The Gray Tunic That Couldn't Handle Me

Hello Readers. This post started with a need to mend clothing that I ripped. It was two rips actually. We all tear our clothes once in a while right? This one was a doozy.

I have had this cotton tunic for a couple years now. It is nice and soft and it is great for lounging and being comfortable. It was neutral, it went with everything... It was perfect.

 But it didn't have any stretch. That will be important to the story later.

Here's the ripped part. I bent down and my back end ripped through the back. Did each of my butt cheeks rip through the fabric? Yes. Yes they did. I couldn't believe it. One rip would be bad enough but two? I felt betrayed. By the tunic and by my bum.

 This was around the holidays and it made me feel like maybe I had eaten too many cookies. Maybe I only had myself to blame. Thanks goodness this happened in the privacy of my own home.

 Warning: Not strong enough to handle my bum!

 I did what anyone would do, I got mad and later I cut off the ripped part of the tunic. There seemed to be enough left to make a shirt. So, that's what I did next.

Instead of folding the edge under to finish the hem of the shirt I decided to add some of this gray cotton lace that I had in the sewing stash. 

*Actual sewing of gray lace to gray shirt.

The lace seemed to go with the shirt so well that I added it to the sleeves and the neck too. You can't have too much lace right?

To go with this "new" shirt I made some "new" pants. This pants had a great striped pattern but they were really baggy and looked like part of a 1040's gangster costume. 

 I thought a skinny cigarette pant would be nice for those stripes so I used some skinny jeans for size. I traced around the pants that fit and used the marks to guide my sewing.

I finished this outfit just in time for the first snow of 2019. I think this one will have to wait for better weather. I can't shovel out in this.

 You might think this picture looks a little off. I edited this picture so I looked taller, younger, brighter, smarter, stronger... everything.

( My bum had just ripped through my clothes so I had enough of reality.)

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

The Sleeve Shirt

Hello Readers. I can be kind of rough on my clothes and things can get damaged. (I could blame the kids and the dog but I am pretty clumsy all by myself.)  When there is a problem, there is usually a way to repair and mend things. Today's post is such a case.

I had this beautiful ultra-marine blue color dress. I really love this color. It was a little big but it was in fine condition. I also had this patterned blouse. It was the one with the problem.

 This blouse was super cute but it had a hole in it.

It had a hole in the front. Can you find it in the picture? It was right in the chest area. I could have tossed it in the trash but that would be a waste. I liked the pattern too much to just throw it out. And it had that pretty blue color in it.

I cut the puffy sleeves off the blouse and that cute little bow at the neck too. It is almost impossible to even see the bow, it blends in with the fabric so well. I was going to put those sleeves and the bow on to the blue dress and make a shirt.

This blue dress was not the shape or style I wanted for those sleeves, but it was a great starting place to make something new. I started by cutting the short sleeves off the blue dress. I also took some extra fabric out from the back too. There was already a seam down the back of the shirt so I used it as a guide to make the dress smaller.

 I wanted a more narrow fitted style shirt. I thought a fitted shirt would highlight the puffy sleeves nicely.

 This left me a sleeveless style tank top. I decided to make the shoulder straps shorter too. I wanted a higher neckline.

 I used a t-shirt that fit really well as a size guide and marked the blue shirt so I could make new side seams. I could not find my chalk so I used a sliver of white soap.
 It works great to mark fabric and it washes out because... y'know, soap.

 I stitched the sleeves from the blouse onto my "new" blue shirt and I had a great new long sleeve top. I added the little bow too, and you can actually see it so much better now against the blue material. I didn't need to shorten the shirt at all. When I make things tighter, they always get shorter too. I can't explain exactly how this happens but it always seems to work out like that. 

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

The Bandage Waistband

Hello Readers. I think it's time to put together an outfit. Why did I title this post "The Bandage Waistband"? You'll see very soon.

I was not feeling this shirt because of its sleeves. The sleeves were not meant for me. They were really long and wide at the wrists. My sister-in-law J. handed it down to me. (Thanks J.) That beige color was such a great neutral and the fabric was so beautiful. Surely I could do something with it.

I also had this very pretty sweater all the way from Paris thanks to my daughter. I really liked the colors off the sweater with the color of the shirt.

So this cool shirt with the really long sleeves would be a skirt. It would be great. I cut the shoulders and sleeves off the body of the shirt. I didn't want to make a casing for an elastic waist, that would use too much fabric and make the skirt shorter. I was going to attach the elastic at the top. I wanted 3-4" wide beige elastic to blend in with the fabric. When I looked on Amazon to see if such elastic existed, it suggested...

Elastic bandages. You know the kind you wrap around a sprained ankle. I was not expecting that. It seemed a little weird but I had several in my first aid supplies. I could use one for free! (Free is my favorite!)

I had a lot of sleeve material left over and it occurred to me that pockets would be a very useful addition to the skirt. Who doesn't want pockets? I cut the ends of the sleeves off, and used them as pockets. The size and shape are already perfect and all I had to do was fold the cut edge under and stitch it down.

Here is the skirt with its bandage waistband. It was very soft elastic and it went through my machine fine. I wish I had thought of it sooner. (Thanks to Amazon for the idea.)

The finished outfit turned out great. And I was right, pockets are always a great idea. 

We had some warmer weather so this was nice to wear but now a winter storm is coming.  I need to put this away until it gets warm again.

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

The Beef Burgundy Dress

Hello Readers. Do you ever want to snuggle up and wear a big cozy sweatshirt? (Yes, me too!) This Burgundy dress is really just a long sweatshirt. I liked that. It was a very dark wine color and I liked that too.

The original dress was too long and too big. And that cowl neck was a little too much on me. My daughter handed this dress down to me. She is taller and a little bigger than I am so it fit her great. Me? Not so much.

This great sweatshirt dress had fitted sleeves and they were fine the way they were so I left them alone. I took the sides in a little at the waist and took the skirt in quite a bit. It had a drawstring at the waist so I pulled it in a bit so the back would be a little gathered when I stitched the new side seams. Because it is sewn in place, the back of the drawstring doesn't move anymore. The front of the drawstring can still be pulled tight and loosened. I made a shorter hem and took some of the cowl neck away in the back.

I loved the new fit of the dress and the dark burgundy color inspired me to cook something I have always wanted to make, Beef Burgundy.

I have never made Beef Burgundy before. I am no Julia Child so I found an easy slow-cooker recipe from Pinterest. It was easy except that I couldn't find a cork screw to open this wine. The wine seemed like an important ingredient. (I mean it was in the name.) This was my husbands solution.

That's right, it's a giant hook from the garage with a screw on one end. 

 

But it worked! And it was so good. 

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

Super Hero Week; Robin

Hello Readers. This is the second, and last, of my superhero posts. I only had 2 superhero shirts to refashion. I wanted fun and casual this week, so here it is.

I found this Robin nightshirt at a clothes swap. I thought it would be fun for the next Batman and Robin movie that came out. This nightshirt must have been made for a woman who was 7 feet tall and weighed 101 lbs. It was so long and so narrow, it seemed very odd to me. it was very low cut in the armholes and the neck too. I needed to fix that before I could do anything else. I wanted to add sleeves but I couldn't really work with these arm holes.

I had this black cropped sweater sitting and waiting for a purpose. I didn't like how fitted it was in the chest and I didn't like that big old knot right under my chest either. But it fit well in the sleeves. And that is what my new shirt needed so I could wear it without freezing in winter weather.

I put the resized Robin nightshirt on top of the black sweater and pinned the armholes with a lot of pins. I mean a lot of pins. I wanted to stitch the sleeves on with my machine and I didn't want anything to shift around while I was sewing.

Once I stitched the two layers together, then I cut the body of the sweater away. I just wanted the sleeves. I didn't want the body or that huge knot underneath my shirt. Ireally liked the sheer yellow mesh. It looked very superhero-ish. I didn't want the black sweater to distort the original color.

I didn't want a night shirt. I want a regular shirt. I cut the bottom off and gave it a new hem so it was more shirt length. I want to wear it during the day so it needed to be normal t-shirt length.

The hem has a slight curve to it that I really liked. It also had enough room to be comfortable, and sleeves to keep me warm.

Did I wear it right away? You know I did! It wasn't really appropriate for work but it was perfect for a day off.

This shirt would be perfect for a superhero themed party. If one comes up, I am ready. Thanks for reading along, now go make something super for yourself.

Super Hero Week; The Flash

Hello Readers. I was in the mood to focus on some fun casual clothes. I decided nothing could be more fun than superheroes. My kids are really into the Marvel movies so I have learned what little I know from them. So let's make a fun shirt that I can wear with jeans. After wearing dresses all last month for Dressember, I am really looking forward to pants!

This Flash t-shirt was a men's large. It was too baggy on me and a little long. The striped shirt was great but it was a ladies extra-small, so it was too tight.

 Could I put them together and make a sweatshirt of some kind?

 My first step was to make this t-shirt smaller and shorter. That was easy to do.

The striped shirt was too small but the sleeves fit and could be used. I could use the waistband too.

I added the striped sleeves to the red sleeves. I stitched over the stitches that were at the end of the red sleeves. I also attached the black waistband so it would feel more like a sweatshirt.The striped sleeves were only 3/4 length but when I added them to the red sleeves I got full length sleeves. That was perfect for winter.

I was trying my best to look like a superhero in this picture. As much as a 40-something suburban mom can look like a superhero anyway. 

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