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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Mending and makeovers: cut and hem!

I love good deals, you know... so when I found these two cute items at Goodwill for $2.50 and $1.50 (half off color!), I snatched them up!

This is a nice silk dress from Old Navy a few years ago.  It's a cute idea, nicely lined and all, but it doesn't really work for me as a dress.  Maybe with tights and heels at a holiday party, but not for wear-to-work in spring.  The silk is nice but lightweight.  I bought it to turn into a shirt!
And this little lightweight cotton Forever 21 tunic blouse thing just missed the mark.  It has beltloops on the sides, you can see, but was missing the belt.  It was suuuper long but a preppy blouse style--whaaa?  It could be cute, I thought, shorter.  I love the color.

Sometimes all you need to do to freshen up pieces is change the hemline!!  I hemmed the dress to a nice shirt length.
I am wearing it today with a thin belt at the waist and a v-neck cardi over!
And on this green top, I cut off the ruffled bottom and saved it to put on a pillow or something later!  Yaaaay reuse and cheap/recycled materials.  The shirt was also too big around, so I took in the sides before I gave it a nice 1.5" hem.  Much more wearable now!  (Although, boy, I really should have pressed it before modeling... I had it folded waiting for a photoshoot for a few days!).

And of course it can be worn belted as well!  A more casual look.  The belt is from Anthro clearance =).

So there you have it!  Easy ways to refresh a wardrobe.  Cut, press, pin, and sew!  And voila, a new shirt.  Like a 10-minute project.  Do you have any great quick wardrobe refreshes/fixes??

8 comments

  1. So cute! I love that navy blue number.

    I have an amazon for a daughter and, at six-years-old, she outgrows her clothes from season to season. Forget saving a piece for next year! Luckily, my baby loves nice, full, dresses. Each year I take all the dresses she's grown too tall for and the ones that squeeze her little armpits, and I lop the tops off. Then, I can regather the top and add a wide elastic band to create - voila! - a new skirt! Okay, I don't elasticize all of them. Some have yoga-style, fold-over jersey waistbands and some have actual casing around the elastic. Either way, I make those suckers last at least one more season.

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  2. love love LOVE the navy dress-to-shirt!!

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  3. I love both of them! I especially love the green top belted--that looks fantastic!

    Rachel @ Maybe Matilda

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  4. Both are really cute!

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  5. Thanks!

    @Never a Plain Jane, sounds like you have a great system going on. What a great way to make clothes last longer!

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  6. Boy, you are amazing!!!
    I only started following your blog a little over a month ago and you are so inspiring. I'm just starting to get into sewing and your blog makes me want to learn and do more!!! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Your blog is inspiring me to sew! My new year's resolution is to learn and I've yet to touch my sewing machine. I REALLY want to make the paper bag skirt, but I may try something less daunting to begin with. You must have an amazing goodwill store or, more likely, incredible vision for potential.

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    1. Ohh, thanks! Good luck with the sewing goals, you can do it! You can always start with hemming curtains or something for a fun and easy project, learn to iron while sewing, etc. Then maybe try the super easy paper bag skirt! http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2010/07/super-easy-paper-bag-waist-skirt.html

      I do frequent the best Goodwill stores, but yes, I also have a trained eye! ;)

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