Pink Ankle Length Dress - (touch up waste, neck and shoulders) (good find)

Needed to make this dress for fitted and layer. I have a boxy shape and I feel like this dress advertised that, so here is how I added a little layer and made the sleeves fitted for modesty! Hope it helps you get some ideas!

Step 1.

Try on the dress and see where you want the neck to lay. Try to make sure the length works too. 

Pin the shoulders together and straight stitch. Don't forget to try it on before you cut the access off. Than a zig zag stitch.

Step 2.
I used the back layer of material to say how far high I wanted the pinch to go.

Bring that length up to the hip.

Step 3. 

Pinch two layers and pin them at the hip.

Step 4. 

Hand stitch in place and VUALA!

I tried adding a belt and really love it! Thanks for the support everyone! 

LOVES!

Berlap Oversized Skirt - Fitted (resize) (good find)

Trying to make more of my clothes fit me a bit better. I have a knack for buying my clothes to big. So here is how I took this skirt in 8 sizes. Its quite simple really!

Step 1. 

See how you want it fits and where you would like it to lay on your body. I wanted it to be a little higher on my waste so thats where I pinned.

Step 2.

After pinning all the way along both sides of the skirt. Take it off and follow the curve of the skirt with a straight stitch as best you can. 

Step 3.

Cut off the excess material.

Step 4. 

Zig zag stitch along the raw edge.

And vuala!! now you have a nice fitted skirt that is fun and fits you the way you want it too. Not the way it fits everyone else. Hurray!

Take that one size fits all!

Thanks for the love and support!

LOVES

Coral Scraps - Hair Bow (repurpose) (scraps)

I always have scrap material that I never know what to do with!! So today I decided to make a bow! Or maybe 7 or 10. What can I say? I love things for my hair. Here is how I did it!

Step 1.
I started with a strip of mateiral about 7 inches by 5 inches folded it as such

 Sew both ends and flip inside out.

Step 2.
Than take a a strip of material about 1 or 2 inches by 3 inches. Depending on how thick you want your knot to be. Then sew along the long side and flip inside out with a safety pin.

 Step 3.
Fold the center of the bow into thirds and pinch. Hand sew a few stictches to hold it in place.

Step 4.
Wrap the little strip of material around where you have sewn in the middle.
Try to make sure it looks right before sewing any further.

Step 5.

Hand stictch the strip so it lays flat. Cut the excess material, slide a bobby pin in linking it to the strip in the middle.

And Vuala!! Bow is ready for wearing!

                                        

Thanks for the support everyone!!

LOVES!

Striped T - Bring In Collar (good find) (resize collar)

I found this shirt for a deal (it was too big of course) So I was drowning in the neck line! Here is how I fixed it!

Step 1.

Try on the shirt and see where you would actually like the neck to lay. I chose to sew in the shoulders. but that means some serious bunching around that area! but thats ok because I think it adds a nice touch. So measure how much you will need to sew in by pinching and using your fingers or a ruler.

If you feel like this

when you are wearing it, it needs to be fixed! 

Step 2. 

Try to make the shoulders seem lines match up. This means serious bunching on the back. thats ok just try to make the bunching spread evenly. Unpick the shoulder and cut until you reach the sleeve.

you should have a nice hole there now

Step 3. 

Pinch the center of the hole and sew along that making a nice pleated effect. Make sure to Zig Zag stitch along the edges to there is no fraying! I moved the pleat over a bit so it was more in the center of my shoulder.

And hoorah its fixed!!

Thanks for your support guys!! 

- LOVES

Why I Am Blogging About This

I am starting this blog because I love to sew and alter/repurpose things.

I have done little projects for myself, friends and family (a.k.a. altering clothing, repurposing furniture, etc.) and people often ask me how I do this or that. I could always show them or do it for them, but recently my wonderful husband and I moved from St. George, UT. to Rutherglen, Scotland. Big change.

So the main thing I have to work with is clothing due too the fact we moved into a furnished apartment, sold pretty much all of our furniture and are not buying furniture to ship home when ever it is that we may return. 

Also I believe it is a good idea to get some modest ideas out in the world.

This blog is me sharing my ideas on altering clothing. (and maybe in the future other things as well)

I do not mind feed back at all on things I am doing so feel free to suggest anything you like!

Swimsuit Bottoms - Headband (good find) (repurpose)

So I found this CUTE swimsuits bottoms and they were on sale for a stinking Pound so I had to get them of course but the only size they had was 22... What is a girl to do?! So I decided to make them into a headband! Heres how I did it!

Step 1.

Measure out about how long you need it to be, to be able to wrap it around your head comfortably. make sure to make it tight enough to stay on but loose enough to be comfortable.

Cut the side and the width to be straight. Raw edges are fine with this material, so no worries about sewing that up if you don'd want to, but it tends to get a little bunchy. heres what that looks like.

Thats alright too though because when you wear it, it pulls it tight enough you can not really notice!

Step 2.

Fold the whole thing in half, face together. Sew along the raw edge. pull the material if you can so it will bunch slightly.

It is fine to leave the raw edge. it does not fray! (SO NICE)

Step 3.

Flip the material right side out and you should have a circle now that fits around your head nicely! You can leave it just as a band or you can add any detail you would like. I wanted mine to be a little simple but a fun pinch on one side so thats the next step!

Step 4. (optional)

Take the line you sewed and pinch it together.

Like so. Hand stitch where you pinched together and Vuala!

Headband Happiness!!

Thanks for the love everyone!

LOVES!

Black Dress - Thick, Patterned (good find) (complete redo)

See how I took this size 16 dress and turned it into a size 4 skirt

Step 1.

Try on the dress. measure where you would like the skirt to start and end.

cut the entire bodice off. Leaving the lining alone (pick the lining off before cutting)

do not cut the zipper off. pick the zipper off the dress to where you will cut.

Left with something looking like this.

 

Step 2.

Measure how far you would like to go in on the waist

I wanted more of a pencil skirt feel.

Try to follow the natural curve of your body concerning the placement of the skirt

sew it in. Cut off the excess. Make it a clean stitch with a zig zag stitch or a serger.

Step 3.

The yoke is usually the hardest part for most. I wanted to use the pink lining found around the neck and the arms

 

Unpick the lining and make your yoke by placing 2 pieces of material (rectangles the length of just over half your skirt and with width or about 4 inches) face together, sew one side and flip it open and put the pink lining alongside the raw edge and do a basting stitch to keep it in place.

  

Step 4.

line the yoke up with the skirts waist line faces together with lining in the middle. Sew all the way around the waist using a zipper foot so get as close to the lining as possible. Until you reach the zipper sew as close the zipper as you can.

Step 5.

the zipper is also a difficult area. Make sure you have a zipper foot. Fold the yoke up and fold the raw edge against the zipper. Sew as close to the zipper as you can. Cut the zipper just above where you sewed and tuck the raw end of the sipper behind the yoke. Do a few stitches to hold it down.

Step 6.

The bow is just because I have a bunch of left over material so it's just for fun

Take two rectangle pieces of material (about 5 inches by 3 inches). Put them face to face the widths with the lining in between.

 

Sew all the around the edges (making sure to get up against the lining.

Leave about an inch opening to use to flip the faces out.

Pinch the middle. Adjust to get desired effect and hand stitch a few stitches there to hold it in place

Step 7.

Find where you would like the bow to go and hand stitch into place

and Voila! there is it. You have a cute fitted skirt with fun details!

 

Thanks for your input guys! LOVES!

Shirt With Upper Waist Detail (hand me down) (resize)

Go from baggy and unflattering to fitted and flowy with my step by step process.
Yes I can see how wrinkly my shirt is.

Step 1.
Try on the shirt. I use my thumbs to measure the sides. You can use a ruler to measure your shirt or your thumb if that helps. Try doing this in front of the mirror to see the effects of your measuring.
Pinch each side as evenly as possible.

Try to Fuchs on the waste band or detail because they is the center of the look you are trying to go for.

Step 2.
Lay the shirt on the ground inside out and pin the parts you have measured.

Try to do a natural taper down and up. Also try not to sew the arms too tightly

Step 3.
Sew the side as you have measured them with a straight stitch. Be careful with the material as not to pull or stretch as you sew.
Try the shirt on after you have sewn both sides
Be aware that it will have clumps of material inside because of the access material but do not cut that off yet just in case you want to change anything

Step 4.
Once you have finished sewing. Cut the slack off about a centimeter away from the stitch you made

Step 5.
To make sure your raw edges won't fray (if you don't have a serger like myself) sew them with a zig zag stitch. The stretchier the material the wider the zig zag.

Try to make it overlap the raw edge slightly

Then try it on one more time to make sure its all good and boom there's your new shirt!!

Again sorry for the wrinkles. Thanks for the support loves!

Advice: try to wash and dry anything you are about sew. Even if its used. helps with knowing what the end result will be. be prepared to try the shirt on many times during the process (or if you are doing it for someone else try not to cut anything until they have tried on your modifications)