The Back to School Shirt

Hello Readers. It is "Back-to-School" time in most of the U.S. Do other countries start the school year in late August or early September? I'm not sure.....but I have a fun project for you! This is a great shirt with a school theme. It's perfect for teachers, school kids, homeschoolers, parents really excited about school... and no sewing is required.

 

You need any white cotton t-shirt. The thicker the fabric, the easier this project will be. 

(I learned this the hard way.) You also need a blue and pink fabric markers. Regular markers will not work well for this project.

 

 I put something inside of the shirt in case the marker went through to the back of the shirt. I tried to draw straight horizontal blue lines across the front of the shirt. My shirt was very thin and stretchy. The shirt stretched when I wrote on it. It would have been better if the shirt was not stretchy, it would have been easier to draw my lines. It's OK, it doesn't need to be perfect. This project is supposed to be fun. Don't stress about it. The mistakes are all part of the fun.

 

I drew one pink vertical line on the left. I let the lines dry over night. The next day I searched around for something round and found this bottle. I wanted to make the 3 holes on the left that notebook paper has. I painted the top of the bottle and used it as a giant stamp. 

 

I made 3 big gray dots and let that dry over night too. I kept something inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't go through to the back. Newspaper or cardboard will work for this. 

 

You can wear this shirt to school. Or to shop for school supplies. Or to meet the teacher. Or at home while you homeschool your kids. Or anywhere! 

 

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

***Year End update-  This shirt was so useful. It was part of a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" costume at Halloween. I wore white jeans with it and my costume was ready.

The Purple Lounge Set

 Hello Readers. I always love a comfy casual outfit. I found this purple matched set at a church sale. Both pieces cost me about 25 cents. I couldn't try anything on but at that price I couldn't pass them up. 

Before and after. 

I brought them home (Washed them! Always wash your second hand finds immediately.)  and I liked the loose fit but the pants were not going to work at this length. I thought I looked like a purple Popsicle and decided shorts would be better. And I realized I needed to replace the buttons. 

 

I removed the buttons with my seam ripper.
 

The wooden buttons were rough around the outer edge. They were so rough that I could not get the buttons through the button holes and couldn't get the shirt buttoned. I picked some new buttons from my stash. 

I sewed the new buttons on the shirt. 

I cut the shorts to the length that I wanted. 

I used my serger on the cut edges. 

I turned the edge under and stitched it down with my sewing machine to make a new hem. 

This set was as comfy as pajamas but acceptable in to wear in public. 

 

I went to see "Inside Out 2". It was fabulous but the theater was freezing so I wore a sweater. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

Frame a Puzzle

 Hello Readers. If you have kids then you probably have some Lego blocks somewhere at your house. My youngest is obsessed with anything Lego has ever made. He got a new bedroom recently and you can probably guess the decorating theme. That's right. It's going to be a Lego room. As a bargain loving mom, I want to decorate on a budget. I had an idea. Puzzles! Specifically, puzzles we already owned.

 This was an easy project using very simple supplies I had at home. 

My youngest loves all things Lego. I thought he would love this puzzle in his room.We could put it together and hang it on the wall. I knew there was special glue I could buy and use but did I need special supplies? (Spoiler- No. I didn't.)
 

This puzzle was not easy. Getting all the Lego heads together was a lot harder than gluing, framing, and hanging it was. 

 

I spread a couple sheets of newspaper on the table and put the puzzle together on top of it. This is very important.
 

Once the puzzle was together I needed simple basic white glue. I grabbed a bottle of kids school glue and some kind of paint brush. Any brush will do.

I squirted the glue on one part of the puzzle to start with and ...

I spread the glue all over the puzzle, one section at a time. I tried to make sure I didn't miss any pieces of the puzzle. 

I tried to make sure that some glue got in every crack. This wasn't difficult because the glue looks white at first but it will become totally clear when it dries. 

 

Here is my puzzle all dried. The glue adds a bit of shine but it is clear and doesn't change the look of the picture. 

 

The puzzle was connected by the glue and all one piece now. I was able to lift the puzzle and move it around easily. I flipped it over so I could see it back.  

 

I peeled the newspaper off the back of the puzzle. Some pieces of paper stayed stuck to the back of the puzzle. The small bits of paper won't matter when I put the puzzle in a frame. I just want to remove any excess paper from showing around the edges.

 

I didn't have a frame that was the exact size so I added a small piece of tape at the top corners of the puzzle to keep the puzzle from shifting around in the frame when it was hung on the wall. 

 

I put a nail in the wall above the dresser. I just used my eyes to judge the placement. 

 

I hung the frame with the puzzle on the wall and my kiddo loved it. 

 

We also used this puzzle. We put it together and glued it the same way. You can't have too much Lego art on the walls, right? Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pencil Dress

 Hello Readers. School is starting in the US. Sort of. If you have kids than you know it is a crazy situation right now. Some kids are going to the school building. Some kids are doing school on-line. And from what I hear, a lot of families are going to try homeschooling. I am going to homeschool my 5 year old this year for Kindergarten. I homeschooled my older kids so this isn't a new idea for me. I want it to be fun for my little guy so I have been organizing, decorating, preparing and generally trying to hype him up. That includes school clothes.

I decided to paint pencils all over this dress. It was kind of an old comfy dress. It will be perfect for being comfy at home doing school but also fun. I tried stamping pencil shapes on the dress. I had to paint over them several times to make them bright enough. It would have been easier to do this project on white or a light color.

 

 I added pink eraser shapes to the pencils.

 

 I added pencil leads and another coat of paint.

 

 A touch of gold paint between the pencil and eraser and my pencils were done. I added a little yellow trim to the neck line of the dress for a touch of color. This yellow rick-rack has been sitting in the sewing stash for a long time. Let's use it.

 

 My first day of school outfit was ready. I am wishing all you other parents and students a good school year as well.

 

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

And have a good day at school.

Add A Quilt Piece to a Jacket

 Hello Readers. I liked this magenta jacket a lot. It was so bright and cheerful. It was very simple and plain so it was great for a refashion project. I wanted to add a little more fun
and thought I could remove the back of the jacket and add a different fabric. 

I had a piece of quilt with some shades of pink in it. I thought it would be a great combination if I put the jacket and the quilt together.

This magenta denim jacket had an oversized fit but any denim jacket you have would work for this project. 

I put the jacket on my sewing table and cut the back panel out of the jacket. I used sharp scissors and cut close to the seams of the center panel. I did not cut or remove any of the seams. The seams gave me a "frame" to work with. The center back panel has thick seams on all 4 sides and they will be a guide for our project. I took out a rectangular piece of fabric and I am going to replace it with something else.

I used the piece I cut from the jacket as the "pattern" for the quilt piece. I cut the quilt piece 1/2 an inch larger on all 4 sides than the magenta piece. I will need that little extra for my new seams. The quilt was easy to work with but you could use a different fabric if you want. The cutting and sewing steps would be the same. If you use a knit or stretch fabric it can stretch as you work with it. A woven/non-stretch is easier to handle while sewing.

 

I used my serger to stitch around the edge of the quilt piece to keep it from fraying. You could also use a zigzag stitch around the edge as well. This will be inside the jacket and no one will see it, but I don't want the edges to fray over time.

 

I pinned the quilt piece to the jacket. The quilt piece is inside the jacket. I used a lot of pins so that the 2 pieces of fabric wouldn't shift around while I sew. 

 

I used my sewing machine to attach the jacket to the quilt piece. I used a wide zigzag and matching thread to stitch and sewed right over the cut edge of the jacket. I did my sewing on the outside of the jacket. I stitched twice around the rectangular hole that I had cut out of the jacket. I wanted it to be sewn in really securely and I wanted to cover the cut edge of the jacket so it wouldn't fray later. 

 

You can see the zigzag stitches on the inside of the jacket. It is sewn in place all around on all 4 sides. My fabric shifted a bit but because I had that 1/2 inch extra for the seams, it still turned out OK and looks great from the outside.

 

The quilt piece adds some fun to the jacket. I liked how it turned out. This quilt is modern from a store but if you have a damaged old quilt, you could use a small piece that isn't damaged. That would be a fun way to save a piece of a sentimental quilt you have. 

 

You can grab a denim jacket and add something fun and colorful to the back easily. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

Making Shoulder Straps

 Hello Readers. The bright colors of this plaid top were so cheerful, they really caught my eye. I found them at a church sale and couldn't try them on. I thought I could figure out the fit later. I was there on the last day so everything was about 10 cents per piece. I couldn't pass up that kind of sale.

Before and after.

I loved these colors but when I wore all 3 pieces together, I felt like a magenta crayon. I decided to break up the outfit. This post will be about the plaid top and pants. I will be back tomorrow with the jacket. 

The top had very narrow spaghetti straps. They were too narrow for a regular everyday bra. That wasn't ideal for me. I thought I could make straps from the big ruffle that was around the top. I cut the ruffle about 2 inches shorter. I wanted to leave a very small ruffle on the shirt. 

 

I could use the extra fabric to make shoulder straps. 

 

The smaller ruffle looked good but I needed to finish the edge. It needed to be turned under and sewed down. 

 

Here is a look at the shirt inside out. I pinned the fabric I had from the ruffle to the shoulder straps to see how it would look. I sewed the pieces of ruffle to the shoulder straps.

 

I cut the pants into shorts. I thought the color was great for summer and I could use some easy denim shorts. I gave them a new hem and I was done.

 

It stays hot where I live until the end of September at least so this outfit is perfect for this time of year. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.