The Reversable Wrap Dress That Put Up A Fight

 Hello Readers. I thought I could make a fun reversible wrap dress. I chose the wrong fabric and I messed it big time, and I managed to save it at the end. I will tell you all about it. 

 

 This fabric was so cute, I knew I wanted a dress out of it. As usual I barely had enough and I messed up along the way.

I used the 1356 pattern from Simplicity. I thought it would be so great because it was reversible and it was a wrap style. It's like 2 dresses in 1 and it would always fit.

I cut out the pattern pieces. There was a front, a back and a belt piece. So far so good. 

I didn't realize that I was making a mistake here. The only way to fit the 2 dress pieces on the fabric was to turn them different ways. This means that the design will be upside down on one of these pieces. I can't believe I did not see this.

You can see the front images are upside down because of how I cut out the pieces. You can also see  mistake #2. I also cut out the same pieces from a pale pink lining fabric. I put them together and it was so bulky, I didn't think it looked good. The sewing themed fabric was heavier than it should have been for this pattern. I decided to take the lining out and try to keep the sewing fabric by itself. It was thicker and it wrapped around itself enough that I didn't think it would be see through.

 

I did a lot of cutting to get the lining out. I also may have said some bad words. 

 

The lining was out. I had the basic dress shape intact but I had to finish all the edges and stitch them down. 

 

I couldn't fix the upside down images so I decided to turn the dress around and wear it backwards. It looked better that way. 

 

This is how it looked from the back. The tie looks nice and the upside down fabric is mostly covered by the way it wraps around.

 

It turned out OK. I like it a lot. The fabric is so fun. And nothing is perfect. I can ignore the mistakes. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 ***Year End Update- This dress was a tough project but I love it. I wore it with layers in cooler weather. I also found a use for the lining in a later project. 

*2025 Me-Made-May update. I still love this dress. 

 

 

 

 

 

Plaid Shirt

 Hello Readers. I have had this XL men's shirt for a while. I liked the seersucker fabric and wanted to use if for a summer top. You can see here what I did to make a top for myself. 

Before and after. 

My son told me it looked like I was wearing someone's grandpas's clothes. He wasn't wrong. I liked the fabrics and was determined to make something new from the materials

I used this shirt as a pattern to cut out a new shirt. I cut it at the bottom so the hem of the blue shirt could be the hem of my new shirt.

I used my seam ripper to remove the front pockets.

I used my serger to sew the sides and shoulder seams together.

I cut the sleeves off what was left of the shirt. I also cut the sleeves down in size and length. 

I sewed the sleeves in with my serger. 

 

The new sleeves look different. I wanted small cap sleeves. I thought that would look more feminine and like this was my shirt and not grandpa's. 

I cut the pants down as well. I cut the pockets out of the way and cut the sides of the pants to make them more narrow. I cut the length so that I would have shorts instead of pants. 

Now I has a new summer top and shorts. 

This was a great outfit for a day at the beach. (And some ice cream.) Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Use a Book As a Vase

 Hello Readers. I really liked this idea and couldn't wait to make this project. My thought was that it was a great use for older, damaged, no longer read-able books. (Please don't use your great grandmother's first edition, valuable, family heirloom. You should save and insure that.) This project was meant for books that your kids liked but damaged through reading over and over again or an older book that has lost some pages over the years. 

A book as a vase? Read on and see.

 

Here is the book I wanted to use. It was published in 1963. I really liked the illustration on the cover. It has such a great retro look. I did read the book and it was comically unrealistic. It was marketed to young girls as an adventurous idea of what they can do when they grow up. It was so innocent and sweet, I don't think Hollywood is anything like this book but I am not an expert.
 

I had a few artificial flowers that I wanted to use. These colors worked with the color scheme of my book. You can use any colors you like.

 

The pages need to be folded or turned in. My book had quite a few illustrations through-out the book. I wanted those to show so I turned my pages in at the places that would show some of my favorite drawings. 

 

I used a glue gun with glue sticks to add a few small blobs right in the center of the book. This will secure the pages and keep them turned in towards the book. That gives me a spot for my flower stem and shows the illustrations that I like.

 

I just put a few blobs in the center of the open book and tucked the pages into the glue. 

 

Now my book is able to stand by itself with the turned in pages stuck in place. I can add the flowers now.

 

I put a floral piece into each rolled up group of pages. I pushed the stem down until it was steady and in place.

 

I added the flowers and bent the flowers out and made the whole group of flowers look as full as possible.

I wanted the arrangement to be as large as possible. 

 

I liked the color combinations and the drawings together from this view of the inside of the book.

 

I also liked the colorful cover with the flowers too. 

 

This book is a bit different. A few inner pages were cut in half height before they were glued in place and the flowers stand lower in the book. 

 

This is a fun kids book that got damaged and was missing some pages. The colorful illustrations are fun with the floral arrangement. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Wrap Shorts

 Hello Readers. I have been wanting to make some wrap shorts for a little while now. I finally got it done. This fun summer fabric from San Diego Sewn was the perfect choice for this make. *Not a paid ad, I just thought they had cute fabric.

Before and after.

Look at this cute fabric! Look at these lovely women. They are glowing, thriving, relaxing, undisturbed, just living the dream. I bought 2 yards of this because that was all there was available at the time. I have seen online that it was restocked.

 

My first step was to wash this fabric in my washing machine before I did any sewing. I dried and ironed it and got to work.
 

I used this pattern piece from a previous shorts making project where I made my own pattern. I made this pattern based on my measurements. I used it because I just needed a guide to cut out my pieces for these new shorts.

 

I cut all my pieces and extended the sides so they would be wide enough to wrap around my hips.

 

I connected the 4 pieces to make the shorts. This was a fast project and I was able to get this done quick and easy. Now I had to make the waistband ties.  

 

The waistband ties are what keeps the shorts up and holds them together. 

 

Here is a look at the tie in the back. This is the narrow strip of fabric I made for this waist tie. It is the waistband of the front part of the shorts. The front of the shorts wrap around the body to tie in the back. It is not going to be visible when the shorts are worn. The back of the shorts will wrap around and tie in the front.

 

Here is a look at the front of the shorts. The front is tied in back and I am holding the back piece open so you can see how the front wraps around and then is covered by the back piece.

 

When The back of the shorts are tied in the front the sides overlap by about 6-8 inches and cover everything they should.

 

Here is a quick and clumsy demonstration of me tying on the shorts. 

 

These shorts were so fun. I love how they turned out. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I loved these shorts. I want to make pants in the same style! They always fit and the fabric was so fun too.

 

*2025- This shorts are still fabulous.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bathing Suit Cover-up Dress

 Hello Readers. I was given this material by a friend. (Thanks T.P.) It was thin stretchy nylon bathing suit fabric. I wanted to make a wrap around cover-up dress from it. It was perfect for the beach or the pool. 

Before and after.

 

I wrapped the fabric around myself and my dress form to see how wide I needed the pieces to be. It had to wrap all the way around me and over-lap too. The fabric needed to go from behind one shoulder, across my front, across my back and then around my front again to the other shoulder.

 

I used my serger around the whole rectangle. 

 

I cut off two corners before I used the serger. Those will be at the top where my shoulder straps will go. 

 

I folded the edge of those cut off corners in and sewed them down. 

 

I made 2 straps, about a foot long.

 

I pushed the strap through the casing I made at the cut off corner. 

 

 

I sewed the ends of the strap together and hid the ends inside the casing. 

 

This video will make it easier to see how the dress goes on.  

 

This was a great cover-up at the pool. It was also perfect for walking through the hotel lobby to get to the pool area. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.