Two things inspired this denim refashion: 1) I ordered the cd "Baghdad Heavy Metal", a heavy metal belly dance-type music compilation, and 2) I was invited to perform in a friend's Rocks Oriental show yesterday afternoon. For the non-belly dancers among us "Raks" means "Dance" and "Raks Oriental" means "Dance of the East" (i.e. belly dance). My friend wanted to put on a show where we all dance to classic rock, hence Rocks Oriental. :) Always in need of another costumer (yeah, right), I decided that this one needed to be a little more biker babe than I-Dream-Of-Jeanie, so I whipped up a 8-yard tiered skirt using 5 pairs of jeans and a little t-shirt halter to match. The halter is straight out of Generation T, btw - I made it last summer and just happened upon it for this ensemble. I test drove the skirt at dance class last week - it's awesome. I was afraid it would be too bulky if I made the tiers all the way to the top, so I just kept the top half of a pair that fit well and attached the tiers from there. It rocked. :) My plan is to flesh out the rest of the costume with some chains and studded leather cuffs. 
For the most part, other than the denim skirt, I haven't been doing much "refashioning", just sewing new fabric. My local fabric store had a major sale on knit spandex in awesome prints, so I made a couple of dresses. These are (clockwise): Simplicity 2885, Simplicity3503 View C, McCalls 5617, and Simplicity 3503 View B. The top left is a WIP - it needs buttons and to be hemmed up about 2 feet! I loved the pattern, but I'm not wild about the result. :( The bottom left I wore out to a bar, and a women told me in passing that she loved it; I managed to practice restraint and just say "thanks", instead of blurting "Thanks! I made it myself!!!" The top right dress is a little wonky in back, but I think I can fix it. The bottom right is basically perfect - phew! Sorry about the extremely inconsistent photos and lighting - my DH is not the most reliable photographer, but he tries...
Other than all of the above, I've been recycling shirts and whatnot into reusable shopping bags - I have a store interesting in selling them. Today I'll finished up a pair of pants (McCalls 5592) - I cut them out 3 months ago and the pieces just sat on the floor since, so I decided this was the weekend to try to knock them out. Almost done - the waistband is giving me fits, but I will prevail. Ooh, and yesterday my mom dropped off Boxes 1 & 2 of about 20 boxes of vintage fabric a lady in my hometown was getting rid of - it was her MILs and had been in storage since the 60s. Some of it is HIDEOUS but some is very workable. The ickier stuff will either be turned into bags or donated to some other poor soul... I'm very excited to see the other boxes, to say the least.
Been lovin' what I'm seein' here, ladies - keep up the good work!!!
