Simple Knit Skirt From a Huge Tank Top

I'm a sucker for two things.  Well maybe more than two, but I am for sure a sucker for the clearance rack at any store, and I'm also a sucker for knit skirts.

I found this gem of a find at Walmart for a buck.

It's a 5XL cotton/poly blend light-weight knit tank top.  I couldn't leave it there for $1.  Like I said, I'm a sucker.

I wanted to leave the original hem of the shirt intact, as I'm not really a fan of sewing knits, and I'm lazy. So I chopped off the top portion, right under the arm pits.

 I pinned down about an inch for an elastic casing, making sure to leave a couple of inches open to feed the elastic through.

 I sewed a zig-zag stitch, fed the elastic through, and sewed her up, and TA DA...

Missing part of my head...

Me.  The awkward model in a breezy knit skirt.

Super easy, cheap, comfy, and cool for the hot summer ahead.  Thanks for stopping by!

Another Favorite Dress (rescued from donation)

I'm a slacker.  There, I've said it.  I have been doing projects, either forgetting to take pictures, or not posting the ones that I have.  Sigh.

I'm beginning to think that the princess has a borderline unhealthy attachment to some of her clothes.  She has a really hard time getting rid of her favorite pieces, even when they no longer fit or are full of holes.  This next dress fits both bills.  Granted it is a super cute little number from Gymboree, but alas, it is a size 6, and her 8 year old butt was hanging out of the bottom.  Not ok.  I didn't get any before pictures (of course), but what I did was pretty straight forward and simple.

I used an old black t-shirt to add about 4 or 5 inches to the bottom.  I made the strip longer than I needed and gathered it to make a little ruffle action.

Dress with added black ruffle.

Interior shot with screen printing from the t-shirt that I used.  It's on the inside, so I didn't think it would be a big deal.

 The appliques on the front are literally falling off, so I did a couple of quick repairs on those too.  She'll get another couple of months of use out of this one until she makes me come up with a miracle to keep it forever.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cute PJs, Too Bad You've Grown

I'm baaaack.  I guess I took a couple of months off.  Don't worry, I've spent the majority of my time off of the blog collecting more project material (aka junk) or pinning things to Pinterest.  Time well spent, no?

I was also able to travel back to the good ol' U.S. of A, and of course while there I came across things at my mom's house that I couldn't bring myself to part with.  Example number one, these super cute PJs.  Originally from Japan, 100% cotton in a SUPER pretty flower and butterfly print.  Perfect, no?  Except they are around a kids' size 3/4.  My kid is 8, so needless to say, they were a little snug.  They were in the donation pile, and I rescued them (you're welcome pretty PJs).

I painstakingly took apart both the pants and the kimono top, and ended up with quite a bit of material to work with.  I decided to make the princess a simple skirt.  I used the pieces from the pants and the back of the top and came up with this:

I still have a couple of pieces of the pretty material left, so I may make something else, as soon as I can figure out what.  Maybe I'll head over to Pinterest :)

So that's what I did today.  It's good to be back.  Thanks for stopping by!

Business-ish In The Front, Party In The Rear T-shirt Refashion

The weather is hot, and I have an overwhelming desire to wear as little as possible.  Unfortunately, society dictates that the "mom crowd" should remain clothed (booo).  I'm not sure if there is an age cut off for open back t-shirts.  If there is, screw it, I need air flow.

I sacrificed a long sleeve t-shirt that I've had since before the princess was born.  Yikes, about 8 years.

Sacrificial long sleeve T

I proceeded to chop off the sleeves.

Fresher already.

 I also cut a straight line up the middle of the back of the shirt, which of course I didn't take a picture of.

Cut off the seams and cuff of one of the sleeves.

Cut 8 inches long by 4 inches tall.

 Sewed the strips down the back, and bunched the middle together and tied with a piece of scrap.

Also tied the shoulders with more scraps.

Now, when the wind is at my back, I can actually feel it.  Ahhhhh.  Thanks for looking!

Batik Dress to Flowy Tunic Shirt

People are probably getting tired of me saving things from "the bag that grandma left."  But here's another one.  This time a seemingly worn out batik dress.

The stitching around the neck and hem were becoming unraveled, but otherwise no major malfunctions.

I didn't take any pictures of what I did, but here's my lame attempt at a diagram:

Basically, I cut a square/rectangle, cut a neckline, and sewed up the edges and shoulders, leaving about 9 inches un-sewn on both sides for arm holes.  I finished the hems on the bottom, arms and neckline.  Now I had a shapeless box shirt.  Flattering.

I found a nifty tutorial on how to make simple thread belt loops using your sewing machine, here.  SO easy!  I made a nice belt/sash out of the scraps from squaring up the fabric, and added some side slits at the hips, and...

 A nice, light weight shirt for summer!  I'm pretty proud of this one, and I think I'll make more.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mama Mu-Mu, Get Ready For A Romp(er)

Yet another contribution from Grandma's donation bag.  Man, that lady left some good stuff.  This dress started out as an ok light, baby blue color.  I, of course, didn't get a "before" shot of the dress before I dumped it in the pink dye bath.  But the new purple color is nice.

Cotton jersey Mu-mu.

Inside out, ready for chopping.  You can see the light blue stitching that was the original color.

Cut off the sleeves, and chopped straight across the neckline.

I chopped it through the former waistline, and got rid of the front pockets.

I separated the top into 2 pieces, and sewed down the top about an inch on both pieces.

I used an old pair of shorts as a pattern.  Note to self, make 2 cuts next time.  The back pieces need to be a little bigger to accommodate your bootie without being too snug.

Nifty "new" shorts.

Then I apparently got tired of documenting my progress, because I don't have any pictures of my next steps.  Basically I added elastic to the top, front and back portions, and sewed the sides together.  Then I sewed the top onto the bottom portion, and added more elastic to the waistband area.  I made some nifty shoulder ties from the pocket scraps, and...

Strike a pose.

A cute and comfy little romper for my favorite princess.  Thanks for stopping by!

Save a Skirt By Killing a Tank Top

Today I did a super fast and easy transformation for the princess.  She has a cute ruffle skirt in a really fun bright turquoise knit.  The problem?  Too much 7 year old bootie hanging out.  When I told her I could see her underwear, she begged me not to get rid of it.  Sigh, another "favorite" destined for the garage sale bag.  I told her to go change, and she comes out wearing the skirt as a top.  That's my girl.  Refashion that skirt.  It was a little big on top for her, so instead of adding elastic, I made some straps out of a too small tank top.

The bootie showin' skirt.

The sacrificial tank top.

 I braided 3 of the strips together for each strap, and sewed them in place.  And...

Future supermodel working the camera.

 Pretty cute!  Now I can hold off fighting her about getting rid of it.  Until her belly starts to show, at least.

Where Old Swimsuits Go To Die, Hair Ties

Today I went through the donation/garage sale bags and closets.  Ugh, it's amazing how much the princess has grown in the 2 years we've been living here.  Also amazing is the number of destroyed swimsuits.  Between the sunscreen, salt water, chlorine, heat and humidity; anything that has elastic or Lycra, rots.  Fast.  So today, I made hair ties and a headband out of old swimsuits.  I found the idea here.  This gal's swimsuit was clearly not as destroyed as what I was working with.

2 little bikinis and 2 one pieces, courtesy of la nena.

All of these suits were pretty baggy, and the elastic around the edges was sticky or crunchy.  The gal in the link above just cut and tied a single piece, which wasn't going to work with these suits.  So I braided 3 strips together, sewed up the ends, tied another scrap around the sewing mess, and...

Ponytail and bun ties galore.

Pay no attention to the greasy hair.  It's hot, ok?

Super easy and fun little project!  I love not throwing things away!  I recently read (somewhere) that 5% of all landfill waste in the US is from textiles.  That's a lot of fabric.  Almost 68 POUNDS per US household per year.  I'm feeling pretty good about keeping these otherwise useless swimsuits out of the dump. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh Baby-Doll, Sorry I Had to Chop You

Today I made another dress out of the "bag that grandma left".  The original dress was ok.  The boob part was too big on me, and the baby-doll style was making me look pregnant (I'm not).  The tank top was also in the bag.  A little stretched out on the bottom, and a little faded, but in otherwise good condition.

I got my scissors out and started chopping.

See ya too big boobage.

Next, I took both pieces and pinned them, right sides together.  I am going to use the bottom of the tank top as the new top.

 I zig zagged the pieces together.

Notice how the former bottom of the tank is now on top?

 I tried it on and the new tube top was super baggy.  So I cut a small hole in the "hem" of the top and threaded some elastic through the casing.

I also braided some scraps of the black tank and added the former straps of the baby-doll dress as new halter straps.  Added security for keeping the girls off display.

Not bad!  Thanks for stopping by!

Drab Tank Dress to Fab Halter Dress

This is my best refashion to date.  I'm so impressed with how this turned out.  I saved yet another dress from the donation bag, this one left by my mom the last time she stayed with us.  I started with a dye job, as it was a blah greyish greenish.  You're going to have to imagine it, because I didn't get a picture before it jumped in the pink pool.

Grey/Green + "Rosa Mexicana" = Mauve

The only redeeming quality of this dress is the soft jersey fabric.  It was too wide on me, and I'm not a fan of screen printed lady bugs on my clothing.  So I got to choppin'.

See ya straps.

 I folded over what used to be the back of the dress and sewed a casing for the new front neckline.

Next, I got rid of the lovely lady bugs.  Don't worry, I'm saving them for something else.

Lady bug, lady bug fly away...

Next on the agenda was taking in the sides about 1.5" on each side so it would be a little more fitted.  I have no idea what size this dress was to begin with, as my mom is a habitual tag cutter.

I cut away the excess fabric and unfortunately the pockets had to be sacrificed.  

Sacrificial pocket.

 Next up I took the extra fabric from the pocket/seam sacrifice, braided it into 2 pieces and sewed one set of ends together.  I threaded it through the neck casing.

 Next I had to deal with the drapey back, as I only took in the sides of the skirt portion of the dress.  I decided to sew another casing and put some elastic through.

I also had to figure out what to do with the front of the dress, as I still had some leftover fabric hanging on the sides.  I left it for last to make sure I wouldn't cut/hem too much and have major side boob action.  I tried it on inside out, and pinned the excess fabric on each side, sewed it down, and cut away the excess.

WOO HOO!!  I did it!

From the back.

Halter strap detail.

I am super pleased/surprised at how well this turned out.  Thanks for stopping by!