Sweater with a re-purpose

Do you have a sweater that just doesn’t fit right any more? Is it a little too short or too snug around the middle? A shirt, despite not fitting right, you just don’t want to let go of? Re-purpose it!
I ran across this pin on Pinterest and thought I had the perfect shirt to do this with. In the back of the closet was this beautiful blue shirt that I have had for more than 5 years. It’s a little on the short side and didn’t layer well. But I loved the color and could always find reasons justifying why I should keep it. So I re-purposed it! It was super easy and turned out cute.

More dresses…

Three dresses in about a week. Wow. I promised Emily a Rapunzel dress and I wanted to make her a dress for her birthday as well. Surprisingly, I got Chloe’s dress and the other two finished before the deadline. This will be the last of my sewing for a bit. I am a little behind on a few other things. Whoops!

What me? Sew what.

I have really been on a sewing tear lately. As mentioned before, Zachary and I recently took a trip to JoAnn’s Fabrics while Emily was in school. I didn’t have to bribe him with fruit snacks or anything. We were on a mission. I needed material for a dress that I planned on making for my niece’s birthday and Rapunzel fabric. Emily is 100% totally enamored with Tangled. She loves the movie, the songs and anything Rapunzel. I thought it would be perfect if I could find some Rapunzel fabric to make her a dress for her birthday. Mission accomplished and I found fabric. Imagine Emily’s disappointment when I told her that I would be making Chloe’s dress first since her birthday was first. I think I heard “It’s not fair that everyone’s birthday is before mine.” Ahh, almost 5.

One afternoon, while Emily was at stay n’ play at preschool and Zachary was napping, I took advantage of the quiet and got sewing. I am getting better at sewing these pillowcase-type dresses. It took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. )I will admit that I was on the phone with my sister party of the time.)  I really love the fabric. I can’t wait to see how it looks on Chloe! I will make her try it on for me after she opens it because I never could get Emily to try it on.

I even made a matching headband for Chloe. I got the idea from my friend Julie. Her mom makes some super cute stuff and made a ton of headbands. She saw one in a shop on Main Street and knew that she could re-create it. I used hers as an example and made one to match Chloe’s dress. It’s not as good as the ones Julie’s mom made but still cute. It was pretty easy. I took leftover material and gathered it a bit. Then I took 2 strips of felt and sewed onto the back, making a sleeve type opening that you can slide a headband through. Make sense?

Without further ado… I give you Chloe’s dress.

Halloween Sewing

A few weeks ago, I picked up some super cute Halloween material. I knew that I wanted to make Emily a “pillow case” dress and possibly something for Zachary. Things got busy and the material sat for a while. At least it had been washed so when I was ready, it was ready for me.

First up was the pillow case dress. I have seen these a million times and they are super cute! They seemed like something I could do, which is really important. Do a search on the internet and you will find a ton of tutorials. The one I ended up using was found on this blog. I had an actual pattern that I picked up at Walmart. To be honest, I was a little more than intimidated by it. I seem to do better with step by step instructions with pictures. I also found this really great video on youtube that taught me how to add bias tape. Want to know a secret? I really think this was one of the easiest things I have made. I had the settings right on the sewing machine and decided not to alter them. I didn’t have to rip out a single seam either. Super easy. I think I will make another one for her birthday.

Next up was Zachary’s “lounge” pants. I found a tutorial on (wait for it) Pinterest. My friend, Julie, wanted to make the same pants for her son as well. We decided to make a girl’s night out of it. I arrived at her house, armed with my sewing machine, notions, cut out pants and a bottle of Chocovine. You really need wine if you are going to sew with a friend, you know. I will admit, there was some cussing on my part. But Julie taught me a few tricks and even, inadvertently, showed me that sewing is easier when you remove the tray and make it a free arm.

The pants are cute. They might be a little short in the legs and the waist but still wearable. No, it wasn’t the wine that caused the issue. The issue was in the cutting. I think the first time you make anything it’s trial and error. I now know to add more allowance for seams. I will definitely be making more of these.

A stinker and a keeper

I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine. I think I would love it more if I actually had more of a clue what I am doing. But I don’t so I am learning as I go. A class might be worth looking into. I just need to actually do it.

I bought two different types of material back in May and just now got around to doing something with them. Those projects got put on the back burner while I made a few other things in the meantime. The first project was going to be a skirt for myself. I was going to use the waistband from existing skirt that had gotten torn. I had grand ideas for this skirt. I figured out how to do a gather stitch, sort of. My problem with the skirt in the long run was the material. The choice I made definitely showed that I was a sewing novice. The material was too heavy and stiff for a gathering stitch and didn’t look right. Besides not gathering correctly, I had some issues sewing the skirt to the waistband. Still, I didn’t think it looked too bad. I was told otherwise. And really, it was bad. The skirt has since been deconstructed and eventually will become either a bag or a pillow.

My other sewing project was an outfit for Emily. I found some super cute apple pattern material on sale at Hancock Fabrics. I had to have it. I bought way too much of it so you might be seeing it again in another form later on. I made Emily a basic elastic skirt. I played around with the zig zag stitch and it turned out pretty cute. It’s amazing how much easier the skirt was because I took the time to really wash the material first, iron and pin well. I also created some little pinwheel flowers for the corner of the skirt. Emily loved it. What’s a skirt without a matching shirt?? I took one of Emily’s plain white t-shirts and turned it into an apple shirt. I had some coordinating green material and heat n’bond. I made an applique apple and painted on the leaf and stem with acrylic paint. Easy enough.

So a stinker and a keeper. My next sewing project involves Halloween material and a pillowcase type dress. I think Zachary will get into the Halloween sewing action with some pajama pants that I saw on Pinterest. (Pinterest is invading everything!!) First I need to finish up birthday invitations for a certain little girl turning 5 next month….

The dud

Isn’t she cute?