I don’t have many clothes, (about half as many as my husband does) because I dislike doing a lot of laundry. Instead, I have 3-4 daily outfits that I rotate through. Gardening/Painting ratty clothes, Grocery shop/Pick up grandkids from school outfit, Walk the dogs/exercise comfy clothes, and sleepwear.

Somehow this year, I skipped my closet spring cleaning. It’s usually then that I discard extremely worn gardening/painting smocks and have the opportunity to take things to the thrift shop that I don’t like or don’t fit comfortably.

Now that it’s July, I absolutely had to tackle my jumbled drawers full of both winter and summer attire. After sorting and hanging all of my favourites, I had several pieces that I thought could be transformed instead of being taken to the thrift shop. After all, Junco Studio is all about #insteading – using what I have to make something new, functional and beautiful.

Here’s a little story about how I spent my morning transforming clothing pieces into comfortable casual ensembles and a stretchy smock for summer gardening and painting.

I liked the skirts on these two dresses but the neckline was very tight on one and the arm holes on the other were far too large. I had purchased them both at thrift shops in the past year or two but had hardly worn them. I decided to cut the bodice off and repurpose the skirt parts.

I had a frilly top that was too big but it matched the colour of the jean skirt perfectly! I took in the top on the back seam until it fit me properly. For the skirt, I added a wide elastic waist band. Together they make a super cute summer outfit.

For the grey t-shirt dress that had a very tight collar, I cut the skirt portion off. I really like this skirt because it has pockets which are very handy for gardening and the workshop. I decided to sew it on to a jersey dress. The navy jersey dress was too short in length and the front buttons kept annoyingly popping open. To transform this duo, I sewed the button front permanently closed, cut it to t-shirt length and then sewed the gray skirt to it. This is going to be a perfect smock for wearing in the garden on hot days or to slip over other clothing to protect like an apron.

The last piece of clothing that I upcycled today was a lovely light weight jean dress. I liked everything about this dress except the sleeves. They are far too long for me and the elastic cuffs are so tight that they leave marks on my wrists. I planned to remove the elastic and shorten and hem the length of the sleeves but then I had an epiphany! What if I tried to make some of those flowing bell sleeves or pleasant sleeves! That type of sleeve would add some artistic character to the dress and be far more comfortable to wear.

I didn’t have a pattern so I just wung it by sketching out the general shape that I wanted. Once I had the shape looking cool, I cut it out while adding a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Once the first sleeve was cut out, I used the discarded portions of the first sleeve to pattern out the second sleeve. This would ensure that my sleeves would be exactly the same on both sides.

Ironing and folding the sleeve hem was a bit tricky at the corner but a couple of pins helped secure it neatly until I had it sewn.

I absolutely love how easy it was to transform some undesirable garments into things I will wear. Do you have any clothing that you could upcycle into comfortable and fashionable outfits? If you need some help with your project don’t hesitate to contact me for direction.

Have a great day! Cheers Lynda