No More Batwing Sweater

 Hello Readers. I found this fun purple sweater at a clothes swap. I liked the purple and gray tones but the fit was not great. But I loved the cowl neck, I read that they were back in fashion this winter. I don't know if that is true but I liked it. Let's make it fit a little better. 

Before and after.

The sweater was super soft but the bat wing shape was not what I wanted.   

I marked where I wanted my new side seams. I was going to taper the side seams out into the armholes of the sleeves.  

 

I used my serger because it works so well with knit materials and it cuts as it sews. Use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine if you don't have a serger. It will work just as well. When You are done, you can cut off the extra material. 

 

This was more like it! I liked the fit and new sleeve shape. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

Striped Dress to Skirt

 Hello Readers. Check out this dress. It seemed like Adidas stripes on the bottom and lace on top. I wasn't sure how I felt about that combination or the fit of this dress. 

Before and after.

The top of this dress was tight and lacey but a little worn out. The bottom was sweat suit material. I love navy blue though so I decided to try and rework this dress. 

 

I cut the top of the dress. It had an elastic waistband built in already. I could have a fun striped skirt. It had a zipper in back that I didn't really need. 

  

I sewed the zipper closed in the back of the skirt. It could just stay in the skirt, it wouldn't bother me. Or so I thought. Spoiler-This was going to be a problem. 

 

The skirt made me look twice as big in the bum. I knew it was full cut but this was not going to work.

 

I cut the zipper out of the skirt and some extra fabric too. I also cut off the elastic waistband. I could make the shape and fit of this skirt different. And better.

 

I added a new elastic waistband. 

   

OK, this seems like a much better fit for me. This skirt is still loose but the fit is what I had been wanting all along. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  
 

 

 

 
 

 

Make Small Shirt Bigger

 Hello Readers. Do you ever have a t-shirt that gets a bit small or a bit too tight. But you really like that t-shirt. What can we do?  

Before and after. I loved this t-shirt with the "golden spiral" on it. It is based oh the math concept of phi (Not my area of expertise.) and looks like the inside of a seashell to me. Anyhoo, I like the shirt but it was a bit tight and it was not very stretchy so I never wore it.  

I started cutting up this button down shirt. It is going to be the sides of my new shirt and I cut out the middle of the shirt. I kept the side pieces as wide as possible to add ad much fabric to my new shirt. 

 

I cut my t-shirt as wide as I could too. I wanted a loose fitting shirt so larger pieces will give me the bigger shirt I am looking for. 

 

Now I needed to sew the pieces from the 2 shirts together. I put the right sides together and sewed the pieces in place. I made sure to line up the shoulders because my shirts are different lengths. That's OK, I can fix that next.

 

My striped shirt was a bit longer than my t-shirt. I cut the tips of the striped shirt so the lengths matched up better. 

 

I turned the edge under and sewed it down to make a smooth edge that connected with the hem of the t-shirt.

 

My new shirt was finished and I liked how it all turned out. 

 

I also found a fun way to use the collar of the striped shirt.

 

I used some Fray Check on the cut edge of the neckband that I cut off of the striped shirt. 
 

Fray Check is basically like a permanent glue that you can use on a cut edge of fabric to control fraying. 

 

I went through my buttons and picked out a bunch of black, gold and silver buttons. 

   

I sewed random buttons all around the collar. There was no order.

 

I thought it was a fun accessory, almost like a necklace. 

  

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long Plaid Dress Makeover

 Hello Readers. I found this dress at a thrift shop and I loved that it was home-made. I took it home with me but it did not fit very well. That's OK. I can sort it out. 

Before and after. And after.

  

This dress had a top piece that just did not fit me well. But I liked the plaid. I decided to cut the top of the dress off and keep a bit of it to make a waistband. 

I cut the waistband so that I could keep the lowest button in place to open and close the skirt. 

 

The waistband was made with 2 layers of fabric so I tucked the cut edges in so I could sew them down. 

 

This is what I ended up with. Full Disclosure - I didn't love it. I thought I would like a long skirt, but it felt like I was about to jump on a wagon and go west. 

Let's keep working on this. 

 

I cut over 12 inches off the skirt, I thought shorter was going to be better than my pioneer look. I gave it a new hem to finish it up. 

 

This was much better for me. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Cashmere Beenie & Scarf

 Hello Readers. I found this cashmere sweater at a thrift store and washed it when I go home. It got smaller after that trip through the laundry. What could I do with it? I had an idea. Let's make a hat and scarf from the sweater.

 Give an old sweater, a new life. 

I started by turning the sweater inside out and spreading out out flat on my cutting table. I cut out the hat shape from the body of the shirt. I held the sweater up to my head to get an idea about size. The hem of the sweater will be the opening of the hat. That makes this a fast p[project. .  

I cut a notch out of the top of my hat. This will help it fit better.  

I took one side of the hat and folded it with the right sides facing each other so I could sew that notch closed. 

 

I sewed the notch closed of both sides (The front and back.) of the hat. 

 

Then I can sew the 2 sides, the front and back, of the hat together. I sewed up one side around the top and down the other side. 
 

I turned the hat right-side out and it looked like a nice beanie. I wanted a pompom on top because ... why not?

 

I sewed the pompom on by hand and my hat was done. 

 

Remember the sleeves from the sweater? Let's use those and make a really soft cashmere scarf. 

 

I put one sleeve inside the other with the right sides facing each other. 

 

I sewed around the cut edges so the sleeves were connected. 

 

When I was done, I turned the sleeves right side out and it looked like this. It was sort of like a long narrow scarf but I wasn't quite done yet. 

 

I took the ends of the sleeves, the wrist cuffs, and folded one around the other, with the ends all together.

 

Then I folded the other end around the first. 

 

I sewed the ends or wrist cuffs together with a needle and thread. These stitches won't show so just stitch it together with out worrying about how pretty it is. 

 

When you are done you will have an infinity scarf with this nice, almost knotted look in the front. 

 

 Using a cashmere scarf made these super soft, cozy, and it will keep you warm too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.