Tutorial ~ Sweater Refashion

I shared this sweater refashion at Me Sew Crazy last week. I am posting this here today just in case you missed it!


{You will need}

Sweater
Fabric
Laces, Ribbons and buttons
Matching thread

{How to}

1. Wear the sweater and decided how high you want the triangles to go. For example, just below the bust line or a few inches below the bust line. Also, mark the center with a pin.

2. I made a triangle template out of a cereal box and cut 8 triangles out of the fabric. The size of the triangles all depend on how long you cut into the sweater. If you want a more flared look, make sure that the triangle has a wide bottom. If you want a subtle flare, the triangle needs to have a narrow bottom.


3. Start making the cuts to the sweater. I made 8 cuts in all. In the center on the front and back, just to either side to those center cuts, and the sides of the sweater. They are about 4" apart, but you need to adjust that according to the width of the sweater. Just make sure that they are equal and well balanced.


4. Fold the bottom of the triangles and sew.


5. Sew the triangles to the sweater using a Serger or zigzag stitches.


6. Since the sweater was one size bigger than my size, I cut off some fabric from the sides and under the arm.


7. Pin, and sew the side. Make sure to sew in the fabric triangle to the sides at this step.



8. Make sure to mark the center of the neckline. I wanted the neckline to be slightly lower, so I drew the line and made the cut around the neck.



9. Make bias tape for the neckline. I cut mine 1 3/4" wide.


10. Sew the bias tape around the neck with zigzag stitches.


11. Start adding lace & ribbons between the triangles. Cut them to random lengths and seal the ends with fray check. Pin them in the desired places to check the balance and sew.



12. I didn't care for the long sleeves, so I cut them... I made the cut at the ribbed part, and took 6" off.


13. Sew the ribbed part back to the sleeves. I made it into 3/4 sleeves.



14. I thought it was a little bare around the neck, so I decided to decorate a little.

I made some yo-yo's, leaves, and flowers out of lace. Pinned all the embellishments onto the sweater to decide where I wanted everything.



* Sizing for the embellishments

* Yo-yo's: (S) cut 1 1/2"circles, (L) 2 1/2" circles (here is the link to how to make yo-yo's)

* Leaves: use 3/8" wide velvet ribbon. Cut 2" and fold it in half and lay both ends together and sew.

* Lace flowers: (I used 5/8" wide lace.) Cut a piece 5" long and gather the top and make a flower.

15. I wanted a little something at the back of the neck too. So, I added a tag with ribbon.


It is all done. All I needed to do was to try it on...


LOOVE it!





See you at next post!

Coin Purse

Whenever I have spare time (which is mostly while I am waiting for my kiddos in the car) I make fabric folded flowers, yo-yo's and such from scraps. I have a small box I keep in my car with such small projects.

Those embellishments come in handy when I want to decorate a random project. I will show you an example.

I found this coin purse at a thrift store several months ago for a dollar. It was mint condition, and I love Gamaguchi coin purse (Gama-guchi is a Japanese word for mouth of frog) I couldn't pass it up.

While I couldn't really work on a big project, I gave a little makeover to this little missy.


Before...



After...




I love it! Don’t you?

Tutorial / T-shirt Pillow (just because I found an old t-shirt)

I have been going through my house on and off for the last several months. To get rid of things I usually have a system... There are three piles, such as "Donate", "Sell", "Throw away". Any other place in the house is not hard to do this except in Mr. TRH and my closet.

I have a weakness for fabrics, and there is no exception when I am trying to get rid of some clothes. Even though an item hasn't been worn for such a long time, I start to think "uh, I can use this to make this" or "ah, I bet if I do this and this I can still wear it".

So, this is one of those projects that I just had to try and see. :)

I found this old t-shirt on Mr.TRH’s side of closet. It was in good condition, but he hadn’t worn it AT ALL for several years.



1. First cut it apart.


2. Cut 2 -- 15" X 22" rectangles for the pillow, and many 1" wide strips. If the t-shirt you have is smaller, you can cut smaller rectangles to make a smaller pillow.


3. On one of the rectangles, you can start "drawing". When you stretch the strips, they will curl up; I think this gives an interesting effect to the pillow. I didn't have any plans whatsoever, but I just eye balled the middle, and pinned the first strip and started to sew.



Keep drawing with strips...



4. After I did lots of "drawing" with strips, I made some ruffle strips to fill in some spaces. To make ruffles, sew in the middle of the strips with large stitches and pull one of the threads. Gather the fabric to make ruffles.




5. Put the front and back fabrics right sides together. Pin them and sew all around it with 1/4" seam. Make sure to leave 3" - 4" opening for turning.


7. Snip the corners for a neat finish.


8. Turn, press the edges with an iron. Stuff, slip stitch closed...and ta-da!


When the kids came home from school, Rachel noticed the pillow right away; the boys couldn’t care less about such minor details in life. I thought it was so funny to see the difference. Although, the pillow is loved by everyone, it is so soft and cuddly and perfect for a pillow fight. :)

Tutorial ~ She Wears Flowers

A few weeks ago, I did a guest post for Tatertots and Jello and shared this tutorial. In case you missed it, I am posting this on my blog today. Enjoy! :)

I am sharing a cardigan refashion today. If you have some old cardigans in your closet that needs a little facelift; then, this tutorial is perfect for you!


This is one of my favorite cardigans; I wore it for several years. I love the 3/4 sleeve, the open neckline, and the color... but I had this idea in my head to change the look of it, and I really wanted to give it a try.



{You will need}

A cardigan

100% cotton fabric that would match the cardigan (it doesn't need to be the same color, but it needs to either blend in with the cardigan, or have contrast and match with the flowers that you will accessorize the cardigan with)

Various fabrics, wool, and buttons

Matching thread

{How to}

{Assembly for the cardigan}


1. To make the bottom part, I cut the fabric like I am making bias tape. I used 36"wide muslin. Make a large square, fold it in half vertically. Cut 4 1/2" strips.


2. Piece them together. Fold the bottom less than 1/4" twice and saw.


3. Sew the top with largest stitch setting on your sewing machine. Pull the thread to gather the fabric. For this cardigan I didn't want lots of ruffles, so just a little to have flare. :) The bottom of the cardigan measured 30"all around, so I used 45" long bias and shrank to 30" long.


4. Pin the bias ruffle all around the bottom of the cardigan. I used zigzag stitches to sew it on. Fold the ends and zigzag to finish it off.


5. Add wide lace little bit above the fabric ruffle using the same technique as step 3 and 4.


6. I wanted to give more interest to the back, so I added a second row of lace ruffle. I cut 14 1/2" lace, and folded the both ends and zigzagged them prevent fraying, made a ruffle and added it in the back.


7. Cut 1 3/4" x 6 1/2" lace, and sew it on the waist line too. Make sure to center it so that both step 6 and 7 line up nicely.


8. For the sleeves, mine was 8 1/2" around. I cut 14" long lace and sewed the ends together, zigzag the ends to prevent fraying. Using the same technique as step 3 and 4, make ruffles and sew it on the bottom of the sleeve. Do the same to the other sleeve.



{How to make flowers and Yo-yo's}

*Folded fabric flower
1. Cut 8 - 3" x 3"squares and fold the squares according to the picture.



2. Using two strands of threads, put through each petal, don't forget cut off the excess.



3. Tie the ends to form a circle to make a flower. I like to sew each petal to each other to secure them.



*leaves
Cut 1" x 2" rectangle first, and trim them so they look like leaves. They don't have to be perfectly unified.



*Flat flowers
Cut 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square and trim it so that it will have four petals. Cut small circles for the middle.



*Felt flower (Light green)
1. Cut 6 - 1" x 2". Trim them so that they have round top.


2. Fold the bottom in half and pull them through the thread to make a flower. I stitched them together several times to secure them better.


*Felt flower (muted pink)
1. Cut 6 - 1" x 1 1/4" rectangles, trim them so that they will have rounded top.
2. Using the same method from step 2 on felt flower (purple), make the flower.
3. Cut circle for the middle and sew.
4. Sew yo-yo on top of the small felt circle



*Yo-yo

I used 3" and 2" circles to make yo-yo's. Smaller ones on the felt flowers are made with 1 1/4" circles. If you need to see how to make yo-yo, you can go to my tutorial.

{Assemble}


In my opinion, this is the most fun part. Just lay down the cardigan and lay down the flowers and yo-yo's to see what you can come up with! It is better to deiced where you want to bigger pieces go first than diced on smaller ones.
Pin them to see if you like the lay out. If you do, it is time to stitch them onto the cardigan.

I used some DMC floss to do fun stitches on the flowers and leaves. I did lots of slip stitches around the yo-yo's.

After you are all done with above, you can add buttons and such.

I had lots of fun making this, but wearing it was even more fun.






Why I am smiling? I have other ideas that I can't wait to try with more fabric and wool flowers, thinking about the possibilities makes me so excited!


I LOVE how it turned out! It will be fun to have some colors under the fall & winter gloomy sky; it is one of my ways to brighten up the day a little. :)
NOTE: Since I am having another procedure this week, the link party is cancelled. Sorry.