Taco Bell T-shirts

 Hello Readers. I was given a bunch of t-shirts from Taco Bell. Do I work at Taco Bell? No. A friend owned a shop near a Taco Bell and the manager gave them these t-shirts. Why? I have no idea. The friend gave me the shirts because they know I like to cut things up and make them into new things. So.. what should I make from these shirts??

I love tacos and Taco Bell, I just didn't want to wear the advertising. 

 

A friend gave me all these Taco Bell shirts but what could I make from them? Let's make a dress. 

 

These shirts had writing all over them. It was on the front and...

 

And the back. 

 

I didn't want to be a walking Taco Bell billboard so I cut the graphics away and just used the parts that were plain black. 

 

I sewed the pieces of t-shirt together to make the skirt tiers of my dress. 
 

I clipped the tiers together. 

  

I also had this cropped shirt I made last summer. I liked it but I thought it would make a fun dress. I used it as the bodice of my dress. 

 

I clipped the skirt to the top and sewed them all together. 

My new dress was finished and it is so fun. It is still basic black which makes it easy to wear. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Fresh New Ironing Board Cover

 Hello Readers. If you ever iron than you know how easy it is to scorch or burn your ironing board cover. Those irons get hot. It can happen to everyone but it looks pretty awful and dirty after a while. At least that was the case for me. I like to sew and that means I iron often. And that means I have burned the life out of my ironing board cover.

New ironing board, who dis?

Here is my old ironing board and my burned out cover. It looks dirty and I don't like that. I was taking this whole ironing board out of my sewing room because I got a new one.  

Look at this burned out mess I made! 

I got a new-old ironing board actually. This is actually made of wood and is vintage for sure. I don't have a makers mark but I love the way the wood looks. It is very solid and really pretty. Too pretty for that old yucky cover that I burned up. 

So here I am putting that rotten cover back on the wooden ironing board, why did I do that?? Well, I needed that padding in the cover. The padding is not just normal cushion material it is heat resistant. I am going to want that on my ironing board for sure. If I use regular batting I might regret it because it won't be able to handle the heat of a long hot ironing sessions. 

I had some pre-washed pink cotton fabric that I wanted to hide my ironing board cover. (I used pre-washed fabric so it won't bleed dye on things when I iron. Do not use polyester or synthetic fabric. It won't be able to handle the heat of ironing.) I am going to have this on top so the burn marks are hidden but the padding I need is still on the ironing board. I spread the fabric over the ironing board so that the edges of the pink fabric hung off the sides by at least 3 inches. I cut the excess off the fabric. I needed 2 inches of hanging fabric all around the ironing board. 

 

I used my sharp sewing scissors to cut all around the ironing board. It doesn't have to be cut perfectly. The edges won't show when we are done. I cut off anything more than the 2 inches hanging off the edge. You will end up with a piece of fabric that is ironing board shaped and a bit larger than your ironing board. 

 

I used elastic to finish the cover. I sewed the elastic to the edge of the fabric around all sides. The elastic will pull the edges in and gather the fabric. This is why your fabric and cutting didn't need to be perfect earlier. The edges will be gathered together with the elastic and it will hide all the imperfections. I used my serger for this step. You could also use a zigzag stitch to keep the edges from fraying and attach the elastic all in one step. Remember to pull or stretch the elastic a little as you sew. That will gather the fabric together. 

 

The elastic will shrink up and your new fabric cover might seem small but it will stretch around the ironing board and stay put when you put it on. The elastic will tighten up under the ironing board and keep everything in place. 

 

I have used this cover several times already and it is nice to have a fresh clean ironing board to use. The pink matches my sewing room really well but you can use any fabric or color you like. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bow Sweater

 Hello Readers. I am an avid thrifter. Not everything at the thrift store is in perfect condition. Sometimes things have a bit of damage. This sweater was like that. It was nice soft cashmere but it had a few small holes in the front. I thought I should mend them. 

I made a bow sweater. 

The holes were not big, I just didn't like them.  

I saw this sweater on TikTok. It was so cute! The bows gave me an idea. I could mend the holes and add a bow to cover the spot.  

I grabbed some ribbon. 

I sewed the ribbons on all over the front of the sweater to make it look like the original sweater. 

 

It was done but I did not like wearing it. When I wore it the bows fluttered around when I moved and it drove me crazy! I ended up removing all the bows a few days later. 

 

I saw this sweater on Pinterest. It was cute too. 

 

I found some pom-poms.... should I sew these on the sweater? Will they drive me crazy too?? Any thoughts? Let me know in the comments. I am in a sewing idea spiral. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

Mending Old Jeans 2

 Hello Readers. My daughter found these wonderful appliqued jeans for me at a thrift store. The floral details were so pretty. They were seriously distressed. I like distressing but these were a little too much for me because of the location of some of the distressing. Some parts of me need to be covered. I am picky like that. Let me show you how I patched them up. 

 Before and after.  

I loved these jeans but the holes on the upper thigh were too revealing for me and it's winter. And I would freeze with all these holes. The knee holes would make me really cold as well. The length was not right either, but I can fix all that. 

 

I wanted to patch some of these holes for warmth and modesty. I was particularly worried about the holes at the hips. (My underwear would show through some of these holes. I can't go out like that!)

  

I do not have enough scrap denim to patch all these holes. I did have some of these iron-on patches.  

  

The patches are denim looking but they can do so much for me than scrap fabric could do. 

 

The reverse side of the patches are shiny. That shiny side goes directly on the fabric. When the patch is ironed, it sticks to the fabric. 

 

I turned my jeans inside out and placed the patches on the holes I wanted to cover. I used all the different shades of blue that I had on-hand. I wasn't worried about matching the jeans exactly but you can match your patches if you want to. I placed the patches shiny side on the fabric and ironed them in place. I used a very hot iron, (Similar here.) follow the directions on your patches in regards to the desired temperature needed for the iron. 

 

I turned the jeans right-side out. I ironed the patched spots again from this side to make sure the patches were well adhered to the denim fabric. I didn't want loose patches. 

 

Here is a look at one of the patched spots. The fraying covered the patch quite a bit. To add strength to my patches I sewed over the jeans and patches. I used light blue thread to match the fabric. I sewed forward and reverse, back and forth, over and over. The stitches will keep the patches in place for sure, even over time with washing and drying. The holes will be covered and I won't have to worry about it.  

 

Here is another patched spot. You can see the stitches clearly here. I kept sewing back and forth to cover the spot. I did not patch every single spot on the jeans, just the larger ones on the hips and upper thighs. 

  

 The knees also bothered me. The holes were actually not on my knees. They were lower because I am really short.  I decided to patch them using the same kind of iron-on patches, these were just larger patches because the holes were larger in these 2 spots.

 

I ironed these patches inside the jeans with my iron, just like I did with the other patches. They ironed in place just as easily. 

 

 I could not get the leg of the jeans under my sewing machine so I reinforced these patches with some hand sewing. I sewed around the hole and around the patch to attach the patch to the jeans. I think sewing the patches in place makes them MUCH stronger and they will stay in place much better over time if you take this step. 

 

These jeans were so distressed that I did not hem the pant legs, I just cut them to the length I wanted. The edges will fray and that will match the rest of the distressing in the jeans well. 

 

 I had a sweater that matched the applique design really well. I really liked these jeans. They had a fun bohemian vibe and I love the distressing, patches and visible mending. Repairing things that we use and love makes me feel good. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Mending Old Jeans 1

 Hello Readers. When I find a bargain, I can't resist taking it home. These jeans were only 25 cents because they were so worn and damaged. I have been thinking about how much we throw away and how wasteful we can be with clothing but also all sorts of things. I want to take the time to mend and repair the things I own and love so... I bought the jeans and decided to try and rescue them.

Before and after. 

These jeans were really worn in and the denim was so soft. It takes so long to break denim in like this. When I saw these for such a low price, I saw a lot of potential. But there were a lot of problems. These were men's jeans. They didn't fit me well. There was also some wear and small holes in embarrassing places.  

You can see the hole right next to the zipper. That is not going to work for me. That is an area I really want covered. I started unpicking the crotch below the zipper. 

 

I unpicked several inches of the seam. I didn't un-do the zipper itself. Just the crotch seam.

 

With the seam un-done I could pull the right side of the pants over to the left and cover that hole. These jeans Had plenty of room so this will actually improve the fit for me. 

 

I wanted to sew the jeans back together like this. That hole will be covered up. 

 

Let's zoom in. I stitched the jeans back together in the new position. I sewed slow and used a new needle because multiple layers denim can be tough to sew through. A denim needle will work best. 

 

There was a similar hole on the back of the jeans. It was right next to the pocket. I do not want a hole in the bum of my jeans. That is another area I really want my jeans to cover is my bum. Let's mend that hole.

 

I found a scrap of denim to use as a patch. I wanted it to be much bigger than the hole. It is going inside the jeans and it will be right over the hole. 

 

I sewed back and forth over the hole and patch to re-enforce the fabric. My stitches are extending about 2 inches beyond the hole to add strength to the whole area. 

 

You can see my stitches here. I sewed forward and backward over the area in both directions. That will make the patch stronger too. The pocket was a more complicated spot to fix but it wasn't too difficult. I stitched vertically next to the pocket and then horizontally above the pocket because I had to work around the corner of that pocket. 

 

I wanted to narrow the legs of the jeans a bit so I sewed along the inner seam to make a new seam that was a little smaller. I turned the jeans inside out and made sure the leg of the jeans was flat and smooth before I sewed my new seam. 

 

I also cut the jeans a bit shorter. I cut at an angle so the front of the pant leg was a bit shorter than the back of the pant leg. 

 

My new/old jeans were great now. They fit so much better. The holes are patched, filled in, and covered. Thanks for reading along, now go repair something fun for yourself.