Project Restyle: Floral Shorts

After months of wanting to learn how to sew, I finally had my first sewing lesson the other day. My grandmother's friend is brilliant at sewing. She actually made all of her own clothes during high school. She offered to teach me awhile ago, but due to busy schedules, we never got around to it. However, on Friday we were both free, so I brought over some dresses to her house so she could teach me how to alter them. We spent the afternoon chatting and sewing, and when it was time to go home I didn't want to leave. I was inspired to keep on sewing, but since I'm still a newbie I wanted some cheap clothes to practice on. Saturday morning, I woke my grandma up for a trip to Savers, one of the thrift stores near my house. I always see clothing at thrift stores that I think would be cute if only they were shorter, smaller, and often less grandma-y. Somehow the long mumu baggy dresses always seem to have the best patterns. Finally, I was able to buy those potentially cute clothes because I now know the basics of altering. I walked out of the store with three bags full of clothes to work on. My first challenge: these floral shorts.

What the shorts looked like before. I loved the pattern and color, but I didn't enjoy the baggy, to the knee length.

After cutting off 6 inches, I began to sew the hem. I ended up sticking myself with the pins a few times and I almost sewed my finger, but there were no major disasters. 

shorts: thrifted. shirt: urban outfitters. boots: urban outfitters. sunnies: anthropologie. 

Voila! I can now wear them in public. I love the finished product, and my successful first sewing attempt has made me want to sew every day. So I have decided to start a new project/blog series in order to inspire me to work on my skills. What do you think? Each week, I will write a Project Restyle post about a thrift or vintage find that I have altered. They may not be the most elaborate projects, but I feel accomplished when I am able to wear the finished piece. Also, if any of you restyle your thrift and vintage finds, I would love to have you as a guest blogger for the series. Some weeks I may not be able to finish a piece, so I would love to have some other bloggers as part of the project. If you are interested in guest posting, email me at graceandviola@gmail.com for more details. 

Until next time, Mandy