~skirt turned dress tutorial~

 Remember this skirt:

...that I turned into this:

For any of you interested in doing this

EASY transformation, here's how I did it.

Let me just tell you before we get started...

my pictures suck! There's just no way around

that at this point so I just had to make due

with the pictures I had. I hope between the 

pictures and the written instruction, you

will be able to follow. 

First off-start with a long skirt. I got

this skirt at a local thrift store for $5. 

It can be any material but I recommend a cotton

or polyester blend....these will be easiest to hem.

IT HAS TO HAVE AN ELASTIC WAISTBAND!

Next-put the bra on that you intend to wear

with the dress once it's complete....this is important

because you want to make sure and place the

straps of the dress so they cover your bra straps.

Put the skirt on and pull it clear up over your boobs

in order to determine how long you want it and

how much you'll need to take off the bottom. 

Place a pin where you want the length to be.

Take the skirt off now and let's begin!

You've marked with the pin where you want 

the length of the skirt to end up so we need

to add a bit for a hem allowance. From the

point of the pin, add an inch towards the bottom

of the dress (this is our hem allowance) and mark

with your marking pen or chalk. 

Now, you will need

to measure the distance of the bottom of the original

hem to the mark you just made.....mine was 3".

Now go around the entire skirt, making a 

mark every couple inches to determine where you

will need to cut. Be sure to measure from the bottom of

the original hem in order to ensure a straight

hem on your new length.  

Once you have marked around the entire skirt,

you are ready to cut. You will basically just

connect the marks you just made while cutting

with your scissors or blade.

 Be sure to lay your skirt out so that you

are only cutting thru ONE LAYER!

Also-you need to cut this off in one continuous piece.

This fabric we just cut off will be used for our straps.

Once you have completed cutting the bottom of the skirt

off, put that piece to the side...we'll come back

to it in a minute.

Let's go ahead now and put a new hem on the 

bottom of the skirt. I turned mine over 1/2" TWICE

so I had a finished edge. Mark it with your 

seam gauge, pin and iron as you are marking it.

Now go ahead and sew it.

Next we are going to make our straps.

Take the big piece you just cut off from the

bottom of the skirt. Determine how wide you

want your straps to be. If the piece you cut off is

extremely wide you'll need to cut some of it

off again so it's not too bulky. I simply

folded the unfinished edge over to meet the 

center of the already finished edge and that was

perfect (My straps are 1.75" wide).

 Go ahead and iron it down.

 

 If you have a serger I would recommend serging

the raw edge before you fold it over and iron it

down. However, I don't have a serger so I didn't

finish the edge first.....I figure it won't show and

I didn't want to take the time to finish the edge.

Hopefully it won't fray too bad when I wash it.

Now you can sew the piece down.

I went ahead and made two stitch lines down

the length of the strap in the center because I thought it

looked better that way. Depending on the type of 

stitch that was in the original hem, you may already

have a visible stitch. If this is the case-be sure to

sew this down using the existing stitch as a 

guide to determine the distance apart for the 2nd

stitch you are about to put in. Does that make sense?

You want the stitches to be straight because

they will be very visible on the straps.

 Now you should have a big long piece of fabric with 

finished edges. Go ahead and cut it in half.

 This next part is MUCH EASIER if you have someone

who can help you. I didn't and it took me forever!

You need to determine the placement of the straps now

so put the dress on, pulled up over your boobs. 

Remember to have the bra on that you intend to 

wear with the dress. Have someone pin the straps

onto your dress both in the front and the back.

 You are going to sew this right onto the dress

now but you don't want to sew thru the elastic.

You still want the elastic to be able to stretch and move

so be careful to pin and sew at the top and bottom

of the casing NOT thru the elastic.

 Sew both straps on.

Almost done.....now we want to sew the sash onto

the front of the dress. This is what makes the 

sweetheart-type neckline and fitted bust look.

The skirt I bought already had a very long sash attached 

to it so I just used that. If you need to make one,

You can either use a scarf you already have

or you will need to sew another long strap that

is approximately 3.5 " wide and 6 ft long.

Most likely you won't have enough fabric from the 

bottom of the skirt to make a sash with also.

That's OK. I actually think it would have

been cuter if I had used a different fabric for the sash.

(in fact-I'm going to try that next time)

If you have to make a sash from scratch-you will need a 

piece of fabric that is 8" wide by 6 ft 1 inch long.

Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together

and stitch it together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Do not sew the two ends.

Now you turn it right side out by pulling

one end thru to the other end. Iron it

and after turning your ends under, 

sew the ends shut.

Now you have your sash.

Fold your sash in half lengthwise and pin the

center of it to the center of the bust of your dress,

right directly underneath the bottom stitch

from the elastic casing. 

Stitch this onto the dress,

being sure again to not stitch thru the elastic.

You don't need a long stitch line for this because

you want it to be sewn onto it with just

a SMALL stitch length. 

Mine is only like 3 stitches that I just

re-enforced several times using my back stitch.

THAT'S IT!

You're done.

Put the dress on and pull the sash down underneath

your boobs and pull tight around to the back.

Tie and adjust as you need to.

 Voila....

a new sundress made from a skirt.

Guess what?

You just made a dress that can be worn 3 ways.

If you want more coverage in the front you

can turn it around and wear it like this:

This offers more coverage in the boobie/cleavage

department....the tie is in the front now. 

I don't have pictures of this but you can also

wear it as a maxi skirt with a sash tied at the waist.

I've worn it all 3 ways and trust me.....

it's equally as cute each way!

Again, I apologize for the crappy pics in this 

tutorial......the tutorial took me longer to

create than the entire dress did!

 Linking up with Positively Splendid.

and

Recycled Fashion Finds

~leather and lace belt~

I love lace and I've been seeing it 

in people's fashion choices a lot lately it seems.

I got a big piece of thick lace a few weeks ago

with the intentions of adding it to a waistband

on a pair of pants of mine. 

Well, that didn't work out and I've been trying

to figure out how I could use it.

I saw this dress on Pinterest a few days ago

and knew immediately what I wanted to do with the lace:

Isn't this beautiful?

Seriously?!

Anyway, keep in mind this was just my inspiration.

Obviously I didn't make a dress like this.....YET :)

This is what I did:

I made a little lace belt to layer with other belts.

I know this shirt isn't the best with it and I didn't realize

 until I looked at the pictures tonight...yowza.

Next time I'm going to try it with a little shift dress.

Here's how I did it.

First off, buy enough lace to fit around your waist

with about 2 extra inches. Next you want to wrap the

lace around your waist where you'll be wearing it and

mark with pins the two meeting points on each end. 

Go ahead and fold the ends under about an inch.

 The pins represent the line I will be sewing my snaps on.

Now you want to take another piece of material that has

some body and stiffness to it. This is what you will be 

attaching the snaps to. I used some weird shiny black

material I've had for years. Cut a piece just big enough to

fit in between the two layers of the lace ends you 

just folded under. You'll want to use a piece

the same color as your lace so it doesn't stick out

like a sore thumb. 

 This is what it will look like:

Next you will be sewing the ends of your lace that you've

just turned under and placed the fabric strip into.

 Sew both ends under and it will look something like this:

Now the tedious part.....sewing on the snaps.

uggghh.

These were the kind I used.

 Make sure you have a "male" and a "female" part for

each snap. Determine where you want to place

them and sew them on. It was a little tricky

sewing a black snap onto a black piece of lace

with a black piece of thread....I poked myself a lot.

 Nice chipped nail polish eh?

So, once you've got them sewn on, it will look 

something like this. Remember, not both ends will

be turned under in the same direction. Since you want

them to meet and lay flat, one end will actually be 

turned up and the other end will be turned down.

Also, be sure to sew your snaps on the underside of

the piece that will laying on the top. On the other end,

you will sewing them on the top. Is this making sense?

Once you lay out the lace and start fitting it to you

I think you will see what I'm talking about.

I should have said that before now shouldn't I?

I learned this the hard way.

yeah...and I thought sewing the snaps was rough?

Try unpicking a black seam on a piece of black lace.

I can't believe I didn't destroy it.

I tried it with a couple different belts and 

it looked cute with all of them.

What a shame I didn't try a different shirt.

I am really loving the "leatha and lace" look.

Can't wait to try it with something else.

~tutorial-leg warmers~

I love leg warmers on babies. 

When will there be any other time in a persons 

life that chubby leg rolls sticking out the

top of leg warmers is considered cute?

Uhhhh-NEVER!

When I found out I was having a baby girl

one of the first things I said, 

"Oh yay! I get to make leg warmers for her."

And I have.

Several.

For every holiday.

I'm going to show you how to do it.

It's probably the easiest project I do.

You can make a pair in 10 minutes flat.

First off, get some socks you want to use for the leg warmers.

I use small socks for babies and knee high socks for little girls.

My secret go-to place for knee high socks?

The dollar store.

 There are only a few simple steps to follow while making these.

Here goes:

 I've got too many "the's" in there don't I? oops.

I also used "to" instead of "too"....this is buggin me

but I'm not about to go back and fix it.

I made all three pairs in 30 minutes.

This is one of my go-to gifts for little girls.

Quick. Easy. Inexpensive.

And most importantly.....super cute.  

My favorite leg warmers I've made my little lady

are out of some old vintage socks I got from my

very own sock stash. Go thru your own sock

drawer before you hit the store....you might be

amazed at what you find.

~tutorial-skirt made into shirt~

For those of you wanting to know how to make this:

Here's the tutorial I promised.

First up-find a skirt you want to use.

This was a skirt I got second hand for $4.

I tried the skirt on upside down as a shirt and pinned while

it was on me to determine where I wanted to start

sewing and where I would need to put the arm holes. 

Lay your skirt out flat and measure how far you

want your shoulder seams to be from the center of your neck

i.e. center of the skirt at this point:

The hem of the skirt will now become your shoulder

seams and neckline and the waist of the skirt will

be the waist of the shirt. Basically, you are just

turning the skirt upside down and putting it on 

as a shirt.

I started my shoulder seams at 5 5/8 inches from the

center of the skirt. Turn your skirt

inside out and pin where you will begin your seam.

Do this on both sides from the center.

Next, determine where you need your armholes and

un-stitch the side seam on each side to accommodate this.

My arm holes begin at 1" down the side and

they are 7 1/4 " long. Un-stitch on both sides.

Now you can start sewing.

Go ahead and sew your shoulder seams.

Next, you want to prepare your arm hole for sewing 

by picking out the loose threads you just un-stitched and

turning it under and pinning down. 

You may have to snip across the existing seam at

the bottom of the arm hole to get it to lay flat.

 Now go ahead and sew around the armholes. You'll

want this to be one continuous stitch. I started at the front

of the armhole and sewed around to the back.

Your arm hole should look something like this when done:

This skirt had a tied belt that came with it.

It yours doesn't you can either use a scarf you already

have or make a belt with other fabric you like.

If you just want to wear the shirt like this you are done.

 If you want to have the option to wear it as a wrap

then you need to put a hook and eye on it.

I actually just made a loop with some 

thread so it doesn't show when I wear the shirt as above.

Try the shirt on and wrap it around how you would wear it.

Go ahead and put a pin where you need to sew the hook

and also a pin where you need your loop.

 Sew your hook on being careful to only go thru 

one layer of fabric. We don't want the stitches to show

on the front of the shirt once it's sewn on.

Also, be sure to have your hook facing the correct way.

You'll want to make sure it will grab the little loop

you are about to create.

 This is how it looks from the front....see how the

stitches from the hook aren't visible from the front?

Now you'll want to make a loop for the hook

to hook into and hold your shirt together.

Like I said, I just used some thread to make a small loop.

To make the loop just sew from one spot to another

a few times over itself. You're basically just making

a tiny stitch that's thick.

This is what it will look like.

Can you see it?

You don't want it to be too big so it won't 

stick out while you're wearing the shirt the other way.

It should be just big enough to catch the hook.

 Here it is in comparison to a pin head.

That's it. 

Take your belt and loop it thru one of the bottom 

button holes, wrap it around your waist

and tie again at the front.

Now you can wear your shirt like this too:

Or, you can turn it around and wear it like this:

GOOD LUCK WITH YOURS!

I hope this makes sense.

These tutorials are always trickier and more time consuming

than I think they are going to be.

I'd love to see yours if you do one.

Linking up with kojo designs. 
and positively splendid.