Karlene's Workshop

This is the dress I made from the painted denim jeans panel. Alas, some of the detail in the top layers of paint have been lost in the wash, still looks OK though. Next time I try this I will know to do all the painting in one flat layer, like a picture in a […]

This is another dress we used in a recent photo shoot, beautifully modeled by my lovely sister. The skirt is made from vintage fabrics and lace. The larger pieces of fabric in the skirt are square shapes, with one corner rounded off in a similar way that circular skirts are cut. Putting many pieces together […]

Thanks to my husband Keith, I got some lovely shots of the finished fairy style dresses I made. This one I am wearing is the one I wrote about in my last post , made from denim scrap from some jeans and other bits and pieces. It took me a long time to finish, as […]

The dress, as is, on my dress stand. A bit lopsided but there is a reason as you will see… I’m pleased with how this is turning out, there is just one little thing I have to change, the top part of the “petticoat” lining layer is sitting too high. It’s kind of hard to […]

Remember this green jeans skirt I made? I’m using the cut off pant legs to make a bodice for a patchy fairy style dress. Here’s a look at the front part of the bodice before being completely sewn up. You can see I’ve used the unpicked hem at the top of one panel for a […]

I started with a pair of slightly faded green jeans, then made them into a skirt like this. It was a bit plain so I decided to add some patchwork applique and lace My favourite so far! If you look at the back of the waistband you can see the original colour where I’ve pulled […]

Not far from where I live is a thrift shop that has a regular clothing sale once a month where everything is $1 each. I’ve only been twice, and come home each time with a huge bag full of clothes to be refashioned. I’ve promised myself to stay away until all the work has been […]

The post about my jeans skirt has had a lot of interest so I decided to do a basic tutorial for the jeans to skirt transformation. This idea is not a new one and there are plenty of tuts and varying methods, this is the way I do it. Take an old pair of old […]

The methods and materials I have used for this corset are recommended only for costume use with light support on the body. If you want a traditional corset, or anything that is worn regularly or tightly laced then you will need to use much sturdier materials, like tightly woven coutil fabric and spiral or spring […]

I got my costume for Barn dance finished this week – which is good as Barn dance is this Saturday. The skirt is from my previous post, up cycled from an old dressing gown, and the denim corset is made from an old pair of jeans. I put in the eyelets and lacing yesterday, then […]