From tight v-neck to nice v-neck refashion

I just did another simple refashion. I have worn this thrifted shrunken men's merino wool sweater for a while. I like it but the v-neck is too tight on my neck. So I decided to use some remnant purple cotton velvet in my stash to redo the neckline. The sweater is now much more wearable and has more character too!

Before:
After:
I did the new v-neck in a very awkward way (I'm sure there is an easier way and more correct way to do it).

1. I used tailor chalk to mark out where I want the final neckline to be on the sweater.
2. Then I measure the length of the neckline to determine how much of that purple cotton velvet knit I need to cut.
3. I sew a strip of velvet knit that was about 3cm shorter than the neckline. Each knit has a different stretch. My knit was quite stretchy so I had to take a guess on how much shorter than the neckline it needed to be.
4. I sew the ends of the strip form a round.
5. I attached the 'joint' of the round to the shoulder seam of the sweater so that it's not too obvious.
6. After that I just sew the round to the neckline while slightly stretching it.
7. At the v-point I actually hand sewed it because the round was actually a bit too long (by about 1cm or so) so I had to fiddle it until it overlaps and lie flat. Like I said, this is probably not the correct way to do it but I didn't find any tutorials online for this kind of neckline.

If anyone knows of a good tutorial online for this kind of neckline please let me know!

Self-stitched Sept'11 Challenge - Sept 11,12,13,14,15

Okay, I'm slowly catching up on my Self-stitched challenge posts.

Sept 11:I made the jacket when I was pregnant with my first child. It's a wool mix boucle single layer jacket (no facing, no lining). I wear it like a cardigan. It's Butterick 5104. The pants were the ones that has the modified waistband (Vogue 8157).

Sept 12:
I'm wearing a thrifted shrunken men's merino wool polo sweater and stretch woven pants (Vogue 8041).

Sept 13:I'm wearing a ponte di roma knit top (Butterick 4865) and ankle stretch woven pants (Vogue 8041).

Sept 14:The drawstring pants are made with ponte di roman knit (Butterick 6771).

Sept 15:
I'm wearing a thrifted cashmere cotton mix sweater with black stretch woven pants (Vogue 8041).

I see I do tend to wear the same few pair of pants a lot. With 2 kids under 2.5, I guess stretchy pants are more practical for me.

Self-stitched Sept'11 Challenge - Sept 6,7,8,9,10

Sorry I haven't posted the pics from self-stitched Sept'11 challenge for a while because the kids and the parents were sick. Here they are:

Sept 6:
Here I'm wearing a self-stitched poly knit top (Vogue 7933) and poly stretch woven self-stitched pants (Vogue 8041).

Sept 7:Here I'm wearing a thrifted shrunken men's merino wool sweater and self-stitched red stretch denim jeans (Vogue 8041).

Sept 8:Here I'm wearing a self-stitched green corduroy jacket and black poly stretch woven pants (Vogue 7933).

Sept 9:
I'm wearing a self-stitched top (McCall's 5050) and microfibre cargo pants.

Sept 10:I'm wearing a self-stitched top (New Look 6809) and the same microfibre cargo pants (great for all the kids' dirt).

Sick kids, sick parents....

Alas! What I was worried about in August had come true in Sept. After 4 days of daycare, my toddler got sick, and in turn infected his baby sister, myself and my husband. A household full of sick kids and sick parents was not an easy one. My baby wanted to nurse constantly (for my antibodies to fight off her illness) so I hardly got any sleep. And of course I still had cook and do the usual house chores and take care of the other sick kid. Well, we survived that and I hope I won't get to see the next wave of sickies in my house for a while! But flu season has just started....

Trendy handbag for $5

I thrifted this patent faux croc bag for $5 a few months ago. There was nothing wrong with it. It wasn't even dirty.Lately I've seen lots of these patent croc bags in magazines. It seems like it's all the rage for this Fall/Winter 2011 season. I'm happy I am on trend for only a fiver!

Self-stitched Sept'11 Challenge - Sept 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

As mentioned before I have signed up for 'So, Zo's Self-stitched Sept'11 Challenge'. I aim to wear at least 1 self-stitched or refashioned piece of clothing each day during the month of Sept.

Sept 1 (sorry the picture is blurry):I'm wearing a self-stitched top (New Look 6357) and microfibre cargo pants I bought 12 years ago in the UK.

Sept 2:I'm wearing a self-stitched faux wrap top (New Look 6729) and self-stitched ankle length pants (Vogue 8041).

Sept 3:I'm wearing a repurposed chocolate box elastic as a hair elastic.

Sept 4:I'm wearing a Montreal Jazz Festival t-shirt from 18 years ago and self-stitched ankle length pants (Vogue 8041).

Sept 5:I'm wearing a thrifted cotton cashmere top and self-stitched pants (vogue 8157).

I actually look forward to cooler days as I have more self-stitched and self-refashioned clothes that are for cooler weather.

Chocolate box elastic repurposed

This is more a repurpose than a refashion. I got this gold elastic from a chocolate box. My hubby was going to throw it away but I managed to save it. I was going to take it apart and make something with it but haven't had time yet. Meanwhile, I needed some strong elastic to pull my hair back.

From:

To:
I didn't fiddle with it. I just used it as it. My hubby thinks I've finally gone off the rocker!! LOL!