Make a Winter Hat & More

 Hello Readers. I have had a very cold winter in my part of the world. It has been frigid and windy. Bundling up has been mandatory. I have several winter hats and my favorite hat of all was made from a cashmere sweater that I accidentally shrunk. It is super soft and because it is a type of wool. Let me show you how I made it.

I will be cozy warm. 

I measured my noggin to see how big I should make my hat. 

I cut out my hat pieces. Each piece is half of my head circumference wide, plus 1/4 inch seam allowance.

This is the basic shape of my hat. 

I sewed the hat together with right sides facing each other. Then I flipped it right-side out.

I had this pompom in a drawer of sewing notions. I added it for fun, it is just for decoration. 

 

My new hat was done and the hem of the sweater is the band at the bottom of the hat. It looks nicely finished with only a few minutes of sewing.
 

The sweater sleeves can make great mittens. I traced my hand with a chalk pencil. 

I cut out my mittens and made them extra long so they would cover my whole wrist. 

The mittens were soft and warm. But if you cut off the thumbs...

You can make little footie socks. (These are so soft! They are my new favorite thing.)

I hope you are safe and cozy where ever you are. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Purple Palooza

 Hello Readers. I like to sew and that means there are a lot of fabric scraps. My daughter and my Mother-in-law also like to sew. That means there are even more fabric scraps at my disposal. I always want to try and use them. I don't like to be wasteful and fabric is expensive. Let's make a scarf from some pretty  purple scraps. 

I went on a purple binge. 

These were the scraps I had to work with. This was a very soft knit material. I really liked it but it was small and oddly shaped. 

This soft purple fabric was a bit gauzy and my serger had a bit of trouble with it. My sewing machine would have torn it up completely. As it was I broke 2 needles working with this fabric. I connected the pieces of fabric with the right sides facing each other. 

  

It kind of looked like this, 2 long narrow pieces. I wanted to connect them into one long narrow piece because scarfs are usually long and narrow. I sewed 2 short ends together but left an opening to flip it all right side out.

I wiggled the right sides out of the scarf. 

I sewed the opening closed by hand with a needle and matching thread. 

The material has a nice drape so it makes a great scarf. 

 

 I thought this shirt matched the scarf. The shirt had a tie at the waist that would be in the way if I tried to tuck the shirt in. I always tuck in my shirts so I needed to change this. 

I could cut off both pieces of this tie and I could sew this opening closed.

I clipped the sides together. 

This was easy to sew closed. 

I could wear the finished shirt untucked but I can tuck it in if I want. 

I loved the color of this belt with this shirt and scarf but the length of the belt was way too long on me. That's OK, I had a plan to fix it. 

So I cut it. That's right. I just cut it with a pair of sharp craft scissors and left the cut edge. It was leather so it wont fray or fall apart. The belt buckle will hide this cut end anyway so it won't really matter how it looks.

I used sharp scissors with a tip and made a hole at the right spot for me. It doesn't look as nice as the original but this buckle will hide the hole I made too. I kind of stabbed the belt and turned the tip of the scissors in a circle until I had punctured the belt. It was not difficult. I just had to apply a little pressure. I had the cutting mat under the belt so I did not damage the table. 

The design of this buckle hides all my cutting a hole making. The buckle fits in the hole I made and the belt looks just like it should when it's worn. No one knows I cut it and made holes in it. well, no one but you. (Shhh, don't tell.)

I was really feeling all this purple. The belt was great with this shirt and vest. (Yes, I have purple sneakers. Don't judge.) Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Alter a Houndstooth Skirt

 Hello Readers. I loved this skirt. It seemed so classic. I loved the hounds tooth pattern. It was a soft corduroy fabric. I decided to take it in a little to make it fit.

 Before and after.

This seemed like the kind of skirt that would go with anything and everything. I am trying to remember that I need neutrals in my closet too. I am always attracted to colors and patterns but they don"t always go together. 

I tried the skirt on and marked where the new side seams should be. The length was perfect the way it was.

I cut off the excess fabric so I could make the new side seams.

I liked the skirt a lot. It was so quiet and neutral but still had some fun and some pattern. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

The Changeable Sweater

 Hello Readers. I love green but this sweater has been sitting on a hanger waiting for me to fix it. It was just confusing because I wasn't sure how to wear it.

  Before and after.

This sweater was a bit weird. It had the biggest turtleneck in the world but no sleeves. That seemed strange to me.Was it even a Turtleneck? Was It supposed to be off-the-shoulder? I really did not know. I liked the color though. It was a bit large too. The armholes came down too low. They would show bits and pieces they shouldn't.

I decided to resize the sweater by taking in the sides. That would keep the armholes from showing stuff they shouldn't.

 

When I took the sides in, it made little cap sleeves at the armholes. The turtleneck was still very large.

 

The armholes were so much better. I could wear it as a big loose cowl neck or...

I could wear it around my arms. Maybe this is what it was supposed to look like? I'm still not positive either way.

I liked it under a sweater too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Velvet T-shirt

 Hello Readers. This loose velvet jacket was a little to loose and flowy for me. I thought the fabric was nice, what could I make from it? I wanted a simple black top so that is what I made. (I forgot how difficult it is to photograph velvet. I seems to completely absorb all the light.)

 

Before and after. 

 

When jackets are cut like this is makes loose flowing front panels. It looked nice enough but I didn't really want a jacket. I could really use a long sleeve shirt.

 

Because of the shape of the jacket there was a lot of fabric in front.  

 

I wanted to close the front of the jacket like this. I could sew it up and it would be a mock turtle neck shirt. 

 

I sewed the front of the shirt where the pins were. 

 

I also took in the sides and sleeves a little. That would improve the fit of my new shirt.  

 

I turned the top around so the front was in the back. That new seam I made could be in the back. 

 

The back of the shirt could be the front. It was a loose mock turtle neck. That is just what I wanted.

 

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