Jack-o'-Lantern Jacket

October means Jack-o'-Lanterns and candy. At least to me and my family. I found this orange cardigan style jacket at a clothes swap months ago and thought it would make a great Jack-o'-Lantern. Let me show you how I put it together. It was an easy project that you could do too. 

I made a cheerful Jack-o'-Lantern Jacket. 

This jacket had a plain, smooth back. That is perfect for my project. You could also use an orange sweatshirt. You just need an open space on the sweatshirt that you can use for your Jack-o'-Lantern face.

 

I started by tracing out my face. I wanted triangles for the eyes and nose. I used a staple remover as my triangle. (It was the only triangle I could find.) I traced it lightly so I could paint over it later. 

 

I wanted a smile so I needed a curve to trace. I used this small lunch plate and traced one side of it to make a round half circle shape. I think tracing is easier but you could also draw out a face free hand if you feel comfortable with drawing. 
 

When I was done tracing the face on my jacket I wanted to paint the face in a dark color to make it really stand out. I used dark acrylic black puffy paint because it has a narrow tip that made it easy to draw over what I had already traced out. The tip made a clean sharp edge and I liked how that looked.

 

I used the squeeze bottle to trace the out lines of the face. I squeezed gently and tried to slowly draw the line of paint on top of the outlines I had traced earlier. It isn't brain surgery so don't get over-stressed about it.  

 

When I had made a nice clean outline of paint, I filled in the center by spreading the paint out with a paintbrush. This paint is easy to use. It is thick and does not soak through the fabric too much.

*Note- If you decide to paint a thinner material, like a t-shirt, put newspaper or something like that inside the shirt so the paint does not soak through and make marks on the other side of the shirt. 

 

I added some zigzag shapes to the mouth. Then I added eyebrows too. I was just having fun, you can personalize your face however you want. 
 

I left the jacket out over night to dry thoroughly. I did not move it for fear that I would smear the face. Once it is dry, it will never wash out. So be careful when you are painting the paint will stain anything it gets on. 

 

My new jacket is fun and great for the month of October and for Halloween, and simple enough to wear to work. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Men's Shirt Upcycle

 Hello Readers. This linen men's shirt has been around in so many ways for so long. I have refashioned it before, about 2 years ago. I didn't wear it much and decided to re-refashion it. 

Before and after.  

I refashioned this men's shirt the first time in 2023. I took it to England on a trip and it was great. 

 

It was light and easy to wear. It was perfect as a tunic in Bath, as a bathing suit cover up in Lyme, and as a night shirt in London. But it stayed as a night shirt since then. There is nothing wrong with that but I wanted it to be a shirt I could wear because I love the checked blue pattern. 

 

It was just too long, I didn't want to wear it over leggings now. 

 

I liked the loose fit but it had to be shorter. I gave it a big cut. 

 

I gave it a nice hem at the bottom. 

 

I liked the new shorter length and it was so easy and comfortable to wear. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

Too Many Tiers

 Hello Readers. Sometimes clothes are pretty and yet not quite right. This skirt was great but I needed to fix that length right away. 

Before and after and after. 

This skirt had 4 equal size tiers. If I was going to shorten it I needed to remove a tier. $ was clearly too many. 

 

I cut the white lining about 1/2 an inch shorter than the third tier. 

 

Was 3 tiers right? I wasn't sure. 

 

I tried it on. It was much better. I could wear it like this but I wasn't positive. I thought shorter would be better. 

 

When I was done with the cutting I used my serger on the cut edge of the lining. It won't fray because it it's a knit but this will keep the edge neat. 

 

This stitching will keep the edge from curling. This will look neater under the tiers. 

 

I liked the 2 tiers. This length was just at my knee so I thought it was really easy to wear. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Long T-Shirt Robe

 Hello Readers. I love robes. I like to make them sure but I love to wear them. I am wearing this robe while I type this post.) I am one of those people that put on my pajamas and a robe right after dinner. (If not earlier!) Let me show you the robe I made with a baggy t-shirt and some scrap fabric.

Before and after.  

I got this t-shirt on vacation to use as a night shirt. 

I spread the shirt flat and found the exact middle of the front. I cut the front of the shirt open right down the middle. 

 

I realized that the t-shirt was too short to make a good robe for me. I decided to add the gray fabric to make the robe longer. I cut off the bottom 5 inches of the black t-shirt. I wanted the gray in between. 

I had the length I wanted that you can see here. It still needed a finished front edge and a belt. 

I used a narrow piece of the gray fabric to finish the robe. I basically made a long narrow tube.  

I sewed the tube to the front of the robe. 

The gray fabric makes a nice clean look along the front of the robe. I also used more of the tube as a belt. 

This robe is great and I wear it often. I am usually wearing it in the morning when I have my tea too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

Plant Pot With a Fun Bathroom Theme

 Hello Readers. I love plants and wanted to make a fun planter/plant pot. This plant pot woman looks perfect in a bathroom. (The steam in a bathroom is also a great environment for some plants.) You can put this together with a few items from The Dollar Tree store. 

Grab your glue gun, some supplies and make a flower pot lady.

You will need some supplies. I got a small flower pot, some curlers, fake eye lashes, and googly eyes. Let me show you how I started. 

 

I also bought a small floral sponge. It is like piece of Styrofoam to hold flower stems. I wanted to use fake flowers because I was in a pink mood. You won't need this if you want to put a live plant with potting soil. I will talk more about that idea later.

 

I wedged my little sponge into the bottom of this pot. It fit into the bottom securely. You could also glue it in to the bottom of the pot if you need to. 

 

I stuck the stems of my flowers into the sponge to hold them in place. I kept adding flowers until the arrangement of flowers looked nice and full all around. 

 

The stems stuck in the sponge easily and stood up well. It was easy to make a visually pleasing arrangement. You can bend and direct the stems to get the flowers nice and full on all sides.

 

Next I glued my googly eyes in place. Some eyes like this have a sticky back but mine required some glue. I added a small blob of glue on the back and held the eyes in place while the glue set and cooled. 

 

I used this little round piece of wood as my nose. (I broke the little tree off.) You could also use a button or a cork. Use what you have or can find easily. Just add a spot of glue on the back and don't stress about it. This will be super cute when its all together. 

 

I also added some fake eye lashes. I chose the largest lashes I could find. It added a little glamour and fun. Maybe she is getting ready for a night on the town. 

 

I wanted to add something that looked like hair to my curlers. I had some shredded brown paper, it is used as packing material sometimes. You could also use ribbon or yarn that you might have on hand already. 

 

I wrapped the strands of "hair" around the curlers and clipped the curler closed.

 

I added some hot glue on one side of the curler. Be careful, it's really hot glue. 

 

I held the curler on the pot so it could cool down and adhere to the side of the pot. You don't need too many curlers, you might be able to grab some from your mom or your grandmother's bathroom. 

 

I added a piece of pipe cleaner as a red mouth. You could try to draw a mouth with a permanent marker or cut out a mouth from a piece of paper to achieve a different look. 

 

My lady was finished and she is cute! She is also a great place to put my glasses. I am always misplacing my glasses. Now I have a place to put them. 

 

She is right at home on the bathroom counter. 

 

This would also be great for a real plant. (This spider plant makes fun spiky hair.) You could just put potting soil and a little plant in the pot instead of fake flowers. I like both ideas. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.