The Tie Dress

  Hello Readers. Hello Readers. It is time for the annual Dressember Fundraiser. What Is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S and all around the world.   Since 2013, Dressember advocates have raised over $20 million to support International Justice Mission (IJM) and its partners. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month in honor of this mission. You can learn more at Dressember.org

 I have been wanting to make a dress out of ties for at least a year. I have been collecting ties at every thrift store and clothes swap I have visited. I am wearing dresses all month but you can also wear ties. Sometimes dresses don't work for you or your daily activities but maybe a tie would work. Today I am wearing both at the same time. 

A fun dress made of men's ties.

I have been collecting ties from thrift stores and clothes swaps for a year or so. I also took a couple from my husbands closet. (Shhh... don't tell.) I gathered all the ties I had on-hand and spread them out on my sewing table. I tried to scatter the colors and designs to get a lot variety from the arrangement. I didn't want striped patterns next to striped patterns or plaid next to plaid. I used 24-25 ties all together and tried to mix the colors all around as well. 

 

I wanted to sew the ties together. I wanted the wide ends sewn to the wide ends and the narrow ends sewn to the narrow ends. I put the ties with the right sides or the front of each tie, facing each other. I sewed the sides of the ties to each other using my serger to start. I broke so many needles that I switched to the sewing machine. You can use what you like but I think the sewing machine was better for this project. 

 

I sewed tie after tie together like this. This took a little while. When the wide ends of the ties are all sewn together and they will make the bottom of my dress.

 

All the wide ends of the ties will make a great A-line shape for the skirt of this dress. It wasn't difficult to sew but as I sewed, the ties got heavier and heavier. This piece is the back of my dress. It was 11 ties wide. I had to hold it up to myself to see if it was wide enough. I ended up adding another tie just for some extra breathing room. The ties are all different sizes. Some are wider than others. You will need to check your measurements and measure how wide your ties are when you sew them together.

 

This is the front of my dress. I made 2 separate pieces and clipped them together in the center of the skirt to check the fit. I wanted to check the size of each piece together. When I put them on my dress form I could see that one side was more narrow at the shoulder and added a tie to that side to make it even in width. I sewed the center seam of the skirt together and kept the low v-neckline. I can wear a shirt under it, this made it easier to make the dress fit and not need to be perfect in the waist and bust measurements. 

 

I put a long zipper in the skirt on one side. The zipper connects the front and back pieces. I sewed the zipper to the front of the ties, one at a time.

 

This is a look at the inside of the dress where the zipper is located. I used light thread so it would show in the picture. The front of the zipper is sewn to the front of the ties. The sewing is hidden in the dress when it is worn. 

 

I sewed the other side of the dress by connecting the front piece and the back piece together with the ties facing each other. Now I had a dress shaped piece.

 

This is a look at the back of my dress at the shoulders. The ties were much taller than I needed for my dress. I cut the narrow ends of the ties off so that the top was at my shoulders. I used sharp sewing scissors to cut through all the thick ties. 

 

I pulled one side of the front of the dress to the back. It came over the shoulder at an angle and I cut it so it matched where the back piece was cut across the top. I wanted to sew the front to the back across the cut edges.

 

I used my serger to connect the shoulder seams. The needles kept breaking so I moved to the sewing machine. 

 

The sewing machine worked much better. I broke a couple needles on my machine too. The ties are thick and the whole dress was a bit heavy to sew through but it was worth it. 

 

The front and back are sewn together across the shoulders and all the raw cut edges are hidden inside the dress.

 

The dress fit the dress form well, but the side of the dress stuck out a bit. 

 

I wanted to put in a tuck to make the front of the dress fit better at the sides. I folded the edge to see how much needed to be removed. 

 

Here is a look inside the dress. I folded the side of the dress where I wanted the tuck and sewed a narrow triangle. This will make the side of the dress fit much better.

 

I cut the tuck out because the material were so thick. It was too lumpy to leave there in the dress. 

  

 I sewed along the cut with a zigzag stitch to keep it from fraying. Over time it would get more and more frayed in the dress.

 

The tucks made the bodice curve along the bust and fit nicely. 

 

There was so much color and pattern in this dress and I didn't want to wear a shirt that distracted from my fun tie dress so I thought a black shirt was the best. Thanks for reading along with this project, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun For the Holidays

Hello Readers. It is time for the annual Dressember Fundraiser. What Is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S and all around the world.   Since 2013, Dressember advocates have raised over $20 million to support International Justice Mission (IJM) and its partners. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month in honor of this mission. You can learn more at Dressember.org

This refashion was a fun dress for Christmas. Want to be an elf? I've got an idea for you.

It started with these leggings. Leggings that were covered with the cutest ginger bread people you could imagine. I thought they were super cute and fun.

And really comfortable too.

I also had a big red sweater dress to go with the leggings. This would be a perfect match for the leggings but it was a little plain.

I made a little ginger friend out of felt and sewing notions in my sewing supplies.

This was easy to put together and yes, I wore this to work.

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

And Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating today.

The Most Versatile Dress Ever

  Hello Readers. It is time for the annual Dressember Fundraiser. What Is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S and all around the world.   Since 2013, Dressember advocates have raised over $20 million to support International Justice Mission (IJM) and its partners. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month in honor of this mission. You can learn more at Dressember.org

Hello Readers. Let me show you the most versatile dress I have ever seen and worn. It's fun, it's cute, and it's easy to wear.

  This sleeveless red denim dress is so versatile! (Similar here.) This sleeveless style is so classic, it works for so many seasons. It is casual, but not too casual. The styling possibilities are endless. Let me show you what I mean.

  

Just a note, if you need to alter a sleeveless dress you might want to keep the fit a bit loose. If the dress is very tight or very fitted, it limits the options you have to wear the dress with other clothes. I had so many ideas and outfit plans for this dress and some of them required some extra space in the dress. 

This dress is great all by itself. I liked it as it was. The style is simple and clean. The fabric was cotton and felt like a lighter weight denim. The sleeveless top is perfect for hot summer days. The light denim has enough body that it doesn't cling to any lumps or bumps. That makes it really flattering for a lot of people. It fits well but I have room to move around easily.  

If it's colder outside (And it is!) I won't want to wear it by itself. I added tights and a long sleeve t-shirt under it. This extra layer under the dress would be warmer. The dress fit on top of the shirt well and looks just as great as it did alone. And the light denim doesn't cling to the tights. I didn't need a slip or anything like that. (I hate nylon slips. They always feel itchy. That might be a me problem but I thought I would point it out.)

 

Let's imagine it is REALLY cold out. December is really cold and wet and windy where I live. I added tall boots and a thick heavy pullover. That will be nice and cozy on a cold day. The collar on the dress works well with the neckline of the pullover. The boots will keep my legs warm. This is a good winter outfit for me.  

Getting dressed with a dress this versatile the different styling possibilities are fabulous. Thanks for reading along, now go style up something fun for yourself. And stay warm out in that cold winter weather.

 

 

 

 

Make an Easy Bow Wreath

 Hello Readers. The holidays are upon us and it doesn't matter if we were ready or not. It is time. This little wreath is fun to make and easy to put together. Older kids that can handle sewing pins safely can even help. It is cute and festive. Let me show you how I put it together. 

 What a fun festive wreath! 

  I started this project with a pool noodle. These are popular for lounging in the water during the summer months. But now it is time for a new life, as a holiday wreath.

I peeled the sticker from my noodle to get it out of the way. I used blue because that was the color I liked. You can use any color you want.

  I put toothpicks in the end. These are just simple wooden toothpicks. They will help keep the noodle in a circular shape. 

 I also used some clear shipping tape to keep the ends of the pool noodle together. This noodle has to stay in a circle to make my wreath. The tape, on top of the toothpicks will be strong enough to keep the noodle in a circle shape. 

 When my pool noodle was in position I needed to tie a piece of thin ribbon around the pool noodle. I wanted to be able to tie the wreath onto my door knocker so I added the ribbon for that. Any kind of string or yarn would work for this. It is easier to tie the ribbon on BEFORE the bows are in place. 

 This is a bow wreath so I needed some bows. I wanted to use these bows that are a classic staple of Christmas gift wrap. I went with blue but you can do any color or colors you want to use. I used 2 bags of bows to make this wreath. 

 These bows have a sticky back. You can peel the paper off the adhesive if you want to have them stick to the pool noodle. I didn't think that would be enough to hold the bows over time.  I had another plan to attach the bows with pins. 

 Yes, I wanted to use straight pins that are normally used for sewing. I used pins I already had. 

 I used pins with small heads, larger pin heads would show more easily. I didn't want the pins to show.

I pushed the pins through the center of the bows. They went right through the ribbon and the adhesive square, this was not difficult. 

 I pushed the pin, with the bow, into the noodle. This was super easy. 

 I tried to spread the bows all around the wreath. I wanted to different shades of blue to be scattered around the wreath. I didn't want all the white together or all the silver together either.  

It took a little while to stick all the bows to the noodle. I wanted to fill in the wreath and cover the noodle as much as possible. I just kept sticking the bows all over the wreath. My wreath was done. I loved all the bows. 

I wanted the wreath on my front door. You could use a wreath hanger. These are great and easy to hang on the door and they hold any wreath you want to hang. 

 My door doesn't close well with the wreath hanger on it so I tied the wreath to my door knocker. My little front porch is covered and has protection for the wind and rain. I know my bow wreath will be safe outside. And it looks so fun on my front door.

 Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. And I wish you a happy holiday season and a peaceful new year.