A Piece of Pumpkin Pie Outfit

 Hello Readers. It is October and that means pumpkins are everywhere. And if you decide to drink a pumpkin spice latte someone is going to harass you for being basic. But I don't care, I am not a complicated person. Some of the basic stuff tastes really good to me. So when I saw all these orange clothes I decided to go wild and put them all together. Is it too much orange? I will let you judge for yourself.

Before and after.

I love corduroy and I loved the color of these corduroy pants and they almost fit. I just needed to take them in at the waist and take a few inches off the legs. I am short so this is nothing new for me. 

I tried the pants on inside out and marked them where the new side seam needed to be. 

I made new side seams with my sewing machine.

I always try things on before I cut the excess fabric off just in case I made a mistake in the sizing. 

I have had this pumpkin orange trim in my sewing stash for a long time. It is woven and strong. I think my mother-in-law was going to make purse straps out of it. Is it strong enough to be a belt? Let's see. 

I used my serger because it frayed like crazy when I cut it. I was going to attach one end around the belt buckles. This is a really simple kind of belt to make.

Was it harder than I thought? Yes. The metal belt buckle pieces got caught on my sewing machine and it messed me up. Did I forget to change the thread color on my sewing machine? Yes. But I just went with it. 

It worked out well. The belt fit and the thread blended in. 

My daughter didn't want this sweater anymore so I decided to take it. But it was a little long, more like a dress. I decided to cut out the middle so it would look like a classic pull over. A pumpkin pullover if you will.

I needed to make the sweater shorter. 

Check out these stitches!

When I was done sewing I cut the extra fabric from the sweater.

My sweater was ready to iron and wear.

My pumpkin outfit is complete. Bring on the pumpkin spice lattes, the pumpkin bread, the pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream... I want it all. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I wore those pants a lot! They are such a fun color. They got more wear than the sweater. The sweater didn't have as much stretch and wasn't as comfortable as I thought it would be. I need to remember that I love stretch.

 

Upcycling an Old Coatrack

 Hello Readers. Storage for clothing and accessories is always an issue. Not every apartment or house has a lot of closet space. I like to sew and I need a place for my makes, and for some thrift store finds as well. When I saw this old wooden coat rack on the side of the road I thought it had great potential. Not for coats but for purses. 

Before and after.

This coat rack had seen better days. It was banged up, a little scratched, and it was missing a hook. It was free and I am a scavenger at heart so I took it home. 

I waited for a dry day and went outside to clean the coat rack up. It was a little dusty. I washed it with soap and water and let it dry thoroughly. 

I wanted to prime the coat rack and this is the primer that I had on hand. It was made to spray up at a ceiling but it worked fine for this project too. 

I started spraying my clean dry coat rack with the primer. I am not a professional painter. I just started spraying and tried to get a light coat all over the rack. The can ran out so I let it dry over night.

I found this can of spray primer at the store and decided to try again with a full can. I filled in the spots I missed and made sure the rack was fully covered. I let that coat dry over night. I liked the flat white so I didn't add any more paint to the rack.

 

When the rack was dry I was able to deal with the missing hooks. I did not have any matching replacement hooks. I decided to go with a very simple idea. Nails. I could nail in nails where ever I wanted. A 2 inch nail could hold up an empty purse easily. And I could just hammer them in and not have to deal with the power drill. I added a couple nails to the top of the coat rack on the side that seemed to be missing the hook.

I also added nails to the midpoint of the rack so I could hang more bags from the rack. 

I really liked the flat white of the rack with the purses. And I liked being able to see them all. It is really handy storage. And it was easy to freshen this rack up with very little money spent. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- This is more useful than I could have imagined. It is loaded with stuff. I am glad I made this.

Making a Skirt & T More Flattering

 Hello Readers. It seems like fall has really arrived in my part of the world. It is chilly and windy and leaves are flying off the trees. I started this refashion when it was warmer and the cold weather made me restyle this outfit for fall at the end. 

Before and after.

 

This shirt and skirt caught my eye because they were both stretchy knit materials and I am all about comfort. The t-shirt was just so encouraging and positive that I had to bring it home from a local thrift shop. I am always trying to encourage myself to stay positive. Maybe this sweet shirt could help? It can't hurt. 

 

I tried the skirt on and marked it where I wanted the new side seams to be. You can see here that I cut off the extra fabric.
 

I made new side seams and I explain it here. I wanted a more fitted skirt.

This look is not doing anything good for me. 

I cut the sleeves at an angle to remove the name of the school it is from and to make a fluttery little sleeve.

I cut the neckband off and cut the sleeves but I wanted to do more. Tucking the shirt in the skirt wouldn't work well for me but I had a plan.

I cut the hem of the shirt off and stretched the cut edge to make it curl. Then I cut a slit in the middle of the front. This is to make a knot. Not a regular knot and tummy hiding,  tummy camouflaging knot.

The more fitted skirt is more flattering and the shirt is a huge improvement too. Is my mom tummy gone? No. This isn't magic here. The shirt with the knot is just a a better look for me. It is a little cold for this outfit so I added some layers to make it wearable for fall.

This is more appropriate for the current cool weather.

I wanted to highlight a great jewelry company. World Finds is a fair trade, sustainable company the has handmade jewelry and bags. They employ and empower women in India with fair wages and employment. They products are colorful and fun. I think they are irresistible.

You can see more at worldfinds.com And this isn't an ad. They don't know me. I just really love the jewelry and the business model. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- I loved this whole outfit. Everything worked for me.

Replacing the Back of a Vest

 Hello Readers. It's cool enough to start wearing more layers. It makes getting dressed more fun. The possibilities are endless. I found this amazing suede vest at a clothes swap and thought I could refresh it by replacing the old worn back. 

Before and after.

This suede vest was so fun and the suede was in great condition. 

The back was old and felt a little brittle. The back of this vest was not attractive at all. It had to go.

I removed the back by unpicking the seams.

I took the back off at the shoulders too. I picked out all the stitches and seperated the back from the front.

I used the old back as a pattern. I cut around it and left 1/2 inch seam allowance all the way around.

I cut out 2 new back pieces at the same time. I put the 2 back pieces together with the right sides facing each other. I used my serger to connect them along the bottom, the neck and the arm holes. Then I flipped it right sides out and ironed it. (And I threw away the old back.)

 

I explain how I connected the back and the suede pieces here.

 

I tried to center the blue flower on this back piece. This was a scrap of fabric I had available in my stash. I also thought it would help keep the suede vest from looking too western cowboy-ish.

 

The vest turned out great. It had a really fresh new look and feel to it that I really liked. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- I wear this to work and I still love the peacock on the back. If I gain weight it's going to be too tight so I hope I can hold back on the cookies.
 

 

 

Ruffle Shirt to Skirt

 Hello Readers. Look at these sweet ruffles. They are so fun. But I wasn't sure if I liked the look of this top on me.

Before and after.

Look at this collection of ruffles. It was so pretty and it's 100% silk. Come on! What more could I want?? Well, I want to wear a bra and these straps are not going to allow me to wear the regular bra I want to wear. And the ruffles are going to add bulk to my upper body. That is the last thing I need.

I thought I could cut the straps off and make this into the most fun skirt ever!

Here is my plan to make a skirt.

I used my serger on the cut edge along the top. The silk fabric would fray for sure.

I made a waistband for this new skirt. The best part is that the elastic waistband will be comfortable and will still fit after some cookies.

I made the casing, fed the elastic through it and then connected the elastic ends with the sewing machine.

Now I had to close the little hole and hide that elastic.

My new skirt is so fun to wear. It makes me want to twirl in circles! Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- This skirt is a top favorite from the year for sure. Silk ruffles?? Yes!!

Testing Vintage Dishes for Lead

 Hello Readers. I love vintage dishes. I have some that are family pieces and some that I just thought were pretty. They can have lead paint and glaze which is very dangerous. It can cause brain damage, That is why the water contamination in Flint Michigan is so horrible. They whole water system is dangerous. I always test my old dishes to see if they are actually safe to eat and drink from. I do not want to destroy what is left of my brain and I don't want to poison my family.

Are these dishes safe to use or are they hiding secret poison in their designs?

Did my grandma unknowingly give me toxic tea cups?

Are these dishes dangerous?

I bought a testing kit from Amazon. This kit had dozens of cotton swabs that can detect lead. There were many different kits. This one is just the one I choose.

I started testing all my dished and cups. I used a new swab dipped in clean water for each dish because that seemed more scientific and accurate. I am no chemist and barely got through the required class in high school but I tried.

I tested a set of old blue dishes.

 

I tested my mothers old dishes.
 

This tea cup was the strongest reaction I got. I wanted to show how dark red the swab got.

 

The kit said that the more dark red the reaction the more lead in the dish. I know that no lead amount is safe so I am not going to eat or drink out of these dishes. I think they can hold jewelry or something like that on my dresser. Thanks for reading along, go check your dishes.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I am really glad I did this.
 

 

Making a Large Clutch

 Hello Readers. I am loving all the fall colors that come around this time of year. I wanted to focus on those colors this month. (I also want to drink hot tea and eat baked goods but that is another story for another day.) I also wanted to use some of the fabric in my fabric stash. My mother-in-law gave me so much fabric and notions, I really want to use them if I can. 

 

Before and after.

 

 

This piece of linen was thick and heavy weight. I loved it. It was so pretty. I wanted to make something from it. After so much back and forth I settled on a bag.

 

 

I washed the linen and dried it. (I originally wanted to make it a skirt but it shrunk in the wash so I couldn't get a skirt from this piece.) I cut the fraying threads off the sides and made the edges even. 

 I cut out my bag and used my serger on the edges to stop all the fraying.

The simple shape means anyone can sew this style bag. I made sure the top edge would look nice and neat.

I found some handles in the stash from my mother-in-law. They looked fun so I made them work for this project.

Actual sewing.

Here is my new bag. I like the BIG clutch. Thanks for reading and watching along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- I think this is a really pretty clutch. I really like it. It holds a lot and that makes it perfect for me.

 

 

 

 

Altering Clothes while Wearing Them

 Hello Readers. Have you seen the videos of people cutting and altering their clothes while they are wearing them? I always thought it was a crazy idea so I decided to try it. I love crazy ideas. I wanted to see if it would work for me. 

Is this a good idea?

 

I was able to cut it and I tied it in the front. It doesn't look terrible at first glance but is this a good idea?

 

I really tried to cut it straight but you can see how ragged and uneven it is. 

 

I used my serger to make this more even and smooth. 

 

I ironed the edge and tuned it under twice. The stitching gave me something to hold onto but I really didn't want the stitching to show.

 

I stitched the edge with a straight stitch to make it nice and neat.

 

It is done! The edges are actually sewn and even. It looks nice. Can you alter clothes while wearing them? I would say, not well. 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 *Year End Note From Chickie- I love this blush pink shirt. I won't try to cut clothes while I am wearing them ever again.