T-shirt Refashion – My Little Pony Princess Celestia T-shirt

T-shirt before

So I was in the little girl’s section of Wal-mart and saw this shirt on clearance for $4, and since it had one of my favorite characters on it, I bought it even though I could guess it would be a little small. It was a Girls XL 14/16, and while I like form-fitting t-shirts, it was a little bit too tight. But I knew I could fix it, so I did…

• Pattern:  none
• Fabric:  Thin cotton t-shirts
• Notions:  Thread
• Time to complete:  4 hours?
• Make again:  Sure, next time I have a shirt that’s too small.
• Total cost: $4 shirt at Wal-mart and a free shirt from my dad = $4

Beach Skirt

I love lots of beachy/ocean related designs, including anything to do with mermaids, dolphins or manatees. I found this sheet at Goodwill and I figured I would be able to use it in a variety of projects. I’d been planning to make some sort of clothing out of it, and then I found out some of my friends were having a beach/island party and I thought it would be the perfect time to finish it by.

My original plan for this fabric was as a dress, and I even cut out the bodice lining and sewed it together. Unfortunately I must’ve picked the wrong size, because it was HUGE! I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish the dress in time for the party, so I just made it into a skirt…With pockets!

• Pattern:  McCall’s M6349 (Size 20), Simplicity 2067 for waistband
• Fabric:  Sheet from Goodwill, yoke made out of a Batik quilting cotton fat quarter
• Notions:  3/4″ Elastic
• Time to complete:  5 hours?
• Make again: Yeah, I still want a dress out of it, and I think I have enough fabric to make a whole dress out of it.
• Total cost: The sheet was probably $2, the yoke was $1 and the elastic was $1, so $4 total.

Shiny Black Skirt and DIY Fray Check

 

Originally, the fabric for this skirt was intended to be the lining for the Lime Green Tutu I made, but when I got to the point to sew it in, I realized that all the layers of tulle obscured the shininess of the fabric. I decided to make it into a skirt instead!

• Pattern:  Simplicity 2067
• Fabric:  Polyester “Satinette”
• Notions:  3/4″ Elastic
• Time to complete:  7 hours?
• Make again:  Hmm, it was really just 4 rectangles, and I think it’s a bit too much fabric for the style of skirts I prefer, so probably not.
• Total cost: I bought 3 yards of the fabric for $3, and probably about $1 for the elastic, so $4

The fabric I used frayed a consderable  amount. To cut down on that, I tried a “DIY Fray Check” which was a mixture of white glue and water in a plastic ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It made the fabric stiff, and was a bit time consuming, but it did stop the edges from fraying. As soon as possible, I sewed the side seams with french seams (since I don’t have a serger) to fully enclose raw edges. After I washed the skirt, I haven’t noticed any stiffness, so I assume my mixture came out in the wash.

 

I like how shiny the skirt is, and I like to wear this skirt to dress up outfits alongside t-shirts. If I made it again, I would add pockets in the side seams, but since I was originally making this as a lining, I had already sewn the sides up by the time I realized this was going to be a skirt.

Simplicity 2067 – The pattern I used for this skirt

Shiny skirt!

Lime Green Tutu!

So I started making this tutu back in October of 2012, with plans of finishing it in time for Halloween. I was probably about 75% done by the time Halloween rolled around, but I did complete it before the end of the year  (it’s just taken me a while to actually post it). I made it from green tulle by the yard and using Simplicity 2067 as the pattern.

• Pattern:  Simplicity 2067
• Fabric:  6 1/4 yards of tulle, 3/8 yard polyester “satinette” for yoke
• Notions:  elastic
• Time to complete: I would guess I worked about 3 hours at a time over 3 different days?
• Make again:  Probably? I technically made another skirt from this same pattern
• Total cost: I think I paid about $6 for the tulle, $1/yd for the yoke and ~$1 for the elastic, so I’m going to say $7.50

So tutus definitely aren’t the most practical clothing item, but I love wearing this. It’s so fun and bright, and I usually get lots of compliments/attention from people when I wear it in public.

Gathering all the tulle to fit the yoke was tedious, but I think it was worth it. I’m glad I was able to use my mother’s rotary cutting blade to cut out the pieces though! Scissors would have made it taken much longer, but I’ve never really enjoyed cutting out pattern pieces.

RAWR! (A.K.A. Dinosaur Skirt)

Back in August, I found a “dinosaur and bug” sheet while thrift shopping at Goodwill, and I immediately thought it might be an interesting contrast to make a skirt out of it. I worked on it for a few days in September, and finished it before October, but never had pictures to post.

Dinosaur Skirt

100 Patterns? New/Old finds, future project ideas and recap on past few months

I was recently back at my home, and I found either my grandmother or great-grandmother’s pattern stash (not sure, some of them have my great-grandmother’s name on them, but I feel like my grandmother was the one to give them to me). They’re mostly from the 1970s and in size 16 (which is my size in tops, but I’m a size or 2 bigger in pants… So no fab bell bottoms for me until I build up my confidence enough to grade up some sizes).

Vintage McCall’s 5654 pattern (1977)

Out of the 29 patterns I found, some are a little wacky or plain for me to want to ACTUALLY construct, but it’s exciting nonetheless. I’m definitely excited to try my hand at these though:

First Post! Why I’m doing this, and Mittens!

A few days ago I decided to start a blog, here’s why:

1. While I hesitate to call them New Year’s Resolutions, one of mine is to sew more.
2. I have lots of fabric, patterns for projects I’m excited to do, and a sewing machine, but for whatever reason, I haven’t been sewing much.
3. I’ve had several opportunities surrounding the ability to use WordPress come up recently.
4. A few days ago, I was reading this page The Musings of a Dedicated Housefiancee: About, and it said “Publishing what I’m working on encourages me to finish tasks and try new things that I likely wouldn’t otherwise.”

So, basically, several things combined to make it seem like a good idea. I wanted to try something new to help encourage two of my interests (that at various times I’ve considered trying to use as moneymakers): Sewing, and Web Page Building. Anything that helps me with gaining more knowledge is good, and having something to show for what I’ve done always encourages me.

Now, for my current projects and pictures!