Denim Blazer Overhaul

12 years ago I got a job at the Nordstrom Rack.  The best perk of course was the fact that I could get my hands on some great clothes at a discount.  This jacket was one of those "have-to-have" pieces.

Remember, I said 12 years ago ;-)  I wore it a few times and lost the tie belt and never wore it again.  I couldn't really get myself to get rid of it, yet I quite despised the length, the sleeves and the color..... but I altered it to fit me like a glove.  So of course this summer I took to it finally.  I started off by cutting the bottom off like I did in this post, then the sleeves had to go.  I fold the jacket in half and used my straight edge and rotary cutters on all of it, making sure it was even on both sides.  Since I love raw edges, I just left them as they really were perfect for me.  The next step was to give it a dark dirty bath.  If I remember correctly, I used a tan, small amount of Sunshine orange and a small amount of dark brown.  The results were amazing.

It really is amazing how those few fairly simple steps completely transformed this piece.  It went from looking old and outdated, to very hip and stylish.

Here I show it with a big belt over and paired with my refashioned skirt.  I bought this skirt off of the FB Yard Sale page for a few dollars, but it was way too big and was a white and grey striped coloring.  Gave it a tan bath and while wearing the skirt inside out, pinned it down the front to get a perfect fit to my body and curves.

The result is a perfect edgy skirt that was pretty much made for me.  I adore this outfit and get compliments like crazy when I wear it all together.

Sweater Cut Off

I don't know about you, but on occasion, I have clothing items that I LOVE, but there is something off & it doesn't feel right when on .  This sweater is one of those items for me.  It is this GORGEOUS rich purple that I love the color of along with the pattern, but the length always drove me batty and made me feel extremely frumpy. 

 When I put it on, it hit me mid thigh and I didn't like how it looked on me.

 I had the idea that I would hem it so that I could keep the ribbed edge on the bottom, but when I went to go line it all up and pin it, I saw that the bottom was wider than the upper part where I wanted the bottom to be... so.......

 I just laid it down on my cutting mat and cut a straight edge where I wanted the edge to be.  I then went on my sewing machine and sewed a zigzag edge to help prevent fraying and the sweater to come unraveled.

I actually quite like the raw edge look in general and this one didn't disappoint.  It gave a bit of a ruffled look and I like how easy and fast it was.

 I have wanted to cut this shorter for quite some time and I am glad I finally took the time to do it.  This will be a great sweater to wear this fall.  I bought the sweater about 2 years ago, but didn't wear it last year because of how frumpy I felt in it when it was long.

Here I have it paired with my favorite simple knee high boots, simple stretchy skinny jeans from Forever 21, favorite chunky belt, lots of bracelets/bangles that I got from other people and a fun accent green shirt underneath for a pop.

I have many more sewing/cutting projects to come.  We cover it all on this blog ;-)