Shorter and Shorter

Hello Readers. I am writing this late at night, last minute because of some tech problems (some keys on my keyboard stopped working. And not to be picky, but I need all 26 letters.) and some lost teddy bear problems (My youngest could not find his bear for bedtime and we were searching for a long time. It was tangled in the blanket on my bed.) Please forgive any typos and incoherent thoughts. 

Let's talk about clothes. 

My daughter gave me this army green skirt. She didn't want it anymore. It fit her great because she is 8 inches taller than me. I love green so I wanted to make it work for me.

 Did it fit me? Ha! No, it did not. It was miles too long. The only way to make it the right length was to pull it up over my chest. It's not a great look. Maxi-skirts are not designed for very short people.

 I thought it went with this sweater so well. I found this sweater at a clothes swap and it was giving all the late 70's/early 80's vibes. I decided to shorten the skirt a little but keep it long-ish. Why? I don't know. Probably because I don't have many long skirts. I didn't love it with the sweater at this length.

 I went a bit shorter, and I am glad I did. It was just more fun and relaxed at this length. I felt more fun and relaxed when I wore it anyway. It seemed better with the sweater too.

You can see the simple hemming I did each time I cut it to a new length. Cut, hem. Cut, hem. Shortening it gave it a nice A-line shape.

There was some scrap fabric leftover. What did I did with that? I made snowman t-shirts for myself and the 4 year old that was traumatized by the loss of his bear. We found the bear but he was really on edge and over tired and couldn't go to sleep. We talked about many things before he calmed down. One of the things that distracted him was the idea of having a "Snowman Day". (Snowman shaped food, books, drawing, and shirts.) So here are my midnight projects.I hope they are a fun surprise in the morning. I used pieces of the skirt for the snowmen scarves.

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

Maxi Skirt to the Max

Hello Readers. A maxi skirt is something I have never been able to wear off the rack. I think the maxi skirt is designed for people with more height. Every maxi skirt I have ever come across is usually almost as tall as I am. #shortgirlproblems

The perfect T for coffee at a diner with friends.

I liked the light and dark gray color blocking of this skirt but the length was too much. On the bright side, I had a lot of fabric to work with.

 This is a picture of the skirt upside down. It got much wider at the bottom, that was going to be helpful. I decided to make a shirt. I cut the bottom half of the skirt off. I used chalk to mark straight sides and cut the extra fabric off. The extra fabric was going to make 2 nice sleeves.

 I used my machine to connect the sleeves onto the shirt. The hem of the skirt made a straight boat neck. It was easy to make a finished looking neckline and sleeves with the hem of the skirt.

 I cut the waistband off the skirt and attached it to the bottom of this new shirt. It made the shirt look neatly finished at the waist too.

I just had the hip portion of the skirt left over and it looked like the makings of an infinity scarf to me.

I cut some fringe in each of the dark gray ends. It was a fun way to finish the scarf instead of hemming the cut edges. It was already a circle so it was ready to wear.

 It matches the shirt perfectly.

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

  *Year end update-I love this shirt. And I love this scarf. Love!!

Maxed Out Four

Hello Readers. Today is the 4th and last of the maxi-skirt/dress series. I found this plaid rayon skirt quite a while ago. I thought the long plaid skirt was OK, but I didn't love it. It just seemed dowdy. I thought it would be a challenge to make it into something more fun. 

This just OK skirt was actually a fake wrap skirt. That gave me some extra fabric to play with. It was also in great condition and made of good quality fabric. It had a lot going for it, it just needed help coming out of it's shell a little.

I started by spreading out the skirt and I had enough fabric to make some loose fitting shorts. I thought shorts would be a fun way to use this plaid print. I used a lot of the fabric from the bottom of the skirt but that left the top of the skirt untouched.

I used the top of the skirt to make a matching top. I also made two shoulder straps and stitched them in place. You can see in the picture below the waistband with the button still intact. I used it as my new top but decided sew the wrap part closed. It was not a real wrap skirt so it wouldn't fly open but it needed to lay flat to be a top. 

This was an easy outfit to make because it had such a loose relaxed fit. I wanted it to look like a fun little romper but I didn't have a pattern for that. I also don't like to remove ALL of my clothes to use the bathroom the way you need to with a romper. It is just a little inconvenient to completely undress so many times through the day. 

I love this outfit. I wish I had made this outfit ages ago, it is as comfortable as pajamas. It turned out very chilly this morning so I had to winterize it with some tights and a sweater but I still love it.

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

Maxed Out Three

Hello Readers. Today is part 3 of my Maxed Out series. The maxi skirt I am going to show you today is a very pretty cream color skirt with a light sheer overlay. It was SO long. I couldn't even walk around in it. If you check the before picture below on the left, it looks like I have no feet. I don't know who was intended to wear this, but they are a lot taller than me. Even high-heels wouldn't have fixed this.

I decided to go shorter (Much shorter!) with this skirt because it was so delicate and light in color. I thought it was pretty but not very practical for a mom of a toddler.

I had to cut the whole thing to a shorter length. I decided to cut it so the sheer layer was just a bit longer than the lining underneath. This would make it about knee length and I thought that would be good for me. Now I just needed to hem the skirt.

(Oh, look, I do have feet.)

I didn't do any sewing to make a new hem. I used a lighter. Before I used the lighter I got the fire extinguisher and put it close by. I was trying to be safe because I was literally playing with fire.

I also researched how different fabrics/fibers burn. You can check this video for more information.

BE CAREFUL WITH FIRE!

I went to an area that was open and well ventilated. With out any small children, pets or flammable substances around.

I used the lighter and "brushed" the flame along the raw edge of the fabric. This is polyester so it caused the edge to melt in on itself. I tried not to keep the flame in one spot too long, or it would melt too much of the fabric and take a little bite out of the edge. You can see in the picture below on the right where I overdid it on one spot.

I really liked the finished look. It made a very light hem. It stayed light weight because I didn't make a traditional hem by folding the fabric under and stitching the layers of the hem down. It has a lot of movement and I felt a little like a ballerina while I was wearing it. 

Thanks for reading, the next time will be the final Maxed Out post.

Go make something fun for yourself.

Maxed Out Two

Hello Readers. It is time for the second in the maxi-dress/skirt series. I came across a cute knit dress at a clothes swap. You don't try things on at clothes swaps, you just look at the clothes and if you like it, you take it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. This dress was so soft and stretchy, I didn't realize it was going to be SO tight. And it was tight y'all. It was so tight that I just couldn't post the full image for the whole internet. 

(I have kids, what if they run for president, and someone finds this picture of their mom is some crazy, tight,  jail-striped dress that showed all my personal lumps and bumps? I couldn't live with that.)  

This dress was so tight that even my dog was disturbed by it, and he refused to look at me.

I decided I really liked the material of this dress. It was soft, casual and very comfortable. I cut off the top part of the dress. That left the bottom of the dress which was bigger and fuller

I folded in the cut edge and made a casing for elastic.

I love this skirt, it is the softest fabric and I love the stripes. It was great for lounging on the hammock. (Y'know, how moms lounge. That is a joke. I was on this hammock for about 30 seconds.)

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

Maxed Out One

Hello Readers. I have had a few maxi-dresses and maxi-skirts on my refashion rack for quite a while. I decided to refashion them all and call it, the "Maxed Out" Series. People usually use the phrase "maxed out" to describe overwhelming credit card debt. I am using it to describe this overwhelming maxi-skirt. You can see how the skirt puddled on the floor around my feet. It is really too long. The shirt needed some help too.

The only way to make it fit in length I would have to pull it up under my arms. It could have been a dress like this, but I really liked it as a skirt with this bright coral color top.

That's my kids head.

I cut the bottom of the skirt off and made a new hem. It was pretty simple and straight forward. I can't think of any other exciting way to say I made a new hem. I made a new hem!!! How's that?

I used the cut off scrap later.

This nice coral colored top was too tight. I wasn't comfortable posting a picture of it because it was so tight. But you get the idea, right?

It looks like my legs were partially cut off. #shortgirlproblems

I cut two long narrow pieces from the cut off hem. I was going to use them to make the shirt a little bigger. They wanted to curl up a lot which made it more difficult to sew, but it wasn't horrible.

Here is the bigger shirt. I cut the sides of the shirt open and stitched in the strips of skirt fabric in the sides. It made the shirt a little bigger and it fit more comfortably. The whole outfit is a little matchy-matchy but I could break up the outfit and wear the pieces separately.

It was really difficult to pose so the side of the shirt would really show. I call the photo below, "Serious Face".

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

The next post will be Maxed Out Two.