Diary of a MadMama

Finding a Method to the Madness of Life

How To Can Pink Applesauce

Hey ya’all.

I really enjoy refashioning (in case you didn’t notice).

But besides that, there are other things I really enjoy as well…like baking…and canning…and gardening (just to name a few).

Today I wanted to share with you some pink applesauce I recently canned.

In one of my first posts (Mango Meyer Lemonade Recipe), I mentioned a great company, Door to Door Organics.

They are an awesome company that delivers organic produce (and other groceries) right to your door!

In a recent delivery I was able to score two 10-pound boxes of organic apples (seconds).

Note: I believe it’s important to use organic apples for canning or baking or even eating, as it is always at the top of the Dirty Dozen list of produce that contains the most pesticides… YUCK!

Anyway…I planned on using mine for making applesauce. My kids love applesauce!

And I don’t make my applesauce the way anyone I know makes it. In fact, every recipe I have ever looked up for applesauce is different than how I make it.

So here’s the Diary of a MadMama way to make applesauce. : )

To start, I sorted all of the reddest apples from the 20 pounds I had…

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Not as dark red as I would like, but oh well!

Then I washed, rinsed and quartered the apples (cutting away the core as I went along).

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Quartered and cored!

I poured lemon juice over the apple wedges every so often, to keep them from browning.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

lemony!

Once my largest pot was completely full of apple wedges, I added some water, covered the pot and cranked up the heat.

(1/2 Cup of water per 4 cups of apple slices)

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Simmering

Now and then I checked the apples for doneness.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Hmm, not quite soft enough yet.

Once they started looking soft and mushy, I knew it was time for the next step.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Gettin’ mushy

Now this is the part where other recipes will have you run your apples through a food mill to remove all skins etc.
Since I don’t have a food mill, and I don’t want to discard the most nutritious part of the apple (the skin – see this article from Livestrong.com for more info), I forego this part.

Instead, I process my apples (skins and all) with my trusty food processor…

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Cuisinart, oh how I love thee! ;)

I run the apples in batches through my food processor until very smooth.
It works great to really get the skins chopped up until not even noticeable.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Puree!

As each batch is finished, I add it to another big pot and let it simmer (to keep warm for canning).
Once it’s all through being processed, I give it a taste to see if it’s sweet enough.

Depending upon what kind of apples are being used, the amount of sugar you may want to add to the sauce can vary greatly (if you want to add any at all).

Personally, I don’t prefer super sweet applesauce, but I don’t want it bland either. I prefer adding cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger (pretty much any spice I’d find in mulling spices for apple cider).

Then I taste it again to see if it needs any sugar added.
(This batch of applesauce consisted of Gala and Fuji apples.)
After adding all of my preferred spices, the sauce was good, but not quite as sweet as I would like, so I added a little organic cane sugar and then it was perfect!

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Not quite as pink as I had hoped!

Because Fuji and Gala apples aren’t a very dark red variety (personally I prefer Rome apples for making pink applesauce), the sauce was a nice peachy color, but not the dark pink hue I had hoped for.
Oh well, it still tasted delicious!
While I let the sauce simmer, I started prepping my jars.
After washing the jars, lids and rims, I put the jars in one pot of simmering water for 10 minutes…

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Heat those jars!

…and put the lids and rims in another pot of simmering water (for 10 minutes).

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Like so.

Once the 10 minutes were up, I got them out of the pot and prepped them to be filled.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Hot jars!

If you’ve never canned anything before, you’ll want to invest in some basic tools.

I purchased this Ball Utensil Set, after trying to can without it and continually burning myself.

(Yes I do learn from my mistakes).

My set consists of a jar funnel, jar lifter, lid lifter, and bubble remover and headspace tool.

I think I got it on sale for around $8.00! They usually don’t cost more than $15.00 and they’re totally worth the investment!

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Filling those jars

See how much easier it is with the proper tools?

Once I filled all of the jars, wiped the tops with a clean, damp paper towel (to ensure a good seal), and topped them with the lids and rims, back into the water bath they went to be processed for 20 minutes.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Processing the jars

After the first batch of applesauce was canned, I had an idea.
I decided to add a secret ingredient to help my applesauce look a little more pink.

Pink Applesauce

Cinnamon Imperials!

These yummy little candies not only add color, but they flavor the applesauce to taste a lot like apple cider! Yummy!

Here is the first batch of applesauce… not so pink.

Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Canned applesauce

And here is the remainder of applesauce that was left in the pot (the stuff I added the candies to)…

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Pretty pink!

Notice the difference in color? I added about 2 handfuls of candy to the remainder of applesauce.

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

Yummy!

Check out the difference between the two batches…

Pink Applesauce | Diary of a MadMama

See the difference?

Both batches are very yummy, but the second batch tastes much more like apple cider! (And has more sugar content because of the added candies! :/)

Canning homemade goodies like this is not only good for stockpiling your pantry, but they also make great gifts!

There’s just something about creating something with your own two hands that brings such a joyful feeling! :)

Hope you enjoyed this post!

~Jen

Question: What are your favorite canning recipes?

Feel free to share your recipes or links here or on the Diary of a MadMama Facebook page! :)

Resources: USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning.

This post is linked up to:

Anyonita Nibbles

49-Cent Friday: Blue Plaid Dress Refashion

When I saw this dress, I instantly knew what I wanted to do with it, and it was going to be relatively quick and easy.

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Before

I’m all about quick and easy refashions lately. There’s been a lot going on and I’ve been much busier than I like. :/
Anywho…
I started by placing the dress inside out on my dress form…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Inside out!

Then pinned just one side of the dress where it would be taken in…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Pinned!

I only pinned one side, because I figured when I took the dress off the form I could match up the sides and pin them identically on each side, like so…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Matching up the sides

The next thing to do was sew up the sides…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

whirrrrr

After the sides were taken in, I tried the dress on before trimming (to make sure it fit properly).
Since it fit great, I trimmed off the excess material from where the sides had been taken in, and then chopped off some of the length…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Chop!

Then pinned…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Pinned!

…and sewed!
I then took the extra material that I chopped off the bottom, pressed it, folded it, and sewed it to make a belt.
(Sorry but in my haste, I forgot to take pics of this part.) :(

And here is the finished product…

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

After

And here is what it looks like after being all “accessified” (I made that word up, do you like it?) ;)

Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Accessified!

What do you think?

Here’s a little reminder of the before and after…
Plaid Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

And there you have it!
Stay tuned for a non-sewing, food-related post!
I hope you like it! ;)
~Jen

This post is linked up to:
Best tutorials on dress refashions by Eddie's Room, roued.com
Recycled Fashion
Wunderbar

49-Cent Friday: High-Low Dress Refashion

Howdy!

For this week’s refashion, I started out with this ugly thing that reminded me of something from my middle-school years…

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

This is NOT very flattering… I think I need to work out. Yikes!

Yuck! The only thing I liked about this dress was the print.

The first thing I needed to do was alter the hem.

I decided to make a high-low dress, so I only wanted to shorten the front of the dress.

To get it right, I pinched the middle front of the dress and the middle back of the dress and straightened it out on the table like so…

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

all laid out

Once it was smoothed out, I trimmed from the middle front, down on an angle to the side seams like this…

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

snip snip

The next thing that needed to happen was changing up that hideously high neck-line!

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Chop!

Now just pin and sew…

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

pin…

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

…and sew!

Well that was easy!
Do you like the way I dressed it up?

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Flowy!

This was a fairly easy refashion.
The fabric is so light and airy, it will be perfect for hot summer days!
(Today it’s cold and rainy, so I can’t wait to actually wear it on one of those days!)

Ugly Dress to Hi-Low Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Have a great Mother’s Day weekend everybody!
~Jen

P.S. Here are some links to some similar high-low refashions I’ve been spotting lately…

http://thisblogisnotforyou.com/bustier-minidress-with-asymmetrical-overskirt-hello-summer

http://mylifeonthedivide.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-refashion-your-skirt-in-to-hi.html

http://melissaesplin.com/2012/05/refashioned-high-low-floral-skirt/

http://secondhandcouture.blogspot.com/2012/10/high-low-skirt-refashion.html

http://refashionista.net/2012/06/11/day-345-low-high-low-hem-top/

http://chicenvelopements.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/diy-high-low-maxi-skirt-tutorial/

This post was featured on:

Show Of Feature Button photo featuredblogbutton.jpg

…and linked up to:
Best tutorials on dress refashions by Eddie's Room, roued.com
Recycled Fashion

Wunderbar

Gingerly Made

Becoming Martha
Dragonfly Designs

FavePost PartyBadge photo blogbadge.jpg

49-Cent Friday: Too Big Tank-Top to Skirt Refashion

Happy Friday everyone!

For this week’s refashion I started out with this too big tank-top that my daughter wasn’t all that interested in…

Tank Top Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

“Mom, this thing is huge on me!”

Obviously this wouldn’t work for her as-is, but she can always use more skirts, especially in the summer!

To begin, I trimmed along the neckline, to even things up a bit…

Tank-top to skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Choppity Chop!

Then I found a waistband that came off of a pair of pajama pants that I had refashioned into an infinity scarf a while ago.

This will come in handy!

Tank-Top Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Way to be thrifty, ‘eh?

After seam-ripping the elastic away from the waistband, I measured it around the front of kid #2′s waist (a.k.a. my daughter’s), and cut it to size.
Then I inserted the elastic into the cut-open part of the waistband of the skirt (what used to be the neckline).

Tank-Top Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Into the tunnel it goes…

Then I hand-stitched it closed, using a hidden stitch.

Note: If you would like to know how to do this, here’s a great hidden-stitch tutorial from Fern and Freckle.

Tank-Top Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Hidden seams!

Once the seam was sewn shut, the skirt was all done.

Because the elastic bunched what was formerly the front of the shirt together, I thought it would look better worn backwards.

Tank-Top to Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Snazzy!

… and the back…

Tank-Top to Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Cutie.

Here’s a close-up of the back…
Tank-Top to Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Tank Top to Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

So there you have it!
Pretty easy huh?
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
~Jen

Question: What projects have you been working on lately?

This post is linked up to:
Recycled Fashion

Wunderbar

FavePost PartyBadge photo blogbadge.jpg

Becoming Martha

49-Cent Friday: Purple Dress Refashion

For this week’s 49-cent refashion, I started out with this awesome purple dress (that actually ended up costing less than 49-cents).

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

It has possibility!

Getting this dress for 49-cents was already a heck of a deal, but for less than that? I didn’t think it was possible.

Well, Mel Trotter (the thrift store I frequent the most often), not only has 49-cent sales on Mondays, but they also do punch cards!

Every time I spend at least $10.00 at their store, I get a punch on my card. When the card is full of punches, I can use it as a $10.00-off coupon!

This past Monday, I not only had a fully-punched card, but I found 30 items (at 50-cents each), to use the coupon on.

I got a cart-load of clothing, that normally would’ve cost $15.00. But after my coupon, I got them all for $5.00 (roughly 17-cents each!)

For the sake of continuity, we’ll still call it a 49-cent refashion. ;)

Anyway, back to the refashion.

I love the deep purple color and the overall look of this dress, but there were some definite things I didn’t like, for example…

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Yuck! Shoulder pads!

I got busy removing those puppies first, using my seam-ripper.

My daughter wanted to keep them for a future refashion of her own…

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Silly girl!

Another thing about the dress I wasn’t particularly fond of, was the too-tight elastic band that was stitched into the waist.

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

That elastic is really stitched in place!

It took some time to rip out all of those stitches, but I finally got the elastic removed.

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

This will come in handy for a future project!

Now that the two most obvious negatives were removed, I decided to re-do the length.

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Shortening up that length!

To make sure it was cut evenly all the way across, I simply folded the cut part over the non-cut part, and used it as a guide.

A little tip I picked up from The Refashionista herself, Jillian Owens (well from her blog anyway).

Before moving on with the refashion, I really needed to give this dress a good ironing! It was quite wrinkly!

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Steamy!

Do you like the cute top I’m wearing? It was another 49-cent (er um actually 17-cent) find! :)

Now that all the wrinkles are out, the hem needed to be pinned in place.

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

All that’s left to do is stitch!

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Stitchin’ that hem.

After trying on the dress, I realized it was a bit wider in the skirt than I preferred, so I put it on inside out, and pinned where it needed to be taken in, removed the dress and straightened up the pins a bit…

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Taking in the sides.

When I had all the pins situated just how I wanted them, I sewed the sides, trimmed off the excess fabric and this is how it turned out…

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Finally some sunshine and warm temps! :)

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

My daughter was my photographer.

Purple Dress Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

She kept telling me how to pose! :)

I’m really happy with how this turned out! It’s super comfy and it’s nice to have another dress to wear, now that it looks like we’re finally going to have some spring-like weather.

If you have any ideas for future refashions you’d like to see me do, or have any of your own you’d like to share, hit me up on Facebook! I’d love to connect with you there too! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!
~Jen

This post is linked up to…

Best tutorials on dress refashions by Eddie's Room, roued.com

Recycled Fashion

Wunderbar

FavePost PartyBadge photo blogbadge.jpg

Huge skirt refashion…in progress

Hello everyone.

I think I’ve left you hanging long enough. It’s finally time to let the cat out of the bag (so to speak), and fill you in on how my refashion is going.

By this time I was hoping to have had it completely finished, but it hasn’t exactly gone as I’ve expected. :/

Let me explain…

I started out with this incredibly large, wrap around skirt…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Yikes!

I mean look at this thing…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

EEK!

I’m guessing I could fit my whole family in there!

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Can you believe they actually posed like this for me?

Because this skirt was so huge, I was able to get quite a bit of material from it.
The problem was, I didn’t know what to refashion it into.
I’m not a huge fan of wearing orange and green together, and the fabric was really scratchy and uncomfortable on the inside.

Since it sorta reminded me of retro carpet, I decided to refashion it into a rag rug. Quite fitting ‘eh?

To start, I removed the elastic and velcro from the skirt.

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Look at all that fabric!

Then I cut a whole bunch of strips.
This part was quite easy since the material had evenly spaced stripes…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Look at all those strips!

Cutting up the fabric took me several hours, mostly because I was also watching Dancing With the Stars with my daughter. It’s hard to see the tv and watch what you’re doing at the same time.

Because this part took me so long, I decided to leave the next step for the following night.

After getting a good night’s sleep, and getting through the day, I continued on with the refashion by braiding the strips together, 3 at a time…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

These clips work great!

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Ooh, pretty braid!

Because the strips were so long, it was easy for the ends to get all tangled up, so I scrunched up each end into a ball like this…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

balled up bundles

This process was very time consuming, so it took me another whole night to finish braiding up all of those strips.

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

This is just one braid consisting of 3 strips!

After all of the strips were braided, I ran each of the ends through the sewing machine to keep it from coming undone.

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Stitch it in place!

Once all of my braids were all sewn, I went to sleep… zzzzzzzz…
Then the following night, I decided to finish up the refashion by hand stitching the braids together into a rag rug.
I grabbed the first braid, and kind of folded and twisted it together, and then hand-stitched it in place…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Like this!

Then I continued stitching and twisting and stitching and twisting… making sure to stitch very close together so there were no gaps or holes in my new rug…

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Looking good!

As it started to get bigger, I was getting more and more excited about how it was turning out.
But then, it started acting up.
I realized that the more I stitched, the more it was starting to resemble a bowl (or hat) rather than the rug I was expecting.

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

dome-like

Huge skirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Really didn’t need another hat!

So after hours (seriously), of hand stitching (and only 3 braids in), I decided to call it quits for a while and figure out how to best remedy this situation.

The following day my family went away for the weekend and I didn’t want to leave you guys in the dark any longer, so rather than wait until this refashion is finished, I decided to go ahead and show you my progress (or lack thereof). :/

I’m not sure if I would be better off unstitching to the point where it’s flat and then try again, or go for more of a rectangular shape.

What are your thoughts? How should I move forward with this refashion? :)

~Jen

P.S. I had a great day at Mel Trotter (my local thrift store), during their 49-cent day! I not only found 2 huge bags worth of awesome duds (for 49-cents each), I was also able to use a $10.00 coupon (They have punch cards!). So I got 2 garbage-bag sized bags of clothes for a total of $5.00! 30 items altogether! Some even name-brand! Sorry for the bragging, but I just couldn’t resist!
Also, I’ve been super jealous of all of my fellow refashionista bloggers out there and their adorable dress refashions. I hadn’t been able to find any 49-cent dresses in a long time, until today that is! So you can look forward to some dress refashions in the very near future! :) I’m so excited!

49-Cent Friday: No Sew Skirt Refashion

For today’s refashion, I started out with these skirts…

No-Sew Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

No-Sew Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Not bad for 49-cents each eh?

Any of you who’ve read all of my posts, might think the title of this one sounds familiar.

Well, maybe it’s because you remember this no-sew skirt refashion I did back in February…

No-Sew Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

All I did was wear it up higher as a top, rather than a skirt.

For today’s refashion, I’m also turning skirts into shirts, but not the same way as before.

I simply put the skirts on the dress-form upside down, and safety-pinned at the top of each shoulder.

Take a look…

No-Sew Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMamaNo-Sew Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

I could always use more blousy tops. And these are super comfy.

Since I used safety-pins, this doesn’t need to be a permanent refashion.

If I ever decide I want to wear them as skirts again, I’ll just remove the pins and voilá.

In case you were wondering, I wanted to go with a quick and easy refashion for  today’s post, because I’m in the middle of a more time-consuming refashion that I was hoping to have finished and posted earlier this week.  :/

Remember this picture I shared recently?

Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Well I’ve been keeping busy, working on this refashion all week and it’s almost finished!

I couldn’t use it for a 49-cent Friday post, however, because I didn’t get this ginormous thing for 49-cents.

It was free!

So stay tuned and you will finally be able to see what I turned it into.

Here’s a hint…

Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Hopefully I didn’t give too much away with that pic! I do want to keep it a surprise! ;)

~Jen

P.S. Feel free to swing by and like the Diary of a MadMama Facebook page.

If you’re a fellow blogger, let me know of your blog’s FB page and I’ll “like” you back! :)

49-Cent Friday: Men’s Shirt Refashion

I am so excited about this week’s refashion!

The main reason I’m so excited is this little piece of awesome right here…

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

hrmm?

Ok, so I know I don’t exactly look excited in the picture, but get a look at this…

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Oooh custom tailored!

Pretty cool huh? But that’s not all! Check this out…

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Did you see that?

Not only was the fabric of this bad boy woven in Italy, (ooh Italy!) but take a closer look…

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

$175.00!!??!?!!! WHAT??!!?!??

Now obviously I didn’t shell out a hundred and seventy-five smackaroos for a measly shirt, (Hopefully you figured that out by the title of this post.) but how cool is it that I was able to score a brand-stinkin’ new, custom-tailored men’s dress-shirt, that originally cost $175.00 for a mere .49? And it’s PINK!!!! (Pink is my favorite color by the way!)

To start this refashion, I first removed that pesky pocket, using my handy dandy seam-ripper.

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Pesky pocket removed.

Then I cut the shirt in two, right at the armpits.

Men's shirt refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Chop!

I decided that I wanted to make a skirt out of the bottom half of the shirt.

I could’ve just gathered the top and sewn on an elastic waistband, (like I did here) but I decided to make it more fitted instead.

To achieve this, I pulled the fabric over my dress form and made a large back pleat…

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Back pleat

To make the pleat, I pinched the excess fabric from the right and left of the middle of the back, and brought each sides to the middle, pinned them down and sewed. (Hopefully the picture made that make more sense.)

I then made smaller pleats (or darts) on either side of the front panels as well…

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Pleats or darts?

To finish the refashion, I folded the top (raw edge) down twice and hemmed…

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Ooh! Almost done! :)

Now all that’s left to do is to de-wrinkle that puppy…

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Wrinkles be gone!

Drum roll please…

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Men's Shirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

So there you have it!

This was my first time sewing darts. (I made pleated ruffles for my Ugly Coat Refashion, which were similar, but there was more room for error with those pleats.)

I especially love the material, it’s 100% cotton, but it’s so silky and comfortable. Who knows, maybe it has to do with the fact that it was woven in Italy? :)

Enjoy your weekend everyone and happy refashioning!

~Jen

If you want to see a similar men’s dress shirt to skirt refashion, check out this post from Tara at All Glorious.

P.S. I recently posted a picture on the Diary of a MadMama Facebook page, that gave a sneak peek at the next project I’m working on.

Here’s a sneak peek for the rest of you…

Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

This is a HUGE skirt!

I found this hideous thing in a “FREE” box at a garage sale a long time ago. I know I wouldn’t have paid for it. I’m not big on the colors. With the amount of material, hideous or not, I couldn’t pass up on free. (I’m cheap thrifty that way.) I have a great idea for it’s new purpose, but for now you’ll just have to stay tuned. :)

This post is linked up to…

Wunderbar


Dragonfly Designs

Keep Calm

Sweet Benanna & Sam
Gingerly Made

49-Cent Friday: Dress Pants Refashion

I can’t believe it’s been a whole week since I last posted. :/

I’ve been playing catch up. We went away for Easter weekend and I’ve been trying to get the house in order this week (in case you were wondering why I was MIA).

But now I’m back and ready to share this week’s refashion with ya’. :)

I started with this pair of GAP dress pants.

Too big pants to be refashioned | Diary of a MadMama

hmmm???

As you can see the legs are too long and baggy.

I wasn’t quite sure exactly how I wanted to refashion these, but I had gotten some inspiration from Pinterest earlier this week when I saw a pin for a cute top refashioned from a pair of dress pants via Of Dreams and Seams.

To start, I grabbed my seam ripper and picked away at the crotch seam and the insides of the legs.

Using the seam ripper on a refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Pick pick pick.

Once the seams were opened up, I tried the pants on my dress form backwards.

Trying a refashion in progress on the dress form | Diary of a MadMama

Hmm, I’m getting some ideas now.

I decided to use the pockets for the armholes since they lined up in the right place, so I started picking away at the pocket seams, once again using my seam ripper.

Refashioning Dress Pants | Diary of a MadMama

pick pick pick

Now that my arms had a place to go, I started pinning the front and back panels together…

Dress Pant Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Front

Refashioning Dress Pants | Diary of a MadMama

Back

Now I needed to sew that puppy up!

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

whirrr

Since the cuffs of the pant legs were already finished, I didn’t have to hem the bottom. :)

I did, however, have to finish my new armholes, so I folded them over and decided to hand stitch both sides to hide the stitching. This took a lot longer than if I had simply run them through the sewing machine. In retrospect, it probably wouldn’t have looked any worse to have done it that way and it definitely would’ve saved me some time, but, oh well!

Refashioning Dress Pants | Diary of a MadMama

New arm holes! :)

Once I finished all of the hand stitching, all I had to do was try it on!

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Holla!

This was very hard to pull on, (and waaaaaayyy too tight in the bust. Luckily I hadn’t cut off the excess material!) but once I got it on and situated, I really liked the look of it.
I knew this dress wasn’t very practical though, simply because it was so hard to get on and off (and so stinkin’ tight in the chest).
Notice in the picture how it looks like a two-piece? I didn’t like how long the length was, so I grabbed the material at my waist, and pulled up until the length was right above my knees, then I folded it over, added a belt, and that’s why it looks like a top with a skirt.

I decided to make it more wearable, I’d just go ahead and separate the top from the skirt.

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Chop!

I also desperately needed to make some more room in the bust, so I let out part of the front seam. (Forgot to take pics’, sorry.)

Then pinned and hemmed my new top…

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Easy peasy

To finish the skirt, I grabbed a big elastic waistband, and measured it around my waist, cut to the right size, and then attached it to the waist of the skirt…

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

like so

When I tried it on this time, it was much MUCH easier to put on. (And I could breathe a lot easier too!)

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

aah ;)

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

What do you think?

I love the uniqueness of this outfit.

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Oops! My fly’s open!

I’m glad I decided to make it a two-piece! Not only is it much easier to put on and take off now, I can also wear each piece separately! :)

Oh and what did you think about the belt loops? I love being able to weave a scarf through there (or a necklace even)! :)

Have a great weekend ya’all!
~Jen

Dress Pants Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

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…and linked up to…
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Sweet Benanna & Sam

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion

For this week’s refashion, I wanted to make something springy…something I could wear for Easter.

I started out with several leftovers. Each had been purchased a while ago (before I started the blog).

Altogether I had a skirt, 2 blazers, and 2 sweaters. All are made from wool, and each had been used previously in a different refashion.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Refashion leftovers

I love how brightly colored everything is and how they all match the skirt!

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Here’s the wool skirt.

I loved this skirt the moment I saw it!

I loved the pattern and the bright color.

I loved that it was a much larger size than what I wear because I knew that would give me a lot more material to work with.

NOTE: Whoever owned this skirt before it found it’s way to the thrift store didn’t launder it properly (dry clean only), so it shrank in the dryer and the lining ended up longer than the skirt. Since I was planning on dissecting it, that didn’t bother me at all. And since it’s wool, I was going to felt it anyway, so the process was already started for me!

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Fuchsia wool blazer missing an arm :/

I can’t remember what I used the chopped off arm of this blazer for, but I’m guessing it was used for either a posy pin, or part of a pair of mittens.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Where’s my arm?

Another missing arm!

I’m pretty sure the arm of this magenta blazer was used to make up part of the satchel (pictured in the Ugly Coat Refashion – Suggestions Wanted post) I made for my daughter a couple of years ago.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Does this sweater look familiar?

This sweater was used in last week’s 49-Cent Friday post “Sweater Refashion“.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

I love this color!

Here’s the last sweater included in this refashion. It’s made of not only wool, but a blend of angora rabbit hair, which makes it super soft!

I always wash everything I purchase from the thrift shop in hot water (unless it’s silk or something), so each article of clothing used for this refashion was already felted nicely.

The first thing I did was take out the lining from the skirt, and pick off the waistband (using my seam ripper).

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Holy cow! This thing is huge!

I had to be careful in figuring out where to take the lining in, because the original skirt had pockets I wanted to keep.

Using my dress form as a guide, I figured out where I could take the lining in that would line the pockets up where they belonged.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

See?

After pinning in place, I just ran the lining through my sewing machine and voilá!

Then I took in the too-big waistband.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Using the existing seam.

I took it in from just one side, because the other side had these cool closures…

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Can’t remember what these are called.

After the lining and waistband were re-sized, I started cutting out the panels for the skirt…

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Ooh pretty!

Then I pinned them on my dress form to make sure they would fit together nicely…

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Notice the pocket panels?

When cutting the panels from the original skirt, I made sure to cut out the pocket panels first so that they would match up nicely. That certainly made my life easier when fitting everything together, as they were already shaped to fit the pockets on the lining.

After pinning all of the panels together, and making sure the fit was right, I sewed each one together…

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

whirrr

See how the waistband opens up?

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

sorta like a blanket binding.

After the skirt panels were sown together, all I had to do was shove the top of the skirt up into the waistband and sew it down to finish it off.

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Easy peasy!

Now to iron out all those wrinkles!

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

Wrinkles be gone!

Check out my freshly pressed skirt!

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

I love the buttons on the front!

And the side view…

49-Cent Friday: Scrappy Skirt Refashion | Diary of a MadMama

I think it would look better with a less blousy top.

I know  I started out with more than one 49-cent find, but since each piece used in this refashion was leftover from a previous refashion, I thought you’d be okay with it!

What do you think?

Question:

How are you getting creative this Easter (or Passover)? Any great recipes? Projects? 

If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Thanks!

Jen

This post is linked up to…

Gingerly Made

Dragonfly Designs

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