Alter Your T-shirt

 Hello Readers. If there is one thing I love to do, it is cutting up and refashioning clothes. I love to alter my t-shirts because you can do it with no sewing at all. It is quick and easy. They fit better and they feel better when I do a little cutting. It's so easy. You just need a t-shirt and a pair of sharp scissors.

Before and after. 

This is just a basic t-shirt. There is not anything wrong with it but I like to change my t-shirts up a little when I can. It's fun and easy and I always like the results. Let's get started.

I like to remove the neckband. I cut all the way around the neck close to the neckband. This opens up the shirt a little. The neck opening will be a bit larger and feel more comfortable.

I cut off the armbands next. I like to do this because it makes a looser sleeve and gives my arms more room around the bicep. This can make a t-shirt fit more comfortable if the sleeve is a little tight. 

These sleeves fit well but I kept cutting. I cut sleeve again. I cut along the top of the sleeve. I tried to match the location and direction of the shoulder seam. I cut the sleeve only. I did not cut the shoulder seam or armhole seam. Leaving those seams intact will help the shirt keep its shape. 

 

I tied the corners of my new sleeve cut in a little knot. It adds some extra interest to the sleeve and looks a little more feminine. The opening adds a little ventilation too. 

 

I cut the bottom of the shirt next. I wanted to remove the hem of the shirt. I cut all the way around the shirt. This only makes the shirt about 1/2 inch shorter. 

 

I cut a slit in the center of the front of the shirt. It made my slit approximately 5 inches long. My cutting mat has measuring marks on it. You can also use a ruler to get the length of cut you want. That made 2 little corners just like the sleeves.

 

I wanted to tie a knot at the front of the shirt too. It will work well visually with the sleeves. It will also add some shape to the waistline. 

 

Thanks for reading along. I hope you have fun cutting up one of your t-shirts. 

***Year End Update***- I love cutting up my t-shirts. I will never get tired of it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Dressember #9- No Sewing Needed

 Hello Readers. 2022 is almost over. Congratulations! If you made it it this far then it's like you won the game. I have been refashioning dresses all month in honor of Dressember. This organization works to fight human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S. and world-wide. They estimate that 1/10 children worldwide is forced into child labor. You can go to dressember.org to learn more and see how you can help. 

December is a really busy month for everyone. It is the busiest time for me at work and of course at home too. This is my last refashion for the month and it is an easy one. No sewing needed. I just needed to do some cutting. 

Before and after.

I love the tiers of this full skirt but this knit dress was too long for me. When I walked up stairs I was stepping all over the hemline and tripping. It was an accident waiting to happen It needed to be shorter. 

 

This dress was an extra-small, why was it so long? I usually wear a medium and this dress fit well in the body. It must just run big. 

 

I had a plan to make this dress shorter and safer for me to wear. I only needed to cut it down to size.

I measured the ruffle so I could make sure to get the length right. I also noticed how imperfect the original edge was. This put my mind at ease about how good my cutting would have to be. 

I cut the new ruffled edge the same length as the old one. Each tier of this dress was made with unhemmed/raw cut edges. It makes the dress very lightweight and the edges do not fray because it is a knit. 

This new dress is almost exactly the same, it's just shorter. 

I loved the fun twirly skirt and I feel like I still have that. This shorter dress is a better length for me. I can walk without tripping. Thanks for reading along and I wish you a Happy New Year!

*Year End Note From Chickie- Casual, fun, twirly... I love it all.

Distressing a Denim Jacket

 Hello Readers. I got this jacket as a hand-me-down and liked the classic style. I decided to do some distressing and have some fun with it. This is an easy no-sew refashion that only requires scissors.

Before and after. 

I tried my jacket on and decided on the length I wanted. Then I started cutting the sleeves and the body of the jacket to make everything shorter. I have short arms and I wanted a cropped jacket so it all needed to be cut shorter. I then got a seam ripper to start distressing the edges. 

 

 You can use anything you want to distress your jacket. I have seen people use sand paper, cheese graters, tweezers... anything that you can pull and scratch at the loose threads will work. 

I also used scissors to make little tiny cuts along the edges so I would get more fraying when I washed and dried the jacket.

This is a look at the fraying I got after washing the jacket in my washing machine. I put it in the dryer next to get more fraying and dry the jacket. 

The washer and dryer worked really well to bring out the fraying at the edges. I like the frayed edges a lot. I usually cut the really long white threads to neaten it up a little. 

Here is a close up look at the jacket and the frayed edges.

I really liked how the jacket turned out. And the cropped length is especially great for petites too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- This was a fun project for me. The cheese grater was my favorite. The jacket still matches everything.

A Tea Shirt

 Hello Readers. I love to sew and refashion but you don't always have to sew to refashion your clothes. No-sew refashions can be a lot of fun and easy to do. Let me show you a couple recent refashions like this.

Before and after.

I am still in my happy yellow phase this month and this shirt was a fabulous find for me. I am a tea drinker and I love a good pun. This shirt had everything I could want in a tea/T shirt. It was a little boxy so I decided to do some quick work on it.

I usually find the round high neck on t-shirts to be uncomfortable. I like to cut the neckband off. The knit fabric will not fray so you can cut the neckline however you like most, round or V shape. Removing the neckband opens up the neckline, elongates the neck which is more flattering on me. It also feels more comfortable to me when I am wearing it. 

My next step was to cut off the end of the sleeves. I cut mine at an angle so I would get a little cap sleeve look.

I pulled on the cut edge so that the fabric would roll up in a curl. I like this look and I thought it would look cute on the short sleeves. I wanted them to be as loose and fluttery as possible.

I cut off the bottom of the shirt. I also pulled and stretched the cut edge to make it roll. Then I cut a slit in the center of the shirt. I liked the curled up edge. 

I tied the 2 corners into a knot in the front. The knot looks cute and it pulls the sides of the shirt in and gives shirt more shape. With no sewing! It's so fast and easy.

*** PART 2 ***

These black jeans fit perfectly and were very comfortable. But they were too long. I am really short so that was not surprising. I wanted to make them shorter. I could have just cut the jeans straight around each leg but I wanted to do something different.

I cut the jeans shorter and made it fun too.

I washed and dried the jeans and I got some great fraying. I cut off the really long strings so they wouldn't tickle my feet. (No tickling allowed ever! I hate it.) You can cut off as much of the jeans as you want. Have fun with it. 

The shirt was easy to wear and felt light and open. I tucked it in for this picture. The jeans were now the right length and I liked how the back of the leg is longer than the front. I really liked the fit of these jeans. They are Gloria Vanderbilt from Kohl's. They make my mom gut seem to disappear. (Not an ad. I just like them.)

I like the knot detail on the front out as well. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- I love this and will forever. A "tea" shirt! Come on now, that's funny.

Denim Days-Dying Dots

 Hello Readers. I have been refashioning denim this month because I love denim and I love a theme to get me thinking. Today's post is about a lightweight denim jacket. I found this jacket at a clothes swap . The purple polka dots caught my eye. 

Before and after.

This jacket was boxy and shapeless and just did not fit well. The sleeves were not long enough to be full length and not short enough to be 3/4 length. I knew I could fix those things but I wasn't crazy about the lavender purple color either. Did the purple look to juvenile? I couldn't quite figure it out but something didn't work for me.

Here is a picture of my actual washing machine and the Rit dye I used to change this jacket into something I would love. (Not an ad. Rit dye doesn't know me. I am just a fan.) I chose this color because I liked it and it was darker than the lavender and I knew it would cover it well.

I was very happy with the color. I pushed up the sleeves and played with the length a little. I thought a shorter cropped length jacket would be better. I decided on a good length for me and just cut the bottom of the jacket off.

I cut the jacket and the sleeves so they would fray and I would have a distressed look. 

This new shorter length was just what I was looking for. 

I really like the look of frayed denim. You can faintly see the polka dots which is OK with me. I didn't mind the dots, I just didn't like the original lavender shade of purple that much. 

This jacket was a great layer for a windy day. And the red wine color really popped!

I like this color a lot so when I dyed the jacket, I also dyed a pair of cotton khakis. Both of these pieces took the dye really well. They were both made of 100% cotton and I used the dye for cotton fabric. 

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

*Year End Note From Chickie- I loved the color of this dye. The jacket is wearable all year round.

No-Sew Party Dress

 Hello Readers. It seems like the holidays are coming faster than ever this year. What if you need a party dress but you don't have one ready? What can you do? I have quick and easy idea. 

Before and after.

 

 You only need 2 items to create this party look. First you need a big men's t-shirt with a round neck. The bigger, the better. The second thing you need is a button-up blouse. The one I have here is sheer but any dressy blouse or shirt will do. You are going to wear it with the t-shirt.

Put the t-shirt on as if it were a strapless dress. The neck/head hole will be small enough to stay up Above your chest. It will stay on you very well. 

Those sleeves need to disappear. Tuck each sleeve into itself.

 

They will look like big pockets after you tuck them in. Stay with me, We are almost done.

Now we get to the blouse. You can use long or short sleeves. Whatever you want. The shirt covers your shoulders and helps to keep you warm but it also gives the waist of this t-shirt dress a nice shape. This t-shirt dress is shapeless. Adding the blouse on top makes the dress more flattering on your body. Tie the shirt at the smallest part of your waist. 

 

Put on your party shoes and you are ready to go. 

If you want to make those pockets into actual working pockets you can sew the sleeves closed at the ends. It won't change the look of your dress. It will make the pockets more useful if you sew them closed but you might not have time for this step and that's OK. Either way enjoy your party!

This is my third dress refashion for December 2021. I refashion dresses all month to bring attention to the Dressember organization. Why dresses? That is a good question. You can go to Dressember.org to learn more about the fight against human trafficking and why wearing dresses and ties to raise money can help victims.

5 T-shirt Dresses

 Hello Readers. My sister-in-law was super nice and gave me 5 t-shirt dresses. That's right. 5! She said I could wear them or refashion them. I loved them but they were a little long and a bit tight in the bum. So, I got to work refashioning. 

This was so much fun because I could try so many different ideas. The dresses were all exactly the same size but the colors were all different. 

I will show you what I did with these dresses. I wanted some pajamas/lounge wear and t-shirts.  I  used leggings that I already had as a pattern. I cut some stretchy shorts out of the blue dress and the gray dress as well. The hem of the dress became the hem of the shorts. I folded the waist down and it was the waistband. No elastic needed.

I was able to make them into shorts in no time. I like these because I can wear them for pajamas and They are tight enough that they do not shift around and get bunched up. And I can wear them under dresses and skirts. (Have you ever worn a wrap dress on a breezy day? Has the wind ever blown that wrap skirt straight up in the air showing God and e'rybody your bum and more? Did it happen at a church? Did you sell your house, leave the church and move out of state? Yes, me too. OK, we were planning to move anyway but I was so happy about it after that.)

Let's take a look at the other 3 dresses. I also cut them into shirts. They just made great t-shirts and I didn't want to give them up. What did I do with the bottom of those dresses? I simply cut them into a shirt length. This idea is easy, there is no sewing involved. I used a shirt I liked to get the right length. T-shirt material does not fray. You do not have to finish or hem the bottom of the shirt if you don't want to. 

I rolled the extra material up and I had an instant infinity scarf. It might be hot today but cooler weather is coming.

I liked this idea so much that I did it with this red and black dress too. 

And one more time! Seriously, I just cut them and I was done. I have worn and machine-washed all of these new shirts and scarves. They never fray.

This one is my favorite. I love the yellow and orange together. The colors are going to be fun in fall too.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-All of these pieces are living their best life. I like and wear all of these items.