Frumpy Shirt Refashion and Tutorial

Ever realize you haven’t posted a guest post?  This was one from Cheri’s blog, I Am Momma—Hear Me Roar, during her Refashionista even last fall.  Thought I’d bring it on home!

I found this thrifted shirt that was too big and a bit frumpy, and turned it into something that I love.

The tie-neck was what appealed to me initially so I kept that feature and got to work on the rest.

I’m sure there are more correct ways of altering a shirt to fit, but here is how I do it every time. First, I needed to take in the sides and the arms were a bit too large as well. I like to try on the shirt and get an idea how much I need to take off. Remember that it is always better to sew little by little—I’d much rather not have to unpick! You can see how I curve the stitching so that I will get a better fit around the bust and waist.

Try it on and see if you still need to take it in a bit. I needed to and so I just stitched with my pressure foot edge along the already-stitched line. This way it’s little by little and I don’t end up taking the shirt in too much. Repeat on other side of shirt.

Now for the shoulder seams. It was too large on the shoulders, so I took the top of the sleeve and sewed about a 1/4” stitch from the original seam.

You can see I only sewed about 2”- 3” down either side of the middle of the shoulder. Since I’m not sewing too far in, the sleeve will still have that nice gathered portion at the shoulder.

Next we’ll do the sleeves. I cut off the bottom portion first. Then I cut a 4” piece of the sleeve to use as the cuff. So you’ll have two pieces now for the sleeve cuffs.

I figured out where I wanted the cuff to fall and measured around my arm to make sure it would be big enough.

I pinned the cuff where it needed to be sewn to fit my arm, and zig-zag stitched the edge after cutting off the excess (next 3 pictures).

I folded each cuff in half so the wrong sides were together, right sides out, still forming a circle.

I tried on the shirt again and took note where I wanted the shirt to fall, minus the cuff portion and cut off the excess fabric.

See how my cuff is smaller than my sleeve?

I sewed a basting stitch around the arm-hole and gather by pulling on the strings until it is the same size as the cuff.

I pinned the cuff onto the gathered portion, matching up seams and placing the raw edges together evenly.

I stitched 1/4” and zig-zag or serge the edges to help control fraying.

And there you have it! A really easy way to refashion a shirt. It looks much better now!

 

Even better belted.

And my favorite—with a cardigan and belt!

Such a quick and easy refashion!  So next time you see a shirt that has great fabric or great details, don’t pass it up because the fit isn’t right or it’s too big.  Chances are you can work with it for a few minutes for something great!

Bike Basket: Tutorial

This was post I wrote for Kate’s Ruffle Series a few weeks ago. 

 

I know I’ve done a couple variations of bike baskets (check the tutorial archives), but I’m kind of in love with bike baskets.  I love how they are so convenient and practical, but can be totally cute at the same time.  But having recently stopped by Walmart and seeing the price tags of bike baskets, you could easily make your own for much cheaper!  This time I wanted to keep it really simple—a project that can easily be done in an hour or less.  And since ruffles are such a beautiful compliment to so many items, I thought a ruffle would be perfect to liven up this bike basket.



First you’ll want to choose the right basket.  One that has a somewhat flat side to lay against the bike’s front, one that is wide enough and deep enough.  I found this basket at the thrift store for $1.50. 

What you’ll need:


-basket
-fabric (I used 1/4 a yard, but how much fabric you need depends on how far around your basket is)
-about one package extra wide double folded bias tape
-glue gun

First measure around the top of the basket where your ruffle will be added.



Take that number and add half of it to itself, so mine was about 40”, I added half of that, so 20” and came up with 60”.  So I cut a strip 4” x 60”.  If you want a wider or thinner ruffle, adjust the 4” number I gave you.  You’ll have to cut two strips of fabric most likely and sew them together. 




Fold the strip of fabric in half length-wise, wrong sides together.  Sew two basting stitches close to the edge, making sure to stay close enough to the edge that the bias tape will cover your stitching.



Pull the two basting threads to gather the strip, measuring it against your basket to make sure you gather it enough or not too much.



Next sandwich the raw, gathered edge between the bias tape and sew (narrow edge of bias tape on the top).  I decided I’d use cream instead of the navy blue in the first pictures ;). 



Heat your glue gun and starting in the middle back, start gluing on the bias tape and sticking it onto the basket.  Keep in mind that you’ll be using ties and will need a small gap in two places to stick the ties through. 



When you get to the end, cut off any excess if there is any, fold the raw edge under, and glue the rest of the way. 



I just used some leftover bias tape for the ties. 



Tie it onto your bike, and you are done! 



A cute, quick, and inexpensive bike basket!  I’ve always wanted to ride my bike to a field and gather some wild flowers to put in my bike basket, with some fresh bread or something.  Happy ruffling!

The Easy Peasy Shirt: Tutorial

In case you missed me a couple weeks ago on Sewing in No Man’s Land, here’s the tutorial I shared there.

 

 

 

Made from a fun knit fabric (Joann), this shirt is comfortable and light.  It’s also perfect alone, belted, or for layering.  And it’s SO easy to make! 

 

 

You’ll need: 

-a form fitting shirt (mine is a modbe shirt)

-about a yard of stretch or knit fabric (more or less depending on size you are making and length of the shirt)

-elastic (measure around the part of the waist you want the shirt gathered at, adding just about a half inch, and that’s how much elastic you’ll want)

-twin needle (mine is a 4/80), and also says for stretch fabrics on the back of the package.

 

 

*Please note that you will see my edges are serged as the tutorial progresses. You in no way need a serger to complete this shirt, and I’ve not included that step anywhere in the tutorial.  In fact, I don’t think it helped any because the twin needle does a fine job finishing your garment—I suppose it was more for the inside seams but since this fabric doesn’t fray, I didn’t need to serge the edges at all. Just personal preference—you could zig-zag the unfinished inside seams if you want them polished.

 

*Also, don’t be afraid of using a twin needle.  They are so easy to use and have such professional results!  I love mine and will be using it much more often now that I’ve gotten over my fear of them!  See HERE, HERE, and HERE for great sources on using a twin needle.  The only thing I saw different is one says make sure the thread is coming off the spool the same direction, and the other says the opposite—they both said because it will prevent the thread from twisting.  I tried it both ways and both times I had mine twist together once, so I’m not sure which is the correct way.

 

 

Lay out your shirt on your fabric, double layered. 

 

 

Measure about 4” out from the bottom hem and cut a square or rectangle, if you would like more length.  I cut a 24” x 24” square, but wish I had added about 3” to the bottom and made mine 24” x 27”.  You can learn from my mistakes and make your shirt longer if you want ;). 

 

 

Now take one layer at a time, fold in half, and cut the same neckline using your fitted shirt as the guide (if you like the neckline of course—change it if you would like!).  The front is normally lower than the back, of course.

 

 

Lay the layers on top of each other again, matching up the corners.  Fold in half.

 

 

If you want to give your shirt a bit more shape, you can cut off a small slant as pictured below:

 

 

Next, measure about 10” down from the corner of the shoulder.

 

 

Cut a tiny 1/4” snip or make some type of mark by that 10”. 

 

 

Starting from the lower corner (all the layers still matched at corners and folded in half), cut a curve from the bottom corner to the 10” mark as pictured.  I’m obviously no pattern drafter!

 

 

Unfold shirt and match corners, right sides together.  Starting where the scissors are pointing, pin and sew ONE side seam together, using a 1/4” seam, leaving the armhole open.

 

 

Open your shirt at the side seam so you’ll have one long strip of fabric, but not sewn at the armholes.

 

 

Try the shirt on as best as you can and get a feel as to where you want the gathered portion of the shirt to fall on your torso.  Measure out enough elastic to fit around that portion of you.  I marked where mine should be gathered and it ended up about 5” down from the curve of the armhole.  Mark that at each side of the shirt and connect the marking with a line in chalk or other non-permanent marking device, across the shirt.  You’ll have drawn one long line where you will sew your elastic onto.  Hopefully the pictures will help that make more sense if that is confusing.

 

 

Making sure you measured the elastic for where you want it to be on your body, start in the middle of the elastic at the sewn side seam, and sew the elastic along the line you just marked above, stretching the elastic to make sure it will make it to the other end of the shirt.  This will gather the shirt as you stretch the elastic.

 

 

After you reach one end, start again with the sewn side seam and sew that elastic towards the other end, following the same steps for stretching the elastic.  With right sides together, sew the other side seam together. 

 

 

Now for the finishing touches.  Swap your single needle for the twin needle.  If you don’t have another matching spool of thread, wind a bobbin and put both on the spool.  Thread the machine as if you only had one thread, but holding both strands.  Once you get down to the needle, untwist the strands and thread each needle.  Again, refer to the sources at the beginning of the post for a more thorough explanation of using a twin needle.

 

 

We’ll start with the neckline and fold under the fabric about a 1/2”, but pin on the top, not the bottom. 

 

 

Starting at one of the seams, start sewing, making sure to backstitch at the start and finish.  I just followed the edge of my presser foot.

 

See?  Beautiful! 

 

After the neckline is complete, hem the sleeves and the bottom the same way.  You can choose to use a larger hem on the bottom if you want. Since I made mine shorter than I had wanted, I just used a 1/2” there as well. 

 

Ta-Da!  All done!  It really is SUCH a non-complicated shirt to sew, and finished in very little time!