What does re-fashion mean to me?

I had planned to take this linen/rayon, light blue floral print dress and turn it into a tunic.

I did so but was unsatisfied with how the finished product looked on me. I am trying to decide if the lesson learned from this is that I do not wear sheath style well or that pastel floral is not for me. I set it aside for potential use in some other non-wearable project and then my gaze landed on a sweater I had been holding on to for a while. A lovely blue and white cotton knit together with raglan style sleeves and a turtleneck. The reason I hadn't worn it was that neck. I have developed a taste for lower neck-lines and the sweater, while beautiful and snuggly has been snubbed for that one issue. I then made the choice and a few snips and a bit of knit bias tape and I have the sweater that I will be wearing today and hopefully many times in the future, ready to go. (As well as a headband quickly cobbled together from the neck piece)
For me a re-fashion is taking something I have already and changing it to better suit me in the right now. (whether that thing is an article of clothing or a chunk of fabric I have acquired from a thrift-store) That dress will get used to make other things but most likely not something I will be wearing. Since I have learned from the doing, while the end result was not what I was aiming for the time was not wasted. Does what I end up making from the dress still count as re-fashioning or does that fall under the re-use header?

Since I don't have any other good (meaning at all well lit, relevant to topic or in anything approaching focus) pictures today I thought I would share a few links to tutorials I have used with a fair amount of success.

A tutorial on how to draft and sew skirts. I used this to create a lovely maxi from a fabric I had been hoarding for years.
http://madmim.com/drafting-and-sewing-a-maxi-skirt-stretch-yourself/

This has good verbiage and fairly clear visuals on how to draft and construct a "Peasant style" top. I used this to make a nearly ankle length dress for my little girl and have drafted a pattern to attempt a top for myself soon.
http://thingsofcloth.blogspot.com/2008/07/adult-size-peasant-blouse-tutorial.html

This site is in German but the chart is clear. I took this idea and ran with it. Ended up drafting a cross-over pinafore style apron pattern and made 3 of them over a couple of days. Two of them I managed to put pockets on.
http://efraimstochter.de/bastelideen/pippi_kostuem.shtml

If any of these links do not work for you or the site goes away please let me know.

Re-fashion Resolution

I am by no means a "Fashionable" person. I don't dress up because I refuse to try to impress anyone with anything other than my sparkling personality. Recently I found a blogger that helped me see that re-fashioning things is more about expressing your personality than I had realized. In reading her blog (I read all of the archived posts over a period of 3 days, I binge) I also saw that doing this can be an emotional healing process. Keep doing what you love and it will help you pick yourself back up while bringing you joy in the doing.
My attempt at a resolution for this coming year is to try to learn how to re-fashion to fit my style (hers is very much her own) and try to learn more about myself in the process. I hope to be able to wear something I have either sewn from scratch or "edited" every day for the coming year, a hope and a goal for me to work towards.
This does not mean that my other crafting loves (a hook or a pen is never far from hand) will not resurface many times but that I am going to try to focusing on this overall.
So to introduce you to the blogging personality that sparked this little venture, Here she is, The Refashionista. Check her out and hopefully you will be as inspired by her stories and style as I was.

Week in and Week out.

I believe I have taken a long enough break from sharing my arty bits with my "Loyal 3" and will again be attempting a weekly posting. For today I will share the bounty that the winter gift giving season showered upon me. My Darling Hubby got me a lovely set of "disposable" fountain pens and a copy of Zentangle Basics as well as helping my Wonderful Mother to pick a couple of doozies as well. She got me the book I had been drooling on for a couple of years, Japanese Bookbinding by Ikegami. Love love love. The awesome did not stop there. I was also gifted with Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden and to top the already frosted cake, The Sakura Koi pocket water-color set. I have been making miniature stab bound books and painting shipping labels to use as decoration but much of my crafting time lately has been going towards yarn. Hats had to be made for the winter season and the stash was overflowing its bounds again.
The other crafty endeavor that we made was for my Small Ones 11th birth anniversary. The pinata had to be custom made...

I was happily covered in papier-mache and spray paint but the Small one was utterly pleased so I deem this a win.
It was then hung and "EXTERMINATED" with a baseball bat by several Whovian creatures.

We also created a "Burn Pit" to help get rid of the invasive weeds that we can't compost. I took pictures of the process and if anyone would like a post dedicated to that please let me know. It was fun and marshmallows were roasted.
Love, Peace and Joy to you all
Stormy