Dress to 2-Piece

 Hello Readers. I loved this plaid dress. I grabbed it as a clothes swap and when I go home, it was too big. That's OK, I can work with this.

Dress to 2-piece.  

This dress had so many possibilities. The colors, the ruffle, the straps... Let me show you. 

 

I decided to take the dress apart. You can see the waist seam, it was sewn to last forever. It was THICK!

 

I unpicked all those stitches. It was frustrating and it took a while but it was worth it. 

 

When I was done I had the top, the skirt and the lining. 

 

The top has pretty straps but I needed a couple of them to finish the hemline of the top. I cut the straps off the back of the top. I set them aside. 

 

I pulled the straps from the front to the back. I pinned the straps in place and stitched them in place. I also took the back of the top in to make it smaller. I can't find a picture of that so you just have to take my word for it.

 

I sewed the 2 back straps together into a long belt and sewed it along the bottom of the shirt. I put the ends in front so I could tie them in front. 

 

I sewed elastic around the skirt. When I made the casing for the elastic it made the skirt shorter. It made a full twirly skirt. 

 

In the end, I had a top and skirt I could wear together or separately. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pink Shorts Simplicity 1165

 Hello Readers. I have had this pattern for quite a while and I like it so much this is the third time I have made it. When you find a great pattern, you make it more than once. This is the third time I have made it and it is easier and more fun every time I make it. I made these shorts because it is summer and it gets very hot where I live.  

  New summer shorts.

This pattern deserves 5 stars. 

I found this cute pink fabric at Good will. It seemed like a fun choice for summer.

 

This pattern is great because it's simple and there are pockets!! I sewed the pockets to the front pieces. 

 

I put the shorts together pretty quickly. 

 

I pinned the waistband in place. I used elastic in the back of the shorts but not the front. The pattern calls for elastic all the way around the waistband. I like a smooth front better so that is what I'm making. 

 

I hemmed the bottom of each leg. 

 

My new shorts were done. 

 

 The pink elephants are a lot of fun. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thrift Finds

 Hello Readers. I love thrifting but not everything fits perfectly. That's how it is. I liked these brown pants so much but the length is longer than I expected. Let's make a quick hem so these pants fit better. 

 

New pants, same short legs. 

 

I found these pants at my favorite thrift store. I like the shade of brown and the zebra stripes were fun too. The fabric was loose and light cotton. The only problem was that were just too long.  

I cut off about 6 inches of length. That were really too long. 

 

I turned the edge under twice and made a small narrow hem. 

 

Sometimes simple sewing is all you need to make thrift store clothes work. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

Create Custom Earrings

 Hello Readers. I love to be crafty and sometimes I get ideas from unusual places. I got the idea for these D.I.Y. earrings while I was eating a cupcake. (Mmmmm!) It was a good cupcake but it was also really pretty. There were plastic flowers on top. 

 One of a kind earrings. 

Here is a look at the lovely cupcakes. They were delicious and so pretty.    

 

These flowers stood up a bit because they were actually plastic rings. They were probably meant for children. I took the flower rings out of the cupcakes (Ate the cupcakes.) and washed the rings. 

 I had 4 flower rings and they matched so I could make 2 sets of earrings for myself.  

The plastic rig pieces would be in the way but I can cut them off easily and get them out of the way so I can wear them.

I used these pliers with a cutter in the center to remove the ring part of the flower. They are plastic so I was able to cut through the plastic very easily.  

I want to attach the flowers to earring posts like these. I can glue the flower to the earring post and have some new earrings. These are easy to use and buy online. 

 You can also go thrifting for some earrings you can use that have a flat sort of shape.

 

Like these earrings that I found recently at a thrift shop near me.  

 I carefully popped the black center out of the earrings so I could glue my flowers to the center of these earrings. I used a box cutter but be careful using a sharp blade like this. I like to live on the edge but please don't cut yourself. 

 

 Whether you use earring posts or flat earrings that you McGyver like me, the next steps of gluing the earrings together with a hot glue gun will be the same. 

 

 I put a tiny spot of glue on the flower towards the top and pressed the post onto the glue. I wanted the glue and earring post at the top so that the earring would hang down off my ear. The hot glue dries quickly so I let it sit and cool for a couple minutes and it was completely done. 

You might not have cupcake flowers but you can use other items. You can use buttons to make your new fun earrings too. You can choose simple circles or something more fun. 

  There are so many fun button designs at the sewing shops, and you might have some buttons in your sewing stash too. You can use whatever you like. Follow the process of gluing the new earrings together. 

My earrings were done and ready to wear. The original earrings on the back of the flowers won't show when I wear the new earrings so use unmatched earrings on the back if you want. 

 I used the earring fasteners that came with the earrings. They were just as easy to put on and wear as any other earrings but they are so unique and fun. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

 

 

 

 

Linen Wrap Skirt

Hello Readers. I love linen and thought this piece would make a nice summer skirt. This linen came from my generous mother-in-law. She was a serious fabric collector. She has really supplied me well. Let's use this fabric and the simple pattern from book by Sheila Brennan, "One-Piece Wearables" to make a fabulous new skirt. 

 My daughter got this book when she took a sewing class in school. It honestly has some really great beginner patterns in it. The wrap skirt is one of my favorites.  

I had this fabric in my stash, my stash that actually is 90% from my mother-in-laws stash. Linen is great for hot weather, and this design is so pretty too. Who else is going to have a skirt with trees all over it?? No one, that is the fun of sewing. You can make really unique things. 

I cut my piece and marked all the darts I would need to make. This skirt needs darts at the waist, to make the waist smaller, to fit the curve of the waist well.  

I sewed all my darts. These are quick to sew. 

Then I made a very long waistband. It will also be the tie around my waist to keep the skirt up and on. 

I love how this skirt turned out. The pattern called for a mini-skirt length but I added some inches to make the skirt a bit longer. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

Make Laundry Soap

 Hello Readers. We all have laundry. If you are alive, you have clothes to wash. I wish it was not true but it is. If you have children, you will have even more laundry. Let's make inexpensive laundry soap with no dyes or scents to irritate sensitive skin. 

Life is expensive but your laundry soap doesn't need to be. 

I have heard of people making their own laundry soap but would it be difficult? Would it take a lot of time? Or a lot of effort? You will need to buy these 3 products. I spent approximately $12 to buy them where I live. The price may vary where you live but it should be close to my costs. I used one full bar of Fels-Naptha and 1 cup of the Borax, 1 cup of the Washing Soda and approximately 4 gallons of water. 

 

The Fels-Naptha is basically a bar of soap. It was under $2 at my local store. The bar of soap needs to be melted and dissolved into water. To make this easier, I grated the bar of soap like cheese. I used my cheese grater and it was as easy as grating a block of cheese. 

 

You could also use a food processor or a mandolin slicer. Use whatever you have. The small pieces of soap will dissolve much faster than a whole bar of soap. How you cut the bar up doesn't really matter. It had a mild soap small but no perfume or strong scent. 

 

I mixed the shavings of soap with very hot water. You can "cook" the water and soap on the stove or you can put the shavings into a very large container and add the hot water to the container and mix until the shavings dissolve. It only took about 5 minutes to dissolve. You will need a container that can hold about 4 gallons of liquid. 

 

I added a cup of the Borax to the hot soapy water. I stirred well to mix it in. It mixed and dissolved easily.

 

Next, I added a cup of the Washing Soda. (This is NOT baking soda.) I mixed this powder in too. I added more water until I had about 4 gallons of soapy water mixture. (You can make 3-5 gallons of mixture.) It thickens and has a syrup consistency. 

As the powders dissolved, the mixture became cloudy and then ...

 

 It will become clear again. There was a bit of bubbling and foaming but not much. The powders did not add any scent to the mix, it was almost without a scent at all. I let my mixture cool. It was very hot at this point, be careful. 

 

When the mixture was cool, I poured my laundry soap into bottles. I did not have a large container with a lid. I "cooked" my soap on my stove in a stock pot but I couldn't store it in an open stock pot forever. I used empty bottles and jars with lids that I had on hand. If you have a big 5 gallon bucket with a lid, that would be ideal for holding all of this. 

 

Any container with a lid will work. The small plastic container would be ideal to carry with you if you need to go to a laundry mat or laundry room to do your laundry. Whatever containers you use, you will have saved a lot of money with this recipe. *NOTE- The solution may thicken more and be difficult to get out without a scoop, use 1/2 cup for small loads and 1 cup for extra large loads.

 

I used my new soap in a load of dirty towels. I picked and cut up a mountain of strawberries to make jam so there was red strawberry juice on these towels. My washer is a high efficiency so I wondered if the soap would wash well. Let's test it. 

 

The towels came out nice and clean. I was happy with the soap and the process was not difficult. I found the process easy and quick enough to keep it up. Thanks for reading along, now go make some for yourself.