Resizing Bat Wings

 Hello Readers. I am trying to replenish my supply of long sleeve shirts. It is SUPER cold right now and I am cold. I liked the softness of this shirt but that was about it. Let's change it up so I do like it.

Before and after. 

This shirt was nice and soft. I really liked how it felt. The sleeves were wide bat wing style sleeves. They also had brown buttons along the sleeves.Why brown? I did not love that. The over all length was a bit too long for me too. I decided to make the sleeves more narrow first. 

You can see the buttons on the sleeves here. These sleeves were so wide I decided to remove this entire row of buttons and the fabric they were on. 

This is the inside of the sleeve. I could remove this band of fabric that the buttons were on and it would make the sleeves more narrow at the same time. 

I used my serger so that it would sew and cut off the extra at the same time. I could have cut off the extra and used a zigzag stitch too. 

I cut off some of the extra length. The shirt was just a little too long on me. I reattached the hem at the bottom of the shirt so it would look nicely finished. 

I wanted to be able to wear this shirt tucked in or out and now I can do that. This will be a nice layer under other clothes to stay warm. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

Tiered Shirt to Full Skirt

 Hello Readers. I love getting hand-me-downs to refashion and this shirt was one of those hand-me-downs. It was an unusual shirt. It had pretty stitched detail at the neckline and it had very full tiers of ruffles like a skirt.

 

Before and after. 

This shirt was so wide and full. I wasn't sure why it was quite so big. 

This shirt was a size small but it was as big around as a full skirt. So, I made a skirt.

I cut the sleeves off the shirt. I really liked that needle point decoration at the neckline. Maybe that could be the waistband. 

I folded the top of my new skirt under. I thought I could make a casing for an elastic waistband. 

 

 I finished the casing and put elastic through it using a large safety pin. I sewed the waistband closed and that was it.

 

I always like green and the colors of the waistband were a nice touch. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- I liked this green skirt, I am glad I made this.
 

Simplify Shirt & Shorten Sleeves

 Hello Readers.When I find linen items at the thrift store I try to get them because I love the way linen feels. It breathes and feels cool in the heat. We have hit the hot summer weather where I live. I am in a "heat dome". That means we are baking around here. Let's refashion some linen.

Before and after.

This was a nice white shirt but it had these 2 front panels that didn't serve a purpose. I don't know why they are there. They are not a pocket. They just kind of hang there and they flap around when I walk. I didn't like them at all. They seem to add bulk to my stomach which is weird to me. I like to eat cookies so I can add bulk to my stomach all on my own. The sleeves were also too long on me. I would need to fix that too. 

 

I cut the flaps off with sharp sewing scissors. They just didn't work for me. 

 

The flaps were gone! 

 

I cut as close to the seam as I could. I trimmed the bits and pieces. To make it look as neat as possible. It would fray a little in the wash. I needed to do something to keep it looking nice.

 

I had this lace (Similar.) in my stash of sewing stuff. It would work well and look cute.

 

I stitched the lace over the cut parts. 

 

The lace covers where I cut the shirt. And sewing the lace on top of the shirt like this will prevent any fraying.

 

I cut the sleeves to a shorter length. It is summer. It is hot. Let's go with short sleeves. I cut the sleeves much shorter. 

I turned the cut edge under twice and sewed the end down. This made a nice neat sleeve.

 

Everything turned out really well, I was really happy. And then...

 

I got mustard on my brand new shirt. That's life. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 ***Year End Update***- I got the mustard stain out of the shirt and wore it through summer.

 

 

Grandma Core Upcycle

 Hello Readers. I found this shirt at a clothes swap and loved the flowers  It seemed like it might be a little "Grandma Core". I decided to make an off the shoulder shirt. That would probably remove all the grandma vibe from the shirt. 

Before and after.

The shirt was long and loose so I thought I would have enough fabric to make a gathered off-the-shoulder shirt. 

I folded the cut edge in and added elastic around the shoulders. 

I added elastic to the wrists. 

I also added elastic at the waist. 

The elastic gathers the fabric together into nice ruffles and it changed the shape of the shirt. That for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update***- I liked these colors so much when I made this outfit but I never wore it again. I'm not sure why.

Orange Week Part 3

 Hello Readers. I was in the mood for bright colors. This combo seemed like a great combo. I just had to get the pink shirt to fit a little better. 

 

Before and after.

 

I found this pink top at the thrift store way back when I had just seen the "Barbie" movie. The pink color and the puffy statement sleeves really caught my eye. The shirt was a little loose and too low in the V-neck. If I leaned forward it was like a free show. I wanted to fix that and a more fitted top would look better with the loose pants. 

 

 I saw this color combo on Pinterest and was inspired to put the pink top and orange pants together. 

I wanted the shirt more fitted and the V-needed to be higher. I decided to sew a new seam down the front. That would fix both problems. 

I turned the shirt inside out and folded the front in half. That way I could sew straight down the front of the shirt. I cut off the excess fabric from the inside of the shirt. 

I also sewed new side seams just to take a little more from the body of the shirt. 

I made the waist area just a bit smaller.

 

 The new fit of the top looks better with the loose wide leg pants and the V-neck isn't as low anymore. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*** FOOTNOTE ***

My older son just asked my why I was dressed as Dora the explorer. Use caution with this color combination. 

***Year End Update***- My son still makes fun of this outfit.

 

 

A 2-Tone Top

 Hello Readers. This week I have been putting things together to make 2 tone clothes. This shirt was a quick project. I wanted to see if I could put 2 stretchy knits together and make smooth seams.

Before and after.

 

These 2 shirts were plain and I didn't mind cutting them up.

 

I started cutting the shirts into 4 pieces. 

 

I wanted to put my new shirt together like this. I double checked each piece to make sure they were all the same height and width. The gray piece on the lower right was a little wider than it should be, I trimmed it so it would fit with the other pieces. 

I clipped each top piece together so I wouldn't sew them together wrong. 

I sewed the top 2 pieces together and then the bottom 2 pieces. Next I sewed the top to the bottom. 

I liked this color combo a lot and it was soft and comfortable. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update***- This was a fun exercise top. I really like this one.

 

Resizing Clothes

 Hello Readers. Sometimes small changes can make a huge difference. Today's post is about a shirt and a skirt. They were saggy and baggy and no fun at all. With a little cutting and a little sewing I got a whole new look. 

Before and after.

This shirt was big and loose and the V-neck was really open and low. The skirt wasn't terrible but it was too long and I looked like I just left a fundamentalist compound of some kind. That's not the look I wanted. 

The tag says medium but this is the biggest medium I have ever seen. I cut the sides off the center of the shirt. I removed a few inches from each side. I saved those pieces and I will come back for them later. 

Next, I cut the shoulder seams open. There was already a seam there, I just cut along it on each shoulder. 

I cut 2 inches of the shoulders of the front piece. This makes the V-neck smaller. I left the back piece of the shirt alone. The shoulder seams are still the same size so I was bale to sew them back together easily.

I went back to the cut off side pieces to get my sleeves back. I cut the sleeves off the side pieces. 

I reattached the sleeves to my new shirt. I made sure the new armholes were the right size for my new sleeves.

My new shirt is almost the same as it was but it is smaller and the V-veck isn't so low. 

The skirt just needed a new length and...

 

  A new hem. 

 

This new outfit is more fun and fits 100 times better. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 ***Year End Update- These are simple basics that I usually forget to make for myself They will be useful and go with a bunch of other clothes.