Time For Exercise Clothes

Hello Readers. Do you wear exercise clothes often when you are not even thinking of exercise? 

Yeah, me too. These exercise clothes need some work before I can wear them.

The Official Uniform of Mom

I sleep, lounge, run errands, garden, and hang around the house in mine.  So, I need a lot of them. And I need some for cold weather and some for warm weather and everything in between. My daughter gave me these yoga pants. They fit but they were much too long. I decided to make them into cropped leggings. They would be good for warmer weather. I tapered the legs and hemmed them to a shorter length. This was the easy part. This stretchy material was so easy to work with.

I had a couple of shirts that needed help too. The black shirt was a very lightweight sweatshirt that was really worn out. The white shirt was in great condition and fit well but it was one of those thin, sheer, tissue t-shirts. It was so sheer that I couldn't wear it. I couldn't exercise in a see through shirt! The whole point of wearing a shirt is too cover myself.

 

I cut the front of the black shirt off and pinned it to the front of the white shirt. I tried not to cut off any of the writing, it was close though.

I used a zigzag stitch and went over the edges of the black piece. I attached it at the seams of the white shirt. I wanted to cover the entire front panel of the shirt. It was a little short, as you can see.

 

I decided to use the waistband of the black shirt to finish the bottom of the shirt. I cut it off the black shirt and attached it to the bottom of the white shirt. It was big enough to go all the way all the way around the shirt.

I really liked how the black waistband made the back of the shirt coordinate with the sleeves of the shirt.

Here is my finished workout outfit. It won't win any fashion awards but it will cover me and get me through some exercise and anything else that happens. (Netflix!)

You can see how strong some new exercise clothes made me. This was the perfect outfit to plant some tomato plants I was given.

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

*Year end update- I love exercise clothes. These were/are great.

A Dress-Extender From A Pillowcase?

Hello Readers. Have you ever had a dress that was a little too short?

This light blue shirt dress was great but it was a little too short on my tall daughter. I usually need to shorten clothes because I am so short. My daughter has the opposite problem. She is tall and clothes can be too short on her. She needed a quick and easy dress extender/under skirt to wear with this blue dress.

This dress is a bit shorter on the sides, just like a typical men's shirt. That made it even shorter on my tall daughter. That's is where the dress extender comes in. It would add a little coverage for this short dress.

We were discussing the dress and I came across this pillowcase. (I was folding laundry.) It is a standard size case but it is made of knit material, like a T-shirt. The soft material got me thinking. It would make a soft skirt. Would it work under the blue shirt dress?

I cut off the closed end of the pillowcase. I was going to keep the open end of the case and use the finished edge as my hem. That would save time and effort. (I should call this blog "The Lazy Seamstress", because that's what I am.) I did some measuring so it would fit my daughter and work for the blue dress. It couldn't be too long or too short.

I folded the cut edge in and under to make a casing for an elastic waistband. It was an easy way to make a skirt and it would be comfortable to wear.  I cut a length of elastic that fit around my daughter's waist. I fit the elastic through the casing, connected the ends, and stitched the casing shut.

Here is a look at this simple white skirt. I could have added something to make the actual dress longer but decided to make this because it could be used with and under other things. 

This skirt fit well and it just peeks out from the blue dress and it adds a little coverage on the sides. That was just what my daughter wanted.  We didn't add trim or anything that would distract from the blue dress. It would be easy to add some lace or something like that to dress it up if you wanted to.

Thanks for reading this blog, I love all my readers. Now, go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- My daughter cleaned out her closet and gave this outfit back to me. It was nice to wear in the heat of summer.

A Too Bright Dress; Part 2

Hello Readers. Today is the second part of my BRIGHT red dress.

 

You might need sunglasses for this dress. 

My last post was about a top I made from this red dress. I also had a purple shirt with bright red stripes in the same shade on my refashion rack. The purple shirt was a little tight in the shoulders so I never wore it. It's been hanging on my refashion rack for over a year. Recently I saw that the colors matched and decided to use the shirt with...

Remember the bottom of the dress from last time. I had the skirt leftovers, so I wanted to find a way to use them. I don't like to waste large pieces like this skirt. I was happy to put them together somehow. That skirt piece is almost a complete skirt already. It just needs to be finished.

I cut the arms and shoulders off the shirt. I now had a sort of tube top. I flipped it upside-down and attached it to the red skirt. The finished hem of the shirt became finished edge at the top of my dress. Flipping it upside-down like this saves me time sewing and finishing what I am sewing.

I don't really trust strapless dresses.They always let you down. Literally. Gravity always wins, and the dress starts to fall down. I used the sleeves of the shirt to make wide straps for my dress. I could relax and be sure my dress would stay up.

I liked how comfortable it was and it's super bright colors brighten up my day. It was very warm the day I made this, I was thinking of warm summer days. It got very cold the next day, so I will have to wait to wear this dress again. That's OK, warmer weather is coming, I'm sure of it.

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

*Year end update- I like this dress and it was great in the summer when it got warm.

The Too Bright Dress

Hello Readers. This bright red dress caught my eye. It was hard to miss.

I mean this is B-R-I-G-H-T! These photos don't really do it justice. I think the red was too much for me because it didn't have anything else going on. It is just red, red, red. It was also really low cut. It was too low for me to show you how low. But trust me, it's crazy low.

  

I wasn't kidding. Why is this dress so low? Who could wear this? The neck line is lower than my chest. It's not really wearable. Even a shirt under it looks a little off.

I thought there was a simple solution. I started by cutting out the tags as close to the seam as I could..

I cut off the bottom of the dress. Now I had a fun top. I also made it a little more narrow in the arms and body. I liked the elastic waist and left about 5 inches as a peplum.

I have a plan for that leftover skirt piece too.

I turned it around and wore it backwards. I liked the bright red as a top. It is bright and fun but there is less of it and it isn't overwhelming like it was as a dress. I left the lower edge unhemmed because the sleeves had a raw cut edge. If the sleeves could have raw edges, so could the hem. 
I also didn't want to make the shirt any shorter by turning it under and making a real hem. This knit material wouldn't fray, so I wasn't worried.
 

   

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.
 I will show you what I did with the skirt part of this dress next time.

*This was such a great top in such a great color. It was tragic when I got ink on it and could never get it out.

The School Marm Dress

 Hello Readers. I found a dress that is too juvenile and yet makes me look really old at the same time.

Here is a look at the front and back of this amazing dress. It looks like what I would call a jumper, a shapeless dress for a little girl. The straps make me think of a school uniform. But it also looks like an old granny dress. I felt old just trying it on. 

So, why did I even bother with this dress? The fabric was some of the nicest I have ever worked with. It was a super soft warm wool blend. That would be nice because we are not having Spring where I live. We are just continuing with winter until the end of time apparently.

   

This dress had a side zipper and I didn't want to take it out and/or put it back in. That meant I couldn't take the sides in on this dress, so how would I alter it? I decided to take it in in the back, right down the center. Lots of dresses have a seam down the back, it would work for this dress too.

My finished dress is on the left. The piece of fabric on the right is what I took out of the back of this dress to make it more fitted. I also made it shorter at the bottom. I thought shorter would be more flattering and less school marm.

I needed a white shirt to wear under it. I don't own a white T-shirt. I should, but I don't. I had this cropped shirt in my refashion stash. The chances of me wearing a cropped shirt and letting the world see my mommy tummy are less than 0%. I was just saving this shirt to use for spare parts. It would be great to wear under this dress if it was less baggy.  

The sleeves of this white top fit well, so I just made the body more narrow. I wanted it to be fitted under the dress.

I think this shorter more fitted dress is a lot nicer than the original. It is still a jumper style dress but I like it so much better.

Just a side note: I found out that my phone has a feature to lengthen legs in photos. From now on you can assume all my photos are altered to make me look taller.

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

*Year end update- I still wear this dress with the white shirt. I wore it last week.

Fixing Up the Front Porch

 Hello Readers. My sewing machine was in the shop for a few days last week so I had to find something to do that didn't involve sewing.

 

 It all started with this white trunk. It was given to me (Thanks Carmen!) and I used it for a toy box but it was too tall for the little guy to reach the toys. I thought it would be good for outdoor storage and seating. It just needs a little dressing up for spring.

 I started with some fabric samples I had in my closet. My mother-in-law used to work at a fabric store and I have lots of old fabric samples waiting to be used. They are nice because the edges are all finished. They are small but they worked to cover the top and a little of the front and sides.

 I also had these 2 seat cushions. They seemed to fit the trunk well so I tried to make it look like a bench, with cushions on top.

 The seat cushions had ties in the back and I tied them to the hinges inside. I didn't want them to fly away in a storm. This was really helpful because we have had a couple windy days. If I have to go outside and bring e-v-e-r-y-t-h-I-n-g inside every time it starts to rain,,, no thanks.

 I added some other pieces and I was done for now. I haven't done any other gardening or flower planting because it is hot one day and freezing cold the next. Mother Nature seems a little confused this year, I am hoping for warmer weather soon.

That is all for now. I hope you are having a nice Spring. Thanks for being a reader!

*Year end update- These colors transitioned into the fall very well. I later killed the flowers accidentally.

Return of the Free T-shirts

Hello Readers. Free t-shirts are everywhere. You can't escape them.

  At least I can't escape them. I think they multiply at night. I had an idea I wanted to try. I wasn't sure how it would turn out.When I was at the local rec center a few months ago, I found this table. It's free t-shirts! I hate to turn down free anything, so I took a few. I used some back at Valentine's Day.

The thing about free t-shirts is that they are always advertising or promoting something. I didn't want the writing on my shirt. I decided to cut the front of the shirts off and use the backsides of the shirts. I wanted to make something simple and classic, with no writing. Can you make a shirt out of 2 backs? Is that possible? We would find out.

  

I used my machine to attach the two back pieces together to make one complete shirt. There was one little problem. The white shirt had writing on the sleeve. I didn't like that so I decided to cover it.

   

I cut a small pocket shape from the front of the red shirt and sewed it onto the sleeve to cover the writing. It was easy and worked like a charm.

Here's the thing? Even I, the maker of this shirt am not sure what side is the front now. Should the red be in front or the white? 

Either way is fine really. It's like 2 shirts in 1. What a deal!

  

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

*Year end update- This shirt was great for layering. It was eaten by my terrible washing machine. I replaced it as soon as I could.