Refashion Runway Season Four: All Stars – Week Five: Pantone Blue: Riverside Challenge

I can’t believe we’ve made it to the fifth and final week of the Refashion Runway Challenge. This season has been so much fun and has also been incredibly challenging.

For this week’s refashion I was lucky enough to find a king-sized sheet set at a dollar-a-pound Goodwill in the very color I needed! Woot! While at the Goodwill I Googled an image of the Pantone Blue: Riverside shade, and was able to make sure the colors matched up.

By the way, check out this beauty I was lucky enough to find at my neighbor’s yard sale last weekend.

Refashion Runway Season Four: All Stars – Week Four: Tunic Challenge

Here we are – it’s week four of the Refashion Runway Competition! For this week’s theme I decided to make a boho-gypsy style tunic.

This refashion had actually been brewing in my brain for some time, but knowing how time-consuming it would be, I had put it off. Thanks to the competition I now had the perfect excuse to get it done!

I started with this men’s vintage, plaid shirt (snaps and all), and several other scraps and shirts from my refash stash.

I cut off the bottom of the shirt at the waistline, removed the sleeves, and then took in the sides.

Refashion Runway Season Four: All Stars – Week Three: Buttons Challenge

It’s button week!

As you can see I have a decent stash of buttons.

For this week’s Refashion Runway challenge, I wanted to make an entire outfit that fit the button theme.

To start out, I grabbed a plain black t-shirt, an image I found online, some iron-on adhesive, and a plethora of buttons.

Refashion Runway Season Four: All Stars – Week Two: Metallic Challenge

I’m so excited for you to see what I’ve been working on for this week’s Refashion Runway Challenge.

Ever since I found out all of the themes for this season, I’ve been looking most forward to this week because of the metallic theme.

First of all, I decided to use a couple of curtains that I was given a while ago, but never had the right sized windows to use them on.

Refashion Runway Season Four: All Stars – Week One: Velvet Challenge

I was so excited when I found out Beth (The Renegade Seamstress) was hosting another season of Refashion Runway, and ecstatic when she asked me to participate as a competitor. I mean, how could I say no?

Velvet is this week’s theme and I found two velvet garments to work with.

As you can see neither one was really doing anything for me – they’re not very flattering to say the least!

I started out by cutting off the top of the gigantic velvet dress.

At first I was thinking about having a maxi length dress, but then decided

49-Cent Friday Refashion: Fingerless Gloves Tutorial

I’m so excited to show you today’s refashion. I have been wanting to make these for the longest time, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have a serger…that is until now!

My parents got me a serger for Christmas and I can’t tell you how excited I was. I’ve been wanting one for forever!

I know you might be thinking, “Jen, Christmas was almost 2 months ago, why are you just now getting around to using your serger?”

Well, I’ve never used a serger before. I couldn’t just start using it without reading the entire manual and watching all of the informative dvd’s that came with it (twice).

I also had to purchase thread, and practice multiple times on scrap fabric before I felt comfortable enough to be able to use it on a real project.

To be quite honest, I also put off using it because I was a bit intimidated, but once I finally forced myself to try it out, I realized how silly I was being.

This machine is the bomb!

Isn’t she pretty?

The first project I made with it was 2 pair of leggings for my daughter.
That was a great first project because the stitches were hidden on the inside of the leggings, so it made it easier to get used to the machine without worrying that my stitches would show (They got a bit wonky here and there while I was warming up to it).
Once I finished sewing those I was confident enough to work on something where the stitches could be seen.

49-Cent Friday Refashion: Lumberjack Swants (Sweater Pants)

By now I’m sure a lot of you have heard about “Swants”.

Not familiar? Maybe this will help…

And of course there’s the Swants Dance:

When I saw this crazy video, and grasped the concept of Swants for the first time, I couldn’t wait to make myself a pair.

And I had the perfect thing in mind to create them from:

Do I look like a lumberjack?

Notice the huge stack of banana boxes behind me? They’re what’s left of all my wool sweaters (although a lot of them are now sweater pieces).
After scouring through my sweater stash, I found this awesome lumberjack-looking sweater coat and thought it would make a fetching pair of Swants.

Blogiversary and Giveaway!

One year ago today I published the very first post on this little blog…I can hardly believe it!

I’m so thankful for all of you who read and follow Diary of a MadMama.

Every time someone comments on, likes, refers, pins, and shares one of my posts; it completely makes my day.

I’m especially grateful for those who decide to feature my blog on their websites. For example, being invited to be one of the competitors on the first season of the Refashion Runway Competition was definitely a huge highlight of the first year…thanks Beth!

But most of all, It has been amazing to meet, connect and share encouragement with readers and fellow bloggers who, although I’ve not met them in person, feel like close friends.

To give you a recap of this past year, here are highlights from some of the most popular posts each month, followed by a celebratory giveaway:

JANUARY 2013:

How To Make an Infinity Scarf in Less Than 30 Minutes

49-Cent Friday Refashion: Scrap Busting Owl iPhone Case

Any of you who follow me on Pinterest might already know how much I love owls.

Just take a look at my Felt board to see how much.

I liked the Leather Owl Purse that I made for my daughter so much, I decided to make some more fun owl accessories.

The great thing about this refashion is that it uses up scraps from all of my felted sweaters.

Remember this mess?

Dress To Skirt Refashion

Happy New Year!

It seems like forever since I’ve last posted.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.

Mine was good (other than breaking down on the side of the road Christmas evening. Our vehicle is still at the shop. 😦 Ugh!)

The best part of the holiday, was being able to spend time with friends and family, including my best friend Jessica (whom I don’t get to see often enough) and her significant other.

Jess always brings me a bunch of clothing that she no longer wants when we get together. It’s like Christmas every time she visits! (And this time it really was Christmas! Ha!)

One of the treasures she brought was a dress that she wore one of the times I went to visit her in the summer. We walked to the beach and had our pictures taken together. (That’s how I remember the dress.)

Isn’t she cute?

Here’s a closeup:

Pretty fabric ‘eh?

She was very fond of this dress, but it was a bit short for her current liking, so I decided to refashion it for her.