Clothing Makeover: Three More Bodyline Blouses

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

The latest craft project is another clothing makeover, technically three makeovers.

Three different blouses, all bought from Bodyline.  I had so much fun fixing up the last one I had to try my hand on these three. 

Two have fairly minor issues with them, but hang tight for the last one.

This cute blouse didn’t need that much done to it.

It has some of the prettiest lace I’ve ever seen and the cutest heart shaped pearly buttons.  And I normally don’t go for ruffles down the front of a top, but the ones on this blouse are actually really cute.

However, the problem lies with the ruffles.  They added the same ruffles across the sleeve, there something about this placement that bothers me.  It makes is so hard to enjoy the really pretty lace, isn’t it pretty though?

Anyway, just a bit of time with a seam ripper was all it took.  Ruffles no more!

I had actually intended to remove the faux pearls on the collar because they kind of clash with the buttons.  But I kind of got use to them, they do add a nice touch. 

So now this ruffly and pearly blouse it ready to be worn.

This blouse needed a little more to be done.  For starters, I love the ribbon bows down the front, but not the odd bows on the sleeves.

However, the biggest issue is the collar.  The wide lace is actually one of my favorite laces used by Bodyline, but I don’t like it enough to have two rows of it on such a large collar.  It makes it look like the blouse has two collars, and both ginormous.

Removing the lace leaves behind a visible seam.  I could have just covered it up with a smaller trim, but I decided to remove the collar.

Then pin it back  on backwards, and re-sew…

…to make a “new” collar.

The odd visible seam is now on the underside of the collar.  It did get a little bunched up while re-sewing, but it’s not that noticiable. 

So now the cute ribbon bow blouse is ready for use.

This final blouse came out of a lucky pack (the one this dress came from) and needed the most work of all. 

Being from a lucky pack meant flaws, like missing pieces.  It was suppose to come with detachable sleeves so it could go from short sleeve to long sleeve for cooler weather.

It did come with this cameo pin along with a ribbon necktie.  It is scratched up and in need of a makeover too, but that will be for another day.

Anyway, the problem with this blouse is the overly ruffled collar.  It’s funny how ruffles have been getting in way, I normally love them.   These ruffles are so not flattering, so I carefully cut them off with tiny scissors.

After cutting, the blouse now has an simple, yet elegant high neck collar.  This would be good look for those into vintage and antique clothing. 

However, I’m not really into high neck blouses, so back to more cutting.

I cut off the collar and cut a new, slightly square shaped neckline.  I find this much more flattering for me.

I then cut off the edge of one of the old ruffles and stitched it along my new neckline. 

After turning and topstitching…

…It looks like this.

I added a snap to close the top and a little bow for decoration.

I made matching bows for the sleeves to replace the odd looking ones.

And now my new collar-less blouse is ready to go.  These blouses were so much fun to alter, I wish I had a few more to work with.  Maybe later.

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress makeover
• Doll undies
• Cameo and Hearts
• Blouse makeover
• Phone case
• Outfit
• Mother’s Day
• Costume fix
• Jammies
• Bonnet

Five down, five more to go.  The next one will be ready in a few days, look forward to it.

Give it a try:

• Loops & Threads™ Start-to-Sew Kit
• Singer Sewing Kit Beginner's
• Loops &Threads Seam Ripper

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Bodyline Blouse Review and Re-do or a Lacey Makeover

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

A while ago I bought a blouse from a Japanese site, Bodyline.  This is the third one I have bought from them (see Catching Up – A Wee Bit of Online Shopping).  I could not resist it.  The prices for pretty much all of their stuff had dropped drastically.

I manage to buy the blouse (it’s l157 in off-white) and 2 pairs of tights for about $34, that’s including the shipping and about the same amount I would have paid before for just the blouse. 

There were a few snags.

The tights are nice with a pretty color and texture, but one little problem.  They don’t fit.  The legs are too short for me, surprisingly.  But I have plans for that in the future.

Anyway, there is the blouse to deal with.  It is a pretty design with a cute but large collar, and the fabric is decent.

It laces up nicely with ribbon in the back to adjust the fit.  It fits me well, so no problems there.

It has detachable sleeves so I can wear it as a short sleeve blouse in warm weather…

…and have long sleeves in the winter.

The problem is all the lace, that awkward ruffly lace. 

In the product photos it looked more like a lace used in some of their other blouses which I totally love.  This blouse was cursed with a lower quality lace.  And the gathering of the lace and it’s placement only made it looker cheaper, at least to my eyes.  Time for a little makeover.

First I snipped off the lace from the collar.  The collar is quite large and the lace only emphasized that.  So did the rather large ribbon bows which had to go. 

I then removed the lace from the sleeves and from the front.

Here’s the interesting part, instead of replacing that old lace with something new, I reused it in different ways.  I took some of the now flat, unruffled lace and pinned it down the front of the lace in slightly overlapping rows.  Much prettier to look at now.

I also cut some of the lace into thinner strips of lace to use along the edges of the collar and the short sleeves.  Thinner lace is more discreet on a large collar.

After sewing down all that lace by hand, I remade the ribbon bows into smaller and cuter bows (see my video tutorial for making simple bows if you don’t know how).

And now the finished blouse.  It is much better, prettier and easier to pull off.  I just need a pretty new skirt to pair with it, but that’s for another time.

Here’s the updated list:

• coats
• hearts
• organize
• blouse
• outfit

Three down, two more to go.  The next one should be up soon and it will be super cute.  Look forward to it.

Give it a try:

• Prym Dritz Seam Ripper
• Loops &Threads Seam Ripper

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Catching Up – A Wee Bit of Online Shopping

This post may contain affiliate links, check my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

As a former tax preparer, I have a tendency to get my taxes done fairly early compared to most people.  Mainly because when working as a preparer, if you don’t get them done early you may have trouble finding the time to do them yourself and on time.  Plus what self-respecting tax preparer would even think of letting someone else do their taxes for them.  All this means is I filed my taxes and received my modest but decent sized tax refund in a timely matter. 

Now what did I do with my refund?  I invested some of it by buying bonds, and put some of it toward paying off debt, and some of it went to savings.  The rest went towards some items on my wish list.  Just a few things I have been eyeing for a while and thought would be useful to have for Spring as well as the rest of the year.

First off, you may have notice in the picture at Phoenix Comicon (see Catching Up - Conventions Anyone?) I’m carrying a white parasol.  I sort of made it myself, specifically for the con and for Spring.

It start out as a white umbrella from World Import Co. on eBay.  It costs $16.99 with free shipping.  It came in just a few days in this cool triangle box.  I wanted to keep it but I somehow couldn’t think of a good use for it.  Such a shame.

Anyway, here’s the umbrella along side some bubble wrap, yay bubble wrap!  This umbrella is the “parasol” style, so it has a ruffle on the bottom.

I mainly bought it for the white color and this handy hook shaped handle.  They come in other colors that were tempting, but I just stuck with the white.  Still, it would be interesting to have a pink umbrella.  The thing is that the handle is a tad thicker than I was expecting.  Thicker does mean less likely to break which is good, but it also means slightly harder to hold.  At least it does with my small hands.  It’s just something I have to get use to.

I do like the pointed end though, it’s one of the things I look for when buying umbrellas.  It just looks really nice and gives the umbrella a certain vintage touch.

The ruffle is pretty okay, it adds a sweet touch and saves me time since I was planning on adding a ruffle anyway.

The thing that really concerned me was the sheerness of the material.  I wanted to use this umbrella for both rain and shine.  If it’s too sheer will it offer enough sun protection?

That problem was easy to fix.  I had originally planned to add just a little lace trim, but instead I completely covered it with row upon row of pretty and water resistant lace.  It took quite a bit of time, but it was so worth it.

Here’s the results.  I forgot to take a picture immediately after finishing, this one was taken after using it for several weeks.  The problem with white is that it is so easy to get it dirty.  Oh well, at least it’s pretty.

I also bought a new petticoat, my other was dying on me.  It actually fell flat on me almost immediately after this one arrived, maybe out of jealousy?  I found the new one on Amazon, sold by Rose Boutique for $25 including the shipping cost.  They shipped it out quickly.  It was estimated to arrive in about 10 days, but it came early so when I got it I didn’t know what it was.  It came in this really tiny package. 

I still didn’t know what it was when I opened the package until I read the included washing instructions.  I thought that was helpful at least.

Behold the unwrapped poufy petticoat.  It expanded like crazy after I unwrapped it.  It’s a 50’s style petticoat, so it has a bit of an a-line shape to it.  A little too a-line sadly for my use, but I was able to easily alter it to give it a softer and rounder shape.  Now it’s perfect and it cost a fraction of what similar shaped ones would have cost me to buy/make.

I also bought a couple of blouses I’ve been eyeing from Bodyline. The total came to 5,998 Japanese Yen with free shipping, which comes to about $25 each.  Considerably more than what I usually pay for clothing, but they were worth it.

They came wrapped in these cute red bags.  I saved them because they were so cute, I think they would be useful for organizing accessories or even paperwork.

The first one is this short sleeved blouse.  It has beading lace on the collar and down the front, rose shaped lace down the front too, and faux pearl buttons.  It also has lacing on the back to give it a fitted look which is nice.  I found the wide crochet lace on the collar and sleeves a bit awkward the first time I wore it, but now I love them.  I bought it in a size medium and it fits okay except its slightly too big at the shoulders.  I’ll take it in eventually, but for now it’s okay.

I also got this long sleeved blouse. It has some of the same types of lace as the short sleeved blouse which is so great, but there are a few problems.  It has the same fitting issue as the short sleeved blouse, the lacing on the back isn’t quite as nice looking, and then there’s the buttons.

First one of them actually snapped off when I simply tried on the blouse, possibly the result of damage during shipping.  It did come with one spare button, just one though.  The first time I wore the blouse a second button snapped off.  Luckily the buttons were definitely not my favorite part, now it will be easier to just switch them out for nicer buttons.  Otherwise I still really like both blouses.

There actually is one other thing I purchased over the last few months, but I’m saving that for another post because it involves a special surprise.  Look forward to it. :)

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