Going Sleeveless

 Hello Readers. I am writing from Corona virus isolation/quarantine. I hope you are well and safe. I'm having a sewing machine malfunction. It's more than a malfunction. My machine is done for good and when I started using my daughter's machine, it started to malfunction as well. We sent it off to get serviced. I moved on to my mom's old machine and it literally locked in place. It is still frozen in position on my sewing table. 

So, let's have a flashback to a 2016 refashion. My daughter gave these shirts to me recently. She refashioned them back in 2016. Read on to see what she did.

Hello Readers. It is the last hot, hot days of summer. I am battling a bad case of poison ivy and the heat just makes it even more itchy. I am taking lots of medications to try and get rid of it but since I am not at my sewing best, I am going to share a little of my daughters recent sewing. She has finished college and is working in an office and has been trying to add to her work wardrobe. She was working on a couple tops this week.

This first top looked so cute and fresh with this blue and white color scheme. The only problem was the pattern went from cute to overwhelming and crazy when she put the top on. Her solution was to remove the sleeves.

She simply cut the sleeves off right next to the seam and then turned the raw edge under twice and stitched it down. Below you can see actual sewing.

Here is the new seam. It is very small and narrow. It was very easy and the fabric didn't pucker or twist. She made the smallest seam she could to keep the armhole about the same size as it was originally. I think this helped the shirt keep it's shape.

The new shirt is great for summer and it seemed to calm the wild pattern down when there was less of it. Sometimes less really is more.

***UPDATE- I made this shirt a few inches shorter because it was so long on me.I used iron-on tape since I don't have a sewing machine. I will stitch it down someday so it is stronger.

She also used the same fix for this floral top. It had puffy cap sleeves that were just a little too puffy.

The new simplified arm holes were quick work.

She liked the new look much better. It was just a cleaner simpler look.

***UPDATE- My daughter made these shirts over 3 years ago and I am really happy she gave them to me. Staying home is really getting to me. Stay safe everyone. 

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

Easter Dye

Hello Readers. How are you doing? Spring is here. That makes being told to stay home 24/7 a little easier. A daily walk makes me more cheerful even when I am not social-distancing. I like the mild weather of spring. And I like to wear skirts when it gets warmer. Today's project is a skirt and top.

This top fit well but it was such a blah color. Off-white can be so depressing. But check out the pretty design at the hem of the shirt. The skirt was brown/black and off-white. I wanted to brighten them up and improve the fit of the skirt.

I used some Royal Blue Rit dye in my washing machine and the color was much better but the shirt didn't take the dye evenly.

The skirt was actually a skort. I don't have any problem with that in theory. The lining was a loose, static charged, nylon that was really uncomfortable. Nylon makes me itch. It had to go. I removed the loose baggy under-shorts.

I took in the sides a little. It didn't need much to make it fit better. The skirt did much better with the dye.

 When I tucked the shirt in the dye looked even enough. I liked it with this black shirt under it. I actually wore this on Easter Sunday. I made a big brunch, took a walk, watched our church on TV and had cake and ice cream for dinner.

We ate this cake right here. My 5 year old helped me decorate it.

 It tasted much better than it looked.

This bunny has seen some things!

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

Blue for the Red Sox

Hello Readers. I hope you are doing well where ever you are today. I am on furlow because of the Corona virus so I am home and trying to stay comfortable. That means T-shirts and I had one that needed help. This Red Sox shirt was too tight. It didn't really have any stretch either. But I like the Red Sox. I know baseball has been cancelled, like everything else but I am still a fan.

 (*More about the Red Sox at the end of this post.)

If the blue shirt is too tight, what can I do to fix it? I could have added fabric to the blue shirt to make it bigger. The part I liked was the team logo so what if I just removed that logo and added it to a different and larger shirt?

 I cut the logo off in a rectangle shape. Easy!

That blue piece will cover the corporate logo of this red shirt my daughter gave me. These freebie T-shirts are everywhere and great to use for refashions.

I wanted to stitch the rectangle on the red shirt and decided to add a button. Why the button?

I wanted a little baseball button but I didn't have one. I painted the fabric button white and added the red stitches with a red Sharpie.

I thought the button and the red stitching added a nice touch to my T-shirt.  

 My baseball T-shirt was done and I liked it a lot.

 I wanted to make the jeans shorter and I wanted an uneven released frayed hem. I did some very messy cuts .

 The jeans didn't fray like I thought they would. I just had jeans with a crazy uneven cut hem.

 I rolled the jeans up to get a boyfriend jeans look. I was happy with that. I went for a walk around my neighborhood. I got caught in the rain and only wore this outfit for about 27 minutes. It was great while it lasted.

Thanks for reading along. And stay well. 

*In October of 2004 I went to visit my brother and his family in Boston. It was an eventful trip. A lot of wild stuff happened; a car fire, a screaming fight in Faneuil Hall with a crazy lady who was scaring my kids, sweet tourists from Japan that didn't speak English but tried to help me, a broken stroller in the middle of a big crosswalk, a crazed sprint up the Bunker Hill Monument that gave my SIL a serous asthma attack, so much fun. It was my first time in Boston and it was the week of the MLB playoffs. The Red Sox had lost the first 3 of 7 games. The city was full of manic energy. We were downtown everyday to see the historical sights and enjoy the city. Everyone was obsessed with the game coming that evening. The statue of Paul Revere had been dressed in Red Sox clothing. Every shop and museum seemed full of nervous energy. There were signs in every window to support the team. After a day downtown we would watch the games in the evening. They had to win EVERY game after the third so we were glued to the TV screen. They won the last 4 games of the series (It was historical and enchanting.) and went to the World Series. They won that too. It was exciting and fun and I was pulled into the whole team spirit.

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.