Dresser Refinish - From Ugly to Fab

Our bed used to have drawers under it, so we really didn't need a dresser in our room.  We recently got a new bed, so I had to quickly find a dresser to make up for the lost drawer space.  Per the norm, I had something specific in my head, and looked everywhere trying to find the perfect thing.  Of course, the perfect thing was no where to be found, so started looking for something old to make into something new.  

We continually visited all of the thrift stores in the the area for several weeks until I found this gem...

I started by removing all the drawers, taking the hardware off, and wiping everything down with a damp cloth.  I had paint leftover from a built in shelf project my husband did in our room, so I used that to make chalk paint (same method I used in this post for another project).  This wood wasn't easily covered, so I ended up putting three coats of paint on, when with most projects I only need to do two.  In between paint coats, I sprayed the hardware with this spray paint...

It doesn't even seem like the same dresser to me anymore.  It amazes me what a little paint can do for a piece of furniture.  

Before/After

I love how it looks against the purple wall!

Little Girl's Jeans Refashion

My daughter grows out of clothes length wise, never width wise.  She has long, skinny legs pants that are long enough for her always end up being too big in the waist, even with the adjustable waist bands.  That being said, she outgrows the legs of the pants long before she ever is too big for the waist.  Every year I think about trying to extend the life of her jeans, and finally got around to working on a pair of them.  She had a pair of skinny jeans that were too short, and a little worn in the knees, but fit fine otherwise.  I decided to add a cute ruffle to the bottom and put patches on the knees to give them a little more life.  

I started by cutting the hem of the jeans off right above the cuff.  Once I had that piece, I cut it and measured the length to find out how big around the ruffle would need to be. This was my easy solution to avoid putting any sort of effort into figuring out my measurements.  It was 10.75" long, so I doubled that for the width to allow enough room to gather the fabric. 

Not a great picture, but you'll get the idea...

I wanted my ruffle to be about 2.5", and I hate adding hems, so I cut the fabric at 6" and folded it in half.  Here are the steps I went through for the ruffle... 

I sewed the ends together to make a circle, and then gathered the top edge.  I recently bought a gathering presser foot for my sewing machine, and it changed my life.  I was horrible at the loose stitch, pull the strings to gather method, and just ended up avoiding anything that required gathering.  Now it takes barely any time at all and looks a million times better.  Once I had the gathering done, I flipped it inside out and pinned it around the cuff of the jeans (they were right side out) and sewed them together. I pressed them flat and topstitched around the jeans as well, but didn't take a picture of that step.

Next, I made appliques using the same method I described in my Denver Bronco Baby Onesies post.  I placed them on the knees and on a shirt so that she would have a whole outfit.  

I love how it turned out and my little fashionista was more than happy to pose for pictures.