The Gray Tunic That Couldn't Handle Me

Hello Readers. This post started with a need to mend clothing that I ripped. It was two rips actually. We all tear our clothes once in a while right? This one was a doozy.

I have had this cotton tunic for a couple years now. It is nice and soft and it is great for lounging and being comfortable. It was neutral, it went with everything... It was perfect.

 But it didn't have any stretch. That will be important to the story later.

Here's the ripped part. I bent down and my back end ripped through the back. Did each of my butt cheeks rip through the fabric? Yes. Yes they did. I couldn't believe it. One rip would be bad enough but two? I felt betrayed. By the tunic and by my bum.

 This was around the holidays and it made me feel like maybe I had eaten too many cookies. Maybe I only had myself to blame. Thanks goodness this happened in the privacy of my own home.

 Warning: Not strong enough to handle my bum!

 I did what anyone would do, I got mad and later I cut off the ripped part of the tunic. There seemed to be enough left to make a shirt. So, that's what I did next.

Instead of folding the edge under to finish the hem of the shirt I decided to add some of this gray cotton lace that I had in the sewing stash. 

*Actual sewing of gray lace to gray shirt.

The lace seemed to go with the shirt so well that I added it to the sleeves and the neck too. You can't have too much lace right?

To go with this "new" shirt I made some "new" pants. This pants had a great striped pattern but they were really baggy and looked like part of a 1040's gangster costume. 

 I thought a skinny cigarette pant would be nice for those stripes so I used some skinny jeans for size. I traced around the pants that fit and used the marks to guide my sewing.

I finished this outfit just in time for the first snow of 2019. I think this one will have to wait for better weather. I can't shovel out in this.

 You might think this picture looks a little off. I edited this picture so I looked taller, younger, brighter, smarter, stronger... everything.

( My bum had just ripped through my clothes so I had enough of reality.)

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

Sweaters and Skinny Jeans 4

Hello Readers. This is the last of four sweaters and skinny jeans post. If you have had enough of these basic clothes, don't worry, this is the last of it. I have made some nice progress in my stash of refashion clothes so I can move on to other things. Today's sweater is a 2XL men's cotton V-neck sweater with some nice blue stripes. I have a confession; these are not truly jeans, they are more like dress pants.

First, let's work on this sweater. It is too big obviously but I really like stripes. I began by putting it on my dress form and pinning the sides. I needed to remove some fabric to make it fit me well. I pinned and pinned and then stitched new side seams. I used a zigzag stitch to stop the fraying and so it would have a little give when I put it on and off.

Here is a picture to show what I removed. The dog was really sleeping in my way but I took the same amount off both sides.

The arms were much too long. I cut the wrist binding off and moved it up the sleeve. I reattached it and cut off the excess fabric. The stripes influenced the placement of the binding. I wanted to keep the light and dark blue pattern so I attached the dark binding to a light blue stripe.

I did basically the same thing with the biding around the bottom of the sweater. I didn't want the sweater to be longer than hip length. I used a zigzag stitch to secure the raw edges so they wouldn't fray. I attached the dark blue binding to a light blue stripe to keep the stripe pattern going. I kept the sweater big enough to wear over another shirt because it's COLD out there.

These dress pants/trousers/slacks, whatever you want to call them, are too baggy. They aren't awful but I want to make them more fitted, like a cigarette pant. I narrowed the legs and shortened them a bit as well.

Here you can see what I removed from the pants. I was cautious and did my best not to make them too tight. I gave them a simple hem at the bottom and that was it.

I love these new pieces. I really like the dress pants, I don't have anything like them in my closet. I am pretty sure I can wear them year-round with tons of different tops.

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