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!

Scrap Bustin' Cat Toys

What do you get when you combine boob pads from swimsuits, seam scraps and catnip?  Mice!

I've been holding on the the boob pads from my swimsuits for awhile, for some unknown reason.  I remove them as soon as I get a new suit.  Who wants soggy boobs at the beach?  Not me.

Soggy offenders.

I saw a tutorial awhile back for making mice out of shoulder pads, and thought, "finally, those boob pads can have a second life making cats crazy."

Scraps from cutting seams out of other projects, now known as, "mouse tails".

 I pinned up the sides of a boob pad, stuffed a tail inside and sewed around the edges, leaving an opening to turn the mouse right side out and stuff catnip inside.

Little mouse with a hole in front

Fresh catnip.

 After stuffing the little mouse full of catnip, I did a zig zag stitch around the edge and gave him an eyeball.

One down, fifty to go.  We don't have cats, as I'm allergic (much to the princess's dismay), so the local Humane Society will be getting a donation of MICE!  Gotta keep those shelter kitties crazy!

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!