Dress Re-Purpose

Do you ever look at something you purchased in the past and think "What was I thinking?" This happens to me every now and then but since I have started blog stalking I have kept some of these items in hopes that I will find another use for them.  In my Pinterest obsession I have seen several tutorials for skirts like this or this. Then I remembered that while I was cleaning out my closet before we moved to Texas I set aside a purple jersey dress that I purchased several years ago.  I thought to myself "Why have a kept this?" and then remembered that I met my husband wearing the dress so I wasn't ready to get rid of it.  Anyway, this dress was perfect for a re purpose!

So let's not judge here...I like the color and it was super comfy. The neckline was cute and it tied in the back. But what in the world is going on with the gems in the middle?  So here is what I did. I cut off the top and cut off the gems.

Then I decided to cut off the layer of fabric that the gems were attached to because it was the texture of  a ribbon..  I turned the band that was left into the skirt and then I sewed it down. Now since I have never sewn jersey material before and I was having to turn the skirt the finished band is a bit ruched by accident.  However, once you have on a shirt with the skirt you really can't tell.

So here is my final skirt and my toes. I swore they were not in the picture when I took it.  The skirt goes to my knees and that is perfect for me because this is a lounging skirt so longer is good for couch sitting.  I am wearing it down with a white tank top.

I kept the ties from the back of the dress, the sleeves and yes even those gems. I will find something to do with them!

Reversible Headband!

Raise your  hand if you have a big ol' Irish head?! ME! I cannot wear headbands at all.  I wanted to be cool a few years ago and wear the Under Armour elastic headbands when I went to the gym or when I had my hair in a ponytail and they just didn't stay on my head.  In my blog stalking I have seen a lot of headbands but I just don't think I can pull off the whole headband with huge flowers on it.

So I decided to try and make this braided headband and it came out OK but I wasn't in love. (I did cut apart and Under Armour headband to use for the elastic!) So then I decided I would make my own, reversible headband and I did and it came out very perfect for me and my big head!

You need:
- two pieces of different patterned material cut 2 1/2 inches by 20 inches
- 5 inch piece of elastic

1. Sew the two pieces of material with right sides together on the long ends only and start about a half inch down on the long side and stop half of an inch before you reach the end.

2. Turn your strip so the right sides are facing out.

3. Place the elastic about an inch into one of the open ends of the strip. Fold the material down into the inside the strip and then sew in place.

4. Top stitch around the entire headband with about a 1/4 or smaller seam allowance. Do not top stitch the open end of the strip.  Since one side of my headband was black and the other a whitish I put black thread in the top of the machine and white thread in the bottom and stitched with the black material facing up. I am not sure if that is common practice but it made sense to me!

5. Wrap the headband around your head and figure out how much give you need in your elastic to make the headband stay on your head...I needed two inches.

6. Place the other end of the elastic into the open end of the strip until you have the length of elastic showing that you need for stretching (two inches for me).

6. Turn the ends of the strip in and sew. 

Mail Organizer

A long time ago I bought a book called One Yard Wonders and planned to make everything in it as soon as I got it.  However, I ended up getting a job in Okie so that did not happen.  Since moving to South Texas I have gotten back into learning how to sew.  My friend Emily made these mail organizers from the book back in the fall and I thought they were a great idea to have to keep the papers off of the counter. I don't want to violate any copyright laws here so I will just tell you the basics of the project.

You need:

-One yard of fabric.

- Cut eight 13X11 inch sections out of the fabric.

- Sew two together with right sides together but just sew the two short sides and one long side. (Do this four times)

- Turn one right side out and put another inside of it with wrong sides together.

- Fold down the top, raw edge and top stitch.

- Add loops for hanging as desired.  I used two short straps with D rings attached.

Nursing Cover/Hooter Hider

My very best friend had a baby last week and it kills me that I am thousands of miles away from her.  When I found out she was pregnant I looked up patterns for nursing covers. I got the idea to make one when I was at a work cookout a few years ago and was sitting next to a fellow teacher who was using a nursing cover and I thought it was such a great idea. 

In my blog stalking  I came across and reversible nursing cover pattern that seemed fairly simple.  I finally decided to get going on it after we moved to South Texas so I headed to Hobby Lobby and tried to pick out some material. I am not sure if it was me or Hobby Lobby or what but I think I was in there for an hour trying to figure out what two materials to buy.  I decided on a brown and white polka dot for one side and a bluish/brownish floral/paisley for the other.  This way it wasn't super girly or boyish.


Now I have sewn like one other thing ever so I was a bit nervous during the entire process.  Here is what I learned:

- I hate pinning. It takes so long BUT is sure does help.
- My friend Emily's mom suggested putting a piece of tape on the machine at where you want your seams and this was a life saver.
- I am not that great at top stitching.

The only problems I had were that I accidentally sewed the entire cover together, wrong sides out, and then realized I hadn't turned it right sides out yet.  That was an easy fix.  Also, I tested and tested my tension and stitch length a million times and somehow in some places my bottom stitch has this weird looking loopy thing going on...I say it adds character! Finally, it is just sewn funky in one place.

Overall I will call this one a success!! I am thinking the last thing on my friend's mind will be evaluating my sewing skills while breastfeeding.  And to my next friend who gets pregnant...maybe yours will be more perfect!!

You can find the directions for the nursing cover on Make It and Love It!

Rag Quilt- The Start!

Ok so like two months ago Emily and I traveled to Hennessey to Prairie Quilt and got some fabric. I bought blue, red and tan flannel plaid to make a rag quilt for Nate.  Well here we are two months later and ladies and gentlemen, I have completed the FIRST ROW!!!!!

Now this has been a learning process. Let me remind you that I have never used a sewing machine before IN MY LIFE.  Also, I have never even really cut material or done anything related to sewing.  With that being said, there are a lot of mistakes...

During this process I learned how to/that:
- NOT get the thread tangled under the material.
- Load my bobbin.
- Thread my machine.
- Cutting straight straight, even squares are important.
- A good rotary cutter and a LARGE cutting mat are necessary!!
- It takes a long time to sew squares!

With that being said, my squares are not perfect and my lines are not straight but by golly I am getting the hang of it.  I have 70 some more red squares I need to sew together and then another 110 "quilted" squares to sew together to create the quilt but I will get there one of these days.

Once I have finished the quilt I will post how I did it!

The is the "rag" side that will be snipped into a fringe looking border. The other side is smooth!

Sock Dog

Sock Dog
from Martha Stewart

Sit!

Stand!

Ok so maybe I have lost it a little bit but I got a book from the library with sewing projects and this was in it....and I could not resist.  So I made a sock dog. He sits around, sheds and is cute....just like a real dog (which I cannot have until MARCH!) For step by step directions go here:

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/sock-dogs#slide_1

PS You need two socks!

1st Sewing Project- Pillows

Throw Pillows

Ok so honestly I attempted to make some coffee mug cosies and that was a HUGE flop because I don't know how to sew in curves yet.  So today I took out my material again and decided to practice sewing in lines. I made two throw pillows and I am quite happy with how they came out.  Here is what I did:

Must have materials:
A cutting mat
Ruler
Rotary cutter

Then obvious things like material, thread and stuffing for the pillows.

For the pink and green pillow I used eight 4 in x 4 in squares of pink fabric and eight 4 in x 4 in squares of green fabric. One 14 in x14 in piece of black fabric for the back (if you make this I would double check that measurement.)

To sew the patches together put a pink and green square together with the "right sides" of the fabric together and sew one side. Do this with one more set of pink and green squares. Now match the two pieces together by matching the right sides together again and sew on one side.  This will give you a square of squares.  Make four squares of squares to create the front.  Cut the black fabric out and place the patches and black fabric with right sides together.  Sew all the way around and leave a 3 to 4 in opening. Turn right side out and then stuff.  I did a horrible job of sewing up the stuffing opening but you know this was my first project.

For the black and white pillow I have two 7 in x 7in print squares, two 7 in x7 in black squares and one 13.5 in x 13.5 in of black.  Sew together like the first pillow!

Ok these were not the best directions but since I made this up and don't know all of the terminology it is the best I can do!