Robin's Egg Blue

Hello Readers. Have you ever wanted a long white sweater dress with giant puffed sleeves? No? Me neither. But that's what I got. This knit dress was a vintage piece that was in perfect condition. There just wasn't much I liked about it.

The sleeves were huge. The shoulder pads were unnecessary. The white color was kind of blah. This dress was too long and didn't look good on me at all.

First, I decided to change the color. I used this dye that someone was kind enough to give me. 

(Thanks K.)

I got a beatiful color close to the color of these robin's eggs.

I cut the sleeves and shoulder pads off and separated the top from the skirt. I made a simple elastic waistband and hemmed the top. I was able to make a shorter skirt that fit me better.

I liked the 2 piece outfit a lot better. I can break up the outfit and wear the top with pants too. I love this color. It is so perfect for spring.

Plenty of Plaid

 Hello Readers. Spring is coming. This little plaid dress would be perfect for spring. It would be if it fit. I found it at a clothes swap and thought was such a great dress. I couldn't try it on at the time so I brought it home and found out it did not fit very well.

I loved this plaid fabric. It was a cute dress, the ruffle really caught my eye. But it was tight and uncomfortable. I had to find a way to use the fabric that worked for me. I thought about removing the top and making a skirt......

 I decided to add the plaid ruffle from the bottom of the dress to a denim jacket. I used a thread that matched the thread used on the jacket.

I also removed the collar and attached it to the inside of the jacket collar. I might pop that double collar like it is the 1980's!

I liked the ruffle and the touch of plaid was fun. 

 I needed a fun jacket right?

There was plenty of plaid fabric left over so what did I do with the rest of the dress? I made an apron. I ruin a lot of clothes when I cook because I get messy. 

Call me Betty Crocker!

Will this apron help me stay nice and neat when I cook? We'll see. (But I doubt it.)

What is that lace panel at the bottom? It's a small valance curtain. It was in a stash of sewing stuff from my mother in law. It was just the right length and width for this apron.

Here is a peek at what is left of the dress. I don't know what I can do with these scraps. If I think of something I will let you know.

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

Joining Starfleet

Hello Readers. My project is the fastest refashion I have ever done. It took about 1 minute. Seriously, 1 minute.

 Engage!

It started with this hoodie I found at a clothes swap. It was a nice hoodie. It was warm, soft and in brand-new condition. What's not to love?

 Beam me up Scotty!

Well, it had a logo for a cruise ship of some sort or another. These kind of company logo items are common in thrift stores too. (I don't work for a cruise line and I don't like boats. Or water. I saw "Titanic". I am not going on a cruise. Ever.) Sometimes you can pick out the stitches and remove the logo on an item like this. But what if I just covered it up?

 Set phasers to stun!

 I could use this super cool "Star Trek" iron-on patch to cover the logo. Wouldn't that be more fun?

 Make it so!

It only took a minute to iron this patch on. I like this hoodie 300% more now than I did before. It isn't a full costume or too much to wear in everyday life. I love it.

Live long and prosper!

 

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

And... boldly go where no one has gone before.

Over Distressed

Hello Readers. I had a couple pairs of jeans that were distressed at the knees. I like that look but it is cold and the jeans were not great to wear in the cold weather. I have been wanting to try some visible patching and mending and here was my chance.

I started by cutting out all those white threads. I thought they would just get in my way, 

I decided to fill in the holes with other fabric. 

For the darker pair of jeans I chose a dark thick cotton. I cut pieces that were slightly bigger than the holes and stitched around them with my sewing machine. Was it hard to sew inside a pant leg? 

Yes. Yes, it was. It was part sewing, part wrestling.

 I wanted to keep the blue colors close in tone but also make sure the patches showed. These are my new favorite jeans.

This warm cozy sweater was a wonderful find at a clothes swap. It was brand new! I liked the length and the sleeves weren't too long on my short stubby arms! It also had beautiful silver hooks instead of regular buttons and...

Judging from the tag, it came all the way from Norway. It was a size small but it was still a little big on me. It was thick and the extra size made it seem bulky. I thought if I could slim it down a little it wouldn't look so puffy. .

 Norway makes great sweaters!

I took a little off the sides and the sleeves. I used a tight zigzag stitch to keep it from fraying.  Usually I find sleeves can be tight, I always think I must have big arms but this sweater was the opposite. The sleeves were really too roomy.

I really liked how these 2 pieces turned out. The jeans kept my legs warm and the sweater didn't feel as over-sized. So then what did I do?

 

 I made my husband hold the camera down low so I looked taller in this picture. 

I decided to patch the knees on another pair of jeans. I used some scrap denim and covered the patches with visible stitches. I wasn't sure what I was doing and I didn't really have a plan. (My usual way of life!) I just got into it and thought I would figure it out as I went. (Also my usual way of life!)

The hand stitches were fun and I am not sure I am really done with these yet.

I did use my machine to attach all the patches for strength. I liked how excess sewing looked on the patches so I went a little overboard. I sewed one front pocket half closed in my excitement. Oops!

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

The Distressed Valentine T-shirt

Hello Readers. Well... Hello again. This post is originally from 2018 but I am still wearing this shirt so we are going to revisit this post for Valentine's Day 2020. Happy <3 Day!

Hello Readers. Valentine's Day is coming soon. It means love and romance, chocolates and cards. Are you doing anything special for this day? I decided to embrace the theme by making a shirt to wear for the day. I am posting it now so you have time to make one too.

 (I have 3 kids, so really elaborate celebrations will have to wait for a while. Like 15 years.)

 I am always on the hunt for refashioning clothes and supplies. It is always my goal to make fun clothes that I love, without spending any money. Free is the best. I usually have to buy thread and sewing needles of course. Where do I find freebies? I usually go to clothes swaps and take all hand-me-downs. I found some T-shirts a few months ago at my local rec center. I had taken my son to play in the kiddie gym and found this table. I took a few shirts to use later.

I started with this red shirt from the rec center and a this little white one. The white shirt was going to be cut up for decoration. I want to hide the writing on this red shirt.

I used paper and measured how big I wanted the heart to be. I folded the white shirt in half and cut the heart so it would be symmetrical and even on both sides. The heart needs to be big enough to cover all the writing.

I was going to pin the fabric heart on the inside of the red shirt. I turned the shirt inside out and started pinning the heart to the shirt in the same area as the writing, but on the inside. I want the white heart to be behind the writing.

I didn't want the heart to move around while I was sewing. So, I used a lot of pins. A. Lot. Of. Pins.

I stitched around the heart and I made horizontal stitches across the heart. I made about 10 seams or lines of stitching across the heart, about an inch apart.

I cut a slit in between each seam I stitched across the heart. You can see the white heart is sewn in behind the red shirt. I washed the shirt and the red shirt was supposed to curl up and cover the writing. But it didn't curl up. It didn't curl at all! I was a little disappointed, but this shirt wasn't going to beat me. I would make it work.

I cut off as much of the red shirt as possible, while leaving a little stripe of red fabric. You can still see little bits of the writing but not much. That is OK, it doesn't have to be perfect. It is going to work out great.

I cut the neckband off to open up the neck a little bit. It is more comfortable and I also rolled the sleeves and put in a couple stitches to hold them in place.

 I actually made 2 shirts. I gave my daughter a shirt to wear too. You are wondering if that is my real daughter, right? Yes, that's her. She doesn't want to be on the internet so I am concealing her identity. She is much taller than I am. I don't know how she got so tall, but it is handy when I can't reach the top shelf of the closet.

You can see how great the shirts turned out. A little bit of white print left in the stripes doesn't hurt the overall look of the shirts. And they look festive and more fun then they did when they started.

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

*Year end update- I still love this shirt. My 20-something daughter? Not so much.