The Witch Dress

Hello Readers. I hope you are well. I am enjoying a few days of Spring-like weather in my area. Daffodils are blooming and the window in my sewing area is letting in some fresh air. 

I have been working on two pieces for today's post. The first is a black dress. It fit well but it makes me think of a witch. The second item is a pair of stretchy trousers with a broken zipper.

Here is the dress. It fits but it is very dark and severe looking. The sleeves are slit and open from the elbow to the wrist. It makes the dress more interesting but the color and the sleeves remind me of a witch. The sleeves flap around dramatically and I thought I should leave them the way they were just for something different.

I cut the dress in a high-low style just for fun. I cut the bottom of the dress off. It is a heavy knit and it didn't fray at all. I thought I was done. I put the shirt on and wore it for about two hours. 

But then...I sensed that my little guy had a dirty diaper and of course as his mommy I cleaned him up. I can't tell you how annoying it is to wrestle with a toddler who doesn't like diaper changes with these long sleeve flaps dangling in the way. I immediately made the decision to close the sleeves and make them more wearable. I don't have time for this kind of drama in my life.

Here is the closed sleeve and the new hemline on the shirt. I saw that the heavy knit didn't fray at all. I left the raw cut edge at the hem. It was lighter and had more movement that it would have if I folded it over and made a thicker hem.

The second piece I altered for myself was a pair of charcoal gray dress pants/trousers with an elastic waistband. They were baggy, stretchy, soft and the zipper was broken. The high waist came up to my chest almost. I like high waists but this was too much. They were so stretchy I wasn't sure why there was a zipper at all. If they are stretchy and the waist is elastic I could just pull them on, right?

That was my plan, make them fit and hope that the elastic would stretch over my backside so I could pull them on. I took quite a bit out of the inner legs a crotch to bring the waist down to my true waist. I also took some excess off the sides along with that broken zipper. I shortened them a little too.

I went over the new seams twice for safety.

I wore everything to the allergists office. With  Spring comes pollen unfortunately and I will be a sneezing mess. (WOW! That is not exciting at all is it?)

These pants are like control top pants with all this elastic. BONUS!!

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

Take in the Pants

Hello Readers. Fall was just teasing us because it is really hot out there. Forget the sweaters and boots, we need light weight clothes to get through this day. That brings us to these pants that were handed down to me by a friend. (Thanks Becky!)

This is a nice pair of light weight, cropped, khaki pants. I liked the belt detail at the waist and the material is in great shape. They are perfect for a hot day. The only problem is the size. They were a little too big and one leg needs to be hemmed. 

I don't want to spend the time to actually take the seams out and then sew these pants back together. I am kind of a quick and sloppy seamstress. My plan is to sew down the outside of each leg and cut off the excess. It won't look professional on the inside but the outside will look just fine. Here is a picture of one side getting sewn. It's not that exciting but I figured a blog about sewing should have a picture of the actual sewing.

Actual Sewing!

Here is the one leg that needs to be hemmed up. It is coming undone. 

Here are the pants inside out. I cut the excess off with my trusty pinking shears AFTER I tried them on again to check my sizing. Skipping this step in the past has lead to refashion disaster.

Here I am all finished and headed out to run errands with my little guy. I have seen other blogs that include picture of cool places like concerts, restaurants, festivals, art shows and other exciting outings like that. I have to be honest and the true boring story is, I ran an errand for my older son and came home to let the baby nap. That's it. Sorry folks. 

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