Valentine's Day Blouse

 Hello Readers. I love making clothes for holidays. When I saw this white blouse with little red hearts on it at a clothes swap last summer I took it home and saved it for Valentine's Day. 

This blouse was perfect for Valentine's Day. 

This blouse was great but you can't try things on at a swap and it was a little too low cut. That's OK, I can fix that. 

I planned to use this Simplicity 8035 pattern for the top and reattach the sleeves to the sleeveless shirt. 

I cut the sleeves off the shirt and saved them for later. 

I cut out my front and back pieces. I also cut out a neck binding. 

I just needed to sew these pieces together. 

I sewed the front and back together first. 

I clipped the sleeves in place and sewed them in. I sewed one in inside out and had to take it out and do it again. (I always get at least one sleeve sewn in wrong.)

I sewed in the neck binding to the neckline and then threaded narrow elastic through it to gather the neckline. 

I liked how the new shirt turned out. 

I wanted to wear this for Valentine's Day. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Puffy Sleeves

 Hello Readers. Sometimes you have to dress up a little. It can't be pajamas all day every day. Let's get dressed!

This shirt and skirt were hand-me-downs. The fall colors were fabulous. The skirt fit at the waist but the length was not good for me. The shirt had so much going on. The puffy sleeves and the neck tie. It was a lot all at once. 

Let's get to work. The skirt was an easy fix. It just needed to be shorter. It fir perfect at the waist already. Some cutting and some hemming took care of this skirt.

Let's move on the the burgundy shirt. It was a little big but that was good because there was room to fit and move around. I made the sides a little smaller and cut the sleeves off.

I thought cutting the sleeves made such a pretty ruffle sleeves. The shorter sleeves looked better on me. I was lost in those puffy sleeves. I will look more in proportion with some arm showing.

 I did not like tie around the neck. I cut it off and connected the 2 pieces. 

I thought it would make a much better waist tie to tie around the shirt. It worked perfectly as a little belt. It gave the shirt a more flattering shape at the neckline and at the waist.

I could tuck it into the skirt and wear the belt as a headband too. 

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-This blouse is a favorite of the year. I wore it a lot. I couldn't wear the skirt as much. I have to wear pants to work so my time to wear skirts is limited.

Work Wear

Hello Readers. How are things going where you are? It looks like Covid-19 numbers might be rising and there are still demonstrations and marches around the nation, I hope you are safe and well where ever you are.

Today's refashion is simple fix for some work clothes. I have been working extra days to fill in for a co-worker so I am going through work clothes like crazy lately. And some of my clothes are still too tight thanks to all those Corona quarantine snacks.

(I have been trying to exercise more but I have made hash browns and eggs for breakfast everyday since the quarantine started so that might be part of the problem...Y'all, I love potatoes so much! Anyway...)

This was a cute cotton blouse. It had this high elastic neck that bugged me like crazy. I can't handle things that are tight around my neck. And the pants needed to be hemmed by about 5 inches at least.

I have been thinking about how to open up this neckline for a while now. I liked the ruffle a lot. I decided to cut the shirt right in the front. The design had a decorative line that I used as a guide. I cut a 5 inch opening.

That left these little fraying bits. I trimmed them down as much as I could.

I decided the best thing to do was to use a zigzag stitch and go over the opening to keep it from fraying away to nothing. The new stitches blended in with the stitching that was already there. I matched the thread the best that I could. My local shop is really low on thread.

The pants were stretchy and the tag guaranteed a great fit. Gloria would not lie to me.

I learned to sew because I didn't want to pay someone to hem pants for me. And I have to hem all my pants! Sewing saves so much money.

The pants were a great fit now. (Thanks Gloria!) and this outfit was ready to go to work.

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

Dressing Up!

Hello Readers. I have been staying home and wearing pajamas for a while now. I wanted to get dressed, just to see if it was still possible. I made a dressy date night outfit. Am I going out on a date any time soon? Probably not. It is always good to be prepared though.

I have had this plum colored silk shirt on my refashion rack for a while. I like silk (Doesn't everyone?) I wasn't sure I liked the length though. Why was it so long?
 And the brocade pants? They just needed to be shorter. 

I cut the long part of the shirt off in the back. It was easy because the front and back were already split. I turned the cut edge under and stitched it down.

I didn't change the front of the shirt. I wanted to use the long pieces to tie the shirt in the front. It seemed like a more fun style. It is a lot shorter but no tummy shows. (My tummy is my business.)

What did I do with the piece I cut off the back of the shirt? It was a long narrow rectangle. I hemmed the edge and used it as a small scarf. I tied it onto an elastic hair band.  

It easily made a fancy little ponytail.(It was very hard to get a close picture of my own head.)

These black brocade pants just felt special and I needed some pants. 

I had to hem the pant legs to a shorter length but that was it. 

I liked my new dressed-up outfit. Maybe I will wear it to watch a movie at home?

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

So Much Lemon Yellow

Hello Readers. How are you doing? I hope you are well in this crazy confusing time. I have been playing around with dye as you can see here.

This shirt was so pretty. I loved the eyelet lace on the hem and sleeves. It was a little too baggy. But these capri pants! These were the worst thing I have ever worn in my life! What happened to my legs? This was so bad.

Why lemon yellow dye? It was on clearance and this outfit needed dramatic action. And I don't have much yellow. I decided to be bold. I didn't realize how bold I was being. I assumed I was going to get light yellow clothes.

I cooked the clothes on my stove top for about an hour. They just simmered on low and I kept stirring.

 The fabric took the dye really well. I thought it would be light yellow. This is more of a mustard yellow. I was not expecting this strong yellow. I was a little put off. I took in the sides to improve the fit but I was not totally in love.

 I thought maybe shorts would be less over whelming that the yellow pants. Hmmm...

The yellow just doesn't stop y'all. The shirt also took the dye very well. I took the sleeves and body of the shirt in but tried to leave the lace at the cuffs as large as possible. I was going for a statement sleeve kind of shirt.

 I don't think I like these pieces together anymore. It's just too much yellow for me.

 So, separately then? I liked the yellow shirt with my white jeans. It highlights the lace that stayed white in the dye process. And maybe the shorts with a more neutral top?

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

Dressember 2019; Dress 5

Hello Readers. It's time for the 5th dress in my Dressember series. Dressember is a non-profit that fights to prevent human trafficking and forced labor around the world. They partner with other organizations to rescue victims and provide after-care and vocational training. They have raised over a million dollars so far this month and the month is not over yet. Go to Dressember.org to learn more about them and how donation money is spent.

Today's dress is very casual and comfortable. It started as a man's t-shirt. I tried to find the longest shirt I had in my refashion stash. (Spoiler Alert: It was not as long as I thought.)

Why am I making this stupid face? I have no answer.

I also had a blouse that looked a little like modern art to me. I loved the bright colors and shapes.

Here is the big comfy t-shirt. It is a bright beautiful blue. But it is not flattering or attractive like this.

I traced a t-shirt that I liked to get a good fit. I flared the sides out to make an A-line skirt.

I had a simple dress shape I could wear.

It was fast and easy project that made the shirt into something totally different. It was suddenly so much more feminine.

Now about that blouse. It was so soft and light I couldn't hold it up correctly to show it's shape. It was a great color match for the blue mini-dress I just made.

Here is a better look at the blouse. It was a criss-cross front. It was too baggy so I did the fastest and easiest refashion in the world. I gathered the front together with a ponytail holder. That pulled the sides in and made the blouse fit so much better.

I tucked the extra fabric up and inside the blouse and I was done!

This dress was really pretty short so I wore it with leggings. 

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