DIY Tulle Circle Skirt Tutorial (Exposed Elastic Waistband)

Oh tulle skirts, how I love thee. No matter how I'm feeling, tulle skirts give me so much happiness and make me feel like a princess. In all my years of sewing, I had never made one though. The only time I made one was when I made this Fourth of July dress, 3 years ago. It's incredibly easy to make a tulle circle skirt. The fact that it is a circular piece gives it a beautiful shape and movement.

 Seriously, now I want to make one in every color, even though I already have a couple in my closet! I will keep updating this post when I make more tulle circle skirts. :)

For my magical 24th birthday this year, I made this lavender tulle skirt to match my unicorn print ruffle blouse. Usually, I hide my elastic waistbands, but this time around I bought this pink glitter elastic, so I wanted to show it off. You can make a waistband if you want your elastic covered, or you can show it if it's glittery or colorful. (or both!) There are many different colored elastics available, and in different sizes. I don't really like wide waistbands, so I chose a 1.5" wide elastic.

Now, let's get to making this beautiful tulle skirt!

June Modest Style Diary

June has come and gone! It always goes by so fast because it's full of summer fun. This June I celebrated my birthday with my family, went out on a lot of shopping trips, and went camping. Even though I am not an "outdoor-sy" person, I enjoy being out in nature for a few days. 

Anyway, here is my June style diary.

I'd like to say that about 90% of the time, I link similar items and not the exact ones in my style diary posts, because I'm not constantly purchasing clothes AND I sew/refashion a big part of what's in my closet. :)

How to Sew a Ruffle Front Blouse with Bell Sleeves

Time does fly fast doesn't it? I made this ruffle front blouse for my birthday this year and I promised I would upload a tutorial after the birthday craziness. Since June is always packed with a bunch of summer fun, I'm finally getting around to posting this tutorial. :) I'm a huge fan of ruffles, so when I was trying to figure out what to make with this unicorn fabric, I knew I had to incorporate some ruffles into the design.

This is an easy hack you can use to add a ruffle to the front of any top and some bell sleeves. I made these tops using the top of the Sweetheart Dress, but you can use any top pattern you have available. (I used the top of the Sweetheart Dress because I ran out of tracing paper and couldn't trace my other top patterns, hehe). You can even refashion any top you have using this tutorial, you would just need to open up the side seams.

For the bell sleeves, you can make either ruffle bell sleeves (like the blue striped blouse) or flounce bell sleeves (like the unicorn top). 

Restyling Exchange 2018 // Hooded Cardigan to New Floral Summer Top + What I Received

I participated in my very first refashion swap this year. I had been wanting to participate in one since last year, and I was very excited when I was invited to the Restyling Exchange. The Restyling Exchange is a "global refashion swap created to promote the use of pre-existing materials in our handmade practices in an effort to reduce waste and raise awareness for sustainable fashion." For more information, click here. 

Each participant sent out a garment to be refashioned by another restyler. Then, a garment was sent to us to be refashioned. It is such a fun surprise and so exciting to see what others refashioned with your garment. 

I was sent this hooded cardigan with some gorgeous embroidery. I definitely wanted the embroidery to be a main style element in the refashioned garment, and I wanted to use up as much as I could of it. I laid it out and thought out some ideas, before ultimately deciding that I would make a fun summer top out of the old cardigan. Here is how I cut the pieces and sewed it together.