Poncho to Kimono

Hello Readers. Check out this poncho. It is so pretty. It made me think of peacock feathers. I think it is one of those "One Size Fits All" things that really only looks good on like 3 real human people. And I am not one of those people.

Holy butterfly wings Batman! I could have made this into a butterfly costume for Halloween. But I didn't and it's too late now. I decided to make a kimono style jacket with real sleeves. I thought that would fit me better and be more useful too.

I cut out fabric from the slides to make a boxy body shape and to remove the seams that connected the front and back. I used my sewing machine to make the new side seams. I made the sleeves as long as possible. The sides had a pretty edge that I liked so I kept it on the ends of the sleeves. I also cut down the center to open it up like a jacket. I stitched the raw edges under and I was done.

I noticed that these green mid-rise corduroy pants matched the green at the hem of the poncho. I decided that meant this was a good time to resize them and start wearing them. The weather is getting cooler and they have been sitting waiting for me for months.

I took a little off the sides and shortened them about 5 inches.(#shortgirlproblems) They had a higher waist.

I really liked the open kimono. It is still loose but not overwhelming. It still has all those blues and greens that made me like it in the beginning.

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

It Has Pockets!

Hello Readers. My daughter gave me this dress. I liked the slate blue-gray color. I also loved the pockets. Don't you hate it when you don't have pockets? Women carry stuff too. We need pockets!

This dress was a little blah. The waist belt/sash would help but the round neck was too low on me. I must have small shoulders. If a shirt fits me in the chest then the neck is too low. If the neck fits then the chest is too tight. (You can understand why I am always refashioning my clothes. They don't fit.)

I decided to fold the dress in on itself in the front and back like a box pleat. That would gather the neckline in without making the chest tighter. I used my dress form and pinned the dress together in a way I thought would fit me.

I used my sewing machine to do the actual sewing. I stitched the neckband down so it would stay flat. Then I added a pretty button to dress it up a little.

This button did not photograph well. Here is a close up. It added a little pop of blue and some bling.

I liked the fit and the neck was higher. I could lean over without flashing everyone.

 

***PART 2 ***
This gray backpack has been around for quite a while. It was the bag I carried when my little guy was in his terrible 2 stage. I needed a backpack so my hands would be free to carry him out of a store kicking and screaming. It was great for that.

It also has a shoulder strap so I could carry it like a purse. The backpack straps seemed like too much for me now. There were straps everywhere. I didn't need all these straps all over the place. So what did I do?

I cut them off. I just used sharp scissors and started cutting. The cut edge was very visible so I used a gray permanent marker to make it blend in a little more.

It worked pretty well as you can see in the photo below. I really liked the bag without the extra straps in my way.

The dress and the bag were perfect for going to a parent-teacher conference. Does every parent get nervous about that kind of meeting? (It went very well.)

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

***Year End Update- I loved this dress. It was not heavy enough for winter but it will be back in spring. The bag is great too. Very roomy when I want to carry everything.

A Spider Shirt for Halloween

Hello Readers. Today is Halloween. At least in the U.S. Do parents in other countries let their children go door-to-door begging for candy on this day? I need to Google that. I am not really into Halloween but I decided to make something fun and easy to wear that was in the theme of the day.

 Full disclosure: I was inspired by a shirt on Pinterest where they used a button as the spider. You can see my inspiration here.

I started with a plain black t-shirt.

I used some lace from my sewing scraps. This is cheap polyester lace that can go in the washer and dryer. I didn't want anything too delicate. I need to be able to throw my clothes into the washer with no worries that they will be ruined.

I had this spider pin in a drawer for a while and you can see he suffered a couple injuries to his legs. I was sad to see that but I was going to assume that everyone would know it was a spider even with only 6 legs.

He is injured but still going to work today.

I hope the theme of the shirt is obvious. The lace is the spider web and the spider has been hard at work spinning it. I stitched the lace around most, but not all of the neck.

I liked the white thread connecting the spider to the web. It is just a simple piece of embroidery thread attached to the shirt under the lace and at the shoulder seam. (The original shirt had the spider below the lace neckline. I put my spider up on my shoulder. I couldn't place the spider lower on my chest. It looked really weird.  Maybe because my pin is more flashy but it did not look right sitting on one boob.)

This was my final shirt. I liked it and I can remove the pin to wash the shirt. The lace and embroidery thread are sewn on. It was in the right mood for the holiday but not too much of a costume. I wore this in public and didn't feel too conspicuous.

 

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

*Year end update- I loved making this shirt and I loved wearing it too. It's a keeper.

***The Next Year End update-  Another year has past. I wore this shirt again and it was a hit at work and my son's preschool.

Refashioning Old Shirts

Hello Readers. I decided to refashion this shirt even though I had already refashioned it a long time ago. Sometimes I do that. I liked the shirt when I refashioned it the first time but then I never wore it. If I am not wearing it, I need to do something about it.

This is what it looked like in the beginning. My older son said it looked like a old-fashioned jail uniform. It was also long in the arms and so I shortened the sleeves and dyed it blue. I added an elastic waist to give it some shape. I wore it out to dinner and I never wore it again. The elastic waist was a little annoying and I just never reached for it in the closet.

I decided to start over. First I removed the elastic waistband.

I made the shirt smaller on the sides and cut off the bottom. I also shortened the sleeves just a little.

I tucked it in and wore it to work. Now it is a simple basic shirt that I can wear alone or under a sweater. It isn't very exciting but we all need basics. And it is still a fabulous blue.

**** SHIRT 2 ****

My striped shirt got a stain. An embarrassing stain. A stain right on the chest. On the right side of my chest. It was right on my boob y'all. It was un-wearable!! I tried everything to get it out. It faded but It didn't go away.

I decided to cover it with a pocket. I used some extra fabric I had left over from a recent jumpsuit refashion. I liked the floral with the stripes. I added a tiny pocket on the sleeve just for fun.

Stain problem solved. I used a dirty mirror at the store to take an awkward selfie in my refashioned shirt .

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

***Year End Update- I liked and wore these  shirts a lot now that I fixed them.

Pajamas Galore

Hello Readers. Sometimes I find clothes that need a refashion update but I can't figure out what to do with them. This soft peachy dress was waiting for a long time to get a remake. But what should this peachy dress be made into. It was SO peachy.

It was really nice material but... did I want to look like a peach from head-to-toe out in public? And there was a deep key-hole in the front that I thought was too revealing for me. I wouldn't want to wear the dress with that opening in the cleavage. It was too much!

 I realized these colors and soft fabric seemed perfect for pajamas. I cut the top of the dress off so it would be a pajama top. I used a pattern for boxer shorts to make a pair of loose pajama shorts.

I used the sash to trim the hem of the top and to fill in the key-hole on the chest. (No cleavage please.) Using the bottom of the skirt to make the shorts was quick sewing because the hem of the dress became the hem of the shorts.

I also made this pink pair of pajamas from a long maxi-dress. This dress was a different material and honestly it was a royal pain to sew. I couldn't figure out why it was so difficult. (I needed to replace my needle.) I didn't like the way this design was printed on the dress very much but I didn't mind it as much as pajamas.

I made the top off the dress into a pajama top and made some loose shorts from the bottom off the dress. It was easy sewing. And now I have a couple sets of pajamas. I love lounge wear and pajamas.

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

***Year End update-  These were great summer pj's. I will wear them again as soon as the weather allows it.

I Made A Jumpsuit

Hello Readers. One of the problems with being very short is that maxi-dresses never fit. (It's nothing serious in the big scheme of things, I know.)

 This dress fits well everywhere but skirt drags on the floor. It could be shortened and hemmed or I could do something else...

I decided to make a jumpsuit. I already had one I loved that I could use as a pattern. I was trusting that the simple loose shape of the jumpsuit will be easy to copy.

I didn't cut much, I only cut the legs from the skirt. It seemed like the crotch was too low. That worried me but I decided to trust the shape of the original jumpsuit.

The body was very baggy so I was going to add and elastic waistband to give it shape. I used the original to decide where to place the elastic.

It worked out great! When I added the elastic waist it made the fit just right. It was super comfortable like pajamas! I have to step in to it and wiggle a little to get it on but,
 it works.
I also stitched a crotch seam in the front and the back. Just making a seam in the right place made the pants fit so well. 

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

*** PART TWO***

Hello Readers. I am back. A reader asked a great question in the comments. I decided to add a couple pictures so that it would be more clear how I made the crotch fit well.

I stitched a straight line down the front and back. I made a 1/2 inch seam in the front. I wanted to take a bit of excess out off the front so the fit would be closer. That is why the seam allowance was bigger.

 I needed all the room in the back I could get so I had room for my back end. I made the seam in the back only 1/8 inch so it would look like pants that were sewn together but I didn't want the the fit tighter.

I hope this makes things a little clearer. And as always thanks for reading along!

***Year End update-  I love, love love this jumpsuit. It turned out better than I thought it would. It is in my personal hall of fame.