Black & Tan

 Hello Readers. This post is not about a beer cocktail of dark and light beers called a black and tan. This post is about a dress and a skirt. I found these at a socially distant clothes swap. I liked the colors and I am a big fan of t-shirt dresses. 

This dress was really short. I am only 5' tall and this dress was short on me. That is rare!

 

The colors of the stripes matched this skirt. The skirt was very long on me. I think it was supposed to be mid-calf length. It was like a maxi length on me and it had some serious fringe at the hem. The fringe was very thick and heavy. It seemed like it was maybe too much. 

I decided to make the striped t-shirt dress into a shirt. It was almost a shirt anyway.

I made it more narrow and a bit shorter. I used the excess for masks. I have a small collection of masks at my house so that there is always a clean mask available for all of us. 

The skirt needed to be shorter and I took the waist in a little as well. 

  I liked to the outfit. Tights, boots and a sweater made this more appropriate for the weather.

The t-shirt and masks were also great with jeans.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I love this whole outfit. I wear that shirt all the time. I love it with the skirt too. This was a winner for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sporty & Casual

Hello Readers. How are you doing? January started wild and totally out of control but seems to have calmed down. That makes me less stressed. Maybe 2021 will be a more stable year? I really hope so. Well, let's talk about sewing. My daughter gave me this dress when she cleaned out her closet.      (Thanks Sweet Pea!)

I loved that the dress was so simple (Boring.). I knew I could make it over a little and have some fun with it. 2020 has made me much more casual, so I decided to make this dress more casual too. 

I have also noticed that I don't have that many shirts. I thought at first that I should make this dress into a shirt. It would be really useful. But the dress was pretty long on me. When I cut the shirt, I had plenty leftover. 

I decided to make a skirt. For the waistband I used some scraps from a sweatshirt. I attached the waistband to the skirt and left an opening for the string. I think this is the string from a hoodie. This skirt will always fit because the waist will be adjustable.

 

  This is now a fun casual dress that I really liked. It has a waist and a more defined shape.

 

I also have a new shirt to wear when layering up for winter. It is really cold and icy out there.

 

 

It looks so pretty but it is SO cold. 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I love this 2 piece dress. It is definitely a favorite.

Satin Pillowcases

 Hello Readers. You know I am all about refashions and I can't get enough clothing remakes and updates. But sometimes sewing is more practical and less fashion related. This post is all about pillowcases. Pillowcases??? Yes. Pillowcases.

 

It all started when my daughter suggested that we clean out the sewing closet. She proposed that instead of trying to make everything fit in there that we get rid of the fabric that we didn't really like and didn't think we would use. I thought sure, we should do that. While we were organizing all the fabric I found this piece of satin. This really bright fushia satin.We both thought it was so bright that we probably would not make clothing out of it. And who needs satin clothes during a pandemic? But I had an idea.

I have been trying to read up on curly hair and how to style and maintain curls. I have some curls but I do not know how to take care of them. What do they want to be happy curls and not unhappy frizz? I am still learning. One thing I read about was satin pillowcases. From my reading, they are supposed to help with tangles and frizz. I had even looked at the store when I was there but they did not sell them. When I found this fabric I thought I would make my own.

I had just enough fabric to make 4 standard size pillowcases. I used the selvage edge of the fabric as the openings of the pillowcases because if I turned the edge in and hemmed it, it would make the pillowcases too small. I added some trim to try and dress up the openings of the pillowcases a little bit. I didn't use anything fancy, I wanted these to be machine washable.

Here is my bed. It's not trendy or fancy but I love to sleep in it and I hate to get out of it in the morning. Are my pillows small and flat? Yes, my neck hurts if I use a fluffy pillow. I have to use one sad flat pillow and that is it. Getting older is the pits!

 Here is a peek at my daughters bed. I made 2 pillowcases for her and 2 for me. I don't know if satin is for everyone. My 5 year old said they were too slippery. I have noticed that my hair is A LOT less tangled in the morning. I think the satin is doing some good.

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

 ***Chickie's Year End Review-I sleep on these satin pillowcases every night. They really do keep my hair from getting so crazy while I am sleeping. They might be the most useful project of the year.

Tailoring a Sweater

 

 Hello Readers. I hope you are doing well today. My daughter has been cleaning out her closet and passing things on to me. One of those things was this sweater.

 Maybe it's just me but this sweater seems a little off balance. Why is the front so much bigger and longer than the back?

The back of the sweater was a good length and the sleeves fit well. The front panels were made to be loose and drape down in the front so I know they are supposed to be longer. It just didn't suit me. It is so thick that is is bulky. A little too bulky to drape well.

I decided to make this sweater a little more streamlined and tailored. I know what you are thinking, "How can a sweater be altered?". I just cut and sewed the sweater like it was any other fabric.

I just used a zigzag stitch on this sweater and it worked great. It controlled the fraying very well.

The sweater was so much simpler now. I really liked it. What about that shirt I am wearing with it?

My daughter gave me this shirt when she gave me the sweater. I am shorter than her and the V-neck was too low on me. The whole shirt was very long. I looked at it and realized the back was a plain round neck. Could I wear it backwards and solve this problem easily with no sewing? Yes, I could! It was still too long. It was so long that I couldn't tuck it in,

 I shortened the shirt and used the extra fabric to make a couple face masks. You can't have too many face masks right.

 I liked the final result. The shirt was so much better when it was backwards and shorter.

 I liked tucking the shirt in. Sometimes simpler is better. This combo, including the mask, was perfect for work.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I wore this a few times but got tired of cold shoulder top under this sweater. The sweater isn't a favorite but it's OK.

 

 

The Velvet Vest & A Treasure Chest

Hello Readers. Did you like the rhyming title to this blog post? I have to admit I am goofy enough to like that it rhymed. Well, ages ago, I found this purple top at a swap and took it just because I liked the velvet. I thought I could make something from the fabric because it was so pretty. The sparkly jewels in the buttons caught my eye too. They seemed a little over the top. This whole top made me think of Dynasty. Do y'all remember Dynasty? Alexis and Krystle were always fighting in super posh outfits. 

 In spite of my fond memories of 80's trash TV, I wanted to tone down the formal look of this top. Could I simplify it? I could try. And I had a plan for those buttons too.

This top had a zipper in the back so I would be able to use that to get the top on and off. I could do anything I wanted to the front because I would use the back to actually pull it over my head.

I started by cutting away at the puffy sleeves and the wrap piece around the shoulders. When I removed the buttons in the front I realized it was turning into a vest. It took some time but I turned all those edges in and sewed them into the vest so it did not look as ragged as it does in this picture.

The "vest" had an off-the-shoulder shape at the neckline so I had to close the front to keep it on. I did not have any purple buttons and no other colors seemed to work. I tried white, black, brown, gray, clear... Nothing seemed quite right. I settled for these purple flowers.

The front can be sewn closed because of that back zipper. I attached the purple flowers and closed the front of the vest all at the same time.

I really like that this is still a dressy top but it doesn't feel as melodramatic as it did before. Less drama sounds really good right now, doesn't it?

Now what about those jewel covered buttons? Well, I decided to use them as decoration for child's treasure chest.

I painted the wooden chest black and used a hot glue gun to attach the jewels to the top. It goes with a lesson in my VIPKid classes. (I teach English as a second language classes online.) In the lesson the child "earns" gold coins by answering questions. I thought this would be a good visual aid. 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I never got dressed up enough to wear this velvet top again but I used that treasure chest a lot until the online company I was working with shut down.

Making More of My Bathrobe

 Hello Readers. I hope you are safe and well. It is cold and I want to spend some time hibernating at home. (Anyone else want to hide from the world?) I loved my blue fuzzy robe but it was not very long. My legs need some insulation too. I also lost the belt somewhere along the way and couldn't tie it closed. I had a pair of fuzzy pajama pants but they were a little short, my ankles were cold.

Actual morning photos.

 I thought they could work together to keep me warmer and cozier.

I started by cutting the hem off the robe. This was going to be my new belt. It is a great width and it is already put together for me. 

My next step was cutting the pants apart. I wanted to use one leg to lengthen the robe.  I cut the 2 large rectangular pieces on the left. I want them to add length to the robe. The other leg was going to be used for pockets. Why doesn't this robe have pockets? Everything should have pockets! I cut out the 2 square pockets on the right. 

I used a zigzag stitch for most of this sewing. The fleece was easy to work with. I hemmed the robe all the way around.

 Remember the belt I cut out? I threaded that through the waist band of the robe. 

 That was all I needed to do. Below is a fake morning picture. I am not a morning person, as you can see in the first picture.

I liked the new length a lot. It makes more sense for a heavy winter robe to be longer. The pockets are also handy too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Chickie's Year End Review- I wear this bathrobe everyday in the colder months. Literally. Everyday.