Resize a Thrifted Linen Top

 Hello Readers. I like to thrift for clothes that have nice fabric to re-make into things that work for me. I usually look for fabrics that are good quality and appeal to me. This linen tank top was great fabric and it had this beautiful lace design along the hem. 

 

 Before and after.

 

I loved the linen fabric and I like stripes too. The lace along the hem was very pretty. I didn't want to get rid of that. But the shirt was a bit big and much too low cut. I wanted to change that.

 

I cut the front of the shirt away from the back of the shirt. I needed them separate so I could re-cut a new shape. 

 

I positioned my pattern piece so that the hem of the shirt would stay intact. This is Simplicity Super saver 8035. I cut the top of the shirt in a different shape. 

 

Now, I had a new front and a new back to make my new shirt. 

 

I put the 2 pieces together with the right sides facing each other. I sewed new side seams to connect the front and back, I also sewed across the top of each shoulder strap. 

 

The shirt looked like this. I used bias tape to finish the neckline and armholes. It is inside the shirt but first I sewed it to the outside.

 

I sewed the open bias tape to the outside of the shirt. The bias tape adjusts well to the curve of the neckline and armholes. 

 

When I was done, I turned the bias tape in the shirt and sewed it again from the outside. This makes a nice neat finish to the shirt. 

 

I barely had enough to finish this shirt but it's good enough. Perfection is overrated. 

  

The shirt fit so much better. I don't know what I am doing with my hand in this picture but the shirt turned out great. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing Summer Shorts

 Hello Readers. It is "Me-Made-May". That just means people are wearing and sharing their self made clothes on social media. It has inspired me to sew some new items for myself. I have had this Simplicity Super Saver 8035 pattern for ages. I decided to try the shorts pattern with some blue fabric I had on-hand. Summer is coming and shorts would be handy to have.  

 New shorts for summer.

I cut out the pattern pieces. It seemed simple, there were not many pieces and shorts are not complicated, right?? Spoiler, It wasn't as easy as it should have been. Let me share my experience and ideas. 

I sewed my pockets together first. This was a mistake. I was supposed to sew one piece of the pocket to a front piece of the shorts and one pocket piece to a back piece of the shorts. Then I was supposed to sew the shorts together. At least I think that is what I was supposed to do, I found these directions very vague and the pictures not very helpful either. Even though this project is simple, this pattern might not be the best for a beginner. 

I sewed one piece of pocket to one front piece of shorts, then sewed one back piece of pocket to one piece of shorts. Then I sewed the pocket together. This wasn't quite what the directions told me to do but I was just trying my best at this point. 

 

I ended up with half a pair of shorts. This picture is of one side of my new shorts with the pocket sewed in place. I ironed all the seams with my iron so the seams would be flat and smooth. I did the same process for the second half of the shorts. When I had a complete right half and a complete left half, I could sew them together and I would have a full pair of shorts. 

 

I sewed all the pieces together with my serger because this was linen and linen frays easily. Here is a look at my shorts from the inside. Did I sew my pockets inside out? Yes, but let's just ignore that. No one is going to see that, and no one will ever know. Shh, don't tell. 

 

I turned the top edge down to make the waistband. 

 

I sewed the waistband casing from the outside to make sure my stitches would be very neat. My bobbin stitches can be wonky sometimes. The pattern called for elastic to be put through the finished casing. OK, let's do it. I left a small opening in the casing for the elastic as directed. 

 

When elastic is fished through the waistband, it gathers the waistband together and that will make the shorts fit around my waist. I finished the elastic and connected the ends together as directed by the pattern and closed the opening in the casing. This was easy enough.

   

I turned the bottom edge of the shorts leg under and sewed the hem of each leg. The hems looked nice and neat. That was what I wanted. This pattern was long enough to choose what length of shorts I wanted, if you want long-ish shorts, this pattern would be good for that.

 

 I used matching thread  (Similar here.) to get a nice neat look to my seams. Sometimes contrasting thread looks nice too but I wanted the thread to match and blend in for these shorts. 

 

 These shorts were fun and I was pleased with how they turned out. This was not a great pattern for a first sewing project but it is simple enough for someone who has sewn a little and ha some sewing knowledge already. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.