Painted Jars

 Hello Readers. I was curious if I could paint some old canning jars and I wondered what they would look like. I wanted them to be decorative but I wasn't sure how they would turn out.

I started with these simple glass jars. I didn't have lids for them, I just had the jars. I wanted to paint them white and make the writing more visible.I was just kind of curious what I could do with them and how they would turn out.

I got some simple acrylic craft paint and a brush and I started painting. I used flat white paint. I tried to protect the counter from the paint with newspaper.

I painted one thin coat. I let it dry, and then I painted again.

 

Before the paint dried I wiped it off the lettering with a cotton swab. I didn't need it to clean off perfectly, I just wanted the glass to show through.

In between coats of paint I wrapped my paintbrush in a plastic bag. It kept the brush from drying out and I could paint with it again. It saved me from washing the brush out between each coat.

I also tried a different approach. What would it look like if I painted the inside of a jar? I painted one thick coat of paint in the jar.

  

Here are my finished jars. They look different but I like them both. They are great as a vase for flowers or just alone.

 

***   BONUS TRACK   ***

I hate when shirts are too low cut. I wear a shirt under them. sometimes the under-shirt is too low cut too. That was the problem with this blue shirt. It didn't do any good  the way it was. The scoop neck is too low.

I was in a hurry and cut off the top of the shirt. Chop, chop!

I wore it like a tube top under this purple shirt. It is straight across the top so it hides all the cleavage I want to hide. The stretch of the fabric make it comfortable and keeps it staying up.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- These jars were funny. The white paint slides around if it gets wet. So I just don't get it wet. And the aqua jar is easier to handle but whatever goes inside can scratch the paint if I am not careful.
The blue undershirt is always handy.

Gray Leftovers Shirt

ites. 

Hello Readers. If you sew often or at all, you will get an abundance of fabric scraps. I always try to use the scraps of clothes that I cut off for refashion. Why would I throw them away when I might need them later? Sometimes you just need a small piece to refashion something else. My project today is an example of that. I just needed to add a little scrap of fabric to fix this striped shirt.

My last post was about refashioning this gray knit dress. I had the long piece of fabric that I had cut off the bottom. That scrap was perfect for my striped shirt.

My first step was to open the side seams and arm seams of the shirt. It would have taken a long time to unpick all the stitches so I just cut the seam off entirely. I also took the cuffs off the sleeves. I would reattach them later.

I made 2 long strips of the dark gray fabric. I was going to insert them into the sleeves and the sides of the shirt. It will make the shirt larger so I can wear it. It was too small and too tight for me to wear.

I used my machine and did some stitching. I put the gray fabric pieces in the shirt and reattached the cuffs. The gray strips of fabric were a little too long, I over estimated how much I would need. I cut off the extra fabric, leaving a little to fold in and stitch down.

I finished hemming the lower edge of the gray pieces and the shirt was done!

This shirt fits great now. It just needed to be a little bit bigger. The gray sides coordinate with the trim that was already part of the shirt. I liked how it turned out.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- I really love this shirt. It's one of my all time favorites.

The Gray Spring Dress

Hello Readers. It is Spring but you can't tell by looking outside my window. It was gray, and then snowy and now we are digging out. Being snowed in gave me some time to sew. 

(It also gave me time to eat a lot of banana bread, chocolate, and cheese puffs.)

I got this great knit dress from a clothes swap recently. Usually you can't try things on at clothes swaps so you have to guess and hope things will fit. I guessed wrong with this gray dress. I knew it was a little big and boxy but I didn't know exactly how it would fit until I got home, washed it, and tried it on. It was made of nice knit material that I liked, but the dress was too big and the cowl neck was too low.

     

There was a seam in the middle of the back that I was going to use as a guide. I was going to make a new seam down the middle of the back of the dress. That would make the body of the dress smaller and make the cowl neck smaller. It would also make the skirt a bit smaller too.

I also wanted the dress to be shorter. It was just too long. When I put it on my dress form I could see that the dress was actually uneven and I needed to make a new even hem. I used the dress form and measured with a yard stick from the floor to what would be knee length on me.

Here is the finished dress, It is still pretty shapeless and boxy. This dress will never be great on it's own. It needs ......

A belt! Sometimes you just have to add a belt. The neckline fits much better now and the dress is easy to wear and cozy soft.

Why is this picture so dark? Sorry, tech difficulties.

You can see in this brightly lit picture the shorter dress. The circle of fabric on the ground is what was cut off to make the dress shorter. I had a plan for that leftover fabric, I will tell you all about that next time.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

A Salvaged Mirror

 Hello Readers. I like to do projects around the house. I like to decorate and redecorate with thrifted finds when I can. It's fun and inexpensive. This mirror was given to me by a sweet lady named Sharon. (Thanks Sharon!)

When she gave it to me it was black and glittery. I liked the size and shape but I didn't think the color was my style.

Here is a close up of the glittery black paint. I figured a new coat of paint in a new color could make it more neutral.

I used this inexpensive gold craft paint to paint over the black paint. I did 2 coats of paint and let it dry over night.

I slid some index cards in between the frame of the mirror and the glass itself. This kept the paint off of the glass and made for easy clean up. I am a very sloppy painter and I always try to stay nice and neat.

I hung the mirror in the entry way by my front door. I saw the piano in the reflection and then I was like, hey............

Maybe the mirror would look good on top the piano. OK, I am not sure where to hang it now. I am going to put it somewhere.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

***   BONUS TRACK   ***

Some of my sewing is pretty hum-drum and boring. I had several extra large sweaters that I wanted to resize and wear.

I used a sweater the fit well as a guide and marked new seams. I used a zigzag stitch on my machine and made new seams. I did this in January, if you want to see more.

After sewing I cut off the excess fabric from the inside of the sweaters. There were so many scraps from these sweaters. I am not sure what I can do with them.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- That mirror is hanging in my entryway by the front door. It's perfect. And the sweaters found their way to my daughters closet so she could wear them to work. 

St. Patrick's Day T-shirt

 Hello Readers. Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day. American's love this holiday. It is a good reason to celebrate and have fun. We eat wear green and eat green food. Here is a super cute  kid video about who St. Patrick was.

 I wanted to wear some green for this special day of course and I wanted to refashion this shirt I got from my hubby. (It got a little too tight for him, but it was baggy on me and it started my refashion idea.)

Here is the shirt. It says IRELAND across the front.It was a souvenir from a relatives trip to the Emerald Isle. I also had this green shirt that didn't fit me very well. It was too short and loose. I decided to put them together.

And the two shall become one.

I cut the 3/4 length sleeves off the green shirt. I was left with a green muscle shirt. 

(If I get some bicep muscles I could wear this to show them off.)

I attached the green sleeves to the blue sleeves. It added some green to the shirt that I needed for the holiday. It also covered my arms because it is so cold where I live. It was warmer last month, I thought we were in for an early spring. It is now cold and windy and awful outside. I need to wear long sleeves.

I made the blue shirt shorter and more narrow so it would fit better.

Have you ever tried to take a picture with a toddler nearby? This little guy doesn't care if it is St. Patrick's Day or not. He just wanted the "Irish" glasses.

  

    

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

*Year end update- I loved this shirt but the washer ate this too. That washer started destroying clothes and needed to be replaced.

The Denim Shirt

Hello Readers. I thought it was going to be warmer and more Spring-like so I made a short sleeved shirt. (This was kind of foolish because the cold frigid weather came back with all it's windy vengeance.) I like how the shirt turned out so keep reading.

This was my starting point. This denim shirt was handed-down to me from my sister-in-law. (Thanks J.) The shirt is great but it doesn't fit very well. I really liked it and I thought it would go with anything it just needs a better fit.

I started by removing the wrist cuffs. (I'm sure they have a real name but it escapes me.) It was easy to take them off. I used a seam ripper and picked out the stitches. I saved them and cut the sleeves shorter. I reattached the cuffs onto the short sleeves. It made a little puffy short sleeve with a fitted cuff at the end.

    

  I stitched over the old seam marks so it looks like they have always been there.

I liked the short sleeves. They have a nice feminine look that I really liked. I made the body a bit more fitted. My plan was to make a belt of some kind out of the cut off parts. That didn't work out. There just wasn't enough fabric to do what I wanted to do.

I decided to use some old jeans to make a long belt or sash to tie around my waist. I wanted to cinch in the waist but I wanted the belt to match the shirt. This belt is very close to the same color, it's close enough for me. The jeans had some spandex in them so the belt has a bit of stretch and is very comfortable. The weight of the material made a nice sturdy belt too.

I wore this shirt to a great place in Berryville, VA called Cordial Coffee. My daughter took me out for waffles and some GREAT espresso. If you are in that area, make a stop. It was delicious!

There was this amazing coffee roasting machine in the lobby. I think it was a roasting machine. It had a pipe that went up the chimney and I was not allowed to touch it.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- I ended up wearing this shirt often but tucked in. I kept the belt though, because I liked that too.