"Spot of Color" tank top

I started with two old, stained t-shirts.

 I tried one on and marked where I wanted the new arm and neck holes. Then cut the two the same.

I opened the shoulders and, with right sides together, sewed the 'facing' to the outside around arm holes, and neck. Leaving about 3/8 of an inch at the top unsewn. (We are sewing the shoulder at the end so that they can be turned inside out. You do not sew the bottoms at this time either. 

Once everything is turned back right side out you can sew the shoulders - only the outside layer. The inside facing is slip-stitched. 

The bottom of the tank can be sewn separately (this will fall most naturally) or folded over the top-stitiched. I wanted the look of a full lining so I sewed the two layers to each other. This requires some fancy folding that is hard to explain - and there will be a small opening that will have to be slip stitched at the end. Before you sew you will end up with something like this: 

The idea for the cut-outs I got from another blog post a long time ago and I went back to see if I could find it. If anyone has seen a similar tutorial please let me know and I will link. The process: I drew myself some guidelines and sewed through both layers. 

I then cut through the top layer and added some more 'top' stitches - alternating opening and closing my new 'windows'. 

Here is the finished product. I think I may sew up the shoulders. I was going for a low arm-hole on purpose but after trying it on - it just looks like poor cutting. I do like the layered look - and it definitely does not look like two stained t-shirts anymore.

"Pirate shirt" refashion

This project was not really meant to be a pirate shirt. I was going more for the 'white dress' look like this one:

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It was my husband who said I looked like a pirate. He assured me it was a sexy pirate so the project was not a total failure and I did wear it one full day without taking it off. I'm never sure a project has really worked until I've worn it a full day. This shirt started out in a thrift store in the morning and that same day was transformed. I must be on a role!

Here is the shirt in it's original form:

Thinks I liked: it had a nice cool fabric (I looked for fabric content and couldn't find it. I later did and it is about 45% polyester. I would have preferred all cotton but things turned out OK anyway).  The shirt was long but the collar was not ridiculously too big. So - I picked out the shoulders and cuffs. I drew on some lines for pin-tucks (hand basted them) and then put it back on the judy to check the shoulder lengths.

 Looked good so I sewed down the pin-tucks and ironed. Then sewed the shoulder back on. I lowered the cuffs a little bit to fit into the wrist slits that already existed. This simplified re-applying the cuffs. All in all the project only took about 2 hours - much of which was picking out and pinning which could happen in front of the TV (I'm working my way through Life Unexpected on Netflix).

Here is the finished product. I originally wore it tucked in and by the end of the day it was out and belted on the outside. Works pretty well both ways.

Another time I will be more careful to get a shirt that is 100% cotton because I think it will hang better.

Thrifting

Just back from the thrift shop. The Salvation Army, which is my favorite because they don't charge tax. I went looking for a mans shirt to refashion (found) and a pair of summer pants to turn into sailor pants (not found). The problem with the thrift shop is that there is always something else to find. Often I go looking for clothing to refashion and find that even at thrift store prices, it is cheaper (and easier) to buy clothing ready made. I don't know that this will change until our friends in the third world demand fair wages.. but that is a discussion for a whole other day....

Here are my finds for today:

The pants I did not absolutely love but I was intrigued by the tag (mountains of the moon eco-friendly fabrics). I found them here and they've got a great selection of simple but elegant clothing in all kinds of natural fabrics.  My 6.50 was a steal - even with a small stain; right around the knee could be a perfect place for a fun applique.

Now - I'm off to pick apart the shirt for a refashion. More on that later.

Summer Dress Re-fashion

Summer is coming - which means new dresses. And..money is tight so that means - refashion! There is little I love as much as a good refashion. I bought this dress last year at the Sally Anne for 7.00 and I`ve had it stored away since then. To celebration this new blog today was the day it got out and got a ride on Judy.

 Love: the fabric is a super light-weight denim and so great for summer. There was a ton of fabric as this skirt went right to the floor. The bodice already fit so a re-make was going to be really straight-forward. I also loved the big pockets.
Don`t like: The floor length was dated and I`ve never looked great in strapless, suffering, like most women, from `under arm bubbles`. So....

I started looking at apron dresses. I saw these:

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Classic and very summery.
I cut down my dress to below the knee and used the extra cloth to make some straps. The hardest part was finding enough of the fabric on the grain to make the straps as the original skirt was a circle skirt. I also used some of the extra fabric to make a facing for the new neck line. And voila!

If anyone wanted to look closely enough you could see that there are two different kinds of topstitiching now. Anyone who might notice will also probably be a sewer. And... this was a one nap project! (That includes the blog post.) Speaking of which I hear her now....Next up: a refashion of a white shirt for underneath.