Frugal Fridays - Repurposing / Upcycling Clothes

It's good to have vision when visiting the thrift store.

We have a very nice thrift store a few blocks away and we try to visit it as much as possible (which ends up being a few times a month). There are several little girls in our church with busy mamas who do not really have the time or resources to make things like underskirts, aprons, and so on, so Brianna happily does this for some of them. Instead of starting 'from scratch' with new fabric though, we search the thrift store for anything that looks like it could be turned in to what we want. Skirts, jumpers, big shirts, sheets, curtains, etc., can all become something 'new' and needed with a few cuts and stitches 'here and there' ... maybe some elastic and/or buttons ... and some imagination or vision. I guess it helps to not be afraid to experiment; even if all you learn is what does NOT work, at least you learned something and are one step closer to what DOES work.

I made a video to share what we've been up to ... if for some reason pictures work better for you, please let me know and I will post pictures and the video from here on out when I have time.

Another tunic design

Brianna designed me a tunic the other day - I wanted a tunic that had no buttons, no zippers, no 'v-neck', no big hole for the head, etc. Just a plain front. So, I told her to do the neck in a certain way - like a onesies - so my head could fit in and then it would close up again. The difference is that the onesies has the fabric from the back overlapping in the front, however mine is overlapping in the back. Here's a picture of a onesies in case you do not know:

Here is the results of a lot of hard work on Brianna's part:



And another picture ... Tylor looks kind of funny :) the sun was in his eyes.


In case you were wondering, the material is a linen/cotton blend; it was a large tablecloth I picked up a long time ago for very cheap (a few dollars?). I appreciate the design along the edge - it seems to break up the tunic from the dress. Also, there was not enough material to make a full dress, so Brianna used other material for the parts you cannot see.

No buttons, no zippers, no funny v-necks ... just plain and simple. There are still a few 'quirks' to be worked out, but who cares? It's good enough and very comfortable ... and most importantly, modest.

My new dress pattern

Well, I'm getting closer to the kind of dress I'd like to wear. This is the results of a lot of hard work, thinking, etc. I took the top of a tunic I like and made a pattern for the dress bodice and sleeves out of that; the dress skirt is from a skirt I like. The tunic top is from an actual pattern, but I altered that a bit too.
I want to make one change next time - I hope to figure out how to make the tunic top a 'boat neck' so I do not have to have the slit in the front (it's hard to see in these pictures).
The fabric is a king-sized sheet I got from the thrift store - $1. It was PINK, but I dyed it taupe. The dye was not quite $2. So, that's about $3 plus labor. I might change the color at some point; it seems a little too light for my liking. I get things stained up and dirty quickly, so dark colors are better.



The back looks a little fitted here, but it's actually not; I think my elbows must have been pulling on the fabric.

Making over a dress

We get used cape dresses from some friends of ours in WA state. I do not care for this particular style of dress, but am very thankful for the free dresses!!! We alter them just a bit to suit our needs. They come with tight elastic waist lines and the skirts do not go down as long as I'd like. We cut out the elastic so the waist is comfortable, and add a strip of fabric to the bottom for extra length. We do our best to match the strip of fabric to the dress ... but sometimes it's not as close as we'd like. Oh well :) For fabric, we buy king sized sheets for a dollar at the thrift store ... that's a lot of fabric for $1! These sheets can also be used to make night gowns, veils, aprons, and several other things.

Here are a few pictures of one dress we made over ...

Sometimes we do not like the color of the dresses, so we dye them. This is a picture of the old fabric (the belt we do not use), and the new - we used 'Royal Blue'.

Don't throw away the belts ... the little ones enjoy playing with them!! Here's Wyatt wearing Brianna's old belt over his head and Corban's boots. His brother Lincoln is in the background - Brianna is helping him with a belt :)

Here's Brianna wearing the dress - notice the extra fabric [bed sheet] at the bottom; it matches close enough. Lincoln wanted to be in the picture too.

Another good clothing find at the thrift store: scrubs (the things nurses wear). We buy the pants for $.50 at a thrift store in the next town North (Mt. Vernon). Some of the colors were wild, so I dyed them black/grey. The scrubs are nice because your skirt/underskirt will not cling to your pants. As an extra bonus, they are very comfortable. No need to buy fabric and make your own bloomers :)

OK, that's all for now!