Overall Oops

 Hello Readers. I thought I had a great idea. I thought I could turn this dress into loose over-sized overalls. Mistakes were made. And my plan fell apart. Life is like that sometimes.

Oops!

I really thought this was going to be an easy refashion project. I was really wrong. 

 

I folded the dress in half and cut out the middle to make the legs of my new overalls.
 

I cut the dress so that there were 2 legs. This was going to be very big and so baggy that I couldn't possibly mess this up. But everyone makes mistakes and I was about to be humbled.

 

But I cut the body much too short. Even with the adjustable straps, I couldn't get my upper body into this. It was a disaster.

 

Could I cut the top off and make lounge pants?

 

No. No, I could not. This was not a good sewing day for me. Let's just quit now. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

Pants to Jacket

 Hello Readers. I thought these light weight pants would be great for the pool or beach this summer. But then I looked inside. I saw something I hate. A nylon lining. What good are lightweight cotton pants if they have a hot nylon lining? I thought about it and decided that the pants would became a lightweight jacket.

Before and after.

You can see the lining hanging out of the pant leg on the left. Nylon is the worst. I had to get rid of it.You can also see the pretty lace trim at the hemline. That was what made me want to do something to salvage these pants.

I cut the waistband off the pants. I wouldn't need that. Removing the waistband made it easy to get the lining out. 

Goodbye nylon lining!

I cut the pant legs apart and removed the center section. What I wanted was straight panels of fabric. That would be the front and back of each pant leg. 

I wanted one full pant leg to be the back of my jacket. I also wanted one pant leg split apart for the 2 front pieces of my jacket. This looks kind of shapeless and boxy but the drape of the fabric will give it some shape. 

I used my serger to put the shoulder seams together and the side seams together. I left openings in the sides for armholes. I used the serger around the armholes to keep the fabric from fraying. 

To finish the edges I turned them under and sewed them down with my sewing machine. 

I did not need to hem the bottom because the hem was already done. I liked the lace along the hemline. Thanks for reading along, now go make something for yourself.

Box to Bathroom Shelf

 Hello Readers. I repainted/redecorated a bathroom at home and I wanted a shelf. This bathroom had absolutely no storage. A shelf would give us more space. I looked a shelves online and realized I could make a fun shelf from a wooden box I already had. 

 

You would not believe how long it took to repaint this bathroom. All in all, about 3 years. I am serious, we started repainting and redecorating this small bathroom about 3 years ago. Life got in the way and we just recently, finally got it done. 

This is what we had in our bathroom. We were tired of the 2 paint colors and the wallpaper border. It seemed like an easy redecorating job. It was a small room. We could do this in a weekend right? We started patching dings and nail holes in the walls. And then it was Covid times and it sat like that for another 2 1/2 years. 

 

My husband started painting it for me this past Mother's Day. (Thanks Honey!) I thought he was priming the wall here. There was some miscommunication. 

 

He thought I wanted it white. Like a stark glaring bright white. I did not actually want this color. We have kids and a dog, white would be hard to maintain. I actually wanted the tan paint we had on hand. 

 

A couple weeks later he painted it tan. (Thanks Honey!) This is a great color when you have kids and dogs and real messy life going on in your house. It is Brown Teepee by Behr. You can get it at Home Depot. It is the color of a brown paper bag. I love it. 

OK! We were finished painting and was ready to hang a shelf. 

Here is the wooden box I used. I have had this for ages and it has never matched any bathroom in my house. I liked the cream color but not the writing on the front. I decided to paint over it because the box will be hung on the wall and the writing will look odd at that angle. 

I used some acrylic craft paint in the shade "Antique White". It matched the color of the box and would cover the writing. 

This is what it looked like after 1 coat of paint. I let it dry over night and painted a second coat the next day. When second coat of paint was dry it was ready to hang on the wall.

I wanted the box hung in the center of the wall like this. We used the level to get the box balanced and drew a line on the wall along the top of the box. That line would be our guide for the next steps.

We measured to find the center of the wall. The box should be right in the middle. 

We put 2 holes in the wall. These holes are slightly closer together than the corners of the box. 

 

Here is a look at the anchors and screws we used to hang the box. The screws are about 1 1/2 inch long. The anchors help the screws stay in the drywall.
 

We put a plastic anchor in each hole. 

 

We put screws into the anchors but did not screw them in all way. The screws stick out about 1/4 inch out. The box will rest on the screw heads. You can see the line we drew, it helped us know where to put the screws and make sure we kept the new shelf level. 

We used a Dremel to make a couple grooves in the back of the box. The grooves would keep the box from sliding off the screws. 

 

 We made the 2 grooves on the back of the box. The grooves are in the frame of the box along the top edge. 

 

Here is a look a the back of the box with the 2 grooves.
 

The box is hanging or resting on the screws and the screws fit in the grooves. That will keep the box from shifting around. 

The handle of the box naturally hangs below the box and it is perfect for holding a towel. 

The shelf is high enough that little kids can't reach the items easily but adults can. 

This is the end of our bathroom saga, thanks for reading along. I hope if you repaint your bathroom it doesn't take you as long as it took us.

 

 

 

 

 

Making Bathing Suit Bottoms

 Hello Readers. I have been wanting to try to make myself some bathing suit bottoms for a long time. My daughter gave me this avocado swimwear fabric a few years ago. I made a rash guard (Because I burn easily.) and wanted matching bottoms. 

 

Avocado swimming!

 

I loved the rash guard, I made it with the Chelsea pattern from FabricsStore.com But I want a matching set. 

I did some practice with the Megan Neilson Acacia pattern but it wasn't the cut I wanted for my swim bottoms. 

I did make some underwear though. I experimented with the waist and made it higher.

My lingerie skills are weak but this was good practice because I was about to do the same thing with my bathing suit.

 

I decided to make a pattern. I like these swim bottoms but the waist was too low so I did not like to wear them very much. I traced the edges as carefully as I could.

 

I tried to allow for the seams.

 

I cut out my pieces. I cut one backwards and it really went downhill from there. I had to put 2 scraps together to get a back piece facing the right way.

 

I serged it together. The lining was beige and cut/put together in the same way. I did not take pictures because the slippery swim fabric was killing me! I almost gave up. Bad words were said. 

Then,  I serged the lining to the swim bottoms. It looked thick and lumpy I was not happy.

I added this elastic around the leg openings. It should be folded in half around the edge of the bathing suit but it wasn't wide enough to cover the serger threads. I just sewed it on top of the edge to cover the serged edges. And said some more not nice things about bathing suits. I was about to throw the whole thing away.

I added a waistband.

 

  I folded a long strip in half and used the serger to sew it to the swim bottoms. That made them more high waisted and it let me skip using the elastic that was now my enemy. I didn't think it would look good. I was out of fabric. It felt like a mess. 

 

You can see (On my hip.) where I had to sew a small piece of fabric in to make the back piece the right shape. It is what it is. But it fit OK. I was in shock. How did it work out? I don't know. I almost didn't even try it on. 

When I raised my arms, the higher waist was covering my stomach! It fit like I had wanted. I was in complete disbelief. I think the material and lining was pretty thick but I am going to live with it. And be grateful that it worked out.

Lesson- Keep going, keep trying, it might work out. 

Happy summer everyone.