House Dress to Pajamas

 Hello Readers. It is spring and that means it is getting warmer and we don't need to bundle up like we live in the arctic. This blue plaid fabric just says spring. Let's make some light weight spring pajamas.

Grandmom's house dress to fun pajamas. (This is not really my Grandmom's dress. I wish it was.)

I used a pattern for boxer style pajama shorts. I cut the shorts out from the bottom of the dress. The hem of the dress will be the hem of the shorts. That will save me a lot of time. 

I sewed the 2 pieces of the shorts together. 

I folded the waist down and made a casing for elastic, put in the elastic and sewed the casing shut. 

I used the top of the dress for the pajama top. I cut most of the skirt off the top. I kept some of the skirt so the pajama top would be long enough. I hemmed the bottom of the new shirt and used my hair straightener to iron the hem. It works so well. 

My new pajamas were ready. I love them! I might wear these out and about. If you see me out there, don't say anything, just pretend that these are really clothes. Thanks for reading along, Now go make something fun for yourself.

Making a Yoga Bag

 Hello Readers. Someone asked me to make them a bag for their yoga mat, to make it easy to carry it to exercise class. They asked for a few pockets for water and their phone. I was inspired and I got to work. 

This project was guided by what I saw on Sewspire. You can find them on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The videos on YouTube are very informative.

I found this fabric in my sewing stash. It seemed sturdy enough for a bag. It was cute too. These 2 pieces would be the outer and inner layers of the bag. 

I would need straps, this ribbon seemed like a good choice and it was in my sewing stash already.

I used the rest of the fabric to cut some smaller rectangles for the pockets. I used my serger around the edges so they would not fray. I thought it would make the pockets strong over time. I didn't want messy fraying inside the bag, inside the pockets. 

This was how I planned to put the pieces together. The piece on the left is the inner layer. It will have one large pocket sewn to it. The piece on the right will have 2 small pockets and the straps sewn to it. When I sew the 2 layers together, it will hide all the stitching. 

 

I folded over the tops of the pockets so they would look nice and neat. I sewed the folded top twice to make it strong. This is when I started to have trouble with this project. I knew, but forgot, that my sewing machine does not do well with loosely woven fabric. You can see here that the weave is very open. If you do this project use a tighter woven fabric. It will be so much easier.

 

I ironed it to make it look crisp and clean.

 

I sewed the straps on the outer layer of the bag. I sewed the ribbon handles and the pockets to the bag at the same time. 

Then I sewed the 2 layers of the bag together. I didn't get a picture because I was too busy yelling at my sewing machine for skipping stitches and being difficult. I got it together and I was glad it was done. 

 

The bag is open on the sides, the mat gets placed n the middle and it rests there. 

 

When the straps are on your shoulder, the bag wraps around the mat and holds it in. The pockets hold water and other essentials securely. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resize a Buttondown Shirt

 Hello Readers. I like thrifting but sometimes the clothes I like don't fit. I started sewing about 30 years ago so I could alter my own clothes and make them fit. This post is an example of an easy alteration that anyone could do.

Before and after.

I found this sweater and this shirt at different thrift stores but they went together so well. Pink is perfect for spring, and the sweater is perfect for a chilly spring day. The problem is that the shirt was so big, it made lumps under the sweater. I wanted to wear the shirt under the sweater so I would need to alter the shirt. 

I used the sweater as a guide for sizing the sweater. 

I also measured to make sure I cut off the same amount of fabric from each side. 

The shirt was very oversized but the sleeves were smaller. I cut off the excess fabric from each side but I didn't change the sleeves. 

I put the new side seams together. 

This shirt is now more my size. I could wear it alone or ...

I can wear it under my matching sweater like I wanted in the first place. New side seams were fast and easy to sew. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

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.