Pants Skirt

A few weeks back I discovered this awesome blog called ReFashionista. Within about a 3 week period, I viewed and read every single post she had. And let me tell you, she has a lot! She recently completed a 365 day challenge to refashion a piece of clothing every.single.day. for a whole year.

I don't know this person, I don't even follow her blog (I just have it listed as a bookmark on my internet browser!) but I feel like she really changed how I thought about clothing (and other artsy stuff in general!)

Well anyway, I've been wanting a maxi skirt for a while now but just never pulled the money out to buy one. Even a simple one like this for $25? I knew I could get one for cheaper, I just had to figure out how.

Before I moved out of Des Moines (which was just on Friday, FYI) I found an amazing Salvation Army Thrift Shop and visited it twice in 1 week. I found pants that looked scary similar to these (I forgot to take a before picture.)

These set me back a whole $2! Oh no, break the bank... not! I saw ReFashionista's post(s) on how she has made a skirt out of an old pair of pants. See how I did it here!!

So with a bit of seam ripping, figuring out how to thread and use my new sewing machine, this is what I came out with:

My very own pink maxi skirt!

Action shot??

Awesome fit and loving it! (no rhyming intended!)

I need to say, I wish I could claim that Twins shirt to be my own, but I actually borrowed it for the game from my friend Hannah Sanborn. My dad and boyfriend bought tickets for us and my mom for my mom's birthday and I realized I had nothing to wear. Luckily Hannah came to the rescue just in time!

So there ya have it! A quick and easy maxi skirt! 

Total time to make: 40 minutes (this included seam ripping, pinning, and sewing!)

Total cost: $2! Yahoo!

SEWING MACHINE!

Since I have been crafting more and more recently (and since AJ gave me the idea of this blog, the creative juices are flowing ever more!) I realized I had to stop waiting to go home to use my mother's sewing machine and buck up and buy one for myself!

On to Craigslist I went (thanks AmeriCorps budget... being thrifty is actually a need now, not an excuse!) and I found a nice lady who sold mer her Kenmore model 385 for $35 (thread included, yahoo!)

Well, only issue is I found it in Mahtomedi, MN and I am still in Clive, IA. That's an issue. Luckily my awesome boyfriend told me he would pick it up! So 35 minutes longer on his drive home from work, he ended up with my very own sewing machine!

I have yet to see it in person (I leave for MN in about 2 hours!) but I was able to have a few photos sent to me!

Here it is! And it's ALL MINE!

Yeah, it was cheap but it has a removable base to sew sleeves and collars. NICE!

So many stitch styles!!

Now, my question... Does having a sewing machine make me a grown woman? ;) How many 23 year olds do you know that hunt for a sewing machine in order to sew their own clothes? Yeah, that's right. Probably not many!

Ring Holder

So for all of you who don't know, by best friend since I was a baby got married to an amazing guy in June. I was so blessed to be a part of their wonderful celebration:

This is Alie, isn't she beautiful?? :)

Well, her birthday and her husband's birthday are very close to each other (within a week I believe!) so since I'm not living out in Denver near them yet, I made their gift and sent it out there. Not as exciting, but what else was a girl to do?

Anyways, since they both now have wedding bands on and dishes are probably not as safe to do (don't let the ring go down the drain!) I decided to take an idea off pinterest... isn't this cute??

So, I took my coupons on down to Michaels and came up with this:

The brown background I changed to be blue (their main wedding color) and viola! A wonderful wedding band holder for those nasty dishes!