Completed Misc. Projects!

As usual, I've been busy making things while also working on other interests.  Here's a few of the projects I was working on.

I made some patriotic bloomers for my daughter's first Fourth of July.  I was actually going to make her a full outfit, but her Granpappy bought her a onesie from his visit to Washington D.C.  So I figured I'd make shorts to match the onesie... and I just happened to have the perfect remnant for it.  Actually, the pattern I used called for slightly more material, but I worked with it and the end result was adorable.  I also used stretchy cotton bias tape for the elastic casing; the bias tape was from the dragonfly onesie I partially unpicked for the oufit in my last post.  I plan to get a better picture, but this worked.

For my son, I was planning on making at least a pair of shorts for the holiday and to find one of the patriotic t-shirt hand-me-downs we have.  My mother's boyfriend (Granpappy) had also bought my son a shirt from Washington D.C., so I ended up making shorts to semi-match the shirt.  This outfit had a few firsts for me.  My first use of seersucker fabric.  My first applique. My first attempt to temporarily size down a t-shirt.

Here's the story... The store Granpappy was buying the onsie and t-shirt from only had this t-shirt in a size 4 and a size small (usually size 6).  Since my son is currently wearing size 4 to 5, my mom suggested he buy the size small.  The shirt was huge for him, but I figured that I could figure out a way to size it down, while allowing me to later undo my alterations so he can wear it for years more.  (If you click on the photos, you'll be able to see the alterations more clearly.  Just another case of an outfit I hope to take more pictures of!)

I didn't get any "before" pictures, but the "after" pictures show how well it turned out.  My mother said it looked like it was bought that way.  And her boyfriend was impressed enough that he came home with a shirt from the Monster Truck Rally he went to and said, "You can work your magic on this one!"  :-)

As for the shorts... my son loved them!  He actually wore them again a couple days ago with one of his Star Wars t-shirts.  I plan to make him a matching vest or shirt.  Either would be adorable.  (Maybe a matching hat?)

As a side, I made some really cute Fourth of July hair clips out of scraps (pictures later) and tried to rework a blue striped maternity top I love. I want it to be more flattering to my non-pregnant figure. This first attempt was a little rushed. I wore it on the Fourth of July, and though it looked less "maternity", it wasn't up to my standards for fit or quality, so I will be working on it more. Possibly even take it completely apart. We'll see.

Also, for a Refashioning Co-Op that I'm part of, I made a collar headband.  The group was having a book giveaway, and the theme was using scraps.  My husband likes to make Victorian style shirts, and if he's converting a modern shirt to be one, we end up with the collar, sad and lonely and begging to be used.  It seems happier now.

Before:

After:

I will probably put together a tutorials, with more photos, when I make another one.  I really liked how it turned out.

What's now on the list of "Try To Make"?

*  Rework the blue stripe maternity top

*  Alter pink stripe maternity top

*  Fried marble pendants and lace chokers

*  D&D dice pendants

*  Alter brown polkadot dress (into a top and skirt)?

*  More seersucker stuff for my son, daughter, possibly me and my husband too

*  Possibly convert small onesies into tanktop dresses for my daughter

*  Sketch jellyfish steampunk gown

*  Start work on Xmas gifts?

*  Build my photography portfolio (for my new artist facebook page)
*  Post about the Star Wars birthday party!

Refashioned infant outfit: one-day project

Today (Saturday, actually) I quickly made an outfit for my daughter.  I love making children items... they usually seem to take so much less time!!!

I am part of the Refashion Co-op, and one of the rules is to add a new refashioned item entry every month or your membership is revoked to make room for one of the many applicants waiting to join.  I like being part of this group, because it forces me to actually buckle down.  I have so many things I want to refashion into items we will use or other projects I keep saying I'll do "one day".  This group inspires me to do these things... and my creations seem to be helping inspire my husband too.

I used three items to make this particular outfit:

1) An infant top that costed me $1.25 at Target (on clearance).
2) An old sleeveless top I haven't worn in ages; it was too short for my postpartum body, but I loved the embroidered botanical design.
3) A hand-me-down onesie that was given to me for my son, but my daughter didn't get to wear before she outgrew it. I really liked the colors, especially the dragonfly applique.

Here's what I did...

I unpicked and cut the bottom off one part of the onesie (either the front or the back).  From that fabric, I made three yoyo flowers which I attached to the infant shirt.  These were my first attempts at yoyos, but they turned out pretty well.

The skirt of this section took a little longer, with some failed attempts.  I'm not accustomed to sewing knit fabrics (beyond minor alterations and repairs), so this was definitely a learning process.  I unpicked the edging and shoulder straps of the sleeveless top.  I then turned it over and hemmed the part that was now the bottom.  Actually, it took several tries... with some unpicking of stitches... Did I mention I'm not used to sewing knits?  I tried altering the top's hem into a waistband but messed it up.  Then I realized I could do something like the lady at MADE did for her circle skirts and which I've also seen done on skirts in some retail stores (one of which I also bought on clearance).  Basically, I combined the two ideas and was really pleased with the results!

That's pretty much all there was too it.  I hope to have my daughter wear the outfit tomorrow (Sunday... which it technically today if you go by my clock) or on Memorial day!

"It's the high level of quality I've come to expect from you."

- my husband 

Sweetling's Faery Wings: Completed!

The wings came together very well and looked adorable.  Unfortunately, the day we were going to go to the Faery Festival, the weather was supposed to be Thunderstorms.  We nearly chose not to go, but at the last minute that morning, we packed up and left.  Got lost for an hour and a half (two unconnected roads named the same thing?  Really???), but we finally made it.  We didn't get many pictures though and didn't wear much in the way of costuming.  My daughter and son were still cute as could be.  So much so that my older sister hijacked Sweetling.  I don't blame her... Who can resist?



The wings, being of simple construction, actually made it through the day.  One of the arm straps did come partially off at the end, when my sister carried her facing outwards (fresh fear of spit up, my husband thinks), which meant the wings were being put into an awkward angle, something that would have been an issue for many wings.  That's okay though; they are easily repaired!  :-)

I'm so happy with how these turned out.  Not bad for cardboard, floral tape, iridenscent tissue paper, scrap ribbon, and hot glue!

Sweetling Faery Wings: Possibly (or nearly) done

The faery wings for my daughter are nearly complete.  They are made of cardboard (because we have plenty of boxes and it seems such a waste not to reuse them in other ways), iridenscent tissue paper, floral tape, ribbon, and hot glue.  I may add snaps to the ribbons; originally I was going to use white elastic, but couldn't fine it.  I also may add flowers to hide the snaps.  One thing I definitely need to do is dust them with baby powder or cornstarch to remove some (or hopefully all) of the outer stickiness on the outside parts of the floral tape.

The first idea was to cut out the cardboard pieces to be one layer, then cut out card stock paper to be another layer, and to sandwich the iridescent tissue paper in between.  Sadly... this idea did not work.  The floral tape did not stick to the card stock, and it was too flimsy to really force the tape to work.  I also tried duct tape (which is the only other thing I felt was dispensible enough to use in case of failure), but that didn't work too well either.  I thought about coloring the card stock and then using it as planned, but decided that it would not be strong enough and the edges would be too "clean cut".  Instead, I figured I woud just be rid of the third layer.  The problem was, I wasn't sure how the tissue paper would look without the extra layer to hide the bulk of it.  I also wasn't sure how well it would adhere to the wing frames.  I wasn't disappointed.  I was fairly careful not to touch the hot tip to the paper and to also work in bits.

 I also needed to figure out the connector piece, but that was simple enough. I took some scrap cardboard from the Clone Trooper armor my husband is making, cut it in with a slight bit of stylization, and covered it with floral tape. It actually took a few attempts to get the tape on the way I wanted, but I was very happy with it when I was finished.

The last thing I needed to do for these wings was to figure out how I wanted them to be worn.  I already thought I'd simply use white cloth covered elastic like what people tend to use for sleeves and such, but I couldn't find the ones I just bought.  I really did not want to use black on this since her outfit would likely be white or a pale color.  I decided to use some pale transparent pink ribbon I actually bought to possibly use on her Spring/Summer dress (but didn't).  I hot glued them in place and they actually look really nice.  They definitey work well with the color scheme.

The last few things I might do is add snaps to the ribbon and cover them with fake flowers or leaves.  I'm not really sure I will do that.  All in all, however, these wings are done and I will try them on Sweetling tomorrow.

Then it's back to working on my son's outfit, which I am keeping in mind that he might choose not to wear.  :-p

Sweetling Refashioned Summer Outfit: Dress Section Completed

After working diligently for the last week with whatever spare time I could fine (and several nights of staying up too late and getting up too early), I completed the Summer outfit's dress.  I was going to try to rush through the jacket, but decided better not to.  The first entry of this outfit, which shows the original romber this dress is made from is HERE.

I made several changes to the pattern I was using given the limitted amount of cloth and how I wanted the dress to look.  The skirt is just long rectangles, eeking as much useable material from the original romper's larger leg pieces.  I didn't have enough for the fullness I had hoped ot achieve, so I dug around to find some extra cotton cloth that could act as a panel.  I figured white or pale pink, though I nearly ended up using a bright yellow when I couldn't find my stash of plain cotton broadcloths.  Luckily, I looked in one last bin that I uncovered just before I started laying out the yellow, and behold!  My pale pink cotton!

Unfortunately, the pink cotton was quite a bit thinner than the romper cloth, which would probably not cease to bother me.  I decided to double the cotton and embroider the pieces together, using the block-stamp design of the romper cloth as my guide.  The pink cotton was thin enough that I traced the design on one panel.  After the two pieces were embroidered together, the heaviness/thickness was perfect.

Hand embroidered front skirt panel.

A few other changes I made were that I added a gathered ruffle (three LONG pieces of pink cotton folded over for a nice puffy ruffle) and had a center seem in the back which allowed me to not bother with the extra steps the pattern called for.  (If I do make this pattern again, which I plan to, and do it with new fabric or a long piece, I may try following the pattern instructions word for word, just to see how different it would turn out.)  Of course, as can be seen, I also added a flower, which was free and slightly damaged in the center.  No worries there for me, since I was going to pop off the plastic center anyways.  :-)

To show fullness, the skirt is over her Bumbo Seat.

 Most of the time I used to make this dress was spent unpicking the original romper, figuring out how I was going to lay out the pattern and what alterations were necessary or desired, and then hand embroidering the front panels together.  The rest was fast and easy.  The dress is a little loose, which is exactly what I wanted so that she can continue wearing it for at least part of the summer.

Criss-cross back.

Though I have the jacket, hat, and diaper cover to make for this (the hat and diaper cover will be in the pale pink cotton), I am going to have to take a break from this outfit to make something for my son.  I'm hoping to make him something to wear to the Maryland Faery Festival, but am uncertain as to what.  After that, I jump back into finishing off the jacket and then the additional two pieces.  :-)

She was so sleepy.  :-)

The flower was perfect; the center is a sparkly button that matches the ones in the back.



Sweetling Refashion Summer Outfit: The Beginning

I recently joined the Refashioning Co-op to help get and keep me inspired.  So far, so good.

As I go through my clothes and my children's clothes, I'm making a pile of items to make into other things.  Donating is great and all, but some of the items have small stains here and there (from the kids or from the previous owners) and most donation places would just toss them, so why not remake them into something else that we can use?  So I'm working on various ideas and how to impliment them... and figuring out what the chance is that I'd actually follow through on some of these ideas.

Right now, I'm working on a summer dress for my daughter.  I took a romper that was a hand-me-down from my oldest sister (who received it as a hand-me-down from her neighbor for her own daughters).  Honestly, I found it very... clownish.  My sister apparently did to, since she mentioned that she never had her daughters wear it either.  But I did see some potential in it.  (I apologize for the images in advance.  They are a little dark, but we can't find the cords for our good camera in order to download the images.  I may tinker with these images to get a better idea of the colors, but for now, it they will have to do.)



original Romper (front and back)

The main material is a bright white with block stamp style butterflies and tulips (and a few dirt marks that I will Oxyclean out later).  I figured it would make a cute Spring and Summer outfit.  The collar, cuffs, bum ruffle and bow are all a very cute pink with polka dot cloth.  I plan to make a white dress using those as detailing.  I am a sucker for polka dots.  Below are the pieces, including the elastics and some of the longer pieces of thread.

broken down to pieces
(pieces of similar shape, like the legs and torso back, are placed on top of each other)

I plan to make a light jacket, dress, perhaps a hat and diaper cover.  As a base for the dress and hat, I'm using Mccalls 4424 infant dress and hat.  I've loved this pattern since I first saw it (long before I really thought I'd have kids) and I figured this was a great opportunity to test it out.  The jacket will be from the romper's original torso design with a few modifications and the diaper cover will be figured out later (whether I choose to use this pattern, another, or just forgot it all together).

McCalls 4424

I don't have enough of the main fabric for the dress torso lining and the skirt, so I dug through my cloth stash and found some thin pink broadcloth and some bright yellow cotton.  I opted for the former, though I may have to bulk up the cloth a little to make it appear less thin (the romper cloth was a bit heavier a cotton).  I also have the original romper's buttons that I'm debating to use for the jacket and a huge pink flower I found that I will use as added detailing.  I chose to buy some transparent pink ribbon in two shade I may turn into ruffles for addition softness.

I'm not using the pattern for the skirt, instead just cutting rectangles (two in the printed romper fabric and one in the pink broadcloth) and will be adding a large ruffle in the pink broadcloth as well.  Sorry if all of this isn't exactly clear, but it will make more sense when the dress is done.

My goal with this outfit is to have the jacket and dress done by Easter regardless of whether we choose to have my daughter wear it for the Holiday or at some point that weekend.

There are a few concerns I have.  I worry that the dress won't fit right.  My daughter is 4 months old, but is the max for the pattern's size Medium, so I'm making it in a size Large (for 9-12 months olds!).  I also worry that it will end up looking less that what my standards dictate.  I have high expectations of myself.  And though I'm harder on my own creations than I am on other peoples, I feel a small sense of "what the heck" when I see people taking items and remaking them into subpar pieces, things I'm halfway sure they wouldn't wear or use, but rather threw together just to say, "Look what I made."  I'm not into that, and hope that my refashioned items don't turn out that way, because really that would make me feel like a huge hypocrite... and that would suck.  So, I guess we'll see how this goes.

Creativity in the Works (aka. the Stitch-Itch)

Here's a list of projects I plan to work on as I get more situated and settled (and get my work stations set up) in my new apartment:

• Set up a sewing/textile work station.  I'm thinking of using part of the "dining room" for this.
• Set up a painting work area (though this may be a mostly "on the balcony" sort of thing.
• Work on the commissioned portrait.  I need to find the supplies and reference materials, but that's covered in part by bullet #2.
• Sort textile project supplies, which will also include items to be remade into other things.  Items needing to be mended will likely go here too, but in a "special" section to get priority (for the most part).

I am very inspired to by MADE of late.  Through that website, I also found Wardrobe Refashion, which is also inspiring, especially the challenge (with cute little button graphics to encourage you to stay on track).  And through that website, just as I'm writing this entry, I found Refashion Co-op which I hope to peruse more thoroughly.

I've wanted to remake various clothing items into new pieces for myself and my family, but kept holding back.  There were a number of factors involved: lack of space, lack of time, hesitancy for whatever reason.  But the urge has continued to increase.  Now I feel I can start.  And with the ideas on the sites listed above, I feel nearly ready.  The first project I might do, just to flex my "sewing muscles" is to transform a maternity shirt I have into a full outfit for my little girl.  I love that shirt because the cotton is soft and the color and fabric design is pleasing.  Stripes (which I'm a sucker for) in dark and medium blue.  So I am thinking about turning it into ruched leggings (using the tutorial from MADE) and a summer dress with ruffles for my daughter.  After that, I might make either a stuffed dragon for my son out selvage cloth, a shirt for him out of one of my old goth shirts, or a fairy outfit for my daughter's Faerie Festival dress out of a pink "special occasion" dress I have and only used a couple times.  Or... I can start piecing together a couple toddler quilts for both my kids.  As can be seen, I'm still a little undecided.  I also plan to make a number of cat toys.  :-)

As I posted on Facebook the other day, I've got the "stitch-itch" and I hope to get working on my projects soon.  :-)