A Tumble Tee for Fall

My mom went through her closet and drawers recently and brought me a box of goodies to re-purpose. I loved the colors and thought Elena would love the sparkle of this t-shirt, plus it is incredibly soft, so I cut it down to Elena's size. As you can see, she loves it!

I used the Tumble Tee pattern from Imagine Gnats for the quickest tunic ever. I re-used the decorative edge at the bottom so I didn't even have to hem it. The sleeves are an add-on also found on the Imagine Gnats site when Rachel made some for her girls recently. I used scraps of sweater knit purchased from Joann's last year for the sleeves. The whole thing cost me $0, my favorite price to pay. And it took 25 minutes.

There is only one problem with this shirt. Look at this picture below and see if you can spot it. (And no, it's not the wonky neck hem due to the double needle hitting the bling.)

Yep, my 3 year old is wearing a shirt with a half naked lady on it! Nice boobs. Oh well, it's really only noticeable once you blow up the picture or point it out. I think we'll still wear it, but lesson learned. I will look more carefully in the future.

I crocheted the hat last year as part of another outfit. I love the colors for fall. Shoot, I love FALL!

Recycled Jeans & Sweater

This week I did another refashion and again used a pair of my oldest daughter's old jeans to make jeggings/leggings for Elena. The jeans had nicely embellished pockets, were worn soft, and had lots of stretch. I don't usually like denim jeans for little kids because they seem too stiff but this denim was so stretchy and soft that I didn't feel like it would be constraining at all.

It wasn't really all that hard to unpick the pockets and flaps. I sewed them onto the sides of the leggings as cargo pockets and they look great. I was a tad worried that they would feel stiff or heavy, but again, this denim is worn so soft and is so stretchy that it wasn't a problem. I also used a zigzag stitch on any non-vertical seams to make sure it wouldn't stop the legs of the jeans from stretching.

I used my rub-off leggings pattern, and they have an elastic casing at the top. For a fairly recently potty trained girl going to preschool, I think elastic is the most practical and functional waistband. I am all for independence!

What's better in autumn than jeans and sweaters? My neighbor gave me this crochet sweater in a great color but it was short and wide. The first thing I did was cut the sweater down using the back piece of Figgy's Celestial Tee. I didn't touch the sleeve bands or bottom band at all. What were cap sleeves on me are 3/4 sleeves on my 3 year old! What barely reached my waistband is mid-thigh on her! I also had to pinch a good 2 inches out of the neckline along the shoulder seam to bring the neck in. 

  

She did not like standing on this little dresser. The whole outfit looks great layered with a turtleneck and boots. She didn't want to take it off so I think she likes it too. I'm tired of the hot and humid weather and am ready for fall. Jeans and sweater weather - the sooner the better. 

Project Run & Play Wk 2 - Refashion of Hand-me-downs

I am Elena and I am 3. My big sister is 16 and loves clothes - so that makes me really lucky. My mom made her clean out her room just before school started in August. She piled Mom's bed high with lots of good stuff she didn't want anymore. There was a plaid jacket she got at the thrift store but never wore once. There was a mint green t-shirt with a really low neckline. I'm not sure what "modest" means but I think it's the opposite of this shirt. (I'm learning opposites in preschool.) And there was a polka dot sweater my sister wore a few times but too many other people at school wore it too so that meant she couldn't wear it anymore, I guess. 

Can you believe that I am skinny enough that my mom made me a pair of pants out of just the sleeves of this jacket?! She says that if I was any bigger at all she couldn't have done it. It's this nice soft and stretchy material, and if that wasn't comfy enough, she also put some really soft, stretchy knit fabric around my ankles and tummy so they are really comfy and I can put them on and off myself! I love these pants. She said she used her own leggings pattern.

So I needed a new shirt and liked this soft green one. Mom won herself a copy of the GYCT Tinley Tee last week so we tried that one out and it's great. But Mom says this rib knit is too stretchy and she didn't like sewing it. I think it turned out nice and my favorite part is the beads around the neck. I had to promise not to pick at them because I did do that once before to a shirt Mom spent a lot of time on and she looked at me reeeeeaaal mean for that. But that's when I was 2 and, like I said, I'm 3 now so you can trust me Mom.

Now this sweater was just a plain pullover and Mom used a pattern called the Aster Cardigan to change it. She says that's is a really nice pattern and she plans on making me a lot more of these kinds of sweaters for this winter. I did hear her complaining again about this thin super stretchy fabric while I was drawing on the chalkboard. But hey Mom, get over it. And, I can do the buttons myself so that tells you how big and smart I am getting. (Also Mom says to tell you she was afraid the fabric would stretch and wave too much at the front placket if she sewed it normally, so she used hem tape and hand sewed it.)

I told Mom I like hats now so she whipped up this fun one after I went to bed. She says she can't crochet with me around because I'm like a kitty cat. I'm not sure what she means by that, but I do like to play with the yarn and practice tying knots so I was sad I missed out. Also, Mom usually makes my hats really super big so I'm glad this one just fits and doesn't swamp my little face.

So I got a new sweater, t-shirt, and pants thanks to my sister, plus a hat . And did you notice my awesome shoes my dad's friend gave me? My mom says she had some like that back in the late 70's when she was a kid. 

So one last thing about taking pictures - I don't really like doing it so I didn't want to when Mom asked after dinner. But later, I remembered she would give me a marshmallow, so I said, "Ok, let's go do pictures." But it got dark while Mom drove around saying, "Where is that black wall? I thought it was on this block." I got a marshmallow just for putting on the clothes and going for a drive. Then we tried again in the morning, but I wasn't being very good. I just can't help playing with the rocks and there were so many of them! Plus this wall faces east and I guess that's a problem with the sun or something. I think we both felt like hitting our heads against a brick wall so we went home. 

Maybe Mom should sew for herself for a little while.

PRP - Signature Style (with a Z thrown in for Sew All 26)

Time to kill two birds with one stone here. I have sewn along with Katy of No Big Dill since letter H, I think, so I wanted to finish that out, even if it's not the most creative use of Z. It's a cheat  because it doesn't even begin with Z but it has two Z's in the middle - the Izzy top!

This free pattern from Climbing the Willow is adorable, and popular, so I wanted to try it. I have a top myself that is the same cut (Simplicity 1620 if you want a mommy and me look), so I already knew I'd like it. I used some ancient rayon challis leftover from the early 90's along with some super soft peach gauze. It's definitely a little bit country, but I think that's me.

My signature style would have to incorporate recycling and de-stashing. Also, something feminine, but not pink or sparkly (though Elena does like that sort of thing). As much as I like contemporary style in magazines, and I even did purchase a pretty modern sofa recently, I am traditional to the core. I like antiques, real wood, gardens full of daisies and black-eyed Susans, casual country style. I know this because once a month when my subscription to Country Living Magazine arrives, I look at the pictures and I feel like everything is right in the world. Gorgeous gardens; homegrown, home-cooked food; modern country decorating (i.e. no pine furniture with heart cut-outs or doilies); and scenes of sweet children playing in the flowers. (That's Elena in our front garden last fall and it makes me melt.)

I also made a tiered denim skirt out of thrift store denim yardage- score! The underskirt makes me laugh every time I look at it because it is made from is the top piece of my neighbor's new bathroom curtains. Lol. She asked me to shorten her new curtains by cutting off the top and making a new rod pocket. For some reason, I didn't throw away the top piece. All I had to do was sew one seam up the back, feed elastic through the old rod pocket, and gather and sew some lace trim to the bottom. That was a 10 minute job, if that!

I wanted to keep the lace separate from the denim skirt so it would be versatile, because I am really, really practical. I can't help it. There is only so much time and so much money in the world and that's my signature style too.

And now a few pictures in action, on a windy day as spring is finally starting to arrive here.

PRP - My Signature Style

I am really excited to present my signature style outfit for the final week of Project Run & Play. I almost didn't do it because I wasn't sure I had a signature style. I actually refrain from labels like that in most cases. "My" anything turns me off. For instance, I could never say, "This is my lasagna recipe." because I never make most things the same way twice. I don't want people to expect the same thing from me all the time. So I had to get over that and do some serious thinking and I'm soooo glad I did because now I understand myself much better and what makes me happy about sewing and creating homemade outfits. Thank you Project Run & Play.

My signature style is:

1. Rather old-fashioned in a lot of ways. I like little girls to look like little girls. I like ruffles and gathers. I like the late 1800's, the 1920's and the 1940's & 50's.
2. There is almost always a refashion involved or thrifted, reclaimed materials. 
3. I don't necessarily want it to be recognized as homemade but I don't want it to look like it came from one of the major retailers either. 
4. I like to mix in a modern component - tribal leggings, riding boots, high-low hems, etc.  

So, here is my look on my 2 year old who is now full of mini-marshmallows. 

The sweater is a refashion of my old sweater that I hadn't worn in years. It was super easy to cut down and resew together in her size and will still fit her next fall too - bonus.

The top is McCall's 6388. I added pockets and decorative stitching. I made it last week to sew along with Katy of No Big Dill for "P" week of her Sew All 26 Challenge. See here for more details.

The pants are self drafted straight leg leggings in charcoal gray cotton spandex from Girl Charlee. I love making leggings that fit her just right.

I crocheted the hat, folded it up, and sewed on a big button. It is made with a magic loop and then all double crochets until the final 4 rows of single crochets. To create a button hole, I chained 5 stitches and skipped that many for the second last row of single crochets off-center on the front. The big button is inherited and quirky.

So that sums me up pretty well. It's creative, it's comfy, it's practical and thrifty and no other little girl has the same outfit.

PRP Refashion Week

Take one old maternity tank top and one of my teenage daughter's old tops and what do you get?

This is the Lucille top from ShwinDesigns in a 2T. I shortened the sleeves to elbow length out of necessity. That's how refashions go sometimes. It worked out great because this will carry into spring nicely. 

The Lucille top is a very cute raglan sleeved tee. There are two little pleats at the front and back of each sleeve and the "V" shape color blocks make it lots of fun to combine fabrics. I was a little worried about sewing those angles, but the pictures in the instructions are nice and clear and make it easy. I think it turned out great and I know I'll make more of these. My teenager wants one too so I'll have to try to adapt a pattern to fit her since this one only goes up to a girls size 8. 

 I had to pick off some of the metal discs in order to hem the sleeve and sew the sleeve seam. That gave me the idea to replace them and use more of them on the front and other sleeve. I destroyed a couple of finger nails trying to get those things off. I hope the glue I bought works as well as the original stuff did!

That glue was so fun. I might get carried away and start bedazzling everything now!!!!!

L is for Lace Refashion

I am sewing along with Katy of No Big Dill and her Sew All 26 Series. The thing I like about this is that it helps me narrow down the choices. When given all the possibilities, I can get overwhelmed and not know how to decide. But when given a parameter, like it has to start with L, then I can make up my mind much easier. "L" was an easy one.

L is for Lace Refashion

I

My wonderful parents have been married for 51 years. My mom gave me her wedding dress a couple of years ago in hopes that I would make use of it. It wasn't doing anyone any good sitting in a box in the closet. I gingerly cut one row of lace off the bottom and put it away for a while. This week I really went at it, and removed all of the lace and the 5 rosettes.

I was so happy to make some very special t-shirts for my girls, but they were not happy to pose for me. Ugh. Really took the wind out of my sails. They like the shirts very well, just not the camera.

So Elena got a cream colored tee with a button placket in the back and a pleated peplum. It is made from a nice soft interlock and is very comfy. She's wearing it here with skinny jeans and boots, but I also see it with ruched leggings I already made from the same fabric for another outfit in September. An all-off white look for the holidays. I also sewed one of the rosettes to a clip and she would not wear it or even hold it. Geez. So not fun.

She would not take any pictures today.

  

Olivia is 15. A wonderful young lady in so many ways, but not in front of a camera. Her shirt is made from an olive green sweater knit from Joann's. Ridiculously soft. I basted the pieces together, she put it on, and then we had fun experimenting with how to add the lace to hers and how to cut the neckline. That part was fun. There was laughter and silliness. Some of the options were downright Puritan and others were quite Army chic. A thin band turned out to be the only option. She really likes it and will actually wear it, I think. I hope. At least to Nana's house once, please, and with a smile.

And since those pictures stink, I had to resort to these:



And even those aren't good. Oh well. I really tried, Mom. I hope you like what I've done with your dress so far.