Alright.

I sew a lot of my outifits. Its extremely empowering. But I am no sewing diva, I  call it Upcycling.

I’ve been getting better over the years at drawing something and making it look exactly like the picture, and patterns and I don’t get a long so well.  I really enjoy making things out of something else. I thought I would share how I made one of my favorite things.

So this pretty hooded vest piece seen here:

It looked exactly like this when I bought it at the thrift store.

Step 1: Remove Buttons

Step 2: Get bleach and brush it on the hideous garment with a large paintbrush. Soft Scrub Gel with Bleach is also really good for this.. Wear Gloves!!

Step 3: Rinse

Step 4:  If you want you can dye it with a deep dye. I used brown

Step 5:  Cut. I cut the vest off right under the bust, and hemmed it.  If its also too wide under the armpit/bust area cut on the side seams, pin and sew.

Step 6:  Decorate. I embroidered the lapels with different fun stitches from my machine in different colors.   Sewed on a nice button, then I added this detail to the back. Its just eyelet tape from a fabric store. Then I used leftover fabric scraps from another project for the laces. I distressed the edges more with scissors and a cheese grater.

It can be worn with or without the hood.

Extra Credit:

I made the removable hood out of the bottom half of the vest,  its held on with grommets and ties. 

Step 1: Lay the remaining vest fabric folded vertically. So the folded opening is facing the left.

Step 2: With chalk, trace a curve from left down to right from the top. Basically your going to cut off the top right hand corner of the folded garment in a nice curved shape.

Step 3: Cut it off.

Step 4: Turn inside out and sew just that curve, the face opening will be where it the buttons were originally. There should be an opening at the bottom too, this is where it attaches to the vest.

Step 5: Attach by sewing to the vest directly or.. with grommets on the vest at each shoulder and behind the neck.

Step 6: Sew on Ties to the hood.

Send me pictures if you try this!