Casual Easter

Hello Readers. Easter is coming and I realized that it might not be a normal Easter holiday for everyone. Plans will depend on where you live and what the travel and meeting restrictions are in your part of the world. You might be staying home and if so, you might not dress up. You might wear a t-shirt and jeans. 

  

I thought making Easter t-shirts would be a fun activity for my youngest. You can do this at home with any t-shirt and some acrylic or fabric paint. This would be a fun activity to do with your kids. The first thing I do is put newspapers inside the t-shirt so the paint does not soak through the shirt to the back. I put newspapers all around the craft area too, paint is messy.

I cut a piece of foam into an oval shape. I want to paint eggs on my shirt. You know, Easter eggs. I painted to foam and used it as a stamp. I wanted all my eggs to be the same size and shape. The foam piece helped get a uniform look. It isn't necessary. You could just paint an oval shape free hand.

I used a brush to fill in my eggs. I needed to cover the writing on my shirt. I let the off-white paint dry over night. I wanted to used bright colors and the off-white paint will allow the bright paints to really pop. You might not need to do this for your shirt.

The next day I was able to start painting my eggs. I used a variety of colors. These were all acrylic paints I had on hand. 

 

My 5 year old loved this project. He painted for a long time. He wanted to make an egg face. I just wanted to keep him busy so an egg face was fine with me. 

I let the shirts dry over night again. Acrylic paint will not wash out once it is dry. It might fade slightly in the first wash. The images on the shirts will last a long time. Remember that, what ever gets painted will not wash out. Paint in a location that won't get ruined by dripped paint.

 

I hope you have a happy blessed Easter, if you are celebrating. It doesn't have to be a typical holiday to be great. No matter what you are doing today,  I do recommend chocolate in any form. It will add some yum to your day.

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

  Child review- My 5 year old says, "This shirt is great". 

It survived climbing trees, leaf piles and various outdoor activities. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-I liked this shirt project and my son wore his as much as he could. I don't know why but it was his very favorite.

Maybe That Dress Should Be A Shirt

Hello Readers. When I am looking for a fun top sometimes the best place to look is at the dresses in my refashion stash. A fun dress can make a really fun top. This striped dress was my daughter's. She cleaned out her closet and I took the hand-me-downs to use in my refashion for free in 2021 plan. Can I go all year without buying anything but thread? (And maybe some needles too.) Sure I can.

This dress fit really close. Let's be honest it was a little tight. But I really liked the brown stripes. I had a plan about what to do with this slightly tight dress. 

 I liked this dress a lot. Check out the buttons on the shoulders. So cute!

The first thing I did was cut the dress into a length that would work as a shirt.  That's right. I just cut it. Those cute stripes made it easy to make an even level cut. 

I was not sure if this sweater would fray or not. I decided to be safe and make a hem on the bottom using a zigzag stitch. The zigzag will allow it to stretch a little. The whole sweater was stretchy, I wanted my new hem to be stretchy too. 

 

I already knew I wanted to wear this new sweater top with my black over-alls. These also came from my daughter. They had a cool elastic finish at the ankles. (On left.) It was cool but I did not like it on me. I cut the elastic off and gave the pant legs a simple hem to finish them. (On right.)

My new fitted shirt was perfect. A loose shirt would not fit well under these over-alls. The fit of this sweater made it stay put and it didn't ride or bunch up.

I went out and got a haircut for the first time in ages. A fresh haircut always feels so good. 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I like this striped shirt so much. I still wear it with the overalls. If it works, don't mess with it.

Black & Blue

 Hello Readers. Do you ever get a hole in your favorite t-shirt? We all do, right? It can ruin a great t-shirt. That is what happened to me recently, but I have an idea to fix that favorite t-shirt and make it more fun to wear at the same time. 

 

Here is my favorite basic black t-shirt. It was easy to wear with everything but it had a hole in the front of it. I was really bummed about it. 

I thought of a way to cover up that hole and make the shirt wearable again. I could use the trim from this skirt I refashioned a couple months ago. I always save my sewing scraps for just such a time as this.

I cut the trim off the skirt scraps. It was in perfect condition and it was black so it went with my shirt. 

I used a zigzag stitch to attach the trim to the raw cut edge of the shirt. The trim hid the cut edge and I did not need to hem the shirt. I just put the trim on top. Easy-peasy! I used a zigzag stitch because it naturally has a little stretch or give to it and works with the stretch of this knit fabric well.

 

My new shirt is ready to wear. I liked the fringe along the hemline. It was fun but I thought keeping it black made it subtle enough to wear to work. 

I paired it with these black and blue pants my daughter handed down to me. They were too long so I made them a bit shorter and made a new hem. 

 

 

 These pants were also a knit material so I used a zigzag stitch to have a little stretch in my hem. 

I was ready to go to work. It was Monday morning, that's never great but my shirt and pants certainly were. 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I still really like the fringe on this shirt. It's so fun but subtle.

Push Up Your Sleeves

 Hello Readers. I have a quick refashion idea for you. This is a great idea if you have short arms and find your sleeves too long or if you have long arms and find your sleeves are too short. 

 My arms are really short, like really short and my sleeves are always too long. It is annoying and I alter a lot of my sleeves to make them fit my arms better. I can't go to work or do anything with my hands covered by my jacket sleeves. This jacket needs a size adjustment.

I could just shorten the sleeves of this jacket that my daughter gave me. (Thanks H for helping me refashion for free in 2021!) I also like to push my sleeves up. It looks more casual and it keeps my sleeves out of my way. It also makes petite women look taller from what I have read. Of course, I want to look taller. First, I made a small opening in the inside of the sleeve. 

 I got a small piece of elastic leftover from an old project and threaded it through the opening. The color is fine because no one will see the green elastic. I connected the elastic so I had a circle going around my wrist. Basically, I made an elastic bracelet inside the jacket sleeve. The elastic tightened the cuffs of the jacket enough that they would stay up on my arms.

It worked like a charm! The sleeves can be pushed up so I look casual and effortless in my hand-me-down jacket. I thought this light blue color was so perfect for spring.

This was a fast and easy refashion that only took about 5 minutes. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-This was a great jacket to me because I love the faded denim color. It has a little stretch too. It is comfortable and easy to wear.

A Little Green

 Hello Readers. Today is St. Patrick's Day. I hope your day is full of luck and fun. I wanted to wear green today. I am Irish so I always get into St Patrick's Day.

This dress had some king of flap on the front. What was this flap about? It was not a wrap dress. What was happening here? Why? It was really weird. I didn't think it was very flattering. 

 I decided to start cutting. I cut and cut until the flap was removed. It was a full flap-ectomy. I cut the flap off as close to the seam as I could. It won't fray and you won't be able to see that I cut the flap off.

It was a better dress but it was still a clingy across the bum. I decided to make the dress into a shirt. That involved more cutting. There was a seam at the waist so I used that to decide where to make the hem of my new shirt.

Now I had a sleeveless shirt to wear for St. Patrick's Day and also any other day of the year. Check out that visible gold zipper in the back. That is my favorite part.

This green tank is a great layering piece. 

 I am wishing you the luck of the Irish and every good thing today and always. I saw this card and it caught my eye because my grandfather used to say it and this was the toast at my wedding. 

 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I love green and I really liked that zipper down the back of the shirt. It is great under things in cold weather too.

Dress? Tunic? Sweatshirt?

Hello Readers. Nothing beats a soft cozy sweatshirt, right? I have seen some sweatshirt dresses in stores and I liked the cozy casual style. This blue sweatshirt dress/tunic came from a swap for free. It fit in my plan for refashioning for free in 2021. 

 

This sweatshirt could use a little resizing. The sleeves were too long. (#shortarms) The seams and the long sides made the whole tunic feel a little ... off.

 

 The plain navy blue wasn't bad but can we jazz it up a little? Sure we can. 

 I have been using this black and gray hoodie to make other clothes because it did not fit. I will use some pieces of this hoodie to add some interest. This hoodie was really soft and was a nice addition to everything I have made from it. It was a hand-me-down too.

I started by taking the hood off the hoodie and pinning it onto the tunic. It was easy to sew this onto the tunic with my sewing machine. It would add a little interest to the neckline.

I also added the wrist binding from the hoodie to the tunic too. I cut the sleeves shorter and then stitched the wrist binding on. I have short arms so I wanted the sleeves to be shorter. The binding helps make it all look more finished. And now I can push up the sleeves and they will stay pushed up.

I decided to make the dress a bit narrower on the sides. I also wanted the whole tunic to be even along the bottom hem. It was longer on the sides than it was in the middle. 

This is a fun casual tunic. I added leggings to keep it all covered. And check out these giant pockets. I liked to comfortable roomy fit of this tunic.

This tunic is perfect for being active and going for a walk. Spring? Is that you? Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-I wear this sweatshirt a lot. I like it when I am walking especially because of those pockets. I am a sucker for big pockets.

No-Sew Sweater Refashion

 Hello Readers. Have you ever washed a wool sweater by accident? I think we all have. It is awful to shrink a favorite sweater and not be able to wear it. My sister-in-law shrunk this navy blue sweater. She passed it on to me knowing I would make something new out of it. (Thanks J!) It was a free hand-me-down that fit well into my plan to refashion for free in 2021. 

The sweater was so shrunken that I couldn't even get my arms into the sleeves without a serious fight. 

 

The first thing I did was cut the sleeves off the sweater. They were too small so they had to go. Since my sister-in-law washed this sweater the wool tightened and shrunk. That means I can cut the material and it will not fray. People wash sweaters on purpose so they can make things out of the felted (washed) wool. You can see more in this old post where I made a bag from a shrunken wool sweater. 

I also decided to go all out and have fun with this sweater. I cut a scalloped edge along the bottom hem. I wanted the sweater to be shorter so I decided to make it different from anything I already have in my closet. No hem is needed because the wool won't fray.

I liked how the scalloped edge looked and cut the same edge at the collar. 

 I also added a button to close the front. I wanted to get more of a vest shape. I used a needle and thread to attach a button from my sewing stash. I cut a tiny hole for the button to come through. Did I make an official button hole? No. I don't need to because the material is so tightly woven and shrunk together. 

The new vest was soft and warm. That is a big plus because it is colder than cold where I live. It hurts my face when I go outside. The wind is like a slap across the face today. I am looking forward to spring.

I like how the big scalloped collar turned out.

This will be a nice layering piece. It is warm and the scalloped edge makes it fun.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I loved the scalloped edges of this little sweater. It got very little lint balls all over and I need one of those shavers for sweaters so I can fix it up.