The Way This Mom Transforms Old And Ugly Clothes To Save Money Will Amaze You

One of the easiest DIY's I've ever done, simply add lace to the dress and viola! A whole new dress!
For this piece I was featured on the front cover of Altered Couture & a 3-page spread and on Sew, a U.K. magazine

I bought this men’s shirt at Target clearance section for $10 in size XL. I loved the sailor boat pattern and also the fabric, the fabric is a thick, sturdy, high quality fabric which I liked. What you’ll need:
-An oversized shirt(mine from Target)
-matching thread
-needle or sewing machine
-scissors
Directions:
1. Lay the shirt down on a flat surface.
2. Using a girl’s dress as a reference, cut the sleeves off and the top body piece, and take out the pocket. Cut and discard the extra fabric in between the shoulder area.
3. Sew the sides of the top piece together(shown in pink line). Make sure you turned it inside out first.
4. After cutting off the excess fabric on the shoulder area, you should now have a straight across skirt piece. Baste stitch 1/2″ to the edge(shown in pink line) and pulling one side of the string, gather it together. Sew the skirt onto the top piece.
5. Cut the sleeves smaller.
6. Sew along the pink line.
7. Sew the sleeves onto the top piece.
8. *I made a button hole and sewed the button on right below the waistline(when I cut the shirt diagonally along the waistline, I had to cut right over the button & the button hole so I had to make new ones).
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
Budget: cost of the shirt(mine was $10)
Skill level: a very confident beginner to intermediate

My favorite “pink” refashion I’ve done. It was for Refashion Runway, a sewing competition I entered where it was due on Friday and I started it the day before on Thursday at 6 p.m.😅 I frantically had my husband take a before photo before it got dark, dyed it to blush pink, then cut out the sleeves from the jacket to add to the sleeveless dress, cut the dress in half to separate the top bodice and the skirt, sewed it back together, added darts, a new zipper, cut it shorter, made it form fitting, then used the extra fabric from the jacket to add the floral details.

The theme was “Asymmetrical”, hence the different sized florals on each side. I got done as the sun was setting down, so if you see an after photo of me wearing it, the photo looks super grainy due to a lot of lightening to the photo. But I got it done! And it won that week’s challenge! Do you think it was worth all the anxiety, stress and staying up all night?

I got this large women’s coat from my friend’s yard sale for $3 and transformed it into a classy & elegant coat/dress for my little girl. With the extra scraps of fabric I made a clip-on bow that she can wear on her hair or on the coat. Which do you prefer?What you’ll need:
An oversized coat
Matching thread
Scissors
Pins
Seam ripper
Project cost: $3
Estimated time: 2.5 hours
Skill level: Advanced beginner

Before -After. It's actually dyed to a cream color(from white) but can't tell in the photo.
I felt bad as I unstitched this beautiful wedding dress that I have no doubt the bride looked stunning in and must have meant so much to her, that I said a prayer for her. Am I cheesy or what? Some people have told me they actually prefer the before.

I will be turning this pleated dress into a short sleeve dress with a black bow detail.
What you’ll need:
Dress
Black ribbon
Scissors
Thread
Seam ripper
*Fraycheck (optional)
Project cost: $8
Estimated time it took me: 3 hours (filming + trying to figure it out as I go)
Estimated time for you: 1.5 hours (since I did all the figuring out for you
Skill level: Confident beginner

Looking for a dress like this so I can make this jumpsuit again, but better. See the elastic waist? It’s always bugged me how cheap it looks. I literally used every part of the dress and barely converted it into a jumpsuit, so I didn’t have enough fabric to make a waist-tie. If you flipped it inside out, you’d see an orange fabric on the waistband because I didn’t even have fabric to cover the elastic! I’d sew on two waist-ties on the sides so I could tie it in the front to hide the elastic waist, which will make it look more tied together and expensive. I’m all about making clothes that look expensive for $5 or less

DIY: a thrift find dress to a peplum dress. *the peplum is detachable so you can wear it with or without!

I am itching to sew again! (This XXL men’s shirt into a bell sleeve girls’ dress ) But school is starting soon and it’s been so busy trying to get everything done before it starts, where has Summer gone? Did it fly by for you too? What you need:

A larger shirt
Matching thread
Scissors
A sleeve pattern
Project cost: $4
Estimated time: 3.5 hours
Skill level: Intermediate

I barely used the jacket, I only took out the buttons and the wrist-ties so I have a whole jacket left that I didn’t cut up! I will be thinking of something to refashion it into, but do you have any ideas what I could make it into?
What you’ll need:
Dress pants
Matching thread
Scissors
Seam ripper
Project cost: $8
Estimated time: 3 hours
Skill level: Intermediate

My newest Refashion Revision is this $4 Thrifted XL Men’s Shirt transformed into a pinafore dress. The bib part is detachable so you can wear it as a pinafore or a skirt!

Little did you know I made TWO versions of this refashion where I used my old XS shirts I had and upcycled them into a peplum top for my girls.

I bought a XL light yellow dress from The Salvation Army Family Store for $4.99 and turned it into a form fitting waist-tie dress. I feel this is a simple transformation and not an elaborate one, and I chose this because I see many dresses like this at thrift stores and thought it could be more relatable, so that you could do this too, unlike other vintage dresses you find that’s one of a kind. I had a vision of the after within seconds of looking at the dress at the store and it turned out exactly the way I envisioned. I got another epic yellow dress from there that you just have to stay tuned to see in the near future!
What you’ll need:
-Oversized dress
-matching thread
-needle or a sewing machine
-scissors
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
Budget: $5.00
Skill level: An experienced beginner