Monday, February 24, 2014

Day 24: Guest Post with Diary of a MadMama!

Today, 
I am so pleased and excited to share with you one of my favorite bloggers!

I stay on top of all her posts, and look anxiously forward to each one!
Allow me to introduce to you, Jen from Diary of a MadMama!

Refashion Runway Competition: Week One Stripes | Diary of a MadMama


This t-shirt dress and the floral hi-low hem makeover below
 are just two (there are so many to choose from) of my favorite refashions from Jen...
can you tell I like dresses?


Jen

 I 'met' Jen through the very first Refashion Runway Competition,
held by Beth at Renegade Seamstress, and immediately singled her out as my favorite!
I've been following her ever since.

I love her sense of humor and creativity!
She does some of the most unique and 'out of the box' refashions I've ever seen.

I hope you enjoy her as much as I do!

~~~~~

Hello there!

Jen here, from Diary of a MadMama.

I am so honored that Desarae would so kindly ask me to be a guest blogger!
I have been blogging for a little over a year, and I've really enjoyed the journey so far!

Recently I refashioned the sleeves of these sweaters into fingerless gloves:

 Meh
Meh


Since all I used were the sleeves (and not even all of the sleeves), I still had a lot of sweater leftover.

Not wanting anything to go to waste, I thought of the perfect way to use up the leftovers...
A WINTER MAXI SKIRT!

I love the comfy-coziness of maxi skirts, and I HATE being cold
(especially this winter in Michigan, with arguably the worst winter weather I have ever experienced).
A maxi skirt made out of sweaters = warmth and style!

As a side note, I purchased the grey and red sweaters for 49-cents each at my local thrift store,
which fits my weekly "49-Cent Friday" blog series (the black sweater was given to me for free!).

The grey and red sweaters have strands of sparkly silver threads woven into them,
giving them a shimmery effect.

The black and grey sweaters are very stretchy, making them perfect for this skirt.
I mean, if the sweaters aren't stretchy enough, I'd end up walking like a geisha!

Since the red sweater had a higher wool content, it wasn't as stretchy,
so I decided to use it as the waistband (and top section) of the maxi skirt,
keeping the other (more stretchy) sweater pieces as the bottom of the skirt.

So to begin, I cut the sweaters across at the armpits like so:

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Snip!


Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Snip!!


With the red sweater, I trimmed higher above the armpits to give myself more material, since I was using it as the upper, waist portion of the skirt.

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Snip!


I just trimmed down the sides a bit to make it smoother.

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Snip!


Using the brand-new serger I got for Christmas, I serged around the top of the red sweater...

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Pretty stitches 'eh?

...and then trimmed the ribbed waistband off of the black sweater:

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Snip!

After that was trimmed off, I placed the black sweater into the red sweater (wrong-sides together):

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

And serged them together...

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama
Whirrrr...


Then I placed the grey sweater into the black sweater (once again, wrong-sides together):

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

Once I serged that together, it was all done! And since I left the ribbed band on the grey sweater, the bottom was already finished.

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

I love that the red sweater already is snug, which means I didn't need to add elastic.

This skirt is super comfy and I love it dressed up with my wide, black belt:

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

By the way, what do you think of my slippers? ;)

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

Winter Maxi Skirt Refashion Tutorial | Diary of a MadMama

I hope you like this quick and easy refashion.
Thanks so much for having me, Desarae! :)

~Jen


~~~~
I'm linking up at Anchored in Love Divine
for the Blog Everyday in February Challenge!

14 comments:

  1. Aww, your intro' is so sweet, Desarae! Thank you so much, you just made my day! ;)
    Have a fantastic week!
    ~Jen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are SO welcome! Thank you for guest posting today! It was a pleasure to have you as my first guest post! :)

      Delete
  2. What a great idea! I love the maxi dress from t-shirts too. I may have to try something like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Her t-shirt dress is on my list of refashions to do! I imagine it is super comfy! :) Thanks for stopping by Joselyn!

      Delete
    2. Thanks ladies! The t-shirt maxi dress is the most comfortable thing I've ever refashioned, and I'm all about comfort! ;) It was quite easy too. I hope you will try it and feel free to let me know when you do. I'd love to see it and share it for you!
      ~Jen

      Delete
    3. Awesome, now I really have to make me one! :)

      Delete
  3. Super cute and fun, the both of you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the skirt! I have the very same slippers and I live in them!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Christy! I live in mine too! They are all worn out in the toes (I don't know if you could see that from the pictures). I live in slippers all winter (I hate cold feet). I've actually thought about doing a slipper refashion. Hmmm.
      Have a great day! :)
      ~Jen

      Delete
    2. Slipper refashion...hmmm, that sounds interesting! :)

      Delete
    3. Speaking of slipper refashion... ;) I just did one! I posted it on the blog today, if you want to check it out! ;)

      Delete
    4. http://diaryofamadmama.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/49-cent-friday-refashion-fabulous-felted-wool-slippers/

      Those are great! Love it, Jen!

      Delete

I LOVE hearing from you! Your comments make my day!

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!

I read every.single.comment. And reply to them as well, so be sure to check the "Notify Me" box so you will receive my reply!

~Des~

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