I’ve used sleeve patterns before but have never drafted one with my specific measurements. Threads Magazinehas great instructions and illustrations. I saved the thin paper that is used to wrap handbags from when I last helped a friend purchase some. These are really useful Cut and it’s time to test! So, after testing it, I…
Summer has passed and Fall is upon us. It’s time to prep cold weather clothing to survive Winter. To make a cape like this, I started out with a square. Fold it into quarters and then cut away the corner without edges. 2″ radius would ensure a snug neckline for me. Next, cut out two…
Here’s a new hobby… homemade clothing closures. First attempt at a Chinese frog knot. It’s for this work-in-progress top that’s a fusion of different patterns.
The temperature is dropping steadily and I’m needing warm clothing. Leftover liner fabric from Coco’s halloween costume was used to make an outer piece.
I’ve been having fun with the McCalls pattern. I added length to the front and back top patterns just above the waist. Then cut out contrasting front and back pieces. The front is in a stretchy pink suiting fabric and black knit for the back. I cinched the front a little with some hand sewing…
I don’t typically buy patterns as i have been getting by with DIYing. However, this pattern called to me at Walmart. I traced out the top pieces on packing paper that came with handbags so i don’t feel bad about poking holes and slowly destroying the original pattern pieces. Anyone else does that? Since i…
This is another fabric from the mystery box. It’s a batwing top with pleats on the sleeves to minimize the armhole.
My aunt gets remnant fabric from her seamstress and she gave me some of her stash. This is a beautiful flowy fabric that i’ve made into a vest. I used a self drafted pattern from a blouse i own and like. Since the remnants were not wide, i had to cut out bodice top and…
My mum gave me a top that i absolutely love for its comfort and roominess. I ordered a fabric.com mystery box off of Amazon and 3lbs of knit fabric arrived a week later. 6 different fabric patterns to play with! So glad to be sewing again after a few weeks off.
It always begins with rifling through the fabric stash and leftovers that treasure is found. So I found a striped green fabric that is stretchy. Just enough to make a square top. I bound the neckline and arm holes with fold over elastic. Then remembered a ribbed knit tank top left it the stash. Cut…
This is a pattern I made from a shirt that I enjoyed wearing. There are two front pieces, two back pieces (top and bottom), 2 collar bands, 2 collars, and 2 sleeves. It’s tweaked here to have front and back darts for a more fitted shape. It’s the first time I’ve made button holes since…
While looking through a box of fabric, I found a pink striped stretch suiting material that was left over from years ago. Using a tried and tested square top pattern, I added a high-low hem for a slightly different look. I like the stiffness of the material for a change. There wasn’t enough fabric to…
Layering tunic for days when a tank and leggings just aren’t enough.
It’s a sewing kind of week! Made another top today from fabric rescued from an old project that went awry. So happy with this creation. It’s comfy and flattering.
Decided to work on some stretchy brown fabric today and this is what I came up with. 🙂
Sewn without a pattern. It was fun figuring out what I wanted to do with this. I started with a square top design. Then cut the front open and added a zipper. Added lace and then a waist band. Really easy project for an evening.
I made this pattern a while back with a softer fabric. This time, I decided to use corduroy and to leave out lining. I pinned the pieces one evening, cut them out another, and sewed up this section last night. I have sleeves to add, hem to finish, decide on closure, and decide on whether…
This was a 5 hour project and used grey fabric from my stash, black translucent knit, as well as the bottom half of a black knit top that was left over from a refashion It all started with finding fabric in my stash. There should be 4 pieces. Connect the (2 front and 1 back)…
I prefer cowl necks to fitting turtlenecks at the moment but didn’t want to discard this comfy top. I’ve had this turtleneck for at least 5 years and thought a refashion would give this top more wear. Fold it in half with arm holes lined up. Make a cut down the front. I made a…
This fabric has been in my stash a while and it’s time to make something season appropriate. I used a capped sleeve shrug pattern for the main piece. You might have seen variations of this pattern before. Since it’s winter, sleeves are absolutely necessary for me. I measured the diameter of the arm hole, length…
This is an easy batwing top that took 3 hours to complete. Start with measuring two squares that would adequately cover torso length and widest width of upper body. Add a few inches to each number so that the non stretchy fabric can be pulled on when completed. Lay squares right sides facing and then…
This has been one of the more challenging patterns that I’ve attempted. I really liked the purple jacket shown on the cover and tried to make one without the trimmings. This was a project that started last year and I have only just finished it today. It’s not perfectly sewn but I can work on…
It’s been a while. Took 2 sewing classes, went to the Renaissance Festival in homemade costumes (mixed with pieces from the closet). celebrated birthdays every weekend in October, and reused costumes for Halloween. Whoo! Hope your October has been a fun-filled one too. Here are pics of our costumes for the festival and for Halloween.…
Halloween is just round the corner. This year, we are going to be pirates! Here’s what I whipped up yesterday for the top. A red off-shoulder tunic top and a black vest that could pass off as a waist cincher. I have to embellish the outfit to make it even more pirate like. Any ideas?…
Here is another cap sleeve shrug. I am loving this pattern. It took me 2 hours to complete this.
This is a revised version of the cap sleeve shrug. It’s made out of one medium and one extra large white t-shirt. Tutorial will be shared soon. Here’s how I made it. Place the cap sleeve shrug pattern on a medium sized t-shirt with the fold along the straight edge. Pin and then cut carefully…
I came across a cap sleeve shrug pattern on modestprom.com via Pinterest some time back and have been planning to try it out. Since i’ve got a birthday present to make, I thought, “Perfect! I could kill two birds with one stone!” Although, I’d never stone a bird, much less kill one. Who came up…
This is a no pattern, on-the-spot design. Turned out pretty okay and fits me like a glove. Started off with me wanting to create a crossover bust top. There wasn’t enough fabric to make it a one piece cut. So I had to make the bust and bottom pieces separately. Realized it was too low…
This fabric is probably 5 years old and has been waiting for its turn to be transformed into an outfit. So I adjusted the recent pattern of a blouse and made it a crossover top. Great for this incredibly hot summer because it’s light and white. I made a pair of shorts as well so…
With the same beginning pattern in the last two posts, I created this summer blazer that has two snap on buttons. I added length to the bodice as well as the bottom of the collar so that the tips are long enough to overlap. Sew the pieces together and add darts where necessary to give…
Using the new blouse pattern that I drafted in my previous project, I made a new top! Tweaked the design a little. There is no collar on this piece. I changed out the buttons for a zipper and then added snaps to the top and bottom of the zipper to hide the ends. The pleat…
I usually sew knit tops as they’re such forgiving fabrics. However it was time to try something new. After working on the pattern for the Mr, I thought it would be possible to make a pattern out of a blouse that I really like. So I spent Wednesday afternoon working on the pattern, cutting out…
Got some old bedsheets lying around? Experiment with them! That’s what I did today. I took an old blue bed sheet that was gifted to me years ago by friends who knew I dabble in the sewing and crafting and made something new. I used the cross-over bust pattern for the top and extended the…
Remember the black prototype I made some time ago? That was a draft to test out a pattern. This is the final piece! Learned to sew with invisible thread for this piece. The important thing is to iron the seams after sewing to remove puckering. This requires cutting two pieces of fabric. One large piece…
I’m in the process of making a jumpsuit for a friend and that involves prototype pieces. In the first prototype, I made a whole piece without measurements and actually didn’t get too far off! It was a wee bit snug for my friend’s tastes but the test showed that straight cut for the pants would…
Found 5 year old shiny fabric in my stash and decided to make a square top with it. It’s really thin yet opaque material – shiny on one side and black on the other. I don’t know what it’s called. Do you? It looks like black plastic trash bags but I can assure you that…
Managed to squeeze in some sewing this weekend. I bought AND won some fabric a while ago and finally used some to make two new tops for myself. They look rather shapeless hanging on the hanger but they drape really nicely when worn. I used the basic square t-shirt pattern to make these and varied…
Ella and i had an awesome time refashioning the bag of clothing she brought. Check out what we made! 1. Blouse to skirt 2. Bottom of red striped dress to skirt 3. Top of red striped dress lengthened with a section of another grey t-shirt 4. Sweater sleeves shortened. Decorative buttons added. 5. Men’s shirt…
This is Ella’s third challenge for me, and the last for this weekend’s sewing frenzy. She presented a cropped square top that had been stretched in the wash one too many times. The neckline was so stretched, it could be an off-shoulder top! I had a few ideas upon seeing the top. First, i wanted…
After completing the jeans to overalls refashion, Ella had a second challenge for me. She pulled out this skirt! I took a good look at it and realized the bottom flare was mainly in the front, the zipper’s on the side, and there is a lining. It looked like it might make a good top…
I was surfing pinterest and stumbled upon photos of rectangle skirts and thought, hey, I can make one for myself. Seems simple enough. Looking through my fabric stash, I found a pin-striped suiting material in navy that I thought would look pretty good. I folded the material in half twice over and cut off 18″…
This is an article of clothing from L’s stash that we refashioned today. It’s a pair of black yoga pants that she wore while painting a while back. Paint splattered on the yoga pants and she worried that they weren’t presentable anymore. (We forgot to take a before pic in our sewing frenzy) Here’s a…
L dropped by with a bag of clothes she needed refashioned or shortened. So we worked on measuring, cutting, and sewing for 4 to 5 hours. Boy was it fun! We shortened 3 pairs of jeans, refashioned a pair of yoga pants and a tube dress. Here is said tube dress. It’s a trifle loose…
Cool summer top made without a pattern. Easy to dress up or down.
Incredibly easy to sew! One curtain panel cut into 2 rectangles. Split one of the rectangles into two smaller rectangles to form sleeves. Hem all edges. Fold sleeve rectangle in half and pin to bottom rectangle. Sew in place.
This is one of the pieces of fabric I won in the February giveaway from fabricmartfabrics. Made a simple bat wing top with gathered front. Added 3 darts to each sleeve (2 sides and underarm) to reduce the arm hole gap then folded edge up twice to finish. Added buttons down the front then worn…
So i tried on my new sleeved tank and realized 2 things – the sleeves were a little too short for my liking (my shoulders burn really easily in summer), and the neckline was too low. So i cut up the bottom of a spare white tee and used it to make the tank more…
Got a few tank tops from Walmart for $1 each some time back and they’ve been sitting in my stash pile for a while. I made a dress with a floral print tank top and gave it to a dear friend. Check out the tutorial here. It’s summer and REALLY warm. I’ve got loads of…
I’ve had this dress since i was a teenager. So it’s been with me for more than a decade. I won’t say exactly how many years. Just that it was quite a few. I haven’t worn it in the longest time because the length is awkward and it’s clingy in the wrong areas. So i’ve…
I’m loving square tops! Just made a square top and ruched skirt dress. (Will post a tutorial of that soon.) I think mine are generally rectangular tops since i like them longer than wider. How to make a square/rectangular top? Check out this tutorial. My mum saw the dress and said she wanted a top…
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