Quick Dress-To-Shirt Refashion

  So I have still been procrastinating on that shirt for my husband... it still scares me. I did get the interfacing cut out, but I still haven't marked everything properly.

  I did finish refashioning this dress though:

  Here's what it looks like now:

  No more waddling due to too-tight dresses! =) It was a pretty simple fix on the length, in spite of having to hem a lining separately. I wanted the front to be a little longer, so I marked where I wanted the dress to hit on the side seams, then laid it out and cut it like this:

  This photo is after cutting... the pin is the mark for side seam length. I don't remember this dress being labeled as maternity when I bought it, but you can tell from the photo that it definitely is! The ruffle wasn't finished, so I cut a curved line to about 1 inch above the hem cut, to allow room for hemming the shirt. I just used a twin needle to hem, although I did use quite a few pins because this fabric is pretty shifty.

  I also changed the neckline a little... I'm not fond of showing my undergarments while walking around town. I used the piece I cut from the bottom of the shirt to mimic the shape of the original neckline and hand-sewed it in place. It didn't come out as well as I had hoped it would, but at least I'm not showing things I don't want to show!

 
  Now you may remember that I said this fit beautifully other than the hips, and you may be noticing that it looks a little tight. The truth is, it is a tiny bit tight now. I gained a few pounds in the past two weeks... normal during pregnancy, but obviously not in the right spot if it is making the sleeves tighter! ;-)

  I think the extra weight probably has more to do with some cranberry-cheesecake bars I made this week than it does with tiny little baby Beckers. (Yes, she already has a nickname.) =)

  Doesn't that look delicious? It's the best cranberry sauce I have ever tasted. =) I'd offer to share the recipe, but I don't want your clothes to end up tight too. ;-)

  So I may not have finished the biggest project on my list, but I did complete something this week!

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Procrastinating

 I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a shirt for my husband. Since then, I really haven't done much on it... I finished multiple washes of the fabric last week, but I've been too scared to cut this out. A woven shirt in and of itself is a big deal to me, and making a proper button-up is more than a little intimidating. I finally cut it out last night:

  Well, excepting the interfacing... and most of the pieces still need to be marked properly. We'll see how long I procrastinate on those parts. By the way, cutting out fabric on a scratchy carpet while pregnant can lead to rub burn on knees, shins, elbows, and forearms.

  Other sewing stuff: I have this beautiful dress that I bought on sale online, no returns accepted. I knew it would be short, so I was planning on wearing it as a long tunic. However, it is ridiculously tight on the hips... waddling tight. The rest of it fits beautifully. I am planning on shortening it into a shirt. The neckline also hits a lot lower than I expected, so we'll see what I can do there. Care to see?

  Also, I am beyond excited not to be sewing at the dining table anymore... we found a folding table for sale a few days ago, and this is the setup I have so far:

  It's right in the middle of the living room, so I'm going to have to make an effort to keep it clean, but look at how much room I have! Enough for my sewing machine AND serger to be set up at the same time! And all of my fabric and other supplies fit neatly beneath the table, so I don't have to go rummage through the garage every time I need to find something. Also, see the thread rack? $23 at Walmart, and completely worth it, in spite of being slightly flimsy. I currently have all of my spools and all of my bobbins on it with quite a lot of empty pegs. The tablecloth is just a length of pretty grey fabric (The same fabric I used for Booper's hat), and is temporary, since I want to use it for a skirt eventually.

  One more thing. =) I bought a gift for a wedding shower but didn't have any wrapping paper for it... so I used freezer paper (not the shiny side), gold craft paint, and a silkscreen to make this:

  I love the way it turned out, and I am really happy that I got the chance to re-use the silkscreens after my Navy and Lace shirt.

And that is what I have been up to, besides all the cooking going on while I procrastinate on sewing.
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Cowl-Neck Shirt

   I've been gone for quite a while! We moved last week, and it took me most of the week before to pack, and most of this week to unpack. Honestly, I still haven't finished the little daughters' room. And that is why I've been rather absent... I not only had no time to sew, but my sewing stuff was packed up! I can't tell you how nice it is to have a pretty white wall for photographs though... ;-)

  Anyway, today I finished this shirt that I've been thinking about for a while. I've been working on it, off and on, since I posted my Navy and Lace shirt, and I'm so happy it is finally done!

  I used this tutorial from Made with Love to draft the cowl neck using my basic tee pattern, and it worked pretty well. I did notice that the shoulder seams tend to slide backward, but I think that may just be a problem common to cowl-necks. I also didn't have enough fabric to cut full long sleeves, but I managed to eke some trapezoids out of the remainder and added them for a slight bell sleeve.

   I hemmed the sleeves and shirt with a twin needle... and I have yet to press them, hence the waviness. The fabric is a from Joann's, with a nice subtle print on it. It's also nice and thick and incredibly soft... much nicer than the other knits I've sewn with.

  And that is all that I've sewn lately! I did buy the Negroni shirt pattern to attempt to make a button-up that will actually fit my husband, and have printed out and traced the pattern in his size. I need to wash my fabric a few more times before cutting it though, since I am using a lightweight 100% cotton twill, and it shrinks quite a lot.

  I also invented a recipe for what I call 'creamsicle pie', and it was delicious! It includes jello, which isn't on my usual list of ingredients, but was interesting to work with. If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll post about it. =)

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Booper is 3!

   This one turned 3 yesterday:

Scroll down for more information on the hat

  It's a little shocking that my first little baby has already been here for three years! She is a very sweet little person, the first to sympathize with any affliction, and somehow still full of energy and sass. She LOVES playing outside, tossing rocks or just sitting in the sun. She has an invisible friend named 'Gong' who she talks to regularly, and bosses around energetically. Even though her room is always a mess, she loves to put things in perfect rows and in the proper spot. That's my little Booper, my three-year-old daughter. =)

  We celebrated Booper's birthday with chocolate cupcakes, freshly-grilled hamburgers, and some fun gifts at her grandparents' house. She was happy... she loves going to her grandparents' house, and seeing all her aunts and uncles makes it even more fun. =)

  In addition to buying her a set of markers that she has been enjoying all day, I gave Booper a few options for a gift I could make her. She chose a hat, which was surprisingly easy to sew. =)

  I also made her a dress, a size larger than her usual so it will fit all summer:

  The dress was also fairly simple... a pre-made shirt cut shorter and some strategically gathered pieces of fabric added with a waistband and bow.

   She's a little messy because she wore the dress all day before I took a picture of her... =)

  I added a little fabric flower to the hat to match the dress:

  I used this tutorial from I Heart Jenny's Art, with a couple modifications.... I added a couple inches to the band length so I could add elastic in the back, and I used fusible fleece to stiffen the brim, since I couldn't find transparency film in the stores I usually visit... it is still stiff enough, although a little more stiffness wouldn't hurt. =) My final band size was 24x2", and the diameter of my circle for the crown was 8". On the inside, instead of serging I pressed the edge of the inner brim in by a scant 1/2" before sewing.

  I also changed my brim slightly from the hat I used to trace, since this hat was for a little person and not an adult. In case you don't have a hat to trace and want to make this, I scanned my pattern in so you can print it out: Kid-Sized Hat Brim Pattern (Oh, the joys of having a printer!) If you do use it, just make sure the white space inside the small square is 1" square when printed, and cut on the inside of the black lines. =) Anyway, I definitely recommend this tutorial! It was really easy to follow and I love the finished hat. I'm thinking of making one in my size. =)

  Happy birthday to my sweet and spunky, clever and obstinate Booper!

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Navy and Lace Top

  I've been playing around with alternative ways of adding lace texture to things lately, and not many of them worked. Lace as a stencil with fabric spray paint made too soft of a texture, and with fabric paint pounced or brushed on the details were too muddy. I bought this set of silkscreens at Michael's the other day though, just to try out. I wasn't sure if it would work at all since it is marketed for use on glass and ceramics, but look!

  The small butterfly is from another set. I did have to play around a lot to get the fabric paint I used to the right thickness... too thick and some spots have missing paint, too thin and it seeps underneath the silkscreen and ends up muddy. And I know, the painted lace on the yoke is crooked. On my first attempt at that yoke the paint looked great at first, but spread as it dried and ended up being solid white. I had to wash the fabric out completely (which took a while!) and dry it before trying again... and apparently I didn't line everything up right the second time. The silkscreen piece was a lot narrower than my shoulders, but it worked out alright to line up the edges and add the paint for the second half next to the first, even though there isn't a good repeat to line up. =)

   I added a couple butterflies on the back... the one on the shoulder is missing some spots from too-thick paint.

  Also, I accidentally painted the back of one sleeve instead of the front, and didn't have enough fabric for a re-do so I cut the painted piece off and sewed it back on in the right direction, then sewed a seam in the other sleeve to match.

  I used MadMim's tutorial to draft the tee from my measurements... mine didn't come out perfectly the first try, so I was glad I'd used scrap fabric to sew it up. This tee is after a couple small alterations. I used knit leftover from this dress, and it was a real stretch getting enough pieces out for this shirt! In fact, I had to use the pillowcases from the set and unpick their hems to get pieces long enough. =)

  I didn't end up using a knit binding around the neck because I had some pretty picot elastic that was too perfect not to use... I just stretched it slightly while serging it on, then top-stitched with a twin needle. I used another rolled hem to add some sweetness to the bottom of the shirt, stretching it slightly for a lettuce-edge. Overall I'm pretty happy with this shirt, in spite of its imperfections! And I'm happy to have the lace silkscreens to use on other projects. =)

Gratuitous Blinking Bump Photo!

  I already have another knit shirt for myself planned out, but I need to test out some more pattern alterations first. =) I should sew more knit stuff for the little people, since most knit projects are so quick and easy... I have a feeling I'd get a lot more sewn for them if I did.

 Speaking of little people... it's a girl! Daughter number three is due in August. =) And from her ultrasound, she is adorable!

  And more big news, we will be moving to a town about 30 miles away sometime in the next month... so I have a lot to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Strawberries and Chocolate Shirt Refashion

  I had time to sew something this week! It was a  quick, simple refashion, but sewing nonetheless. I've had this lovely pink shirt for a while now, but I've only worn it once since I picked it up at the thrift store.

  I'm not a huge pink-wearer, but I love the tiny ruffles on the yoke and cuffs of this shirt.

  The main reason I didn't wear it was that it was just too short, and that made it really unflattering. I had a few ideas about lengthening it, but couldn't decide what color fabric to use, since I didn't have any extra of the original. I finally decided on chocolate brown, because what goes better with strawberries than chocolate? =) And because I love my sweets, I added some pretty white lace trim for whipped cream.

  So first, and my main mistake while refashioning this shirt, I chopped the shirt in half. And yes, I tried it on first to see where a waistband should sit. =)

   It worked, and it ended up looking all right, but I should have folded it with the front of the shirt on one side, and the back on the other, side seams touching, and cut my line slightly higher at the back than front, to account for the bust curve.

  Next I cut some chocolate fabric about 2 inches longer than the circumference of the opening, and two pieces of trim the same length. I cut the fabric 4 inches wide, for a finished height of 3 inches. (Which added 2 inches total to the length of the shirt, when you include the shirt seam allowances.)

  I sewed a 'placket' on one side of my fabric by folding the fabric over twice, to the same width as the shirt placket, and top-stitching on either side.

  Then I put the waistband piece face up with trim pointing toward the center of it, and set the shirt right side down on top of it, matching up the plackets:

  I pinned a lot and sewed the seam, then sewed the lower half of the shirt on the same way.

  I finished those seams by serging, then finished the end opposite the placket by tucking it under twice and top-stitching down. Then I pressed all my seams really well and top-stitched along the top and bottom of the waistband, and added a buttonhole and button.

  I managed to get my buttonhole lever sensor working, but I still had trouble with the width of the stitches and the thread breaking. I ended up having to pick the buttonhole stitches out several times, which is NO fun, but I got a not-bad one in the end.

  Here is the finished shirt:

  And here it is on me, with my triple ruffle skirt:

 
   I know this outfit looks completely edible, but I kind of love it. =)

 

  
  My husband was super-nice and took these photos for me. =)

  And wow, I didn't realize that my belly had grown so much until I saw this photo!

 I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, but having only small, high mirrors does make a baby bump a little difficult to see sometimes. =)

  Thanks for stopping by!

My Signature Look: Incomplete

  So remember how I had almost 3 whole weeks to work on this signature look for Project Run and Play? I didn't think I'd be able to complete all 5 of the items I wanted to make... but I was hoping to finish at least 4.

  How many I actually finished? 1. Yep, just 1. I'm sure you all know everything frustrating that can happen while sewing, or attempting to find the time to sew, so I'm not going to list everything that happened here... but it did. Here's the lone finish:

  To be fair to myself, I came this close to finishing the sweater:

  I know, it looks finished. It's not, the buttons aren't sewn on and there aren't any buttonholes. The sensor for the buttonhole lever on my machine appears to have quit, meaning I can't sew regular buttonholes, and I didn't have time to fight with a satin stitch today.

  In a way, this incompleteness is my Signature look right now... I haven't finished anything in quite a while. Life just hasn't worked with sewing lately. I'm still sad that I didn't get done what I wanted to. However, since I already have all the fabrics, I think that every piece I planned will eventually get done. It may just take a few months, and I'll probably finish some other projects in the middle. I'd love it if you checked back in a while to see the pieces. =)

  Thanks for stopping by!