Tag Archives: Sewing

DIY: Changing Cap Sleeves to Elastic Sleeves

Posted on by
7

I’d had this tank top for ages.   While I loved how it looked with cardigans, I never liked it much by itself, because the cap sleeves were not so flattering to my arms.  A few weeks ago, I decided to get stitching and see if I could fix that.  Here’s my photo tutorial for what I did*:

Step 1: Mark where you will cut. I used pins to mark the cuts while wearing the shirt, so that I could see what they would look like.  If you have a dressform, that would work better, but I don’t (yet).  Make sure to leave about 1/2″ extra fabric to make an elastic casing.

Step 2: Take those scissors, and cut off excess fabric. But remember, measure twice, cut once.

Step 3: Press fabric to make casing. Your iron is your friend.  Use it wisely.

Step 4: Stitch, leaving a small opening for elastic. I think I used about a 5/8 hem.  How large yours is will depend on how wide the elastic you’ll be using is.

Step 5: Thread elastic through casing. If you don’t have one of those elastic threading things (sorry I don’t know the proper word), you should seriously think about getting one.  They’re insanely useful, and make working with elastic so much easier.

Step 6: Stitch elastic together, then place back in casing and stitch casing closed. Try to make sure that the elastic isn’t twisted.  It’s not very comfortable when that happens.

And…

Much more flattering.   Elastic sleeve holes make for a pretty casual look, but I think it fits the vibe of this top well.  I originally wanted to just do a regular hem, but without the elastic, the sleeve holes gapped in a very unflattering way.  Now it fits just fine, and looks great.  Happy sewing!

*I should note, this tutorial will really only work for tops which have a similar sleeve design.  There are many, many different types of cap sleeves, and this won’t fix them all.  Plus, it works best with jersey fabric – woven cotton wouldn’t look the same.

“I turned on the light”

Posted on by
3

I made this tunic over a month ago, but I didn’t get around to incorporating it into an outfit until last week. It’s so hot and muggy right now, that long sleeves and leggings are usually too warm.  But my school has a new a/c system now, and it’s freezing, so I get to wear clothes that aren’t completely seasonally appropriate.

This re-con really turned out beautifully, but I wish that the empire waist was just about an inch lower.  It would be a lot more flattering.  Unfortunately, because of how it’s designed, it’s something I can’t really alter.  Eventually, I’d love to make something like this from scratch, so I could correct that.  That is, whenever I actually have some time for from-scratch sewing.

As I’ve said before, I absolutely love my job, but the summer made me forget just how little free time I have while working.  I didn’t do any blog reading all week last week, and my projects and to-do’s pilled up.  I know I’ll relearn to budget my time again, but right now it’s a bit stressful.  Once I get into a routine, I know it’ll be a lot better.

Tunic: Re-con made from Target tunics by me
Leggings: Target
Shoes: Easy Street
Cuff: Vintage via Sherry’s Yesterdaze
Necklace: Chocolate Cake Jewels

Quote: Don’t Bump the Glump!: And Other Fantasies, by Shel Silverstein

Craftiness: Clothespin Bag

Posted on by
2

Sometimes when I’m sewing, I get in “the zone”.  My creative juices start flowing, I start making up things without a pattern, experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.  When this happens, I really don’t like to stop and take pictures at every step of the way – I just like to keep sewing and sewing until I have my finished project.

That’s what happened with this clothespin bag.  I don’t have an explanation, pattern, or tutorial.  I simply let myself focus completely on the creative process until it was done.  So please forgive me for not having more details.  Sometimes you just have to let the creative juices do their magic.  (And don’t worry, this isn’t replacing my frilly apron;  I just use the clothespin bag to hold extra clothespins for extra large loads of laundry.)

DIY: Kitchen Cloths from Scraps

Posted on by
6

Since I sew a lot, I end up with lots of fabric scraps.  I especially end up with lots of t-shirt and jersey scraps and sometimes I’m not sure what to do with them.  This week, I found the perfect solution.  I wanted some reusable washcloths for cleaning my kitchen so I can kick the paper towel habit, but I didn’t want to spend money.  I took my jersey scraps and my terry-cloth scraps and combined them to make some awesome, patchwork kitchen cloths.

I sewed all my scraps together into two giant “blankets”, one of jersey and one of terry cloth, cut out 10 by 10 squares, and serged them together.  Then I took scraps of ribbon and bias tape, and stitched them to a corner so that I can hang the clothes on hooks.

Now I’ve got them hanging up near my paper towels, and I’m actually finding myself cleaning my kitchen more, because I love using these!  I keep my kitchen clean with a homemade mixture of white vinegar, water, dish soap and essential oils.  Being green is fun!

Before and After : Blue Tunic Re-con

Posted on by
14

Before

You may be familiar with my matching blue and purple Target tunics that I thrifted awhile ago.  You can see the purple one here and the blue one here.  While I love how they fit, I’ve never really liked the length. They were too short to wear with leggings, but an awkward length for jeans.  I tried shortening the purple one a few months ago, but ended up not liking it.  Yesterday, I took inspiration from some amazing re-cons I’ve been looking at lately, and created a completely new tunic.

I measured my tunic against another tunic that I like the length of, and figured out that I needed to add about six inches.  I cut six inches off the bottom of the purple tunic (including the part I had cut off and re-attached).  I then sewed that onto the hem of the blue tunic.  This gave me the length that I wanted, but the color blocking looked odd.  I decided to add some purple details at the collar to give the tunic more continutity.

Inspired by Tatertots and Jello’s recent t-shirt refashion, I decided to create some flower details.  I cut circles from the purple fabric, using my lens cap as a pattern for the larger circle and a paper holder (not shown) to make the smaller circles.  The larger one has three layers and the smaller ones have two.  Following the tutorial, I folded the layers in half, and stitched in the middle, then folded the other way and stitched again.

After this, I sewed them onto the tunic, and stitched buttons in the middle. I chose blue buttons that were a similar tone to the blue part of the tunic, to help further continuity.

I absolutely love how the finished tunic turned out!  I can see myself wearing this a lot more than the old tunic.  It looks amazing with leggings and skinny jeans, and I could even wear it as a swimsuit cover up at the beach.  Next, I plan on fashioning the leftovers of the purple tunic into a new dress or tunic.  Hopefully, I’ll post that next week.

Crafty Interlude: Yoga Mat Bag

Posted on by
9

I mentioned last week that I’ve gotten a lot of sewing done so far this summer.  Two of my favorite projects are in the above photo: my “new” yoga pants, and my yoga mat bag.  The pants are actually some Target pants that I bought a few years ago.  They had a tacky stripe down the sides, and the legs flared at the bottom.  I removed the stripes and took them in, so now they’re somewhere-near-but-not-quite harem pants.  I find that having a narrow hem works better for inversion poses.  It was great to make some awesome new yoga wear without spending any extra money.

I’m really, really proud of how this yoga mat bag turned out.  I made a duffle bag with this fabric awhile ago, but it was too short for a yoga bag, and it languished in my closet.  I undid all the seams and re-used the fabric and the zipper to make this bag.  I looked at a variety of mat bags on Etsy and other websites, until I got a good idea of what kind of design I wanted.  I drew out some sketches, and then winged it.  I didn’t get any process pictures, because I was in the “sewing zone” and I didn’t want to keep getting out my camera.

One important element I wanted to include was a water bottle holder.  I drink a lot of water when I practice, so I wanted something that could hold my reusable bottle without letting it fall out.  I added some elastic inside the top to insure that.

The top and bottom pieces of the tube were probably the most difficult parts to sew.  I didn’t want any seams showing, inside or out, so I took a long time pinning and sewing these circles, pricking my fingers many times.  Now I understand the purpose of thimbles.  It didn’t come out completely perfect, but its mine, and I love it.

Before and After: Vintage 80′s Blouse

Posted on by
8

Before

Before

I bought this gorgeous vintage 80s blouse on my trip to Sherry’s Yesterdaze with Kristin of Bon Bon Rose Girls.  The fit was a little looser than I preferred, and the front had an odd length to it, so I decided to take it to my sewing machine to fix it.

Double Darts?

I started out by figuring out how much I wanted to take the shirt in.  I knew that the bust fit alright, as did the hem, so I wanted to add darts that would mainly take it in at the waist.  I’m not sure what the exact term for the technique above is, but I call them double darts.  I created them so that they would end at the bust and hem, with the most fabric being taken out right at the smallest part of my waist.  I created four of these double darts, two on the middle of the front panels and two on the back panel.  I also shortened the front panel hem, since it oddly dipped four inches lower than the rest of the blouse.

The end result is a lot more flattering on me, so I’m quite happy with it.


After

After

After


Tutorial: Boot-cut to Straight Leg Jeans

Posted on by
5

I posted a tutorial on flared to skinny jeans about a year ago, but it didn’t include any photos, and didn’t really go into detail.  I recently altered some boot cut jeans into straight leg jeans, and I documented the steps to create this more in depth tutorial.

Before

My Express Stella jeans have made many appearances on this blog before.  Lately, though, I’ve been tired of the boot cut leg, and I’ve been wanting a hem that would allow me to wear low-heeled shoes.  I decided to alter them to have them look exactly the way I wanted.

Please note: This is specifically how I altered this pair of jeans.  Different jeans may have different constructions, so this tutorial is no comprehensive.

Step 1: Rip out seams. Rip out hem with seam ripper.  Rip out inner and outer leg seams to about 2-3 inches above knee.  Generally, boot cut jeans start to flare out just below the knee.

Step 2: Measure and take notes. Remember that the front of the jeans and the back of the jeans will have different widths. The back of the leg is usually wider.  Keeping notes, measure the width of the jeans at the knee and at the hem.  Measure for the front and the back, and take notes on what you find.  The difference between these measurements will be divided by two, and that’s how much fabric you will take away at the hem.  For example, on the front leg, the knee is 8 3/4 inches wide, while the hem in 10 inches wide.  That’s a difference of 1 1/4 inches.  I decided to take out 3/4 inch on each side, which gives it a very slight taper.

Step 3: Mark your cuts and cut jeans.

Step 4: Analyze and plan for the different seams. In most jeans, the inner leg seams and outer leg seams will be different in construction.

Outer leg seam

In these jeans, the outer leg seam was made by first serging each piece of fabric separately, and then stitching them together with a sewing machine.

Inner leg seam

The inner leg seam is constructed in the opposite order.  First, both pieces of fabric are stitched together, then the seam is serged.  Finally, this seam is also topstitched on the outside.

Because the inner leg seam is top stitched, it’s better to sew it first.  I’ve done it in the opposite order before, and it’s much harder to topstitch a leg seam when everything else is already sewn together.

Step 5: Sew, serge, and topstitch inner leg seams.

Stitch front and back together at inner leg seams.

Serge inner leg seam, then topstitch on the outside.

Step 6: Serge front and back separately at outer leg seam, then sew together.

Serge each panel of fabric separately.  Do not serge them together.

The edge of the front and back are serged and separate.

Stitch both panels of fabric together.

Step 7: Hem both legs. If you’d like your hem to be shorter, cut it now.  I shortened mine by half an inch.  Then fold under about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fabric, and press.  Fold under to create hem (I prefer a 1 inch cuff) and press.  Top stitch through all layers on the outside.

And voila!  New jeans!  I’m considering going back and making them slightly tapered and slightly shorter, but I’m happy with them for now.

After

Green D.I.Y.- Cloth Napkins

Posted on by
8

I’ve been trying to find more ways to eliminate waste in my daily life, and one easy change I’ve made is switching from paper napkins to cloth napkins.  There’s really no need to throw out another napkin every time we eat, when cloth napkins are so easy to make (or buy).  To keep them clean, I just wash them with my dish towels, and I keep enough on hand to last for about five days to a week.  Even if you only have minimal sewing skills, cloth napkins are super easy to make.

Step 1: Start out by making sure all your fabric is pressed.  Wrinkles will mess up your cuts.  Once your fabric is nice and smooth, cut out squares of it.  I decided to make mine 8″ by 8″, but you can make yours at whatever size works for you.  I chose to have patterned cotton fabric for one side (which came from a vintage pillowcase) and plain white cotton for the other side.

Step 2: With right sides together, stitch the two squares of fabric together on three sides and part of the fourth side.  The picture makes it more clear.  By leaving the gap, it makes it easier to turn the napkin inside out (or rightside out, depending on how you look at it.

Step 3: Clip the corners so that they will turn out neater.  Turn the napkin inside out.  Press the heck out of it.  It should be nice and smooth, with crisp edges.


Step 4: Topstitch on all sides, close to the edge.   This will close up the gap left earlier.  Press again.

Step 5: Repeat steps 1 -4 until you have the desired number of napkins.  Prepare a delicious meal, and enjoy your new eco-friendly napkins!

Before and After: Jonathan Martin Dress

Posted on by
9

Before

Sometimes I buy a garment that looks not so great on me off the rack, because I know of the potential it can have with the right alterations.  Such was the case with this dress.  That waist striping detail was way too long, and made my torso look odd.  And having a hem that hits at mid-calf is not very flattering on me.

But I took a good look at the fabric and seams, and I knew that it could be altered.  I decided to pass this one on to my tailor, because it involved stuff that’s a bit more complicated than my skill level, like removing and re-installing an invisible zipper.

I had my tailor remove some of the striped material from the waist section.  She then reattched the skirt portion of the dress so that it would sit higher, creating more of an empire silhouette.  This also raised the hem line several inches, so that it would hit right above my knee.  The cost of the alterations was around $30, largely because the back zipper had to be taken and put back in. (That made the total cost of the dress $42, which isn’t terribly bad)

It was worth it, because I love the final result.

After

Related Posts with Thumbnails