Revisiting An Old Dress

Hello Readers. We are flashing back to an old refashion today. I used the top of this dress to make a dress back in June. (You can see it here.)

The original dress was in great shape and was made of nice fabric but the floor length didn't suit me. I don't like to waste fabric so today's post is about what I did with the rest of this denim dress.

I had the long skirt part of the dress left. I saved it in my stash until now. I always try not to waste anything. There was a lot of dress here that I could still use for something, right? I could not decide what to do with this for a long time.

This piece of denim was almost a skirt already so (Eventually!) I just went with it and made a skirt. It was the easy way to go, but that's OK. Quick easy projects are great. 

That is my dog on the right. He doesn't like to be alone, so he follows me from room to room. He is napping as usual.

I decided to use the lower part of the skirt so I could save the hem. They did such a great job making this hem, why should I do it over? I decided to make a classic denim skirt that comes just below my knees.

There was one problem with the front of this skirt. The buttons down the front are nice but that opening will be too high now that I made the skirt shorter. I took one of the buttons from the scrap piece and I sewed it on by hand. It will keep the skirt closed, and I can get the skirt on and off with it in place permanently at the bottom. All the other buttons open and close.

Here is a look at the skirt. The top buttons can open to get the skirt on and off. I used what was there and kept it simple. That made this refashion fast and easy to complete. It was also cheap because I didn't buy anything but thread. (Cheap is great too!)

I kept this skirt at a conservative length, just below the knee.

   

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

*Year end update- This skirt wasn't very exciting but it was comfortable and really easy to wear. It always seems to go with everything. And it is never too casual or too dressy.

Painted Jars

 Hello Readers. I was curious if I could paint some old canning jars and I wondered what they would look like. I wanted them to be decorative but I wasn't sure how they would turn out.

I started with these simple glass jars. I didn't have lids for them, I just had the jars. I wanted to paint them white and make the writing more visible.I was just kind of curious what I could do with them and how they would turn out.

I got some simple acrylic craft paint and a brush and I started painting. I used flat white paint. I tried to protect the counter from the paint with newspaper.

I painted one thin coat. I let it dry, and then I painted again.

 

Before the paint dried I wiped it off the lettering with a cotton swab. I didn't need it to clean off perfectly, I just wanted the glass to show through.

In between coats of paint I wrapped my paintbrush in a plastic bag. It kept the brush from drying out and I could paint with it again. It saved me from washing the brush out between each coat.

I also tried a different approach. What would it look like if I painted the inside of a jar? I painted one thick coat of paint in the jar.

  

Here are my finished jars. They look different but I like them both. They are great as a vase for flowers or just alone.

 

***   BONUS TRACK   ***

I hate when shirts are too low cut. I wear a shirt under them. sometimes the under-shirt is too low cut too. That was the problem with this blue shirt. It didn't do any good  the way it was. The scoop neck is too low.

I was in a hurry and cut off the top of the shirt. Chop, chop!

I wore it like a tube top under this purple shirt. It is straight across the top so it hides all the cleavage I want to hide. The stretch of the fabric make it comfortable and keeps it staying up.

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

*Year end update- These jars were funny. The white paint slides around if it gets wet. So I just don't get it wet. And the aqua jar is easier to handle but whatever goes inside can scratch the paint if I am not careful.
The blue undershirt is always handy.

Gray Leftovers Shirt

ites. 

Hello Readers. If you sew often or at all, you will get an abundance of fabric scraps. I always try to use the scraps of clothes that I cut off for refashion. Why would I throw them away when I might need them later? Sometimes you just need a small piece to refashion something else. My project today is an example of that. I just needed to add a little scrap of fabric to fix this striped shirt.

My last post was about refashioning this gray knit dress. I had the long piece of fabric that I had cut off the bottom. That scrap was perfect for my striped shirt.

My first step was to open the side seams and arm seams of the shirt. It would have taken a long time to unpick all the stitches so I just cut the seam off entirely. I also took the cuffs off the sleeves. I would reattach them later.

I made 2 long strips of the dark gray fabric. I was going to insert them into the sleeves and the sides of the shirt. It will make the shirt larger so I can wear it. It was too small and too tight for me to wear.

I used my machine and did some stitching. I put the gray fabric pieces in the shirt and reattached the cuffs. The gray strips of fabric were a little too long, I over estimated how much I would need. I cut off the extra fabric, leaving a little to fold in and stitch down.

I finished hemming the lower edge of the gray pieces and the shirt was done!

This shirt fits great now. It just needed to be a little bit bigger. The gray sides coordinate with the trim that was already part of the shirt. I liked how it turned out.

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

*Year end update- I really love this shirt. It's one of my all time favorites.

The Gray Spring Dress

Hello Readers. It is Spring but you can't tell by looking outside my window. It was gray, and then snowy and now we are digging out. Being snowed in gave me some time to sew. 

(It also gave me time to eat a lot of banana bread, chocolate, and cheese puffs.)

I got this great knit dress from a clothes swap recently. Usually you can't try things on at clothes swaps so you have to guess and hope things will fit. I guessed wrong with this gray dress. I knew it was a little big and boxy but I didn't know exactly how it would fit until I got home, washed it, and tried it on. It was made of nice knit material that I liked, but the dress was too big and the cowl neck was too low.

     

There was a seam in the middle of the back that I was going to use as a guide. I was going to make a new seam down the middle of the back of the dress. That would make the body of the dress smaller and make the cowl neck smaller. It would also make the skirt a bit smaller too.

I also wanted the dress to be shorter. It was just too long. When I put it on my dress form I could see that the dress was actually uneven and I needed to make a new even hem. I used the dress form and measured with a yard stick from the floor to what would be knee length on me.

Here is the finished dress, It is still pretty shapeless and boxy. This dress will never be great on it's own. It needs ......

A belt! Sometimes you just have to add a belt. The neckline fits much better now and the dress is easy to wear and cozy soft.

Why is this picture so dark? Sorry, tech difficulties.

You can see in this brightly lit picture the shorter dress. The circle of fabric on the ground is what was cut off to make the dress shorter. I had a plan for that leftover fabric, I will tell you all about that next time.

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

A Salvaged Mirror

 Hello Readers. I like to do projects around the house. I like to decorate and redecorate with thrifted finds when I can. It's fun and inexpensive. This mirror was given to me by a sweet lady named Sharon. (Thanks Sharon!)

When she gave it to me it was black and glittery. I liked the size and shape but I didn't think the color was my style.

Here is a close up of the glittery black paint. I figured a new coat of paint in a new color could make it more neutral.

I used this inexpensive gold craft paint to paint over the black paint. I did 2 coats of paint and let it dry over night.

I slid some index cards in between the frame of the mirror and the glass itself. This kept the paint off of the glass and made for easy clean up. I am a very sloppy painter and I always try to stay nice and neat.

I hung the mirror in the entry way by my front door. I saw the piano in the reflection and then I was like, hey............

Maybe the mirror would look good on top the piano. OK, I am not sure where to hang it now. I am going to put it somewhere.

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

***   BONUS TRACK   ***

Some of my sewing is pretty hum-drum and boring. I had several extra large sweaters that I wanted to resize and wear.

I used a sweater the fit well as a guide and marked new seams. I used a zigzag stitch on my machine and made new seams. I did this in January, if you want to see more.

After sewing I cut off the excess fabric from the inside of the sweaters. There were so many scraps from these sweaters. I am not sure what I can do with them.

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

*Year end update- That mirror is hanging in my entryway by the front door. It's perfect. And the sweaters found their way to my daughters closet so she could wear them to work. 

St. Patrick's Day T-shirt

 Hello Readers. Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day. American's love this holiday. It is a good reason to celebrate and have fun. We eat wear green and eat green food. Here is a super cute  kid video about who St. Patrick was.

 I wanted to wear some green for this special day of course and I wanted to refashion this shirt I got from my hubby. (It got a little too tight for him, but it was baggy on me and it started my refashion idea.)

Here is the shirt. It says IRELAND across the front.It was a souvenir from a relatives trip to the Emerald Isle. I also had this green shirt that didn't fit me very well. It was too short and loose. I decided to put them together.

And the two shall become one.

I cut the 3/4 length sleeves off the green shirt. I was left with a green muscle shirt. 

(If I get some bicep muscles I could wear this to show them off.)

I attached the green sleeves to the blue sleeves. It added some green to the shirt that I needed for the holiday. It also covered my arms because it is so cold where I live. It was warmer last month, I thought we were in for an early spring. It is now cold and windy and awful outside. I need to wear long sleeves.

I made the blue shirt shorter and more narrow so it would fit better.

Have you ever tried to take a picture with a toddler nearby? This little guy doesn't care if it is St. Patrick's Day or not. He just wanted the "Irish" glasses.

  

    

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

And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

*Year end update- I loved this shirt but the washer ate this too. That washer started destroying clothes and needed to be replaced.