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Repurposed: Another Dress to Skirt Transformation!

June 4, 2012 by 2 Comments

I was so inspired after my last sewing success that I rummaged through my closet for another dress I could change.

And I found one. Yay!

I bought this dress on clearance at Meijer for $5 a few years ago. Clearly I am not a brand snob.

The look just didn’t work for me, with the long sleeves and the hood.

So I gave it the old chop-eroo.

This is what was left:

I should have taken pictures for the actual sewing part, but I’ll just have to describe what I did.

First, I hemmed the top of the skirt to create a channel (like last time). Except, this time I sewed the entire channel shut. (On purpose, I promise.) Then I used sharp scissors to cut two little slits in the front of the skirt.

I pulled the string out of the leftover hoodie part, attached a safety pin to it, and threaded it through the channel (into one slit and out the other).

Then, I used the leftover sleeves to make a ruffle at the bottom. I just cut the sleeves into pieces of equal height, sewed them together, and then used a long stitch length (with no backstitching) to sew across the top of the long piece of fabric. Then, I pulled one of the two threads, to make a ruffle.

I attached the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt, and….

Ta-da!

It’s super comfortable, and the only thing I would have liked better is if it was floor-length. Hey, for free, I’m pretty happy with it! :-)

So, do you have any old clothes lying around that you can repurpose?

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SEW Adorable: Reusable Sandwich/Snack Baggies

April 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I was inspired by my friend Amber and this item on Pinterest.

So, this is what I made!



Washable rip-stop nylon on the inside. Reusable LOTS of times. Less $$$ spent on Ziplocs.

I love sewing.

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Sew, sew, sewing

April 10, 2012 by 2 Comments

I hand-stitched some owls for a baby shower recently, and the kids were really interested in what I was doing. Then they began asking me if they could help.

It sounded really intimidating to “teach” them to sew, so I freaked out a little inside. But then I realized how much of my own sewing has been trial-and-error.

So, I threaded some needles, gave them some felt hearts, and let them go to work!

I did show them how to do a blanket stitch, but they did most of the work on their own.

It was fun to watch them begin to learn a new skill that will come in handy in their lives. Sewing is very practical (not to mention a fun, creative outlet).



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Sew Adorable: Reversible Tote Bags and Crayon Rolls

October 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This past weekend, we celebrated my nephew and niece’s birthdays. For their birthdays, I sewed reversible tote bags and crayon rolls (bet you wouldn’t have guessed that from the title of this post – duh). It was not as hard as I expected it to be – at all – and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

If you want to try making a tote bag for yourself, I referenced the tutorial here, though I didn’t use her measurements.

On to the pictures of the final products…






I think Emma liked hers! She wore it around the party the entire time after she opened it. :-)

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SEW Adorable: A dress for baby Brooklyn

September 6, 2011 by 8 Comments

My friend Kristen (my older sister’s best friend from high school, who lived with us for a while after they graduated, so is more like an older sister to me – are you tracking?)…Let’s start over…

Kristen has had some difficult pregnancies. Her first daughter was born at 26 weeks gestation at 1lb 10oz, and spent a couple of months in the NICU. She’s a beautiful 9-year-old now, and doing just fine.

Later, when I was pregnant for Jaden, Kristen was pregnant for another baby girl. She (and everyone else) was heartbroken when her baby Angel was delivered at 20 weeks, and didn’t survive.

Well, Kristen became pregnant just one more time, and this time the doctors put her on bedrest early on and did an extra precautionary measure (probably TMI for some of you, so I’ll refrain) to help her stay pregnant longer.

Kristen went into the hospital at 27 weeks, and they were able to keep her from delivering. She went home at 28 weeks, and she stayed on bedrest and endured weeks and weeks of labor. And – PRAISE THE LORD – she kept that baby in until 34 weeks. What a blessing! We are all praising God for this little one…

Since Brooklyn was a 5-pounder, she was a tad small for newborn size clothes. And my friend Loribeth had sent this Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern my way a while back. So I decided to try my first attempt at clothing!

With a few changes to the original pattern, I think it turned out quite nicely!

The original pattern only called for the bodice and top layer of skirt. However, I thought it would be fun to add a petticoat with lace to the bottom. See?

And instead of just gathering the skirt, I made inverted box pleats, ’cause I like the look of them better.

Then I made a cute little (well, HUGE in proportion to her head, but that’s all the rage these days) headband to match. (THANKS to my awesome friend Dana for telling me how to make these!)

Now I’m just waiting for Kristen to send me a picture of sweet Brooklyn wearing it sometime. In the meantime, I’m getting the creative itch again!!!

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