Hammock Pillow

Hello Readers. How have you been doing lately? I have been trying to relax and pretend I am in the middle of a surprise stay-cation. I am not being restricted to my house, I am just chilling out at home watching "Lady and the Tramp" with my 5 year old everyday. 

(His movie review -"The dogs talk!" And yes, now he wants another dog.)

I found this dress at a clothes swap a while back. I thought it was a strange dress because it looked like it was made of burlap. Who makes a ladies dress of burlap? It had such pretty embroidery on it but burlap, really? You can see the hem was higher than the lining. After further investigation I think the dress is linen but it shrunk and the weave got tighter and lumpy. It looked rough like burlap but it wasn't actually made from an animal feed sack.

After a lot of ironing this is what the fabric looked like. It just didn't look like clothing fabric to me. It looked like outdoor decorating fabric to me. So.....

I made a pillow. I know it's not very ambitious or exciting but it matched my backyard hammock. I can use it to lounge by the sandbox and enjoy the nice spring weather.

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

Make These Jeans Bigger!

Hello Readers. How are you doing? To be completely honest, I have doing a lot of snacking and eating. I have eaten more potato chips in the past 2 weeks than anyone should eat in a year. And the cookies.... I love cookies. My jeans were getting a little uncomfortable in the waist because of all the snacks. I decided to make my jeans bigger. It's easier than you might think.

This picture is from Thanksgiving but it illustrates the problem I was having with the jeans. It also gives you an idea for an emergency fix for a tight waistband if you ever need it.

I began by cutting my jeans open along the outside seams.

 I just followed the seam on the out side of each leg and cut from the waist to the ankle. I cut right at the seam and that helped me keep a straight edge to my cuts. I cut the actual seam with all the stitches out and threw it away.

My next step is to insert something in the openings I just made. I decided to use ribbon. I had a box of it from my mother-in-law on hand. We are avoiding the stores. A thick ribbon is strong enough to handle being paired with denim. 

(I have tried strips of knit fabric before. It didn't hold up very long.)

After some thought I went neutral and chose gray and tan ribbon. I stitched the ribbon in the side of each leg from the ankle to the waist. You can add some needed breathing room to your jeans this way. The wider the ribbon you use, the more space you will add to your jeans.

 

 I was so much more comfortable in my slightly larger jeans. The stripes of color add some fun to the jeans too. A bold color would be a lot of fun too. Yes, I got out of my pajamas for a little while.

 

All kidding about snacks aside, I hope you are well. 

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

The Double Skirt

Hello Readers. How are you doing? Are you well? Are you stressing about staying home? Are you stressing about having to work because you are "essential"? Are you trying to work from home and it's all just too much? I am currently eating chocolate and imitation peanut butter from the jar as I type this. And there are potato chip crumbs on my shirt. We are all doing the best we can.

 My refashion project for today is a combo of this loose top and this TIGHT skirt. I loved the colors in this top but I didn't like the spaghetti straps or the long length.

This top was so loose and full cut it would make a perfect skirt for summer. I cut the top of the shirt off. It was already shaped like a skirt. It was a little light weight and sheer. That concerned me. It also needed a waistband.

But I had a waistband! I had a whole skirt I could use. I attached the loose skirt to the tight gray skirt.

 I could have used the waistband alone but the tight skirt made a perfect lining. It would keep the new skirt from being too sheer. I shortened the gray skirt so it wasn't longer than the outer skirt.

I think I found my new favorite summer outfit!

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

The Fancy Sweatshirt

Hello Readers. So, here we are, at home. It's time for comfortable clothes. I decided to keep sewing to keep myself entertained. I know everyone is very stressed out and worried. I can relate, it is a weird time. My family and I are all healthy right now so I am trying to stay upbeat.

For today's project I wanted to dress up this sweatshirt, so that's what I did.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with this sweatshirt. This shirt was plain and simple which means it is easy to refashion.
I think the normal rules of getting dressed should be suspended during this time of home isolation. Sweats? Good. Pajamas? Good. Yesterdays pajamas? Good. You do you!

Here is some of my stay-at-home crew. 
 

What would I use to dress it up? I found these pretty floral shorts at a clothes swap. They are shorter than short and I would never wear them as shorts But. There would be all kinds of flabby mom tush hanging out. That wouldn't be good for anyone. I could take them apart and use them for parts. Like a chop-shop for stolen cars.

I also used this floral ribbon from my sewing stash. My mother-in-law gave it to me. I was going for a floral theme. 

 I added the ruffle from the shorts at the bottom of the sweatshirt. I used a zigzag stitch to keep the ruffle piece from fraying. I also added the ribbon because it was pretty and it hid the connection of the ruffle to the sweatshirt. I made the sleeves 3/4 length and put some ribbon on the ends of the sleeves to coordinate with the hem. It is just as comfortable to wear as it was before.

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

Relaxing At Home

Hello Readers. How are you doing? Are you at your house under a "stay-at-home" order like me? I don't mind hanging out at home but I know it is difficult for all you extroverts out there. I hope you are safe and healthy where ever you are. 

I am not required to report to work anymore (I lost my "essential" classification pretty quick!) so my clothing choices have a different focus now. I want to be comfortable but I also want to be able to go for a walk and not be in pajamas. Today's clothes are a good compromise.

I got these baggy rayon pants from my daughter. (She did a closet clean out recently.) I liked the fun paisley pattern of the material but they were a little too baggy on me. 

I wanted to take these pants in a little. These pants had pockets on the sides that I didn't want to cut off. How would I re-size them? I decided to take the legs in along the inner leg seams. That made the legs more narrow but it didn't change the hips or waist in at all. To fix that I also removed some fabric from the crotch seam. I have never done that as a way to take in pants but it worked well. I took 2 inches from the rear seam and 1 inch from the front seam. It helped reshape the pants.

I needed a top to go with my new pants. This gauzy cotton dress would be comfortable, especially in summer. This dress was so depressing though! It just made me want to give up all hope. It had no fun in it at all.

I decided to cut the dress in half and hem the bottom of my new shirt. I hoped if it was a simple tshirt it would be casual and comfortable, but less of a downer. 

I think the fun pants were a good match for the simple shirt. I liked it tucked in but it could be left un-tucked too.

Are you working from home? Are there toys everywhere? Is your house in chaos? Is your child in pajamas for a lot of the day? Are they only wearing 1 sock for some reason? Are you eating a lot of unnecessary snacks? This is all true for me and my house. There is a lot to worry about right now so I am not going to worry about any of that. 

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

Like a Superhero

Hello Readers. How are you doing in this time of seclusion at home? I hope you are well and just suffering from boredom and not serious illness. If you are ill I hope and pray it passes quickly with no serious complications. If you are in the medical field or serve the public in any way, I thank you for all your hard work. 

I got a call yesterday from my boss saying that I was no longer "essential", so I am going to be home a bit more. I am fine and well here but stress-eating extra carbs at a fast pace. (Chips, pumpkin bread, rice krispie treats, toast with loads of butter, chocolate... I am eating everything.)

Well, let's get to the refashion.

I found this shirt at a clothes swap and I was attracted to the super heroes on the front. It was on the men's table and it turned out a bit larger than I thought it would be. That's OK. I can work with this.

I used a raglan shirt I liked as a model to make my own. I saw something like this on Pinterest and decided to try it. I made the body of my new shirt from the gray shirt. 

I used a different light blue shirt for the material to make the sleeves. I also cut the neckband off that light blue shirt to make the a neckband for my new shirt.

 I put my new shirt together in no time. I liked the way the superhero characters covered the front of the shirt. It was still a bit too long. I cut off the plain gray fabric at the bottom of the shirt and made it shorter.

 What about these great stretchy jeans? They were a fabulous ultra-marine color that seemed to match Captain America perfectly. If it's good enough for him then it's good enough for me right?

Thanks for the jeans Miriam!

 

I took the sides in a little and made them shorter.

 (I am always making things shorter. #shortgirlproblems)

 I wish I could say I respond to emergencies and disasters like a superhero. In all honesty, I am usually the first one to completely freak out. (Why wait when I can start panicking now? I am a work-in-progress people.)

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

And keep washing your hands. 

Stripes For Spring

Hello Readers. I hope you are well and that the Corona/Covid-19 virus never comes to your house. I am well and trying to stay home as much as possible. I am required to report for work so I am working on spring clothes. (If I was at home it would be pajamas all month.) I honestly have no idea where this shirt/dress thing came from. Is it a long shirt? Is it a short dress? I have never been sure. I decided I liked the stripes and I liked how it went with these coral color jeans my daughter didn't want anymore. 

 I had to reshape this shirt/dress so I could wear it as a shirt. I know that might be a little plain and boring but sometimes work requires plain and boring clothes. The neckline was really deep on me too. I wanted to fix that and take away the extra fabric on the sides.

 

 I removed excess fabric from all over this shirt/dress. I made the shoulders, sleeves, sides and bottom hem all smaller, shorter and more fitted.

 I loved the color of these jeans. They were skinny jeans but they were a little big. I thought they looked like straight leg jeans and decided to keep that fit. (I read that straight leg jeans were going to be big this spring. Any thoughts? Comments? Questions? Concerns about that? I have a lot of skinny jeans in my closet. I am not sure how I feel about saying goodbye to them.)

 I made them a little bit shorter. And that was it.

I can actually tuck this shirt in now that it is a more basic t-shirt shape.

Yes, these Legos are all over. They get picked up every night and they are all over the floor again before I even finish my morning tea. 

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

And keep washing your hands!