Ruffle cardigan!

In 2011 I swore off traditional clothing shopping b/c i wanted to 1-get out of debt and 2-learn to sew and explore my fashion creativity. I chose a sweater because baby its cold outside!! I found a sweater I wanted to redo, from a thrift store. And wow was it a beauty. Not only was it big but it was there was a slight discoloration so its got to get covered with something.

Take a look at this cardigan... (the Before pic!)


Yeah there isn't much to say about it other than the color was really pretty! I love this teal color.
Now it is a women's size large caridgan. Again way too big. Too long in the length and too long in the sleeve length. Too big in general. Time to cut it up!

I first deicded the elastic bands around the sleeves and the waist (can you really call it a waist- no woman deserves it regardless of what size or shape you are!). Cut cut-buh bye!



Wow it already looks better!


Now i used another cheat to take in this cardigan, sorry i thought i had a picture of this but maybe my cat ate it :) I turned it inside out and used my good old sharpie to trace an outline. I left room for a seam allowance. :) Pin. And sew! I tried it on and yay it worked! LOL I still don't know why i am so excited that I can alter. Maybe its b/c I have really never altered before. And I am suprised it is working.

Moving along. I still needed the length to be taken up (but at least the elastic band is gone). Turned the cardi inside out and put it on myself. I decided where i wanted the length to be and I pinned up the hem. Warning doing the backside by yourself can be a bit of a challenge. But at least i got monkey arms on my side, nevertheless, I still got pins in my bum. :(

Sewed the hem up. Tho the part where the button and the hole meet i did not finish since I have to make sure i don't loose the hole. I will work on that later.

Now to the fun part. Here is where I get a point for using material from my stock. I had some remnants of teal fabric, wonderful polyester. But it will work perfectly for what I want to do next. Now its time to practice some ruffling! I had several sequares of this polyester. I cut 1.5 inch strips using my rotary cutter (which i love!). Then down the center of each strip I sewed down using the longest stitch of my machine on a 0 tension. Once that was done I pulled the bobbin thread and we have ruffles.

I began to pin to each ruffle to the cardigan. Then just sewed down the center to anchor it on to the sweater. I did not have anything in particular in mind I just wanted vertical ruffles. After adding a few i decided to go all the way up the sweater. WARNING NOTE: if you plan on buttoning the cardigan (rather than keeping it open) and if its a V-style cardi like mine. a straight line laying flat is a diagonal line on your body. I learned that the hard way. So I removed the suspect pieces and added it while i was wearing the cardi. Which is fun, I pinned myself so many times my poor chest!



Here is the end product!!! I love my new cardi! Its great for work! Sorry you don't get the finished shot of me 1- b/c i was having a bad hair day and 2- my boyfriend wasn't home to take a pic. maybe one day...



with a belt.. don't know if i like this belt or not!

Yay this was seriously a LOT of fun! Who would have known the frumpy cardigan could turn into something so fabulous!

My only beef was I wish I had a ruffler foot! Now I will just bug Sonja to use hers until I get my own :)

Ok stay tuned I have more refashions coming along in the pile! :)

Old men's sweater to a cute sweater dress!

I found this gem at goodwill for under $4. I had a great idea for it! Its a men's XL sweater- very long and baggy on me! Now its time to start learning some tailoring skills.... which I need to develop. Since sweater was soo large on me there was no way i could put this on and take it in easily. So many inches needed to come off this sweater!

I had a sweater dress in my closet that i used as a template. Turned the sweater inside, flattened, and laid it on the sweater and got quite a giggle. I used a sharpie to then cut out a basic design of what the sweater needs to be. I didn't use any temporary markings like a disappearing marker or chalk b/c I couldn't see it. I said to heck with it sharpie it is. its on the inside of the sweater and should I just likely mark it, it should not go thru the material. I left some room to spare when i traced b/c 1- its a stretchy sweater so i will need some room and 2- sewing allowance for them. I just eye balled it. I then pinned everything together to keep the sweater from moving when I go to the sewing machine.

I followed the line on both sides. Then I cut the excess fabric away off. Turned it right side out... Tried it on. Tada!!! Wowswers! It actually worked. It was not that hard to sew. No special adjustments were needed on the machine (standard needle, standard tension, universal sewing foot) though I did use a long stitch (the longest stitch I had on my machine) since the fabric was quite thick. I was in such shock!

Sleeves: as you can see in the first pic, the sleeves were really long. Like really long. I have very long arms. I hacked off 5 inches from the get go. Still too long!! No pics on this but I just folded the sleeves in side cut off the excess. Simply sew it down.

Here's the finished product! I love this sweater dress and it fits like a glove!

Portable Magnetic Needle Holder! Upcycled project

Upcycled Project: Project Magnetic Needle Case

I got inspired one day at hancock fabrics when I saw a case with a magnet in it that was meant for bringing your needles everywhere. I was not going to spend $10 on something I was confident i could make at home!

Items you will need:
1- small case. I used an old case that used to have eyelashes in it that I no longer used.
2- Glue: in the picture I have E6000. i wound up not using it b/c it was clogged and I was impatient. I wound up using GS Hypo cement. It is thin, quick drying, and strong.
3- Old free refridgerator magnet and a pair of scissors.

Instructions: Cut the magnet to the size of the case. Glue in! Done! 1 minute craft project


I added my needle and they stuck here is a picture of it

Look mom no hands! As a point of refernce I had a needle with a piece of thread in it ... See how it hangs :)

Wow, this is a handy case to have. I can put it in my purse and take it with me whereever I go to sew! It won't ruin my needles. They won't get lost in my purse or bag. And it is just nice to have something to organize my working needles at home period! :)

Hope you enjoy this project

Happy 2011!

Wow it is 2011! Can you believe it? Seriously? Holy cow! Now to set up some goals! Instead of lumping it all together, I am going to segregrate my "resolutions" as follows

General 2011: Use up what I have!!!
That's the theme! Use what I have! I have so much stuff. Just stuff everywhere and I feel like lately we are just trained to want stuff that we don't need. Seriously why do I want more stuff? I started a bit last year to use up my stuff but I am carrying it over to more parts of my life. So let's use up all my stuff!

1. Decrease fabric stockpile by ~50% (so there is no more out of the closet).
I am going to do this by practicing my sewing and making clothes. This was the reason why i bought the fabric in the first place and now I need to follow thru on my behavior.

2. Decrease my debt 50%.
Well if i am going to use up all my "stuff" lol this should just happen naturally. I can totally do this!

3. Reduce my craft projects. This includes the following...
- stuff turkeys and pumpkin for mom
- snowmen cross stitch stockings (2 of them)
- lion latch hook
- light up santa cars
- penquin snow sign
-bless this house needlepoint
- advent calendar
- ADPi tshirt quilt (started and never finished)
- iris latch hook
- budha cross stitch
- cuba cross stitch (there are 3 i would love to have 1 done!)
- christmas stockings with lions (there are 2)
- felt christmas card holder
- cross stitch ornaments
ok i'm going to stop now there are so many crafts I have purchased over the years (and hence why I have so much stuff!)

4. Don't buy any more new manufactured clothes for a minimum of 6 months if not a year.
- this is the pledge i took to start out the new year. Its the 3rd day of January and I have resisted all temptations to go out and shop but Ive got 362 more days to go!
- I would like to refashion some items. My goal 1 refashioned item a month for 12 total refashioned items. :)

5. Belly Dance Goals: learn 5 more dances by myself. Should I teach them to Baklava then so be it. If not then I know something that I can use when I have to perform by myself. I have many choreo DVDS so 5 is very reasonable. :) Again its this whole stuff issue.... ah!
- and get a kick ass floor layback. my standing laybacks are getting better but floor ones I am not strong enough yet to do. :( this will be the year!
- choreo sabri aleel
-choreo fan veil dance
-finish veil poi dance that I started over 2 years ago
- finish my glass dance

6. Career Goals
- get renewed
- publish 2 papers
- get my own grant/funding!

7. Bellydance Costume goals
-finish harem pants
- finish black ab bra/belt set
- finish pink patchwork set
- corset tops
- fix red costume
- make my indian sherbert costume (pink and peach fun!)
- pink leopard set
- sequin dot costume- sounds bad but i guarantee you its going to look awesome!
- fix black costume from ebay.
- make a sewing form for myself

8. Use up all my perfumes, lotions, candles, shampoos/conditioners, etc that I have.

9. Random goals
- run a 5K
- use up some of my beads and make 2 necklaces (minimally)
- organize my recipes
- don't buy anymore fabric
- sell some of my stuff
- send out a picture instead of a christmas card
- get that thing that i really want :) I am not elaborating more. Guess!

Ok I think that is enough for now. I know its some lofty goals but I think I can accomplish it! I want less stuff!!!

Let's use up my stuff! :) wahoo Here's to 2011 with less stuff!