easter sewing for the boys

Long overdue Liberty tie for the big boy using this tutorial...

A matching tie-appliquéd tee shirt for the little boy using my favorite appliqué technique from Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts...

And a simple pair of pants made from yellowish tan pinstripe denim. 

(Not the best color description. It's actually a nice color.) 

I made these from my trusty, cloth diaper ready pants pattern, 

but cloth and I are on a break, hence the rolled waist. 

refashioned men's shirt

This is something I've had on my mind for a while now since I've got a growing collection of cast off, button-up shirts crowding my craft closet. This project totally appeals to my craft pack rat sensibilities. ("I could do something with this" is a phrase often heard in our household.)

Before I tell you how I did it, I have to give props to My Mama Made It for all of her cute shirt reconstructions and this blouse by Angry Chicken. Both served as the kick in the pants I needed to finally take on this little project. So, here's goes. Forgive the lack of technical terms.

The starting point, one of Rich's dress shirts (thanks, hon!):

First, I flipped it over, back facing up, and cut off the sleeves and collar.

Next, I tried the shirt on and decided where best it would fit across the chest and under my arms. On me, that required raising it up about 3 inches. I had to cut new shoulders and neck openings, fortunately under the back yoke, which I removed completely. I made the neckline lower in the front than the back by about 2 inches. (For the back neck line, I ended up cutting about 1.5 inches above a button. I'll show you in a sec how I finished that off.) I also drafted new side seams to fit my form a little better (but not too much - it's still a fairly loose fit). Here it is, right sides facing and basted:

I tried it on again to check the fit before sewing the seams. To finish the arm and neck holes, I applied a water soluble hem tape to the wrong side edges and turned them under twice, topstitching 1/4 inch from the edge.

In the back I added a new button hole and a covered button in one of my favorite fabrics. I don't love how this part turned out, but it's rarely seen, so I'm not stressing. Ignore the sloppy stitching.

On to the embellishment! From the leftover sleeve material, I cut three strips, approximately 3 inches deep by 20, 18, and 16 inches wide, respectively, then serged the edges...

and used my ruffler to pleat the pieces.

Finally, I eyeballed their placement on the front of the blouse (formerly the back of the shirt), pinned and stitched them down along the ruffle seam line.

Ta DA!

      

So when I mentioned to my friend Neva that I'd made this blouse out of one of Rich's old shirts, she immediately responded, "Rich had a Puffy Shirt?!" Um. No. I was both flattered and chagrined. It's nice that she just couldn't imagine a pretty, feminine blouse having once been a regular, old men's dress shirt. On the other hand, she apparently thought that my husband might have, at one time, worn something like this.

Easiest dress ever!

Which I guess most people who sew knew a long time ago. It took me a while to get around to this one - a basic pillowcase dress.


My "trial run" was this nightgown, made from a really soft, vintage pillowcase and some gingham bias tape I had laying around. I encased elastic across the neckline (front and back) and used bias tape to finish off the arm holes and form the ties. I also secured the ties at the shoulders with a few hidden stitches so we wouldn't have to deal with any wardrobe malfunctions should they come untied.

Start to finish, this little project took all of about 30 minutes. My favorite kind.


So I made another one. I just kind of made mine up as I went along, but you'll see that there are several ways to get the job done.

Here are a few easy tutorials:

red instead

a room somewhere

freshly picked

Try it out!

Dressing for Paris...ha

Last spring, my husband surprised me with plans for a trip to Paris for our 12th anniversary in the summer. My emotions went from shock to glee to dread as I thought of my boring mommy wardrobe and lack of Paris-worthy attire. I mean, I try, but this is Paris, no?

So after lots of fruitless online shopping and staring blankly into my closet for hours, I hit a fun local shop with Larissa and found these, which I promptly embellished in an effort to make them more individual and cool. I don't have any before pictures, so I'll just tell you, the mustard shrug was plain and the green jacket had some pretty hideous brass and pearl buttons.

I used Amy Butler's Lotus Lacework in Grey for the appliques, attaching them with Heat 'n' Bond, then embellishing with tiny, ivory French knots.

For the jacket, I just changed out the buttons for some that I covered myself from my scrap bin.

Okay, so I'll admit that I didn't have the courage to wear either of these pieces in Paris. No, I didn't find that all stylish Parisians wore only black, but these just didn't seem right, either. (Plus, I find that I'm not much of a teensy, fitted shrug girl - maybe 15 years and 20 pounds ago?) Still, I had fun playing with them.

And, in the end, who really cared what I looked like in the presence of this beauty? Certainly not me. (Now, if I could only remember this fact as I plan for/stress over my upcoming girl trip to NYC...)