before & after

Before & After | Maternity Dress to Peplum Top

August 14, 2015 By Chie

Most of you know how much I like quick refashioning – it is a great way to update your wardrobe without putting in much effort. I still like making clothes from scratch but I can’t deny the instant gratification that quick DIY projects provide.

Here is another “old” piece my friend gave me. It was never worn and it is from Max Mara! I’m sure it cost 3-500 dollars. She said it was too potato sack-y for her and I kind of agree that the shape is rather unflattering. Initially my thought was to make a skater dress like this, but I quickly realized that I didn’t have enough fabric. It’s hard to gauge how much fabric I have when it is in an already constructed clothes form. So I had to change the plan mid way and turn it into a peplum top. Considering how much wear I’m getting from this peplum top, I didn’t mind the change of plan 🙂

I forgot that stripes (especially wide stripes) require more fabric…sigh. I made this little peak-a-boo cutout in the back not really on purpose but because of the lack of fabric. But I think it turned out ok!
The fabric shed a lot so as soon as I cut, I added the iron-on interface and surged the seam allowances. P.S., Check out more Before & After like this here, here and here.

洋裁をしていることを知っている友達からは、よくいらなくなったお洋服のドネーションをしていただきます。
これはMax Maraのワンピース。
たぶん高かっただろうな。。。１度も着ていないらしい、とっても状態が良いワンピースです。
簡単な作りで、ほとんどダーツとかも入っていなかったので、作りやすかったですが、ボーダーなのは盲点でした。
ボーダー合わせに結構悩みました。

ぺプラムトップスはちょっと食べ過ぎてもぽっこりお腹が隠れて好き♪

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Before & After | Cardigan to Cropped Sweater

February 20, 2015 By Chie

I love the cropped top trend and I hope it will continue for a few more seasons. I wore this pink floral one in the Summer and got a good amount of wear out of it; however, I didn’t really get the rationale behind the cropped sweater since you wear sweater in the winter to keep yourself warm but if your belly is exposed, it defeats the purpose. I know that in my head, but when something is trendy, I just can’t seem to let it pass (evidence here for the neon trend).

I’m in a bit of a upcycling phase where I’m taking old clothes and give it new life as you can see it from my last post. I bought this gray sweater cardigan a few years ago from 390 mart. It’s one of my favorite shops in Tokyo! It is a mixture of vintage clothing and kitsy random zakka items like scented candles, make-up pouches and key chains. As far as I know, there are only two, in Machida city and Harajuku.

This DIY was super simple. I took off the buttons (and saved them for a future project) and sewed the front part together. The cardigan has a hood, but I sewed up as much as I can, leaving enough space for my head to go through. It resulted in kind of like a turtle neck, and it keeps my neck warm.

The cardigan was short enough so I did not do anything to make it look “cropped”.

Tokyo winter is not as cold as Philly, where I used to live but it still gets pretty cold in winter. I go everywhere by bike, so I usually have to dress appropriately to bike outside. I wore this over a maxi dress I made so head to toe was covered.

また洋服をリメークしました♥
３９０マートで数年前に買ったカーディガンのボタンを外し、前を縫い合わせてクロップセーターに。

{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest, instagram}

Before & After | Cocktail Dress to Pleated Skirt

February 17, 2015 By Chie

After reading about Wardrobe Rehab over at a pair & a spare, I try to review my closet every few months to get rid of clothes that I don’t wear by donating them to thrift shops. Although I made this a regular practice, there are some items that I neglected to part with even though I don’t wear them at all. This cocktail dress is one of those items. I do have an emotional attachment to this dress as this was the dress I wore to my engagement party nine years ago. After that, I wore this once for a work party, but not since. Since I bought the dress nine years ago, now being 30, I feel like this dress is too young for me.Instead of getting rid of the dress all together, I upcycled it by making it into a knee length skirt.

Here is how:

You need:
1. babydoll style dress with pleated skirt (stretch material)
2. 2″ wide elastic band cut in your waist length + 1″ for seam allowance

It was a baby doll style dress, so first I cut off the top part. Sorry for all the white fuzz in the pictures! Right before this DIY, I was working on a white fur… I made a tissue case cover.

Sew the elastic band and attach it to the skirt you just cut. Since the skirt waist was bigger than my elastic, I stretched the elastic as I sewed it onto the skirt.