Refashion: Sweater to Leggings and Slouchy Beanie

Are you wondering what happened with Kid's Clothes Week?  How did I manage to go on and on about how I was going to participate, and then only post a few little items?  Well, I didn't finish as much as I'd hoped to, but I did manage to do more than I've posted.  We had a death in the family, and family time trumped KCW, as it should.  I still have a couple of things to share with you today, and a half finished pair of pants that might not ever see completion.

First up, another sweater refashion. This time it was my husband's old sweater. It never fit him right, and was starting to show signs of wear.  So rather than throwing out the sweater, I took advantage of the sweater knit material, and made a slouchy beanie for Gus, and a pair of cozy little leggings.

The beanie was made using Max California's free pattern.  The pattern is for a toddler, but my baby has a MASSIVE head.  I used the waistband of the sweater to serve as the cuff of the beanie. Super easy.

Free Pattern Here

The leggings were made using a pair of existing pants as a guide.  Also a very simple project. 

 I cut the pant legs out of the sleeve pieces, and the cuffs of the sleeve serve as a fold up cuff for the pants.

 Super fast, simple, and free projects.  

Sweater to Slip Cover Upcycle

One of my New Year's ReSewlutions was to do more sewing for my home.  We are a month into 2014, and I have one little project to prove I'm moving in the right direction (progress is progress right).

I've had this chunky cable knit sweater in my refashion pile for quite some time.  I finally chopped it up, and turned it into something pretty, a new pillow slip cover for my couch.

Because it was a button up sweater, all I had to do was cut out my material, which proved to be the most difficult part, and then sew four straight lines.

I chopped off the hood, and the arms of the sweater, trying to save as much of the fabric as possible.

 I then cut my material into a square that was roughly the size of my pillow form.  I would have loved to have the buttons offset on my slip cover, but I didn't have enough material to work with.

I turned the material so that the right sides were facing, stitched around all four sides, and then finished off my edges.  With this chunky knit, the stitches unraveled quickly, so I really had to make sure that I caught all of the secure material in my seam allowance.

 I love the open weave of the sweater slipcover, and the wood buttons have a certain amount of charm.

One little step in the right direction.  

My two year old thinks that this project is absurd, and continues to try to undress my pillow.  At least he is getting plenty of practice learning to button and button something.

Kid's Clothes Week: Upcycled Sweater with Shooting and Elbow Patches

Day two of Kid's Clothes Week resulted in an upcycled sweater for Gus.  Originally I'd thought the sweater would be for my two year old Miles, but some errors in my pattern drafting resulted in a smaller version, perfect for my big 5 month old.  

The oatmeal colored sweater used to be my dad's.  I've always loved it, and it's been in the refashion pile for quite some time.  I added some faux snake skin elbow patches, shooting patches, and a back panel for some visual interest.  I ended up quilting the patches to secure the layers of fabric, and I really like the way it turned out.

A bit shiny but super cute on my little dude.

A view of the back. . .

...and a view of Gus' back. 

Sewing success.

Tutorial: Pants to Shorts Refashion

I remember wearing cut offs as a kid.  I was always embarrassed.  Why? I don't know, but I was.  I don't blame my mom for cutting off my worn out jeans.  As a parent myself, I can now hardly believe how quickly my four year old can outgrow, and wear out a pair of pants.

So, in an effort to save money, and make the investment last, I turned several pair of his worn kneed jeans into shorts, but I'm not going to call them cut offs, let's call them refashions. I'll share a few tips on creating successful short refashions.

First off, make them (if for boys), as long as possible.  Mid thigh shorts are a dead giveaway that the shorts were once pants. Second, try to incorporate as many of the design elements of the pants into the hem of the shorts.  Third, control the fray.

This brown pair of shorts started out as a pair of pants that never quite fit right.  We liked them, but by the time they fit with the waist adjusted, they were too short.  So in an effort to get more use out of them, we figured they'd get more wear as shorts.  I pulled out a pair of Clark's existing shorts that fit well.  They served as a length guide.  Match up the top of the waistbands, and determine how long you want the shorts to be.  Next, determine how big you want the hem of the shorts to be.  Add this length (plus 1/4" if turning the hem under), to the length of the short.

 Fold the pants in half, matching up pant legs.  Make a straight cut using a rotary cutter and a straight edge.

If you have a serger, serge the edges.  It will control the fray, and make turning the hem easier.  If you don't, you can use an overcast zig zag stitch to control the raw edge.

Stitch Witchery, or any sort of sewable fusible adhesive is great for this project.  I found this unused package at a thrift store-score.

Turn your shorts inside out.

 Align the edge of the fusible adhesive with the raw edge of the shorts.  

Fold up the hem along the inside edge of the hem tape.  Press with an iron.  Your iron shouldn't come in contact with the hem tape at any time, so make sure it's nicely tucked into your hem.

Turn your shorts right side out.  Select a thread that matches the existing stitching on the shorts.  If you have a golden thread, use gold.  It's important to match the existing stitches, and not the fabric. If you don't have a matching thread, consider another contrasting color, and repeat in multiple places on the garment (see upcycled shorts).

 Select a stitch that most resembles that stitching on the shorts.  If your garment has a longer stitch length, lengthen the stitch on your hem.  If it has a reinforced triple stitch, then adjust your setting as well.  Repeating these design elements will help the shorts feel intentional.

Stitch 1/8" inside your hem allowance.  I stitched 5/8" away from the folded hem, of my 3/4" hem. Try to keep your stitching line as straight and consistent as possible (how to sew a straight line).

These blue shorts had worn out at the knee.  The hem is narrow, but I was able to repeat a double row of lengthened triple stitches.  It helps the shorts feel more finished.

Single row of elongated straight stitch for these brown shorts.

 Repeat on both legs.  Done and done.  Another example, my pants to maternity shorts refashion.

Another option is to try to use the existing hem of the pants on the shorts. This will only work well if the pants is relatively straight legged.  If the pant hem is narrower than the knee/thigh, then you won't have enough material to work with.

Chambray Shirt to Kids Shorts and Shirts Upcycle

Yesterday I mentioned that the old chambray shirt was incorporated into three additional articles of clothing.  I know you've been on pins and needles, so here they are.  First off, I made a little summer outfit for Miles.  He looks so adorable in it, just imagine him wearing it, because by the time I managed to snap some photos of him in it, it was covered in applesauce. 

My mom found the t-shirt at a garage sale for a quarter. The smart woman saw the potential, and just by adding a small pocket detail, we transformed the t-shirt. 

I cut a small triangle of fabric, that was 1/4" wider and taller than the pocket.  I folded the raw edges under 1/4" on both sides, and left the diagonal raw.  I pinned it in place, stitched around all sides, and added a couple of extra stitching rows on the diagonal for added detail. The raw edge will fray, and I'm looking forward to it.  It will only unravel 1/8", because I sewed that close to the r.e., but it will add a bit of texture to the shirt.

The three rows of stitching also repeat a design detail from the shorts.  You can see on the back pocket flap that there are three rows of stitching down the middle.  

Ah, now you can see it a bit better. (Pardon the over exposed phone photos.  My camera batteries are dead, so this is as good as it gets for now.)

I used a pair of Miles' existing shorts for the pattern.  They are pretty basic.  A faux fly, front pockets, and back faux flap pockets. They really didn't take much time at all, and given that I already had the buttons, the shirt material for the shorts, and the t-shirt from my mom, the entire outfit ended up costing about a quarter.  

The last article is a bit of a repeat.  I embellished on of Clark's t-shirts that I snatched up at Wal-mart at the end of last fall ($1 on sale), and added a contrast pocket.  This is the actual pocket from the chambray shirt.  I used my seam ripper, and carefully removed it.  Then, I added a bit of red stitching to the pocket yoke (?), cut the pocket down a bit, and turned under the raw edges.  Then I positioned the pocket, and used that red thread to secure it to the t-shirt.  I love this little shirt.  It's silly that something as simple as adding or embellishing a pocket can create so much interest to a plain t-shirt, but it does.

Upcycled Chambray baby "Toms"

 Thanks for reading.

Upcycled Chambray Baby "Toms"

Next up from the clothes pile, is a chambray shirt.  It never fit my husband properly, so it hung in the closet most of the time.  But, it has now become part of four different articles of clothing for my boys.  

 I made up these chambray baby "Toms" using Homemade Toasts' printable pattern.  The basic printable pattern isn't scaled, so you'll have to do that on your own, or purchase her sized pattern.

I love how these little kicks turned out.  The elastic, double rowed stitching, and little tags.  So cute.  Hopefully my little guy can fit in them.  My boys tend to have long feet.

FYI: I didn't scale the pattern at all, and figure that it is probably close to a size one unscaled.  I did have an issue with the uppers not meeting up in size when attaching them to the sole.  It was probably due to a cutting error.  It was a simple fix though, simply overlap the back heel over the toe piece a little more.  If you have this problem, pin the toe piece to the sole, and then adjust the position of the heel before attempting to attach the two.  It will help you find proper position, and eliminate seam ripping.

Also, I didn't ever rip the seam of the toe piece. I inserted the tags prior to sewing the seam, and slipped the elastic in the side.

Tomorrow I'll show you the rest of the goodies made from the chambray shirt.

Repost: Chunky Braided Bracelet Tutorial

A few of you may be familiar with this tutorial, but I thought I'd re-post a favorite project from the past, for those of you that are new to the blog.

Yesterday in my post I mentioned that I really loved the bracelet that I was wearing with my "Warhol Top", well today I am going to show you just how to make it.  I had hoped to make a video on top of some step by step photos, but I had a migraine yesterday and it kind of killed that idea.  Hopefully the photos will do.  The bracelets are super simple to make, but maybe not so simple to explain.  I'll do my best.

After making my Yoga pants and my Warhol Top I was left with several half-shirts and strips of fabric.  I couldn't bring myself to throw them away so I held onto them knowing that I could make something wonderful out of them (originally I figured a headband-shocking I know), and I did-these simple braided bracelets.  I have been assisting our girl's camp director in  making friendship bracelets for our upcoming girl's camp-so it was fresh on my mind.  I sat down and was chatting with my husband and fiddling around with a scrap of knit fabric from my yoga paints when this little dandy emerged. Now let's dive right in.

Cut your fabric:  For the white bracelet that you will see I used three strips of 1"wide (this can be increased or decreased to vary the width of bracelet) fabric that was cut 69" long if you have small wrists your pieces of fabric could be shorter, but I'd try to have pieces that are at least 55" in length.

Fold your fabric in half lengthwise.  You are going to find the center of your strips of fabric and you will tie a knot about an inch down from the center of your strips of fabric.  This loop that is created by the knot is going to be the loop for your button closure. You will no have 6 strands of equal length fabric.

For the tutorial I've used Red, Yellow, and blue fabrics so you can clearly see which strands I am using-don't worry I will not be wearing this bracelet.

Braiding Step 1: Divide your 6 strands of fabric into three sections.  You will have a middle section that will act as the center of your braid (blue) and two strands on each side that you will use to form your knots.  Take the two strands on the left hand side (red) of your bracelet and create a loop by placing your strands across (on top) of your center strands (blue).  It should look somewhat like a number 9.

Braiding Step 2: Take the two strands of fabric on the right hand side(yellow) and place them on top of the tail end of your (red) left hand strands.  Now move your right hand strands (yellow) under the center strand and through the loop that you created with your left hand (red) strand. Pull both the right and left hand strands tight to create your first knot.

Braiding Step 3: Step 3 and 4 are going to be the opposite of one and two. We will start by taking our right hand strand (red) and crossing it's tail end over the top of the center strand, creating a loop on the right hand side of our center strands.  It should look like a letter P.

Braiding Step 4: Take your left hand strands and place them on top of the tail end of the right hand strands and move them under the center strands and up through the loop on the right hand side.  Pull tight.  You've just created the four basic steps for the bracelet.

Repeat braiding steps 1-4 until desired bracelet length is reached.

 

When your bracelet is the correct length you will want to tie a simple knot to the end, pull it tight, and trim the ends of your strings.

Now that we have our bracelet braided we are going to attach a covered button.  This is a super simple process, and I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence, but I thought I'd show some basic steps to remove any fears that might be out there.  To cover a button this is what we need to do.

Gather your materials.  You can buy a kit at any craft store or craft department.  This kit cost just over a dollar for 4 buttons.  You will need your kit which includes the needed tools, and a scrap of fabric that is slightly larger than your button.

Place the scrap of fabric in the indentation of the white button covering tool. Place the domed shell of your button directly on top of the scrap of fabric.

Tuck in the edges of your fabric so that they are all pointed toward the center of the button. Place the back of the button on top of the fabric and front of the button.  Make sure that you can't see any raw edges of your fabric.

Take your blue push tool and place it on top of the backside of the button.  Firmly press down and secure your button.

That's it-you have a beautifully covered button.

Now it is time to attach the button.  I use a doubled thread and tie the button directly onto the knotted end of the bracelet (not the loop end).  Don't worry I am not going to show you how to sew on a button.  Do secure the button several times so that it doesn't pull loose.

You now have a beautiful braided bracelet, and better still you used up your scraps of knit (and no sewing required).

You can make variations to this bracelet by alternating colors of looping fabric, or using multiple colors as in the example (but please don't use yellow and red).

By the Way-I'm planning a post on how to sew with knit fabrics, if you have any helpful tips that I should share please let me know.