I Pledge...

See the button thingy in the side bar? The two months wardrobe refashion one? Well MEEEEP!
I got my invite to the Wardrobe Refashion, and you guys, I feel like I've ARRIVED!

If you don't know what it's all about you should race over there right now and find out, and if you came here from there then HI!

I have a pile of stuff to make into other stuff and a bloggy kick in the pants to do it. Such a kick in the pants in fact, that I actually refashioned something; as opposed to poking it, prevaricating and putting back it in the closet to be unworn for another 6 months.

Here's what I did,
This is the before. One cheap, three sizes too large, Old Navy sweater, in bright turquoise.
Now I love that colour, that colour however, does not love me back. In fact that colour writes stuff about me in the girls' washrooms. And also kind of makes me look dead.

And see the pocket? That pocket is all
"HEY HEY HEY! Oh hey. Look at Erin's midsection. TA-DA! Whooo!"
Now, as I have what the inimitable Reachel Bagley refers to as a "soft delicious center" (read "chubs in the middle") this is not the super- superest look for me.

So here's what I turned it into:

minus pocket, plus bow ('cause what's not better with a bow?) and a totally different colour. it's still too big but I think now it looks more, sort of chicly louche? At least in my head it does.

Wondering how I got it to change colour? I bleached it.
With bleach.
The stuff that you toss down sinks to get rid of the funk.

I was actually inspired by the weirdest thing, Liv of A field Journal used bleach to change the colour of her teeny weeny Christmas trees in this post here. and in my head sweaters and teeny weeny Christmas trees are PRACTICALLY the same thing.

I was a bit wary on account of the giant dress ruin of '08*. But I plucked up some courage, unpicked the pocket and bleached it first. It turned a nice marled shade of Tiffany blue so we were ON.
I used about half a liter (maybe a touch more) of Clorox bleach in a bucket of tepid water, mixed it up, opened the windows and hoped for the best.
Twenty minutes later the sweater a was the colour you see above. I gave it a rinse in some clean water then tossed it into the washing machine on super hot with an extra, extra rinse.
When it came out of the drier I tried it on, then decided it needed something. So I made the pocket into a bow and tacked it on.
If you're thinking of doing this and are after some actual instructions/science stuff I found a bit about the process here (it's a PDF).

*Yours Truly dropped a laundry bag containing 5 (count'em) of her favorite dresses and a bottle of bleach on the laundry room floor. The bleach bottle cracked. ALL 5 dresses were total write offs. I sat on the floor and cried (yup, pathetic, I know).