it looked  better without one button. He was right, so I cut the other button off and re-hemmed the neckline a bit higher this time.

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Mi-au placut cei doi nasturi si am vrut sa ii pastrez – asta am si facut initial – dar cineva a sugerat ca ar arata mai bine doar cu un nasture. A avut dreptate, asa ca l-am taiat pe celalalt si am revacut tivul.

 

I made a snake tongue from the cuffs and stitched a small hem.This is how it looks .

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Din mansete am facut limba de sarpe (le-am despicat) si le-am cusut un tiv minuscul. Asa arata:

The result.

A dear person of mine saw me interested in this new hobby(if the pc is on, ‘Refashions’ in all tabs). He  had  stumbled in a flea mart on something he thought was a helpful for me. I received a gift, but first, let me introduce you to my iron  , it’s a severin shorty . The gift is the ironing board, which is also tiny, but just enough for my iron.

*I was informed that the ironing board is actually a full sized sleeve-ironing board . (to my defense, I’ve never seen one until I got one    :)  )

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O persoana draga mie m-a vazut foarte interesata de acest nou hobby (daca e deschis calculatorul, ‘refashions’ scrie pe toate tab-urile). Daduse peste un obiect care i s-a parut ca m-ar ajuta. Am primit cadou, dar intai vreau sa va arat fierul de calcat, este  firma Severin shorty . Cadoul este masa de calcat, care deasemenea este minuscula , dar potrivita pentru shorty.

* Am fost informata ca masa de calcat este defapt o masa de dimensiuni normale, destinata calcatului manecilor . (in apararea mea, nu am vazut una pana cand am primit-o pe aceasta   :)  )