Hello everyone, and welcome to Round 2 of Sew-vivor! The competition is getting fierce. Who will be voted off the island this week?
Voting: polls open at 6am and close at midnight EST, Wednesday only
Results: the Top 5 will be posted on Friday morning
Tutorials: each contestant may decide to post their tutorials on their blogs starting today
The Challenge:
Each contestant was allowed one before/after picture, one collage picture, and one regular picture. They’ve each given an explanation on what they decided to refashion/upcycle.
Contestants appear in the order they submitted their project.
Enjoy looking at the projects, then vote for your favorite!!!
The poll is at the bottom of this post.
CONTESTANT #1: Miranda from One Little Minute
I am always excited to find a new use for something, especially when that “something” is a pile of old, unworn sweaters that has been hanging around in my closet for an embarrassing number of seasons. This challenge gave me the motivation to get them out, cut the sleeves off and create a family of happy little hand puppets! I totally winged the animals, using the sweater color and texture to imagine what animal it would fit it well. The bunny, elephant, hippo, cat, and pig that emerged are whimsical, comfortable, and happy. Betty, Ernie, Henry, Coco and Penelope were welcomed into the neighborhood with big smiles and open hands!
CONTESTANT #2: Jen from I Can’t Stop Crafting
Refashioning is one of my favorite things. I just love how a person can take something old and out of style and rework it to create a whole new look! Plus I now have a great date night top for a bargain at $2.00! When I saw this dress in the thrift store I knew it was something I could work with. I loved the colors and thought a wrap top would work perfectly, both with the dress fabric and my curvy figure. To create this look I removed the shoulder pads from my unflattering 90’s dress and trimmed most of the skirt off. Using the excess material, I added about a 4″ wide panel of fabric down either side of the unbuttoned center, then hemmed the bottom edge. With the help of an extra button on the inside to keep the wrap in place and a great belt, my top was done!
CONTESTANT #3: Jessica from Swenson Love
this week was super super fun! the challenge was up-cycled/re-purposed. we were asked to improve, refashion, or find a new use for something. i chose to refashion a men’s button up shirt into a sweet little summer dress. it was a bit of a process and as you can see from the pictures i thought my chest was smaller than it really is, oh well. i made a yellow bow belt to go with the dress to add some summer color. i will be posting the tutorial on how to make it on my blog the day after the top 5 are announced.
CONTESTANT #4: Kirstin from Kojo Designs
I love the comfy yet functional vibe of the drop waist strapless that have popping up everywhere this season. Jersey plus a relaxed fit in a beach-y dress? That’s right up my alley! Add some preppy pleats and I love it even more. Even better, to make my dress, I used a few men’s XXL tshirts (made blue-ish gray with some RIT dye), so the whole thing cost less than $10. And, I have to tell you, I took this dress to Mexico a couple of weeks ago for Spring break. The day I wore it, we headed to the flea market, walked a few miles on the beach, and also went out for a yummy dinner that night. I loved it that the dress was comfy enough for a full day of exploring and wandering, but still nice enough to wear out to dinner. This little number will definitely be joining me on our summer travels!
CONTESTANT #5: Renee from Hill Yeah
This week I chose to step out of my comfort zone a little bit. I saw a men’s dress shirt refashion from Girl. Inspired. on Pinterest and fell in love! I used a women’s XL dress shirt and turned it into a super cute Easter dress for my daughter. I’ve never sewn a dress before, so this was quite the challenge! Using a shirt and a dress of my daughter’s as a pattern, I created a dress that hits just below the knee with a slightly curved hem, an elastic waist, 3/4 length sleeves, decorative pockets, and ruffles along the waist. I used only original fabric from the shirt, but replaced the buttons with slightly larger purple buttons to act as an accent. This was a fun project that introduced me to another side of sewing and taught me a lot.
CONTESTANT #6: Kailee from An Outfit a Day
For this week’s challenge, I refashioned a dress I thrifted a while ago. I was attracted to the stripes, colors, and pattern of the dress. As you can see in the “before” picture, it was way too big and long, so I hemmed it up and using the extra material I cut off at the bottom, I made a sash to tie around and take it in. I hemmed the sleeves and then gathered them and also changed the buttons from pink to white, because the pink ones didn’t match too well for me. I like to call it my “Circus Dress” because of the flowy skirt and the fun colors! Seriously though, I love this dress! It’s super comfy and lots of fun. 🙂 For more explanation and pictures, feel free to stop by my blog, An Outfit A Day.
CONTESTANT #7: Nancy from Nancy’s Couture
I was excited when I saw this week was Recycle/Upcycle. I love to find new uses for old things. I have a growing mountain of t-shirts my kids have outgrown that have been calling out to me. I knew I would be using these for Recycle Week. My son has started to outgrow his underwear and instead of going to the store to purchase them I decided to make some using the t-shirts in my stash. Here are his T-Shirt Trunks. I pulled out some of his old t-shirts and let him choose which ones he wanted to use for his underwear. He had sooo much fun choosing them. I used 2 shirts for each pair of T-shirt Trunks.From 1 t-shirt I cut out the front and back. On each pair the picture is on the back so there is no confusion about which way they go on.
CONTESTANT #8: Shannon from Googiemomma
i knew exactly what i wanted to use for this second challenge: an adorable black and white striped skirt i got for 50 cents at a discount store! the skirt is gorgeous—the striped fabric accented along the scalloped hem by white floral printing and white embroidery. it was on the severely discounted rack because it has a smudge of something—something quite colorful—paint? crayons? at the bottom. but for 50 cents i brought it home. it was worth working around the unexpected rainbow accent 😉 fortunately i have quite a range of little girls to work with—and this skirt provided plenty of fabric to turn into a sweet summer dress for daughter #3! unfortunately we can bring the summer dress, and we can get the ice cream…but we can’t guarantee the warm weather! but the necessary addition of a little sweater for warmth gave it an adorable 50’s sock hop feel! all in all—i love it…from the ruched top with a halter neck and rickrack trim, down to the scalloped hem I saved from the original skirt!
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