Three dress to skirt refashions, 1 failure, 2 okay

I got two almost identical XL dresses in India print at a TS for a couple of bucks each, thinking they would fit my foster daughter.  They did fit but were not flattering.  So I decided to try to make something for me.  I only took a before pic of this one, but there is also a red print which is the second refashion in the post.

Another sewist who posted at the Refashion Coop had added a skirt to a pants waistband and top so I thought I would try that with the top of these old linen pants which have never fit me well.

So I cut the skirt off the dress at the gathers and attached it to the pants top.  

Then....  disappointment!  What was I thinking.  I have no idea what to do with these now.  About all I can say for this skirt is that it fits.  Too much pant part and too much gathers, I think.  The trouble is the pockets of the pants go low.  I may try to redo this (later, much later).

Ok the red dress is next.  I had seen a cute skirt in Anthro with a similar print and a dropped waist.  So this time I cut the skirt off above the gathers, just below the armholes to leave room for a casing and have the gathers drop to the hips.

And put some nicer buttons (that I got at the same TS, later) to replace the plastic wood look standard cheapo ones that the dress came with.  There weren't enough of one style so I used two cute small ones at the top and the larger ones you see for the rest.

Turned under to make a waistband and put elastic in elastic.  I sewed up the button up front, tho I kept the look of it.   I think its ok.  Not sure I like how I styled it in this photo, but you get the idea.

I wish I had made it a bit longer.  Still could I guess!

Finally, I found a wild colorful too large print dress at a TS.  It was a sleeveless pull on.   I cut it off under the arms, took in the sides (with my new serger - love it so much),  saved some fabric when I took in the sides at the bottoms for the side vents.

I like it, and its a nice length.

So I'm not really thrilled with even the 2nd two which I have worn and will wear again.  Even so, one of the wonderful things about refashioning is that I am improving my sewing skills and trying styles without spending much money.

I'm linking up to Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple and What to Do Weekends at Crafts a la Mode. and Refashion First Friday.  Check out the amazing other projects!

Thanks for looking.

Kathy

Refashions: stripey tank & shorts to shirt

I've been sewing lately.  Here's a couple of more or less successful refashions.  Let me know what you think, especially about the skirt which I have mixed feelings about.  Sorry I can't find the before pictures.

I bought this stripey top at a TS from the 25 Cent rack.  I knew it would be too long, but I'd been wanting to do some form of the ruffles on striped tops that I've seen others do.

Here's how it ended up:
 

Or it could be worn like this:


How I did it:  I marked the length I wanted with a pin and cut it so I would have enough for a nice hem.  Zig zagged the raw edge of the shirt then hemmed.

Then I took the piece I cut off, zigged the cut edge, made 2 lines of wide stitches along the cut edge and pulled the top threads to gather.  Then I had to hand sew to gather more!
 

Finally I got it as small as the center would go.  I looked for a button or some thing to cover the gathered\cut edge center, but didn't like anything big enough that I liked.  So I made a little yo yo from a circle of  b&w fabric and put a small button that I liked in the middle and sewed them in the middle of the large floppy piece. 


I decided that the big flower/ruffle should be washed separately so I attached it with snaps, one on each side of the neck edging.  I had planned on putting one in the middle as well.
You know what?  I hate sewing on snaps.  So I only did the 2 and attached the top middle with a safety pin.  Removing the safety pin allowed me to do the flop over alternate look too.



OK the shorts.  I bought them on sale a long time ago, but have never worn them  They were supposedly talls, but actually the back rise was not long enough.

I wanted to do something else, quickly. I used my seam ripper to take out the inside seams.
I was nervous about the measuring so I used a skirt that fits to make sure. 


Well unfortunately the sewing wasn't as simple as I thought because the seams have top stitching. So I had to tear apart my first attempt at a new front seam, and redo it with by creating a top seam with the iron, front and back.  See the top stitched seam bumpily disappearing into my regular seam?

Plus the seams had turned out really off. 

So I was glad to rip it out and do it over.  One of the cats and the dog both helped:

I used the iron to get the front and back seams how I wanted.  I had to go right up to the zipper in the front.  Then I top stitched.
I also tightened up the waist by putting elastic in the back (more zig zagging):
I measured on the outside then pinned the elastic on the inside on either side of the back middle to avoid the belt loop, stretched and zig zagged out form the middle twice on both sides.  I like the waist being more snug.
What do you think of the skirt?  The cotton is lovely and soft.   I'm more likely to wear it than the ill-fitting shorts, but I'm not sure how I feel about it!


Thanks for looking.

Kathy

I'm linking up to Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple.  and the Made With Love Link Party at Sew Chatty .   Check out the fun ideas and crafts!

My first Men's Shirt Refashion

I've been wanting to refashion men's shirts for some time.  I have some very pretty ones that I just can't bring myself to cut into.  So I got this one as a practice shirt for a couple dollars at the local thrift store.



 Yikes my hands look like I'm a ghoul.  See what happens if you don't have a dishwasher!  Anyway the problem with a practice shirt is its not very inspiring. 

I cut off the collar, making a scoop neck, and took it in at the bust.  I tried to put darts 3 times but it never came out right, so I gave up and took in the shoulders at the top to make the armholes smaller.  Then I cut smaller armholes out of the sleeves, and cut off the cuffs.

Here it is with the neckline unscooped because I raised the shoulders. 



I thought about leaving it long as a tunic, but it looks like scrubs to me.  So I cut it short.




I cut the sleeves to 3/4 length, and the button worked out perfectly.






I think its ok, but I don't love it.  I'm going to do the next one with the buttons down the front.

Thanks for looking.

Kathy

Quick skirt refashion - adding length.

I need skirts to wear to work.  I am 5'9" tall and its very hard to find pants to fit me.  I won't go into details.

This skirt was the exact wrong length.  Since I am no longer young, just cutting off some length and making it into a cute above the knee was not an option.  So I used my 50% off coupon and bought some dark blue blanket binding. 



Quick and easy, though perhaps not the most elegant!

Kathy

I made a fringed zippered pillow.. AND use what I have self-challenge!

I'm hooking up to Whatever Wednesday at Someday Crafts! Check out the fun projects there.

 

I really should have gotten longer fringe for such a big pillow. Well live and learn! This is just regular cotton fabric, not upholstery fabric. I'll see how it holds up. Hoping since its in the woman cave, it will be more gently used.

I decided to write a tutorial for one of those how to sites just for fun. I'll post the link here when I finish it. I'm sorry its not done yet, had those camera problems yesterday.

The longest I've ever left my Christmas tree up was .....

Valentine's Day!!

So Dolly is the latest, but Shawna and I are also in the February club. I took mine down this past weekend this year.

I had trouble with my camera yesterday - took hours to recover my photos from a defective card which I have now thrown out. I finally gave up and bought a recovery program because this has happened before. I have to say it worked amazingly well.

January and February I am doing a use what I have craft challenge. My pillow uses a zipper from grandma's zipper box which I was lucky enough to inherit. I've got some crochet projects lined up AND even though I really really want to go buy new yarn I am not going to. I've just got too much stuff and I need to use some of it up, to make room for more, of course.

Gotta go shovel show! And thank goodness I can walk down to work.
Stay safe if you are experiencing this storm. Its beautiful I must say.

Kathy

PS The pillow is Laura Gunn fabric. This is part of a lovely larger print line for Michael Miller.

Silk purse from a sow's ear, sort of.

I love these cheapo "silk" leaves from the dollar store. I had a spray of them left over from my halloween porch flower project last year (see post here if you want). I've been thinking the leaf fabric must be good for something.

 

Notice that I have carefully torn two of the leaves off the stems so that I just have the material. (You see the plastic veins left behind.) Then I went to the box of used metal zippers that I inherited from my frugal Memere and picked out a shortish black one so I could make myself a leaf change purse. I had to trim the leaves to be the same shape, since they are identical and I needed mirror images. First sew on the zipper:
(Hint: bend the zipper to follow the shape of the leaf, don't try to straighten out the leaf edge!)

 

Then stitch up everywhere else. I did it all from the top (that is right side) because the edges of the leaves seem to be non-raveling. I should have kept my zipper foot on the machine because I didnt' get quite close enough to each end of the zipper and had to hand sew a bit...

 

Voila! A rather large change purse. But maybe I won't lose it like all my others.

 

I don't have a pic of this but since it is a cloth and metal zipper, the purse can be folded into quarters and stuffed into a small pouch in my pocketbook.

 

I like it. What do you think?

Kathy

I'm linking to the party at Simpsonized Crafts - AND Whatever Wednesday at Someday Crafts -- check out the other projects!

Custom porch chair cushion

I got this chair and cushion for our newly reno'ed screen porch at HD at the end of season sale. It was the last chair and last cushion at the HD in our town.

 

DH really liked the cushion, and wanted me to get another one for our old pale yellow rocker figuring we could use something else for the back. This nice compact rocker for our small porch has family sentimental value, but has been difficult to fit with modern cushions. And the few that sort of fit obscure the pretty shape of the back.

So I when I went to help my mom in my hometown, I went to the HD there hoping to find another like the one I bought. All that was left in that pattern was a chaise cushion - but it was only $21. Thats a lot of material and padding for the price. So I thought I can do this. In the picture below I've removed the padding and cut 3 layers into the shape of the seat of the chair, using a pattern I made out of newspaper. You can see it sitting in front of the rocker.

 

I did the same for the back, with 2 layers of batting. For the fabric on the bottom seat, to minimize sewing, I only made some adjustments to the existing chaise shape, making it smaller and sewing box corners on the front. The back I was more daring and totally remade, cutting 2 pieces in the shape I wanted then cutting strips for the sides. I intended the back cushion to slide in back of the seat cushion and just reach to top of the back, but I discovered its so much more comfy this way:

 

Its now the best seat on the porch! And it was easy, inexpensive and fun to realize I can do it. Now I want to make cushions for all my chairs.

Check out some inspiring finished projects at Lit and Laundry's Finished for Friday and at My Romantic Home's Show & Tell Friday.

Kathy

Sewing repair

OK so I fixed my old flannel bathrobe which had a huge tear.  Not as creative as making a new one, but much easier and also meets my Use What I Have challenge to myself.  Later today I will finally sew the piece of fabric I've had hanging in front of a closet for a year into a real curtain.  That's the plan, a bit dull, but I'm sticking to it!