Pencil Skirt Adjustments

 Hello Readers. I started sewing about 25 years ago because everything always seemed too long on me. I am short y'all. Like real short. I am 5 feet tall. Not 5 and some inches, Just 5 feet. They don't usually make clothes for my height. Not off-the-rack, and not in my budget anyway. So, I started sewing to hem my own clothes. I sewed more and more over the years because it was so worth it. Alterations are expensive but they can make a huge difference in how clothes look.

What are we hemming today? Skirts.

This skirt was a fun summer print that I loved but was a bit big at the waist and of course, too long.

I made new side seams and took about an inch from each side. I shortened it and I was done. 

 

My new shorter skirt fits so much better. But wait there is more. 

 

I had a second skirt that needed the same treatment. It was too big around the waist and just a little too long.

 

 This skirt had Dachshunds all over it. I really can't resist wild, unique or colorful fabrics and I loved this skirt because of these little guys. 

 

It reminded me of my most loyal staff member, Assistant Creative Director Gordon. He can't sew but he's cute.

 

I cut it shorter and hemmed it and I took the waist in just a bit. 

 

I was so much happier with the fit of this skirt now. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

Dress to Shirt & Shorts

 Hello Readers. I saw this shirt dress and loved the stripes. I thought they looked a little like pajamas. I wanted a shirt from this dress. And could I make shorts? Was there enough fabric? Could it be done? Let's see.

Before and after. 

Love the stripes, don't love the length of the skirt. Let's make some shorts.

I cut the top of the dress off. I made my cut right under the waist tie. I left a little extra to make a new hem at the bottom. 

 

I hemmed the bottom of the shirt. And that was it. My new shirt was done, but what about the shorts?
 

I used a pattern to make the shorts. I thought if I positioned the pattern just right, I could keep the pockets. 

I cut the pieces out and it was looking good so far. 

I put the shorts pieces together. 

They looked like shorts! Yay! I needed to hem the legs and add a waistband.

I added some really ugly elastic but...

I turned it under so no one will really see it.

My new combo makes me think "pajama chic" loungewear. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- I love these stripes. I wear the shirt a lot. The shorts? Not so much.

The Coolest Purse (Repair) Ever

 Hello Readers. I went to a clothes swap and found this wild and wonderful bag. It was a Betsey Johnson purse. Betsey Johnson is famously wild and wonderful as well. This bag was a little beat up. Could I repair it and clean it up? I wanted to try. 

Am I repair expert? No. 

She is cute but she has been through some things. 

The black parts of the bag are literally falling apart. The vinyl is peeling off the bag and it looks bad. 

The piping is in the same condition. The bag is sturdy and the seams are strong but the outer layer of the bag is looking rough. 

I don't have any specialty tools. I thought I could peel the vinyl off with tweezers. 

The tweezers worked really well. I picked and peeled all the loose vinyl off. It took a little while but it was not difficult. 

I also used my little sewing scissors to trim the loose edges 

These were great for the piping around the bag. 

The little bits of vinyl started to pile up. 

I used some glossy black acrylic paint. This was thick paint and it was great for this project. Watery and runny paint would be too messy. 

 

The areas that I peeled off revealed a gray-ish color. I started painting with the black paint and tried to cover the gray color. I wanted the black to look like it did before I peeled it all off.

I painted everything that I had peeled off. 

After 1 coat of the paint it looked like this. I touched up a few spots to make sure it was as dark and glossy as possible. 

I thought it looked good when it was all finished. But I wasn't quite done. This bag came with a short black nylon handle.

I found this bag at a thrift store months ago. I bought it because it was a bargain jut for the strap. 

I thought it went really well with this bag. 

I love these kind of adjustable straps. They just clip on and now this can be a shoulder bag or a cross body bag. 

This was a fun project. I was happy with the way the bag looked when I was done. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update***- I love this bag. I just used it yesterday.

 

Bassinet Sheets to Pajamas

 Hello Readers. I was given a big pile of the cutest bassinet sheets. They were soft cotton knit, like t-shirt material.  I don't have a bassinet or a baby so I could do something else with these sheets. I decided to make pajamas.

 Who needed new pajamas? Me!

A sweet wonderful on-line sewing friend @brightpracticalfabricart sent me a collection of cotton knit bassinet sheets made by Poppi & Max

These are a soft knit cotton, like a t-shirt. I first noticed the giraffe and it really caught my eye. (My mom loved giraffes and they make me think of her.) This is a really pretty giraffe. I cut the elastic from the outer edge of each bassinet sheet and then I thought about what to make. 

 

I realized I needed summer pajamas and since I am a hot sleeper, tank tops would be great. And they don't use a large amount of fabric. I had smallish pieces of fabric to work with here so this seemed like a good plan. I used the Luna Pattern by Helen's Closet Patterns. You can download it online and it is such an easy sewing pattern to use.

 

  I extended the length of the body as far as I could with the length of the bassinet sheets. I wanted a longish shirt.

 

 I could get one tank top from 2 sheets. One sheet for the front of the shirt and one for the back. 

 

I made matching shorts to go with each shirt. 

 

 I used other shorts as a pattern. And I kind of made it up as I went along. That wasn't  perfect because the fabric was different in stretch.

 

I added a center piece to make the shorts wider. That worked really well. The next pair I cut bigger and wider so I did not need to do this.

 

I used elastic for the waistband that I had it on hand. I wanted to use items I had. I used blue thread in my serger for the edges of the shirt and legs of the shorts. I liked the contrast of colors.

I made 4 sets of pajamas, but these giraffes are definitely my favorite. I used pink elastic and white thread for this set. The giraffe is the star of the show. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behind the Door Storage From a Pallet

 Hello Readers. We all seem to need more organization and storage options. I made some extra storage behind the door using a small wooden pallet. It is now a handy and adjustable hanging rack. Let me show you. 

This was easy to make and the hooks can be changed as needed. 

 

Thee space behind the door is perfect for hanging items. Let's utilize it.
 

I got this little pallet from a neighbor. It looks like a small shipping pallet. (Similar here.) I cleaned it off because I wanted to paint it. 

I used some flat white spray paint that I had on hand. It was a spray on enamel that said it was good for wood projects. 

I worked outside for plenty of fresh air. I made sure I was not near any cars, children, pets, homes or anything else so the over spray would not bother anyone. I let this dry over night. 

We hung this behind the door like this. But we couldn't hang the pallet directly to the wall. We came up with a solution. I am showing you the after picture because it will make the process easier to understand. 

 

To begin, we found the stud in the wall. We want the weight of this to be hung on the stud and not the drywall, for strength.We needed to find the stud in the wall

 

We got longest screws we could find (About 3-4 inches.) and used a drill bit that was slightly smaller that the screws for this project. 

 

We used a piece of wood to hold the pallet. This piece of wood was about 10 inches long, not as wide as the pallet itself. We made sure it was level and drilled 2 holes into the piece, one hole above the other.

We drilled 2 screws through the piece of wood and into the stud in the wall. We made sure to keep it level.

 

The piece of wood was cut so that it had a place to hang the pallet.

 

We used a router to make that cut in the wood. That little cut-out will keep the pallet in place securely. 

 

You can see the cross beam of the pallet fits down into the groove we cut in the wood. This could be painted to match the wall or the pallet but it will kind of disappear behind the pallet when we are done. 

I used some simple S-hooks because I want to be able to change the location of the hooks whenever I want. 

This is great storage in a kids room or a mud room. It's perfect for hats, jackets, sunglasses or keys. And you can change the hook placement in just seconds when you need to hang something else. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun and organized for yourself.

***Year End Update***- This shelf is still on the wall and it holds so much stuff. It's almost like a small closet.