Anchor Shorts

I saw some very cute and cheap fabric at the market that is white with blue stripes and anchors on it (I resisted buying the one that had heart shaped anchors on it) so I bought it and made some shorts.  I think it was slightly sunny for a few days whilst I was off work and I got over excited and started planning my summer outfit.  Obviously, it then went cold again and my making shorts seems mad now.  But that's what I've done.

I copied around my existing shorts, like I always do which means they are high waisted and so wide legged they look like a skirt.  I also used the waistband from some old jeans (yay for saving scraps!) which made life easier because I didn't need to do button holes.  I attempted to do a fly but that failed so the zip is visible but I don't mind that much.  And on the back I added a patch I already had that has a skull and cross bones on it to make them piratey. 

Star Trek Dress

Star Trek dresss!  I used New Look pattern 6048 and a Star Trek duvet cover I bought off the interwebs.  My first attempt was way too big so I took the dress apart and re cut the pieces a size smaller- I also decided that there was too much of the Star Trek fabric and I took off the skirt.  I bought some blue camouflage fabric from the market for a totally inspired creation.  The bodice section was still way too big even though I re cut it from a 12 to a 10 but then I realised that it's an American pattern (doh) and they have big sizes so an American 10 is a UK 14.  Anyway I couldn't be bothered to re-cut the pattern so I just cut a bunch of the back. I think I might make it a bit shorter but we'll see.

How to turn a jumper into a cardigan (it's super easy!)

I've been on the look out for a new black cardigan for work for a while now.   The one I have is fine but boring and I've had it for years and I'm bored of it.  But I need something reasonably priced in plain black but I don't want another boring black cardigan to match the one I already have.

At the same time I have a black jumper that I bought cheap in the sale (£2.99 I believe) that I like because it has funny wing things on the shoulders but because it is plain black I never wear it as it doesn't really go with any outfits.  Jumpers are hard to fit into an ensemble I find.

The solution was so obvious it's only taken me a year to think of it; turn my jumper into a cardigan I can wear at work.

Step one: Lay the jumper down flat and find the center and mark a line.

Step two: cut down the center line.

Step three: Attach bias binding* (I used the satiny kind, and it took a whole meter for one cardigan, and I am 5ft7") to the newly cut raw edges, and sew it in place.











Step four: Measure where you want the buttons to go- I used 6 and space the about 7cm apart, and mark this on both sides of the old center line.

Step five: On one side sew the buttons and on the other cut button holes.  I have yet to fathom the button hole stitch on my sewing machine so I cheated.  I cut the holes and then used a match to finish off the edges of the holes.  The match melts the threads to stop them fraying.  Time will tell how well this works!

Step six: sit back and marvel at your finish product.

Before

After

I also did an old purple jumper that I never wear, but I decided not to add buttons to it.  I generally don't like cardigans that don't fasten so I may in the future add another type of fastening to it.

*Bias Binding?  It is a strip of fabric usually in cotton or satin that is cut on the bias- that means at a 90 degree angle, which allows it to stretch and therefore go around curves like arm holes or neck lines.  The edges are already folded over to give you a neat finish and you simple fold it over a raw edge and sew in place.

Upcycled Shirt Top

Upcycling!  Yay!
I left my old job with a few of their shirts (I don't know if I was supposed to hand them back in, no one told me to and really who would want used shirts).  So I've used some as linings for things, but for this I used the top of one of the shirts in a top.  I liked the idea of being able to see that it used to be another shirt.
I've said shirt too much.
I cut the top of the work shirt just under the arms, and attached some pink jersey.  The jersey wasn't long enough on its own, but it was twice as wide as I needed. So I cut off the excess and added it as a frill/peplum.  It now looks like a super short pink tennis dress. 

 

Upcycled Shirt

There was a pile of uniform samples at work that we could take- so I did.  I took a plain grey shirt ( size too big) and a long sleeve white jersey top ( size slightly too small).

I mulled over what to do with them, besides arranging them in various positions on my floor.  Then decided that the only logical move was to cut them up and sew them together.  So I cut the top off the shirt, and unpicked the sleeves as the shoulders sat in the wrong place so I needed to take them up.  And attached to the body section of the white top.

Too Big Jacket to Cute Jacket

I bought a jacket from a vintage fair a while back because I loved the print (little blue bows all over it) and it was cheap (5 items for £10) but far to big and boxy with shoulder pads.  So about 6 months later I finally got round to upcycling it.  I wasn't sure what to do with it at first so I pinned and basted and unpicked and resewed etc until I had made a cute little waistcoat jacket.  It's perfect for the spring which is great given the cold winter weather we're having.

Velvet Dress- Adjusting a charity shop find

I feel that, while last christmas was all about sparkles, this year is looking very velvety. 

I found a velvet dress in dark red in a charity shop for £8 in a size 16.  Or course, as we all know, people who are size 16 do not want, need, or deserve a dress with any shape to it and should instead wear velvet nighties when they're out on the town.
Suffice to say that I needed to take the dress in, but also add some definition to the waist and improve the neckline. 

I tried the dress on and marked my natural waistline (my narrowest point, not the annoying point at which modern jeans sit), then took it off and cut the dress in half at this point. I unpicked the thin strip of lace around the neck line which really made it look like nightwear. 

The I took the top part in by re-sewing the side seams about an inch further in and both sides including the sleeves as well.  I disliked the large rounded neckline so I manipulated the fabric to create a v shape below the neck (I couldn't cut it into a v fully as it would have been too low).  It now appears that one half of the top overlaps the other but it doesn't as there wasn't enough fabric to do this.

Making sure the top now fitted I lined up the skirt which was now much bigger than the top half.  I hand sewed a loose running stitch around the top of the skirt. And then pulled (pulling the thread scrunches the fabric) until the skirt became the same size as the top, then I tied a knot in the thread and attempted to arrange the scrunches evenly.  Then I pinned the skirt to the top (right sides together) and sewed around the waist. 

 I had to re hem the neckline and cut about 20cm off the bottom of the dress as it felt too long and then re hem the bottom. 
And that was that :)
p.s Hope you enjoy as much as I did that all the pictures made the dress look different colours...

How to customise a t-shirt- inserting lace...

When out with boyfriend at the weekend I saw and bought a mens extra large camouflage t-shirt which was, I'm pleased to say, too big for me.  I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, I liked the loose, long fit of it but it was shapeless an not super flattering. 

After trying it on I decided my first move was to alter the sleeves- even if you want a loose fit tee it's probably a good idea to have the shoulders of the t-shirt sit somewhere approaching the shoulders on your body and not half way down your arm because it was design for a man with needlessly broad shoulders (well that's what I think anyway).  So I cut off the sleeves (cutting along the seam to keep the correct shape) an then cut off a strip of fabric a couple of inches thick from the arm hole.

I then decided I would insert some lace I had left over from a previous failed project, so I took my now sleeveless t-shirt an cut off the top of it.  I had checked before hand how low the lace could go before becoming indecent.  I placed this top section on top of the lace and cut around it, using it as a template.  I then attached this to the rest of the original t-shirt.  I cut off the original collar and sewed that on to the lace.  








I then had to take the t-shirt in at the side because taking the sleeves in had left a certain discrepancy in the width of the t-shirt at certain points. Once I had done this I neatened up the seams inside to ensure they did not show through the lace, and voila it was done.  I may add some more lace to the bottom, I can't decide.  It just slightly unfortunate that it is so incredibly not t-shirt weather and I will have to wear a long sleeve top underneath.

Olympic Banner

Hastily Made whilst watching the preamble to the Olympic Ceremony from an old pillow case and scrap fabric:

Studded Jeans

Well I'm not sure these jeans are the most flattering but I inherited them from boyfriend whose magnificent runners legs could not squeeze into them any more.  Also he had managed to burst open the crotch thusly:

As you can see it took me 4 patches to cover the holes!  I cut the bottoms of the jeans to make the patches so the denim mostly matches, although it is a slightly different shade as the bottoms were less worn than the crotch.  I was planning to cut these into cut offs but I don't the fit of the jeans would translate into very flattering shorts so I'm leaving them long for now.  Should we actually get a summer I may rethink this.

I bought some pyramidical studs from ebay to put on the jeans, they have spikey teeth that you push through the denim, then fold over to hold onto the jeans- I used a knife to bend them to save my delicate hands.  I didn't have enough to cover a whole leg, or even the top front of some cut offs so I just did a patch shape on the front.  Perhaps if I buy some more (and let's face it I will be studding everything from now on) I will cover more of the leg.