This Mom is Like a Fairy Godmother Turning Ugly Clothes Into Beautiful Outfits

By
Pie
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Image by @sarahtyau / Instagram

Sarah Tyau started to refashion old clothes in 2010 as a way to save money. Since then, she has sewed hundreds of pieces of old clothing, from oversized shirts to wedding dresses and transformed them into new and stylish outfits.

It became her philosophy in life to “Look good, feel good, do good.” She sources clothes from friends and family and thrift stores. With her remarkable sewing techniques, she now plans to put up her own clothing line, with the proceeds going to the children in need.

With over 150k followers on Instagram, this mother of three continues to turn ugly clothes into beautiful dresses and she even shares her techniques on how to recycle your old clothes via her YouTube channel.

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I am itching to sew again! (This XXL men’s shirt into a bell sleeve girls’ dress DIY tutorial is on my blog, link in bio or on my story) But school is starting soon and it’s been so busy trying to get everything done before it starts, where has Summer gone? Did it fly by for you too? Holy cow! I still haven’t taken their “Last day of school” photo yet, at this rate I’ll just take it along with their first day of school photo.😅 . . I probably shouldn’t be THIS excited that school is starting soon, but I am. A teensy part of me is sad but I’m mostly excited.😆 Because I’ll be sending my son to a private preschool 2 days a week for all day! 7 hours of alone time 2 days a week, I have not had this much free time in 11 years! Woo hoo, freedom, party time!!! I’ll get so much done. And more sewing. Yay!!! I feel guilty at the amount of excitement I have about this. Jk, I really don’t.😂 . . But how about you? Are you excited or sad about school starting soon?

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A simple alteration of making the sleeves shorter and narrowing the bodice. . . The reason why I think every person, especially a woman(no, not being old fashioned, keep reading😉), should learn to sew is it helps you to love the body you have now, not when you’re 10 lbs. lighter. By having the clothes conform to the body you have right now, instead of trying to conform your body to a certain clothing item/size. Instead of buying a certain item and saying, “I’m going to wear this once I lose the 10 lbs.”, you alter the clothing instead to fit that beautiful curve, shape and size that your mama gave you! To celebrate the beautiful, capable body that you have NOW. . . Of course I think every man should learn to sew too(so excited to teach my son when he’s a little older!), but their clothes are more straight down and not as form fitting. But that just means it’ll be much easier! So there’s an incentive for you men! . . I have several dresses that I plan on adding simple alterations to, to make them fit my body better, would you like a tutorial on that? Comment with your favorite fruit if so! 🍉🍇🥥🥝🍑🍒

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You know how you look at old photos of yourself and think, what was I thinking with that haircut/clothes? Well, that’s what I think when looking at this DIY refashion I did back in 2010.😬😳🙈 Do any of you remember this one? If you do, comment below, you are one of my oldest followers and I need to give you a virtual high five and a hug! ✋🏼 🤗 But yes, I am not super proud of this one guys, I cringe a little on the inside even showing you this. But we all start somewhere, right?😅 It has potential but I think where I went wrong was if you look at the original on the left, the neckline was too low for me so I was trying to make the front not as low cut so I had to do two twist knots instead of just one. It would look so much cuter with just one twist knot. But maybe it’s not as bad as I think it is? You know how you’re always your own worst critique? What do you think on a scale from 1-10, 1 being ugly and 10 being super cute. I give it a 3.5. Be honest, I can take it!

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Little did you know I made TWO versions of this refashion where I used my old XS shirts I had and upcycled them into a peplum top for my girls. Which one do you like better? The blue or the red? . . I spoke at a workshop today with a panel of other amazing women on the topic of Instagram. When I was invited to speak, I almost turned it down because I thought, “Me? I’m the last person who should be on that panel because I don’t take Instagram seriously, I never plan out my posts or schedule them, I literally find a photo to post seconds before posting, I don’t use it to make money or sell anything, and I wish social media didn’t exist?”😬😅 And I even told that during the panel.😳 . . But some advice I gave was to make sure the #1 reason you use this platform isn’t for personal gain, but for a higher cause. It can be to make money but instead of wanting to make a lot of money so you can keep up with the Joneses or own nice things, to make money so you can help others. If you sell a product, for the product to help others in some way and have that be the #1 goal instead and #2 on making cash. Then on the days when you don’t feel motivated to post or feel burnt out from social media, you can say oh, I am not doing this for myself, I’m doing it for a cause bigger than myself. . . Another thing I want to add is don’t take it so seriously! The number of followers or comments or likes shouldn’t have effect(or affect? I struggle with these two, guys) on your mood or happiness or self confidence. It has nothing to do with your worth, happiness or confidence. . . I’m so grateful for each one of you who follow me and support me even when I am not strategic on here and I’m a mess, I’m way too open and TMI and feel way too comfortable on my stories.😆 Thank you, it means so much to me. Even though I want to constantly quit, I’m still on here because of you. I love you. *aww so tender and precious! #grouphug

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Refashioned a men’s shirt into a crop top + skirt set for my girl in The Refashion Runway gingham challenge. After competing in that competition in 2015, I told myself that it would be the last competition I’d ever enter, I strongly dislike them! I like celebrating everyone’s unique talents, not comparing and critiquing others to my own, which was what I found myself doing, being the worst critique of my own work but also nit-picking other contestants’ work. I also found out how competitive I could be.😅 . . Do any of you feel the same with competitions? Everyone’s at such a different stage in learning, or had different opportunities and so many other factors, it seems so unfair to be competing with others to measure who is better than the other. Or do you love competitions? I can see why some would, it definitely pushes you and challenges you to be better than ever before! So which one are you?

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One of my new friends I gained today(Hello to all my new lovely friends I’ve gained lately and to my old friends!) told me this was her favorite transformation of mine and I have to agree! Mostly because I wish I had this in my size.🙂 I turned a size medium jacket I bought from my friend’s yard sale for $3, into a cute and sophisticated jacket/dress for my daughter. The bow is removable and can also be worn on the hair. A full video tutorial link in bio or swipe up on my story. . . p.s. We are breaking ground tomorrow for our new house! I always debate whether to post the updates on our house from now on via stories on this feed or my @dreamhomecometrue feed. Where do you think I should post it? Mainly on my home account and just post one story here saying check out my stories on the other account? Help this sista out by answering this not-that-important question!😆

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