Friday ReMix: Striped Shirt to Skirt

 I love our neighborhood for many reasons but one cool thing is that many of the families pass on outgrown children's clothing to other families in the neighborhood.  We were the recent recipients of one such swap.  Our bag of goodies for my daughter included one floral dress, a tangerine colored bolero, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and one striped shirt.  First up on the refashion list was the striped shirt.  For some reason I thought this would make the cutest little skirt and I was right.  This was a super easy and oh so fast refashion.  Just like I like em. There was nothing wrong with the top - I just wanted to change it up a bit.

I snipped off the the top portion right at the armhole opening.  It was the right amount of fabric to create a nice size waist casing.  I used 5/8" elastic.  I love that a button remained after the top chop (just wanted to say that). 

I serged the top edge and then used a small zig-zag to stitch the casing (machine setting of .5mm wide & 2.5mm long). 

My daughter rocked it to school this week.  I love the combo of the this t-shirt with this skirt.  It's a little short so leggings are required but all in all it's a keeper. 

Peace!

REform/REfashion Friday - Old Tee to Yoked Skirt (WR1)

This week's refashion was super simple and quick. I took one of my hubby's old tees and transformed it into a A-line knit skirt with a yoked waist. I made it yesterday and wore it today. It is perfect for this hot sticky weather here in Atlanta. I originally wanted to make the MODKID yoga skirt featured on Sew Mama Sew but didn't have enough fabric. I used an old McCall's pattern to get the basic a-line shape, re-cut it to my measurements (made it hip hugging), and then made a 3" waistband (no elastic). This is my wearable muslin or my trial run of this style. When I find a pretty colored oversized tee I will make this again. I'm not really feeling this drab color and plus the t-shirt is pretty faded. It works for now as something quick to throw on. My first refashion since signing up for my 4 month Wardrobe Refashion.

REform/REfashion Friday - Wardrobe Refashion & Randomness

No project for today but I just wanted to share that I took the Wardrobe Refashion pledge for the next 4 months. I plan to make all items from my stash, thrifted materials, or old clothing. There is one exception - I need a new bathing suit. I will make it but I will need to buy materials to make it happen. Hopefully this will help me to sew up my stash so I can buy more (fabric addict).

I am finally making a hat for the hubby. I posted about this hat at my other blog. My son lost his - little rascal. He received so many compliments on that hat and a few people even inquired about me making one for this little boys. I'll make him another sometime soon.
I wanted some wool felt but could not find it here in the Atlanta. I'm sure I could have ordered it on-line but wanted a local supplier. During the event at Whipstitch I learned that one of the employees felts old sweaters. She said she could make me a scrap bag. I can't wait to play with these scraps - I'm thinking embellishing headbands, purses, and clothing.

Oh yeah! These photos were taken with my sister's Nikon DSLR. Man, what a difference. I'm saving up for one but of course it will be a Canon:)

I think that's it. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

REform/REfashion Friday - Old T-shirts to New Ruffle T-shirt

I know it is not Friday so let's just say it's the Saturday edition. I've been seeing so many cute ruffled t-shirt refashions and I decided it was time for me to make one of my own. I had a black t-shirt that was pretty faded with a hem that was coming undone. I also had a berry colored shirt with holes and it was pretty baggy and saggy. Both were sitting in the my storage bin of clothes that have potential for refashioning - ie not suitable for Goodwill but can't seem to throw it away. After I laid out what I wanted to do I spotted some gray scraps of material (leggings that my daughter put holes in) laying on my sewing table and thought it would be fun to add them to the mix. The black and the berry combination was a little too sweet but the gray made it a little more mismatched and interesting!

What I did:

• Cut the sleeves off the berry colored shirt and cut 1.75" strips
• Cut 1.75" strips from the leggings
• Measured the length of the front neck opening and doubled this length to determine how long my ruffled neckband needed to be
• Attached strips together with serger
• Sewed gathering stitch down the middle of the strip and pulled to gather
  
• Pinned strip to neckband and adjusted gathers
• Stitched down with sewing machine
• Folded the ends under and stitched them at the shoulder seam
  
• Cut ~5.5" piece (through both layers) from the berry shirt to create a ~2.5" band
• Resized the piece based on my how I wanted to fit across my hips by serging a new side seam
• Folded piece in half and basted together (optional)
• Divided into 4 pieces (side seams, front, and back)
• Attached band to the shirt with pins (matching side seams, front, and back)
• Serged band to shirt

REform/REfashion Friday - Gift #3 Fabric Bracelet

This week's REform/REfashion Friday is also another homemade gift. This was one of the gifts given to my daughter's friend - see this post. I'm not even sure why I thought to make a fabric bracelet but I'm glad I did. There are quite a few versions out there but here is the tutorial I used from PoppyChic. I am so in love with these little puppies and will be making more.

I added another "Made for ____" tag

I used this beaded candle embellishment that I snagged off a clearance table somewhere. When I purchased it --oh about 6 years ago - I thought I could use the beads or even refashion it to some fun bangles to wear. I snipped it with wire cutters and created a loop to fasten it using needle nose pliers, which created a bangle. From there I followed the tutorial. I used fray check on the edges of my fabric because I didn't want it to fray too badly and I add a little bling. I found a sheet of rhinestones from Walmart recently for a $1.50. The little girl likes cheetah prints so I thought this fabric was right on point. I've been picking up buttons here and there and I really like the flower button I used here. What a super easy and super fast project. It only took a few minutes to complete once the fray check dried. A matching headband would have been perfect - next time!



Other fabric bracelet tutorials:
JCHandmade
MollyChicken
Sew Fantastic
Craftiness Is Note Optional
Ruffles and Stuff

REform/REfashion Friday - Old T's to Boys Muscle Shirt

This week's REform/REfashion took parts of old t-shirts and turned them into a tank top well muscle shirt.
This started out as a tank for my daughter to be worn with this skirt and my intentions were to girl it out with ruffles and crocheted accents. Then it became a muscle shirt for my son due to a few errors. I used the free Ottobre pattern found here (of course I made a few modifications--see below) but it needs a little something extra because I kind of goofed up. In order to fix my mistake I added the purple band which is in an odd position (it should start right under the armpit). Well, if the LA Lakers win the championship my son will be able to represent. What type of applique should I add? I need to find some fun ideas - I may go back to my mini Boden catalog for a little inspiration. This shirt is pretty long since I cut it originally for my daughter who is 2 years older.


He is not happy to be modeling this - it was pretty early in the morning. I couldn't get him to stand up hence the wrinkles. This is the actual color of the top - the pic in the beginning is a little washed out.

Modifications to the pattern:

• I used the original neck band just resized it.
  
• I did not use ribbing for the armbands - just serged them and then flipped & stitched.
• I kept the original hem from the t-shirt.

Once I add the detail - I'll be sure to show you.

REform/REfashion Friday - Old T-shirts to Girl's Skirt

My first garment for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge and a refashion as well. I wanted to make my daughter a skirt in her school colors of purple and gold so she could show a little school spirit, but the fabrics colors I had were a little to much when I put them together. I decided to go with white and purple and applique a gold and purple flower which was inspired by the mini-Boden catalog. There are some really cool kid's clothes in the catalog. There's no way I'm paying those prices! I will be making more mini-Boden inspired items. The purple of the waistband and skirt do not match exactly but the photo is not capturing either purple properly.

I used a waist band from an old pair of pants that were worn out and the skirt was made from old T-shirts. This was super fast since I didn't have to do a waistband casing or hem (used original hem from T-shirt). I still need to sew the flower to the skirt. Right now it is attached with heat n bond -I bought the wrong color thread. You will see more of that gold knit fabric because I have 5 or 6 gold t-shirts that were left over from when my husband coached a youth soccer program at our church. A tank or fitted T-shirt to match the skirt is coming soon.

No REform/REfashion This Friday

Pretty busy this week and still nursing a hurt shoulder. See you next Friday or sooner. Enjoy your weekend.

REform/REfashion Friday - Little Boy's Shirt to Little Napkin

My Little Guy LOVES scissors. He cuts everything with them and I do mean everything. So from time to time we have to do a scissor ban in my home. One of his scissor adventures involved cutting up one of his shirts. I didn't want to throw the shirt out so it went into the refashion bin. I'm not sure why I thought this would make a good little napkin but that's what it turned into.
The weather is great right now in Atlanta so we head outdoors for lunch often at parks, gardens, or in our own yard. This is a good green alternative to papertowels and this napkin is kid size. One day I hope to get a picture of him wiping his little cute face with it. This was a super simple project and super fast. I need to make some napkins
for my daughter since she packs a lunch daily for school. Of course he needs more than one as well!

I cut out the back panel of the shirt.

Dimensions = 9" x 11.25"

I did a narrow hem along each edge.

The original hem of the shirt is one of the edges.

Ciao!

REform/REfashion Friday - Girl Tights to Knee Socks

I want to start doing a weekly REform/REfashion project. The projects could range from reusing clothing, repurposing furniture, or turning things that may be recycled or discarded into something new. I did one feature on my other blog but it just didn't seem to fit. I will be using inspiration, ideas, and tutorials from other blogs. There's so much cool stuff out there that I want to try.
First up -- changing a pair of girls too small tights into cute knee socks.

A pair of my daughter's favorite tights became too small and I wanted to hold on to them a little longer. I cut them about a year and half ago with intentions of making them into knee socks but never got around to it. I think she even wore them once and they slid down her little legs after 5 minutes of wear. I was on Craftster Forum last week and another crafty mama had done this exact thing. Disney at Ruffles and Stuffs has a tutorial and the socks she created are crazy cute! I dug out those cut up tights and finished what I started. I made a traditional elastic casing instead of having the elastic against the skin and added a little embellishment on the sides. My daughter thinks they make good soccer socks as well - I don't think the shinguards will fit under these.

She came up with this pose and I just clicked


Playing soccer in her new groovy knee socks