Sweater to Ruffle Scarf

I finally got back to sewing a bit yesterday. I LOVE this project- it was pretty quick. I think I'll make like 10 more with old sweaters I have.

I was given this cashmere sweater from my friend Susie. Hi Sus!

(this is always what happens when I try to do projects)

Ok, here it is:

(oops, kinda fuzzy)

Just a plain ol' sweater. But soft. Really soft.

I came across THIS tutorial a while ago. That's what I used.

And here's how it came out!







(don't mind the background on these pics, I was in my 6x6 studio at the music store where I teach. Hey, I never claimed to be a great photographer.)

Girls Craft Night

Last Friday a few girls from my house church got together for a craft/sewing night. It was SUCH fun! We had lots of laughs and stayed up very late. We made peasant shirts from men's button up shirts, like these. I did this project before here.

But I also made another one, of course!

Here are some pictures from our night.

Our before shot:


Lydia (my sister) making a fashion statement wearing her cut out sleeves and collar:


Karrie, can't wait to meet that little person inside of her!


Sheri thinks that I sewed most of her shirt, but look at this picture I got!


Lydia with the finished project- she did great, and it was her first time sewing!


Lyd's sleeve (ok, I did the sleeves) :)


Cindy- how cute!


Sheri- adorable


Look how proud:




Here's mine:







What a fun night. I can't wait to do it again!

Shirt #3

According to my 15 year old sister Lydia, I'm not the greatest at making up creative titles for my posts.

I agree.

Shirt #3 took me a LOT longer than I anticipated, and actually I'm not quite done it yet, but you can't tell in the pictures :) I meant to have this be Wednesday's post.

Anyway, here is Shirt #3! Refashioned from a man's button up shirt, of course.

I made this shirt all by myself, without a tutorial. Very courageous, I know. At first I tried to copy this shirt that I love from Banana Republic, but it really didn't come out anything like it. I first put pleats in the front, but I ended up taking them out because they made it too small. I put in the boob darts instead. [Men's shirts really are just boxes.] I added the ruffles last because when I [thought I] was done, it still looked so masculine. Josh, at one point, told me I looked like a mail man. Thanks sweetypie.

I was so close to being done, after spending hours and hours on the darn thing, and I told Josh, "You know, I just really don't like this blue and white stripe." His eyebrows went up, as he realized I couldn't exactly "refashion" the fabric of the shirt. So I added the ruffle, and that seems to help a bit. I think it looks more feminine now. I could be way off base, though! Tell me your thoughts. About the shirt, I mean, not this hideous picture.

P.S. If you would like to volunteer to come to my home and take pictures of me in my new clothes, I would be delighted and can offer you nothing in return. Except maybe a cookie or two. My "photographer" (aka husband) seems to be a little impatient with me. Or is it the other way around??

Shirt #2

Here is the next shirt I made. I didn't take a "before" picture, but you can just imagine it

Before: a black, button down, collared shirt.

[Place said "imagined" picture here]

After:

I got the idea here: Adventures from the Sewing Studio

Here is the back:

I liked this one because I didn't have to worry about sleeves at all. It made it go quickly. I just cut the shirt right under the armpits. Of course I was a naughty girl and thought I could do it without the instructions. So I tried it, stayed up late one night working on it, and then realized I should have read the instructions more carefully and had to backtrack a lot of what I did the next day. Why do I do that??? It's not just sewing though. I do that with cooking too, especially baking. You'd think I would learn my lesson, but nooooooo.

After many a frustration, I think it turned out pretty cute!

Weird/Funny Video Monday and New Peasant Shirt!

Please admire my new shirt! It is a refashion from one of Josh's bazillion button downs.

From this:

To this!

I got the idea/tutorial from one of my all-time favorite blogs, My Mama Made It.

The back


Josh and I have really tightened our budget lately, so I've been trying to find things around the house to sew with so I don't have to go buy things. One of the things I needed for this project was elastic. I don't have a spool of elastic sitting around, so what better way than to cut it off your pajama pants? Josh hated these pajama pants, and I was ridiculed every time I wore them. I guess I have had them since 8th grade or so. It was their time to go I guess. For everything there is a season, folks. Yes indeed.

A big shoutout goes to my friend Cindy, who gave me some extra buttons she had lying around.

So anyway, just a little snippy snip around the collar and the length of the sleeves, take in the sides a bit if it feels too baggy (mine did), add some color to the ends of the sleeves, add some elastic to the neckline, add some cuter buttons (thanks, Cindy!), and you have yourself a new peasant shirt! Oh and I took off the pocket. Sounds so easy when I say it now.

Actually, this one was pretty easy. Easy peasy, as the crafters say!

Cats are way cooler than bunnies.

Naughty Kitty and Fat Kitty.

i'm back

Hello my little bloggy friends,

Has it really been a week since my last post??? I was feeling quite uninspired in my sewing this week, and let's face it, my life really is not all that interesting, so I kept saying, "I have nothing to blog about!" Is there like a "blog ideas" website? If there isn't, I should create one. Except I never have ideas, so I guess that wouldn't work...

Pretty much all I did last week was make these flowers:

I upgraded my pattern to include a piece of velcro on the back to go around any headband or clip/pin.

They are a fun, quick, easy project.

But this week, I've been loving this site: Wardrobe Refashion

It's got me ALL KINDS of inspired. That is why I was excited when Josh brought home this HUGE pile of clothes from his parents house (he is still moving out).

Why I am excited about all these men's shirts that Josh won't wear?

And just why did I cut off the elastic shelf bra of the exercise shirt I never wear? Or the elastic waistband of my pajama pants that Josh hates??



Oh. Just you wait. Just you wait.

Ok, I will give you one little hint:

Josh's old shirts + elastic from clothes I never wear = New and improved clothes for me!!

My Favoritest Thing

"Most Favorite" just doesn't have the same ring...

Ok, are you ready??? I know you've all just been dying in suspense!! I must make a disclaimer, though. I can't really take ANY of the credit except for the sewing part. I will do a BIG OL' LINK to my source below.

This is my favoritest thing lately: (the shirt, that is)

I made this shirt from a pre-existing shirt (I know, I know, so GREEN of me!). It's called a "refashion." It was previously a collared, 3/4 sleeve, button up shirt from Target that I got on clearance because I needed a white shirt because I was an usher at an Eastern concert (wow, run-on sentence). I never really liked it. It was bulky. So, when I saw THIS idea from My Mama Made It (that's the BIG OL' LINK), I just knew it was love at first SITE (get it??)

What I did was I cut off the sleeves and the collar and I used that fabric to make the ruffles around the neckline. I was technically supposed to have enough fabric to make the belt too, but alas I didn't, probably because the sleeves were only 3/4 length. So I used some other scraps I had to make the belt. I love this shirt!

Here is the back:


A close-up:


And here is me trying to be casual by petting my cat:

Let me know what you think. Now get off your bum and go make yourself a shirt!