Upcycling 101

Today was my very first try at upcycling some of our old clothes into new clothes. I must admit... I think I got a little too ambitious for my first try. I started by trying to turn two of my old knit t-shirts into a shirt and set of pants for the baby using tutorials from MADE. Those projects are still unfinished because guess what I discovered? I HATE working with knit! It turned into a really tedious and frustrating project... so for now it's on hold. I haven't given up completely... I'm just stepping away for a little bit.


Then I tried to get some laundry and house cleaning done since my awesome sister took the little ones to her house to play for a couple of hours. THAT turned out to be yet another frustrating and fruitless project. Gah... laundry! I swear there is a laundry gnome in my house that expands the pile even as I wash, dry, fold and put it all away.



SO, after a fairly frustrating day, I decided I had to do SOMETHING that I could feel good about. Since it's been consistently warmer here, and I've been seeing the bees come out, I thought it would be a good idea to clean out the Ya-Ya's drawers and closet and sort out things she has grown out of. I got a pretty big bag full of things to donate. However, as I was going through her closet I came across two really adorable dresses that are practically brand new. We had just bought one of them last spring, and the other had been a gift from a friend who had bought it in Mexico. I really hated to give either of them away, but Ya-Ya is so tall and lanky that as dresses they have become ridiculously short on her. However, they are big enough sizes that it would be kinda silly to hold onto them in their current state waiting for a child that might grow into them.


Which is when I thought I'd give the upcycling thing another go. I chopped off the top to both dresses, folded down the top to make casing, put in some elastic and voila! Two new awesome skirts just in time for Spring! Ya-Ya loves skirts and dresses and these are both the perfect length on her!

This is the dress from Mexico.

This is the new skirt! I love that I was able to keep the pockets

Here is Ya-Ya modeling her new "purple flowers" skirt.

This little project was so satisfying. It took maybe 25 minutes to make both skirts and they turned out so cute! Whew! I was beginning to worry that I was going to go bed frustrated!