Relaxing At Home

Hello Readers. How are you doing? Are you at your house under a "stay-at-home" order like me? I don't mind hanging out at home but I know it is difficult for all you extroverts out there. I hope you are safe and healthy where ever you are. 

I am not required to report to work anymore (I lost my "essential" classification pretty quick!) so my clothing choices have a different focus now. I want to be comfortable but I also want to be able to go for a walk and not be in pajamas. Today's clothes are a good compromise.

I got these baggy rayon pants from my daughter. (She did a closet clean out recently.) I liked the fun paisley pattern of the material but they were a little too baggy on me. 

I wanted to take these pants in a little. These pants had pockets on the sides that I didn't want to cut off. How would I re-size them? I decided to take the legs in along the inner leg seams. That made the legs more narrow but it didn't change the hips or waist in at all. To fix that I also removed some fabric from the crotch seam. I have never done that as a way to take in pants but it worked well. I took 2 inches from the rear seam and 1 inch from the front seam. It helped reshape the pants.

I needed a top to go with my new pants. This gauzy cotton dress would be comfortable, especially in summer. This dress was so depressing though! It just made me want to give up all hope. It had no fun in it at all.

I decided to cut the dress in half and hem the bottom of my new shirt. I hoped if it was a simple tshirt it would be casual and comfortable, but less of a downer. 

I think the fun pants were a good match for the simple shirt. I liked it tucked in but it could be left un-tucked too.

Are you working from home? Are there toys everywhere? Is your house in chaos? Is your child in pajamas for a lot of the day? Are they only wearing 1 sock for some reason? Are you eating a lot of unnecessary snacks? This is all true for me and my house. There is a lot to worry about right now so I am not going to worry about any of that. 

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

Like a Superhero

Hello Readers. How are you doing in this time of seclusion at home? I hope you are well and just suffering from boredom and not serious illness. If you are ill I hope and pray it passes quickly with no serious complications. If you are in the medical field or serve the public in any way, I thank you for all your hard work. 

I got a call yesterday from my boss saying that I was no longer "essential", so I am going to be home a bit more. I am fine and well here but stress-eating extra carbs at a fast pace. (Chips, pumpkin bread, rice krispie treats, toast with loads of butter, chocolate... I am eating everything.)

Well, let's get to the refashion.

I found this shirt at a clothes swap and I was attracted to the super heroes on the front. It was on the men's table and it turned out a bit larger than I thought it would be. That's OK. I can work with this.

I used a raglan shirt I liked as a model to make my own. I saw something like this on Pinterest and decided to try it. I made the body of my new shirt from the gray shirt. 

I used a different light blue shirt for the material to make the sleeves. I also cut the neckband off that light blue shirt to make the a neckband for my new shirt.

 I put my new shirt together in no time. I liked the way the superhero characters covered the front of the shirt. It was still a bit too long. I cut off the plain gray fabric at the bottom of the shirt and made it shorter.

 What about these great stretchy jeans? They were a fabulous ultra-marine color that seemed to match Captain America perfectly. If it's good enough for him then it's good enough for me right?

Thanks for the jeans Miriam!

 

I took the sides in a little and made them shorter.

 (I am always making things shorter. #shortgirlproblems)

 I wish I could say I respond to emergencies and disasters like a superhero. In all honesty, I am usually the first one to completely freak out. (Why wait when I can start panicking now? I am a work-in-progress people.)

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

And keep washing your hands. 

Stripes For Spring

Hello Readers. I hope you are well and that the Corona/Covid-19 virus never comes to your house. I am well and trying to stay home as much as possible. I am required to report for work so I am working on spring clothes. (If I was at home it would be pajamas all month.) I honestly have no idea where this shirt/dress thing came from. Is it a long shirt? Is it a short dress? I have never been sure. I decided I liked the stripes and I liked how it went with these coral color jeans my daughter didn't want anymore. 

 I had to reshape this shirt/dress so I could wear it as a shirt. I know that might be a little plain and boring but sometimes work requires plain and boring clothes. The neckline was really deep on me too. I wanted to fix that and take away the extra fabric on the sides.

 

 I removed excess fabric from all over this shirt/dress. I made the shoulders, sleeves, sides and bottom hem all smaller, shorter and more fitted.

 I loved the color of these jeans. They were skinny jeans but they were a little big. I thought they looked like straight leg jeans and decided to keep that fit. (I read that straight leg jeans were going to be big this spring. Any thoughts? Comments? Questions? Concerns about that? I have a lot of skinny jeans in my closet. I am not sure how I feel about saying goodbye to them.)

 I made them a little bit shorter. And that was it.

I can actually tuck this shirt in now that it is a more basic t-shirt shape.

Yes, these Legos are all over. They get picked up every night and they are all over the floor again before I even finish my morning tea. 

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

And keep washing your hands! 

Fall Colors For Spring

Hello Readers. I hope you are doing well during this time of dealing with the Corona virus. I am going to be home a lot so I am going to keep sewing. 

1., because I have time. 

2., I will go crazy if I don't. 

I chose this skirt because it was green and I was still in a St. Patrick's Day mood.

This brown sweater was a open style jacket. The plaid skirt was great but a little big in the waist and too long. Liked these colors but the shapes were all wrong for me.

 What if that sweater was a wrap top instead? That would be more flattering and easy to sew together. I used pins and this white band to get the sweater in the position that I wanted.

 I cut the long excess of fabric off the bottom. I thought it would be too much fabric to tuck in the skirt or anything else if I didn't get rid of some of that length. I added an elastic waistband at the bottom to keep it gathered at the waist.

The skirt was easy. I just took in the sides and made it a shorter length.

This was an easy fix. 

I liked the outfit but when I was done I realized that the color combo was more suited to fall. The skirt would look more spring-like if I wore a different color top. 

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

And keep washing your hands!

Going Green

Hello Readers. I decided to do a little more prep work for St. Patrick's Day. Why? Well, I am of Irish decent and I love the color green. And I am all about a holiday that is just full of fun.

I found this green and blue shirt at a clothes swap. (Of course.) I picked it up because it was the perfect green for St. Patrick's Day. The shirt itself is fine but it's a little low in the arm holes and in the front. I could have altered to make it fit, but I decided to do something else.

I decided to make a skirt. I cut the shoulders off and I was half way finished already.

I added a simple elastic waistband and I had a great green skirt. This shirt made a perfect skirt.

 I also had this sweater that seemed destined to be partnered with this skirt. I wanted it to be more fitted.

 I turned it inside out and used a wide zigzag stitch and made new side seams . I cut off the extra knit material and I had a smaller sweater. That zigzag will keep it from fraying. If it is cold on St. Patrick's Day I will wear it. If it's warm I will wear the t-shirt I told you about last week.

I'm ready for all the Irish fun coming this Tuesday. My plans include Berry's Irish Breakfast Tea, Lucky Charms, scones, corn beef and cabbage, soda bread, more tea, a movie about St. Patrick, the show "Derry Girls", rainbows, leprechauns, pots of gold, the song "Danny Boy" on a loop, some U2 and so much more.

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

And Happy St. Patrick's Day too!

The Candy Striper Dress

Hello Readers. This dress was one of those clothes swap finds that I wasn't sure about. The big pockets are what really grabbed my attention. Who doesn't like pockets?

There just wasn't anything exciting happening here. And the tiny stripes made it look like an old fashioned candy striper outfit. I wasn't passing out candy at the hospital so I wanted to change that.

 I turned to a trusted friend to help me out. That's right. Rit dye. They don't know me, but I love them. I used the dye formulated for synthetic fabrics because this dress felt like it was acrylic. There was not tag for me to be sure.

It didn't turn out as dark as I thought it would. But I liked the grayish tone a lot. 

 I also shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length because the sleeves were a little too long.

 I thought the new color and a belt made this dress look much better. Spring seems to be on the way in my part of the world. This is a great spring dress.

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

A Tshirt Remodel For St. Paddy

Hello Readers. This shirt is a flash back to March 2017. You can see it here. We are taking a second look because St. Patrick's Day is coming and my sewing machine was in the shop for a few days. I had to take a quick break from sewing.

This shirt started out boxy and shapeless. I am Irish and all about the holiday but this shirt could be cuter and a little more fun. St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday, this shirt should be fun too.

 I decided to add some narrow white lace to make the shirt more fun and interesting. The white lace highlights the white writing on the front.

 I added the lace to the hem, the sleeves and the neckline.

I cut the original neck binding off to open up the neckline. You can see the lace around the neck here.

I curved the sides in and angled the waist back out to make the fit more tailored.

Here is the shirt in it's current form. I am still wearing this shirt after a few years. It is still perfect for St. Paddy's Day.

Thanks for reading along, I wish you all the luck of the Irish.