Upcycle sewing project #2: Women's Shirt into Girls Candy Cane Dress

JOURNAL OF WHAT I DID. 

I used this very loved and kind of stained brown tunic that is a girls small you see above to trace and make a pattern. To make the pattern I folded the tunic in half and traced it onto freezer paper. I cut this women's striped shirt apart that I got for about $4 at Old Navy last spring. I originally got this to make a 4th of July dress, but never got to it...

I saw it last week and thought OR A CANDY CANE DRESS!

 

I lined up the front and back of the dress so the hems could be re-used I also was able to use the original neckline and buttons. Then I dry ironed the freezer paper stencil onto the folded front of the I used the sleeve pattern by just tracing a sleeve from one of her favorite long sleeve shirts. 

 

I think this sounds confusuing so next time I am going to take more pictures. Besides little sister is lamenting that she doesn't have a candy cane dress. I am out of this fabric, but I am going to make her a similar dress with another clearance shirt. Look for that in the next week or two!

SKILLS USED:

• Shopping in the clearance section to buy fabric. 4 bucks + 1 hour = a dress my kids fight over.
• Using a well loved tunic as a pattern to make a new one with sleeves.
• Using a serger to finish the seams.
• Eating Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Almonds with sea salt

THINGS I WOULD DO DIFFERENT NEXT TIME:
I would have lined this with another shirt (which I did the next day in the next project I made her. More on that later). I also would probably make full length sleeves. After the 3rd project with 3/4 sleeves I made her she said "I am not liking these quarter sleeves all the time". Ha.

If you make something like this or are inspired to do a similar project leave a comment and let me know and/or leave a link to it!

Upcycle sewing project #1: Twirly Tunic

JOURNAL OF WHAT I DID.

I am purging the house and I went though all our clothes to get rid of thing we don't use or need. My girls like tunics and dresses more than just regular t-shirts so I thought I could turn 3 unusable t-shirts into one. The stripe shirt and purple shirt were too short and the light purpleish pinkish one was stained.

I cut the purple shirt off about 2 inches below where both arm seams were closed to use that as the top of the twirly tunic. Then I cut the other shirts and the rest of the purple one making stripes and sewed them into strips making each one about 6 inches longer than the tier below it. I gathered each stripe. Next I sewed closed it into a tube. I then sewed each tube onto the next and serged it to finish the seams.

If you don't have a serger you can still do this knit (t-shirt and similar stretchy material) doesn't fray so if you want to try this with just a sewing machine, just make sure to use a slight zigzag stitch and a ballpoint needle instead of a regular one to manage the knit fabric. (When using knit material with stretch you need a ballpoint needle so it moves the threads apart without breaking them and vice versa when sewing silk or satin you need the sharpest needles to pierce the material.)

SKILLS USED:

• Cutting into old clothes that weren't being used and using the top of one shirt to save on work
• Gathering fabric (here is a good gathering stitch tutorial)
• Using a serger to finish the seams.

THINGS I WOULD DO DIFFERENT NEXT TIME:
I would make it a dress but I was out of fabric so she has a tunic.:)

If you make something like this or are inspired to do a similar project leave a comment and let me know and/or leave a link to it!

Halloween Reflections

2008
My first costume I ever made for a babe.
The secret is that this is held together by a safety pin in the back,
 because I didn't know how to do a button hole or a zipper.
And I think she is the cutest Dorothy-Dorothy ever.

 2009
D's costume was Tinkerbell (she and I watched that a lot when Maggie was a newborn)
A leafy tutu, some little wings and a a green jumper made of old pants of mine.
PS How cute are these babies? I love them all so.

 2010
Goldilocks and the 3 bears...
Easiest year ever. Especially compared to this year.
We owned all of those clothes already. I just made the ears and Goldilocks bow...
and had blisters from the glue gun because of it.

2011

This might have been only slightly harder than the previous year.

M had the Alice costume from her cousin K. 

I burned my fingers making the headband 

(a repeating habit- boo). 

D was Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Shortcake's friend. Except for the wig it was all bought with my extreme desire for her to wear it all again. The blue t-shirt dress is fought over still. A dress for the 3 year old, I made the 5 year old stop wearing it as a tunic recently. The cardigan was a long sleeve t-shirt I cut down the middle, hemmed with an added a blueberry fabric flower. She hated it. She wears the cardigan around the house and she is cold. Seriously it is a house coat now. Awesome.

So that is my round up of sewing of Halloweens thus far. 

2012

This year's costumes and what I learned and hated from making them:) 

is coming soon on this blog....

it was all handmade...except for the tights and shoes. 

Not sure I'll ever do that again. 

Then again. I am sure I will.