T-shirt To Tank Top

This isn't exactly a recent project (I made it a month ago!) but I've been meaning to write about it for a while. One of my goals this year is to make a new piece of clothing for every swing dance I go to. I've made myself a lot of skirts, so now it is time to start making some shirts! I started with an old t-shirt that had gotten stained under the arms to the point that I didn't wear it anymore. First I removed the white panel that I had sewn onto this shirt years ago and set that aside to use somewhere else. Then I cut off the sleeves and cut the neck into a tank top v-neck. Using the magic of freezer paper printing and my mad exacto knife skills, I printed a pair of swing dancers on the front of the shirt. After adding some lace in the v-neck and hemming the arms I was basically done. The back of the shirt didn't quite lay flat, so I used some elastic thread and gathered the back... I turned the side-effect into the desired effect! After a few creative adjustments, I have a shirt that is wearable and looks completely different than what I started with.

The Three Month Sweater

So... the day after Christmas I started knitting a sweater. In about 2 weeks I finished most of the sweater. MOST of the sweater. Then I went back to school, and didn't touch it for months. As time went on, the days got warmer... and I realized I needed to finish this sweater before it gets too warm to wear it! So here it is. I wore it once, and the next day the temperature sky-rocketed to 80 degrees.

I think it is cute. But maybe next time I'll make it a size bigger. And not stop until I'm completely done :D

Rainbows and Sunshine

This project doesn't have any sunshine, but it certainly has rainbows! I found this awesome teal, rainbow printed, thermal fabric on sale when I was home for spring break. I saw the fabric, and it was love. So I bought a couple yards of it and brought it back to school and started pondering the possibilities. I decided to make a convertible dress like one I made last summer. It consists of a skirt, a channel at the waist for elastic, and two reeeally loooong straps about 7 in wide. Usually this kind of skirt is made with a circle skirt, but I didn't have enough fabric for that. So I made a rectangular type skirt with some gathering at the top instead. (I think it works out better with a circle skirt. The "waist" band ends up not far below the bust, so it adds some volume in places that don't want any more volume.) The skirt was too short for my liking, so I added some of the teal polka-dot cotton leftover from a custom skirt order. It still needed something, so I added pockets modeled after the pockets on a storebought skirt I have. It was definitely a satisfying project, and I still have enough fabric leftover to make a pair of spankies (or bike shorts, if you prefer) for when I go swing dancing.

Massive Mending and a Custom Order

This week I was home for spring break and did a massive amount of mending (in celebration of mending month, of course!). First my dad asked if I could fix a seam that is unraveling on one of his long sleeved shirts. This one was a snap because it was on a seam and just needed to be zipped over by the sewing machine. The next two were a little trickier. My brother was packing up to move across country this week and pulled out two pairs of jeans with huge holes in the knees (only the left knee on each pair... how does he do that?). One pair also had several little holes in the front, and a hole in the spot that connects the back pocket to the pants. So I pulled out some blue embroidery floss and an online tutorial about darning that I spotted earlier in the week. After spending a day darning all the holes I needed to patch the knees. Luckily, he had another pair of jeans that was beyond repair (it had a giant hole in the crotch and several more holes and thin spots on the legs) so I cut some fabric out of those to use as patches. I wish I could have taken a picture of the finished mends, but my brother left town soon after they were finished.

I also mended an old prom dress that had an inch long hole near the hem. We are donating the dresses to a program that gives prom dresses to girls that can't afford to buy one, and would otherwise not be going to prom. I darned this hole as well, and it is not invisible, but it certainly isn't a hole anymore. And speaking of those jeans that were beyond repair, I am planning on turning them into a denim skirt to list on Etsy. The hole is right where I would have cut anyway to cut the legs off for a skirt. The fabric from the legs will add length to the skirt and a ruffle around the hem, hopefully making it about knee length.

My other project this week was a custom order circle skirt. I picked out a pretty teal cotton fabric with tiny white polka dots. From there it was a basic circle skirt, broken into panels because of the size of the fabric, with a white ribbon drawstring at the top of the skirt. I also added a swoop of white rick rack to the hem for some added interest.

Yet Another Skirt

I made this awesome skirt out of scraps from the skirts I made for the swing dance performance. I wore it to the swing dance last night and felt like the belle of the ball. My goal this year has been to make a new outfit for every swing dance I go to. I think I have perfected the construction of these skirts, and am finally ready to put them up for sale on Etsy. They can be made in any size, any color, or any pattern (within reason). The drawstring top makes them easy to size and secure while dancing and spinning.

Skirt Overload!

This month has been especially busy with sewing skirts. First I made 6 circle skirts for a swing dance performance. Three were black with white polka dots and the other three were green with dots, red with dots, and yellow with dots. They were all circle skirts with a drawstring at the waist to be secure and versatile. They looked great in the performance and spin wonderfully. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of them right now, but hopefully will soon. I am thinking of marketing these to the swing dancers in the area, because they really are perfect for swing dancing.

After finishing those I made myself a skirt out of a thrifted wool blazer. I have wanted to try this for a while and finally got around to doing it. It wasn't really difficult to make once I had the jacket. I cut the jacket off under the arms, sewed down the button placket and the back slit, put some ruffles in the front center, and added a waistband. I wore it today with a pair of knit tights and it is very cozy. I see more of these in my future...

Warm Fleecey Goodness

Sometimes I get inspiration for a project and I have to work on it immediately. Usually I become so enthusiastic about it that I can't wait! Luckily, last week wasn't particularly busy during the week. The idea I had involved an old brown sweater I have. It is one of those sweaters that is really warm and cozy, but not all that attractive... which is why it has become the sweater I wear when I am sick or otherwise not planning on leaving the house. Seeing as I am a college student and have to leave my dorm for everything (including meals), a sweater like that isn't very useful to me. Plus, it had a hole in the sleeve. But that is when I remembered the scraps of tan fleece I had leftover from the sweatshirt I made over break. There wasn't enough left for another sweatshirt, but it would be plenty for a pair of sleeves!

So I got to work the next afternoon. Luckily for me, the sweater parts were sewn together with yarn and not cut and overlocked with a serger. This means that the sleeves were easily removable. Then I used the sweater sleeves as a pattern to cut the new sleeves out of fleece. In retrospect, I should have made the fleece sleeves wider than the sweater sleeves. I keep forgetting that sweater and other knit fabrics stretch, and fleece does not! I also used the still attached hood as a pattern to cut out a fleece lining for the hood. Then it was just a matter of sewing the seams on the sleeves and attaching them to the armholes of the sweater. The hood was a little tricky... but I figured it out. I originally used a zig-zag stitch to attach the edge of the sweater hood to the edge of the fleece hood, but the sweater stretched and made it wavy. Then I decided to sew a straight stitch along the side of the ribbed edging of the hood, and cut off the extra fleece. That did the trick. It seems like I always need to rip out at least one seam per project :)