Men's Shirt to Flowy Jacket

 Hello readers. When I saw this colorful shirt I thought it was so fun. The colors seemed to complement this striped dress so well. I love pattern mixing, I wanted to wear them together. But the plaid shirt was so big, it really needed a little help.

Before and after. 

I saw this long flowy shirt and loved the look of this piece.

 

I knew I needed to draw the shirt in at the waist and give it a little shape. I needed elastic. I used 1/4 inch elastic. 

 

I added the elastic to the inside of the shirt. It makes a huge difference in the shape of the shirt/jacket. I wanted a high waist but you can sew the elastic at your true waist level or anywhere you like it best. 

 

I put my shirt right-side down on my sewing machine and used a zigzag stitch to attach the elastic. I stretched the elastic while I sewed it to the shirt. I used the stripes as my guide but you can mark the height you want your elastic with chalk or a pencil to make sure you sew your elastic where you want it to be.

 

Now that the body of the shirt is done, let's do something with the sleeves.  

 

I had 2 ideas for this. You could roll up the sleeves. If they need help staying rolled up you can pin them. You could use safety pins or something like these pin on buttons. 

 

They are great for jean and jackets but they would be great for these sleeves too. They go on and off easily, so you can unroll the sleeves later if you want. 

 

I have short arms and the sleeves felt a little too bulky like this. (If you have more normal length arms or even long arms, this would work much better for you than it did for me.) 

 

I wanted to remove some of the bulk of the sleeves so I gave these sleeves a big cut in half. I spread the sleeves flat and cut them at the same time so they would be symmetrical. 

 

I turned the cut edge into the sleeve twice and stitched it down. This was really simple but it made the new sleeve look nicely finished. 

 

I still wanted to roll up the sleeves a little but it looked less bulky on my arms now. The elastic around the waist of the shirt gave it a more flattering shape. It is still oversized but it isn't overwhelming. This is a lot of color and pattern though. 

Just in case that is too much color and pattern for you, here is a look at the shirt styled differently. I paired it with a plain white t-shirt dress. I like this look a lot too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making A New Ironing Board Cover

 Hello Readers. I sew often and that means I need to iron quite a bit. My ironing board was in terrible shape but it wasn't difficult to make a new cover.Read on and I will show you.

A fresh new cover might make ironing less of a chore.

This poor sad ironing board. I love to sew but I am clumsy and forgetful. I have burned and scorched my ironing board so many times. It looks awful. Let's make a new prettier cover.

I found a piece of cotton fabric that was strong and sturdy and that was a little bigger than my ironing board. I removed the burnt fabric cover from my ironing board and used it as a pattern. There was padding under the original cover. I left the padding on the ironing board alone because it was not burned. I only want to replace the fabric cover on top of the padding

 

I cut around my original cover and added an inch in size all the way around. This will give me a little extra for the seam allowance. My ironing board is smaller than the norm. If you have a standard size ironing board (It stands on the floor with it's own legs.) add 2 inches to the circumference when you cut out your new cover. The following steps will be the same no matter what size ironing board you have..

 

I grabbed some 1/4 inch elastic. I need to sew this elastic all around the edge of the new cover. 

 

As I sewed the elastic to the cover, I pulled it gently but firmly. I wanted the elastic to be stretched as I stitched along. I used a zigzag stitch to sew the fabric and the elastic together.

 

I turned the edge of the fabric over the elastic. I pulled the elastic it stretched and when it is let go it shrinks back as you can see here. This will make the edges of the new cover curl under and grip all around the ironing board. (Sort of like a shower cap.)

 

After I sewed the elastic all around the edges it looked like this. You can see the outer edge has the elastic all around and it is curling under all by itself. Those edges will curl under the edge of the ironing board and hold on to it.

 

 It was ready to go back on the ironing board. I put the new cover back on the ironing board, on top of the padding. 

I pulled the elasticized edges under the ironing board. The elastic edges curled under and that is what will keep the cover in place.

 

My new cover fit really well. The seam allowance gave me enough extra fabric to stitch the elastic in and wrap the edges of the new cover around and under the edges of the ironing board.

My ironing board might look a little weird to you. 

My ironing board hangs off the back of the door to save a little space in my sewing room. It Is basically the same as any other ironing board but it saves me some floor space. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Doggone Low-cut

 Hello Readers. I like to sew and sometimes it is the smallest projects that are the most important. This is Gordon. He is a rescue dog with a ruff past. (Ruff... Get it? I love puns.) We love him and want him to be comfortable. 

Gordon AKA "Gordy"

We don't know the details of Gordon's early years. He is missing a tooth and part of an ear. He also has a scar on his side from being hit by a car. Usually these things do not bother him. But when the weather changes his scar seems to itch and he tries to scratch it. Then it gets irritated and sometimes starts bleeding. We could put a cone on him or he can wear a shirt. A shirt is much more comfortable.

 

The problem we had was that he doesn't like the shirt and doesn't understand that it is for his own good. He rubs against the furniture until he stretches the shirt and pushes it down. Eventually he can get the whole shirt off. Then he starts to scratch his scar.

 

I decided to do a quick alteration to make this neckline less low cut. I planned to sew the 2 sides together in the middle where I am pointing. If the shirt was less low, it would stay on better.

 

I used navy blue thread and sewed the shirt together. I went over it twice because I know Gordon will liked to be ruff  (I like puns, I'm sorry.) on his clothes. I would have added a button so that it looked cute but he would probably eat it.

 

The higher neck was not tight, just smaller and it just keeps the shirt on much better.

 

Gordon wasn't very happy that I made him wear the shirt but it really is more comfortable than the cone. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself, or your favorite dog.
 

 

 

 

 

Uncuffing My Joggers

 Hello Readers. I Like joggers but these were not comfortable. Could I remove the elastic and make these joggers into a more simple classic style? Let's try it.

Before and after.

I liked these light weight joggers. The denim was thin and perfect for warm weather. But the ankles were a bit tight. Could I remove the elastic at the ankles? 

 

I could see the stitches. I thought I could pick them out and have loose ankles. 

I used my seam ripper and ripped out stitch after stitch. 

 

The ankle elastic piece came off the pant leg. It was a separate piece that had been sewn to the hem of each pant leg. 

 

The hemline was very wrinkled so I ironed it all out.

 

I used my serger on the hemline to control fraying.

 

After, I turned the serged edge under and stitched it down with a straight stitch to make a hem. This was simple but make the hemline look nicely finished. 

 

The new pant legs (Above right.) felt looser and much more comfortable. This was an easy fix that only took a little while. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself,
 

 

 

Making Picture Frames Match

 Hello Readers. I had a hodge-podge of picture frames that I wanted to use on one wall. I wanted them to coordinate and look intentionally put together. But they were all very different and did not match each other at all. I was not going to go out and buy all new frames, I knew I could make this work. 

I made this look like a planned collection of pictures in frames. Let me show you what I did. 

Here are the picture frames. There were brown wood frames, a gold frame, a silver frame and one picture with no frame at all. I picked one color to tie them together. Gold was the color that I focused on. I also did a few more things to connect all the frames.

This picture also shows the first way I tried to make a unified look. All these pictures are old looking. They all have a black and white or sepia color scheme. This helps make this whole group look more put together. 

This is the wall I want to hang these pictures on. There are 2 control panels on this wall. One we use a lot. One we only need to use if the alarm goes off. I thought the whole wall would look better if I could cover it up. I had an idea for that.

One of the pictures was almost like a box. I thought I could remove the back and the picture could hang over and cover the control panel. 

I used a thin knife to pry the back loose from the picture and remove it. 

That made the folds of the sides of this picture start to unfold. That was a problem. But it was OK, I had a plan.

I used some gold Duck Tape. Gold was going to be my unifying color. 

I wrapped the gold tape around all 4 sides of this picture. I wanted the color of the tape but I also wanted the tape to hold the sides in place. This worked well. 

The tape was wider that the sides of the picture so I folded the tape towards the back and pressed it down so it would hold secure. 

I simply hung this picture on the control panel. It was very light weight so it will not cause damage. I can lift it off in a second if I need to get to that control panel. 

That control panel is totally hidden. But still accessible. 

I want to highlight the color gold so I used some gold paint. This "Rub'n Buff" is like a thick paint. It can be applied on and it never drips. 

I used a sponge applicator so I could rub the paint on the frames. I wanted a thin coat that would tone down the original colors of the frames. I didn't mind if the original color showed through a little. The sponge let me apply a very thin coat. 

I painted this wooden frame with the gold paint. The roughness of the wood still shows through but the gold is dominant and will tie this frame in with the others. I let this dry over night. 

I used the gold paint on this silver frame too. I applied the gold to the sides to hide the silver a little. I let this dry over night too.

 

I started to hang the frames. I did not use a level or a stud finder. These pictures are not heavy enough to need to be hung in a stud or need a special anchor. I just eyed the pictures and marked the top center of the frame. 

Then I put in a nail where I thought the frame needed to be hung. I wasn't trying to make a precise alignment of pictures. This arrangement was not symmetrical and that helped because it did not have to be exactly even anywhere.

My new picture wall is fun and looks good all put together. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.