a skirt refashion that is a sort of fail

I totally forgot to take a before picture but the skirt was the same style as the skirt I refashioned a few weeks ago.

I made it pretty much the same way as the last dress... I took in the skirt until it fit Sutton's body. Using the excess material I made the straps and ruffled sleeves.

Again with the wrinkles. You probably think I don't own an iron. I do, I'm just lazy.

I used the contrasting material from the bottom of the skirt to make a pleated ruffle between the straps.

I used more contrasting material on the back because I am sort of a prude when it comes to modesty, especially when it comes to my children. Only, I think it looks a little weird and doesn't cover that much. I may just take it off.

But that isn't the worst part. Look closer. Notice how the ruffled sleeves are totally uneven? Crappy workmanship right there.

The sash was part of the original skirt. All in all, it's not so bad. Just don't look too close!

Luckily Sutton isn't as nit-picky as I am!

refashion: ladies skirt to girls dress

I haven't done a refashion in a long time!

Please pardon the wrinkles! I didn't realize how bad it was until I downloaded the photos.

I found this skirt at Salvation Army for $1.50. I knew immediately that I wanted to make it into a dress for Sutton.

Black clothes are hard to come by for kids, especially little girls. Which is unfortunate because I really love black on little girls, it feels unexpected. The other day I was shopping at a kids consignment store and a woman that was perusing the racks next to me asked, "Do parents of girls ever tire of pink?" Uh, YES! I am not opposed to pink but I like variety and thankfully so does Sutton.


Utilizing the finished top of the skirt and the hem, I took in one side seam and used the leftover fabric to make straps and cap sleeves.


I really love the gathering detail at the waist.


I left the original waistline intact but after I finished I realized that I would have to cut the underarm for comfort. It was a last minute adjustment on a Saturday night but it came out okay.


I need to get back into doing refashions. They are quick and simple projects. I love the instant gratification!


They make Sutton pretty happy too!

upcycled hats

We are in a bit of a cold spell here... well cold for North Carolina in early November- mid 50's. Sutton asked me to buy her a hat. Of course there is no way am I going to buy a hat when I can make one for free!

I remembered a tutorial that my friend Jennifer did last winter. I dug through the 'clothing to be recycled' pile and pulled out two sweaters. The hats were very simple to make.

I grabbed some felt and made some flowers. For the white flower I used this tutorial. I made up the purple and pink one myself. I much prefer the white flower (I love it's texture and volume) but Sutton insisted on having at least one hat with a pink and purple flower so of course she prefers that one!

refashion: a shabby apple knock-off

I love this dress from Shabby Apple but I don't love the $98 price tag. So in true Erin fashion I decided to recreate it myself with clothing from the refashion pile.


Two men's dress shirts that were in perfect condition aside from the blasted 'ring around the collar' (anyone know a good remedy for that??) and a nice gray skirt from Banana Republic that I never wore because of it's very dowdy mid-calf length. The only items I bought were a 22" zipper and half a yard of black fabric for the waistband. Less than $4 total.



I made my rosette detail a little smaller than the original. I don't like too much emphasis on the girls.

I even added contrasting pockets! Love 'em.



P.S.- Perhaps I should send less time sewing and more time doing yard work... nah, that's no fun.

Linking up to Just Something I Whipped Up, DIY Day, Made it Mondays, Metamorphosis Monday, Make Your Monday, The DIY Show Off, Make it for Monday and Making the World Cuter Monday

church bag

When you go to church for three hours every Sunday you end up needing to carry a lot of stuff. Books, quiet toys, drawing paper and colored pencils, a drink and snack for the baby, and so on.

The bag I had wasn't working well. It was a cavernous tote bag with no way to organize it and when I cleaned it out I found approximately 6 pounds of crushed cheerios hiding at the bottom. Lovely.


Luckily, Michael found this bag hidden in the back of his closet. He got it for free at work several years ago. It is made from a heavy duty canvas and has many pockets and compartments. It holds so much with out being big. But, it is UGLY. I am not one to sport logos. So the obvious solution was to cover those unsightly logos!

From my stash, I grabbed some fabric that coordinated with the bag. I folded the raw edges under and topstitched it right on to the bag. Problem solved!

I really didn't dress to match my bag this morning, I swear. I am really drawn to yellow and gray. Did anyone notice that all the giveaway items were yellow and gray? I think I might be obsessed!

ruffle collar t-shirt tutorial

Today in Charlotte it was 60 degrees! I celebrated by wearing some spring clothes. I made this shirt yesterday afternoon, it feels fun and spring-y. I am so excited for warmer weather. I know it has been much colder in other places but I was raised in the desert, I can't help being whimpy when it comes to cold weather!


Before: Two (only one pictured) soft aqua t-shirts from Target. Purchased for $2.48 each.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the first step Here is a lovely little diagram. Cut one side seam and shoulder of the shirt. Lay it flat. Trim top (shoulder and neckline end) even. Cut 3.5" strips. Note: I am a sucky artist!

Sew strips together and gather top edge.

Pin ruffle to neckline.

Sew all the way around.

Sometimes the raw edge of a ruffle can look nice but I think it looks a little messy here.

To make the shirt have a more finished appearance, fold the neckband over the cut edge and pin.

Sew very close to the edge.

Much better!

And now more of my awkward modeling...



I am linking up to Made it Mondays at The Persimmon Perch, DIY Day @A Soft Place to Land & Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

I am a master...

at wasting time. First thing tomorrow morning we are leaving for Alabama to spend Thanksgiving with Michael's sister. Instead of spending my day packing and cleaning I did some sewing. But not the birthday gifts or Christmas presents (sorry Anne!!) I did more refashioning. I know, I have a problem! And now I am blogging and baking cookies. What? I can't go on a road trip without baked goodies! Anyhow, I bought this dress a couple of months ago at Salvation Army for $2. It was three sizes too big but I liked it. The top anyway. On the body, the dress looks like pajamas.

before:

after:

I guess the JCPenney catalogs I modeled for as a child didn't help me develop hot modeling skills because my posing is lame. But Michael really liked this shot because he said "it looks like the smiley Erin I know and love." Ahh. So sweet.

All I did was hack off the bottom, take in the sides, hem it and make a tie. Super easy.

With all the left over material I got the bright idea to make a pioneer bonnet for Sutton. Which would have been adorable but apparently her head is MASSIVE! I used the small version of this pattern found at Pickup Some Creativity.

Ezra makes a cute little pioneer girl though. Anyone with a baby girl want this cute bonnet?

So I whipped up another one (it is a quick project) in the larger size and it fits perfectly! I love it. When Sutton first tried it on, she looked in the mirror and said "I look... great... sort of". Ha! She warmed up to it though.

Also Chris (the author of the bonnet pattern) is having her first giveaway- a cute little girls bag. Go check it out!

i know i said i was sick of ruffles...

but I had never done tuxedo ruffles before! I really like how this turned out except that when you sew five ruffles onto the front of your shirt it does nothing to minimize a large bust! Which shouldn't be a surprise to me, I've always had a large bust and should know how to dress for my shape but when I tried on the shirt after I finished it I was like "woah, hello BOOBIES!"


Last week, I helped my friend Meredith refashion one of her old shirts for her daughter. At one point we needed to use the seam ripper to pick out a mistake. Meredith said something along the lines of "I wouldn't think you would know how to use a seam ripper" as if my seamstress abilities are so great that I never have to rip out a seam. Ha! If only! I could only laugh at that comment. Case in point: when I was sewing the last tuxedo ruffle onto this shirt I somehow managed to also sew the the back of the shirt to the front. Oops.

P.S.- can someone come to my house and make me stop refashioning clothes? i have (way belated) birthday and Christmas presents to make for crying out loud!

copycat

Dear Steph, I loved your t-shirt refashion so much that I made an almost exact replica for myself. I hope you don't mind!


I did two things different. One- the neckline. I started a refashion on this shirt a couple of months ago but was unhappy with how it was going so I set it aside. After I saw your refashion I knew what I wanted to do but I was stuck with the neckline I had previously cut. I was sad because yours is prettier. Two- I used left over chiffon for the ruffle detail.



Thanks for the inspiration!

ruffle sweater refashion tutorial

After I posted about this sweater refashion I got several requests for a tutorial. I have a bit of a fear of tutorials. I am not great at explaining things. I also make things up as I go (a trait I inherited from my mother) and therefore do things different each time which that doesn't lend well to teaching others. But I aim to please so here is my attempt at a tutorial!

All of my refashions seem to be monochromatic. I wanted to do change it up a little this time but I am not sure if I really like this combination (dark brown and a sort of mustard-gold) and i might be getting a little sick of ruffles.

the sweater before-- from my closet.

one yard of chiffon. cut into strips on the bias. to find the bias fold the selvage to meet the cut side. cut along the fold line (solid black arrow) then following the new cut edge cut strips (the dotted arrows). 4 inches wide for this project.

sew your strips together. as you sew, make sure the raw edge of the seams are all on the same side of the strip.

once you have all your strips sew together, fold the strip in half lengthwise (right side in) and sew along the edge with a small seam allowance making a fabric tube.

turn your fabric tube right side out. iron with the seam in the center back.

making the ruffle-- using a basting (long) stitch, 5 on my machine, and the tension set to 9 stitch down the center of your fabric tube.

prepare the sweater-- cut the center front.

using lightweight fusible interfacing, make a interfacing, sweater, interfacing sandwich and fuse.

interfaced edges.

since the interfacing was white and the sweater dark brown i took to extra strips of chiffon about an inch wide. pin and sew over the interfacing.

pin on ruffle. some important details: my fabric tube was 190". after gathering it was 64". to cover the neck and front of the cardy i needed 57".

fold edge of ruffle under and then over the botton edge of the sweater.

sew on ruffle-- staying as close to the gathering stitch as possible.

hand sew on a hook and eye.

done!

cost: sweater $0, chiffon $2.50.
time: maybe two hours (this project is much faster if you choose a sweater that already fits you. unlike my last one!).