The Simplicity 5917 Dress

 Hello Readers. I have been wanting to use this wool fabric for quite a while. I did not know what to make so after a long time I stumbled upon this pattern at Goodwill. They dress on the front of the pattern envelope made me think this was going to be a good choice for my fabric. 

Simplicity 5917 

This pattern was never used so I had to iron it flat to get the wrinkles out. 

 

I cut the pattern pieces out with the fabric all at one time. I thought I would be the biggest size but this turned out bigger than I thought it would when it was all put together. I could have sized down a bit but it was great to wear on top of layers in winter so it worked out great.

 

My fabric was almost but not quite wide enough for this pattern. That's OK, I have never in my life had the right amount of fabric. That is just how I sew. The corner of the skirt hem would still look fine when I was done. I didn't worry about it too much. 
 

This pattern had very large pockets and I was excited about that. I cut them out so I would not forget to sew them on first. 

 

I put my pockets on the front. I raised the placement just a bit because I am short and my arms are short and I didn't want the pockets to be too low. 

 

I pinned the pockets in place with enough pins to keep them in place while I sewed them on. I wanted my pocket stripes to match the dress stripes. If they shifted around while I was sewing it would mess that up.

 

I sewed the shoulders and neck facings together. This pattern was a simple and quick pattern. It was not complicated. The package said it was a 2 hour sew and it was accurate. It did not take me longer than that. 

The dress was long on me so I cut it shorter and then I sewed the hem around the bottom. 

Here is my new dress. I cant wait to wear it. I finished this dress and the snow storm hit and I was home for days so I had to let waiting to wear the dress wait. 

 

It really did snow didn't it? It took a few days to clear out but it was gorgeous.

 

 I love the dress and the wool was light but very warm. Wool can be scratchy but this was perfect as an over layer. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

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.