Skirt to Shorts Refashion

 

This was a complete hit or miss project. Luckily it worked out to my favor..I think? This is a skirt from my successful bag sale visit last month (see haul here). I had intended to just trim it down a few inches for a quick and easy alteration, but as you can somewhat tell in the photo above, this skirt wasn't the most flattering on my waist. That and the fact that I already have a red skirt (see post from three days ago) was enough to convince me to take a little risk and try something new. Plus I recently saw this DIY at Cotton&Curls, and it inspired me to try to make some cute high-waisted shorts. 

I didn't document the process very well because I got too caught up in what I was doing! But here's what I did. The skirt had a side zipper, which I turned to the front. I trimmed off a few inches, cut an triangle into the remaining fabric, and sewed along the sides of this with the shorts turned inside out. Then I sewed in the sides as needed and rolled them up to the desired length for a cuff. I made a bow with some of the excess fabric and pinned it on as an optional detail. I dealt with the lining of the skirt at the very end, basically in the same way that the C&C tutorial outlines.

 The end result:

So, thoughts? One flaw with this project was the fact that shorts are simply not made this way. The triangle cut method resulted in the fabric pulling a little more than usual in the front, as you can tell by the pictures. The shorts fit just fine, it's just a stylistic flaw. Perhaps if I had cut the slit a little lower it would have reduced the problem. But for a spur of the moment project that cost me practically nothing, I'd say this turned out pretty well!

Speaking of cost, total cost of project? 30 cents. Gotta love bag sales. :)

Trying Something New

Went to the bag sale this morning, but the pickings were slim this month and I decided not to get anything. However, I did have luck with another kind of thrifting. I've lately been looking into home decor/household item DIYs, thanks to endless inspiration from Pinterest and amazing blogs like Something to Be Found. As a result, today's haul comes from beyond the clothing racks!

Navy frame ($1.98), oval mirror-paned tray ($2.98), jewelery box ($3.98), navy & black frame ($0.98), white mug ($0.20), light wooden carved box ($2.50), dark wooden carved box ($2.98), gold embellished box ($3.50).

I can't wait to get to work on some of these items! I've also been in a sewing frenzy today, so I have quite a few refashions to share with you all this upcoming week.

Happy Friday!

Sparkle and Fringe

Recent Goodwill haul!

Gold Sequined Top ($3.50)

Old Navy Tank ($3.50)

NY&Co Cardigan ($3.50)

 Just a small haul this time, I've been trying to be more selective with my hauls, since I frequent Goodwill so often this summer. Some notes about this haul: 

• I absolutely love love love the sequin top. The brand is Spirited, which I've never heard of, and quite frankly I typically don't care about name brand recognition. The quality of the fabric is fantastic, nothing like the cheap thin cotton they use for knit tops these days. Needless to say I'll be wearing that one often in the fall.
• The fringed tank is adorable and brand new, but happens to be a size XL. It'll be a quick fix on the sewing machine. 
• Mustard yellow. Have I ever mentioned how much I love mustard yellow? I know I have. I'm not a fan of the mismatched buttons, I know that was a trend for a little while last year. I plan on taking those off and potentially finding some new ones to put in their place. :)
  
  
  The first weekend of the month starts tomorrow, which means bag sale at my local thrift store. I'll be checking that out in the morning to see if I have any luck this month!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July, to all my readers in the States! I myself will be soon be indulging in exorbitant quantities of delicious holiday fare, which will no doubt include artery clogging goodness and an unusually high intake of red white and blue food. This will of course be followed by watching some fireworks while in food coma bliss. Sounds like my kind of day. :)

Shirt: Old Navy, $4

Skirt: thrifted, $3.50

Shoes: Target, $16.99

Necklace: thrifted, $1

I did my nails the other day, which is something I rarely do! Reason being that I got a great deal on some crackle nail polish and wanted to try it out. I'm a little obsessed now.

Got it at CVS for 75% off, along with these eyelash curler refills and some gold eyeshadow. 

The nail polish was about $1.80, the curler refills about $0.60, and the eyeshadow around $1.30. I'd call that a pretty fantastic find. :)

Anyway, enjoy your Independence Day, don't forget to wear sunscreen, and stay cool!

Shrimp Kabobs

Made these the other day, and if you like shrimp, you need to try this out! Super easy and absolutely fantastic, plus they just scream summertime, don't they? 

I simply peeled some raw shrimp, stuck them inside of a ziploc bag with some honey mustard dressing and a bit of black pepper, mixed it all up, and stuck it in the fridge for a few hours.

After letting it marinade, you just grab some vegetables (squash, onions, and bell peppers work really well) and wooden skewers and put it all together! You can fire up the grill and cook them, or be lazy like me and just stick them in the broiler for a few minutes, because that will do the trick as well.

Different dressings will work as well, I know Italian is a popular one. And if you're not a fan of seafood, this works well for chicken too!

Also, I went to the farmer's market this weekend, possibly one of my favorite things in the world. I'm not even going to try to verbally explain. Just look at the pictures. 

I love summer.