Project Recycle Week 1

First, click here if you want to win a prize pack valued over $50!!!

Did you guess which project was mine?  I'm so glad to be continuing on.  I had a lot of fun with last week's project, and this weeks!  Be sure to hop on over to vote, you can vote once every 24 hours through Friday!

I must admit, I'm a bit selfish when it comes to clothes.  I want stylish but unique... oh, and earth friendly!  Lately I've been looking online and at magazines for cute outfit inspirations.  I start by looking for outfits that have some aspects similar to pieces I already have in my closet.  From there, I refashion things I have, stuff from my stash or thrift store finds.  Recently, I've been into yellow but it just wasn't in my closet and the few yellow t-shirts in my stash weren't inspiring me.  When I stumbled upon a great pillow case, my first thought was a dress for one of my girls, but I just loved the pattern and decided to be selfish and use it for myself!

Here's what I started with:

Instead of the typical pillow case dress, using the opening as the bottom hem, I used it to create a casing at the neckline.

I cut a large circle out of one of those t-shirts.  The largest circle I had was this basket, but it worked.  Once I had the circle, I cut it into a spiral.  This became one option for the ties, a black polka-dot ribbon was a second choice.  Since the t-shirt fabric is streachy and spiral cut, it makes a great ruffled tie.

To make the shirt more form fitting and less pillow case-ish, I added several rows of shirring (elastic thread) in the back.

My friend modeled it for me and is now on a mission to find cute pillow cases for herself.

We had fun styling my new top a few different ways, including the traditional way, as a dress on her daughter

It's a simple upcycle, but sometimes it's something simple that can make a big impact!