T-Shirt Bags

I made some giant bags to hold my little guy's toys. They are made from adult sized polo shirts. I'll post a tutorial for how to make them soon.

The patches and drawstrings are made from t-shirt scraps.

T-Shirt Sleeve Pouch Tutorial

If you do a lot of t-shirt projects like I do, you likely have lots of scraps. I don't throw away my colorful scraps and I also don't throw away t-shirt sleeves. I decided to make these sleeves into small pouches. Here's what you'll need:

You can make the pouch out of any size sleeve, just cut it off at or below the sleeve's seam. You'll need random scraps of other knit fabric and one scrap that's 1 1/2" wide and long enough to thread through the sleeve's hem to act as a drawstring.

First, start sewing on some of the scraps in whatever design you want.

I made a ruffle for this one.

Next, turn the t-shirt inside out. You'll sew the bottom seam along the t-shirt's former armpit.

Remove a few stitches with your seam ripper to open up the hem of the t-shirt. Then you'll need to reinforce the seam with a few stitches to keep it from un-hemming the whole way down the sleeve.

Sew a tube with the 1 1/2" wide scrap you've cut for the drawstring. Turn the tube right sides out with a safety pin and then run the tube through the sleeve's open hem. Knot the ends and you're done!

Using T-Shirt Scraps

Here's my latest creation using T-Shirt scraps:

These pouches were made using the sleeves from t-shirts. I just randomly sewed scraps onto the t-shirt sleeves and made some (odd-shaped) drawstring pouches.

I think I'll use some of them to keep my son's toys together. I'll have a tutorial on how to make them soon.

Zipper Pouch with Flower

Here's another zipper pouch I made using the tutorial I posted here.

This one is tiny, just the right size for change. I made it out of the remaining pants I repurposed into a maternity skirt.

Yellow and Gray Ruffle Bag

A few weeks ago, I posted pictures of my yellow and gray ruffle zipper pouch. Here's a follow-up project in the same color family!

I created this bag from the remains of a pair of pants (the pants I made into maternity shorts, tutorial parts I and II). The yellow ruffle is from a t-shirt (the same shirt from my ruffle scarf tutorial).

Here are the pieces I started with for the bag:

The only pieces I measured were for the bag; they are 11.5" wide x 13" tall. The lining is slightly shorter. I sewed the ruffle on before I sewed the bag together, then followed the same steps I specified in the tutorial for my "Cute Little Bag".

I did buttonholes instead of velcro because I currently have NO velcro in my house. I confess, I don't actually know HOW to do button holes. I use the button hole foot and hope for the best. They turned out well, but completely off-center. So I decided to place the buttons on the inside of the bag to hide my mistake of off-centered button holes.

I really love how it turned out. If only I'd used interfacing! If I'd known it was going to turn out well, I would have purchased some (I have none!)

No velcro, no interfacing....If you can't tell, I'm in need of a trip to the sewing store!

Toddler Flag Shirt

I made this shirt from scraps and sewed it onto a hand-me-down shirt. It was a last-minute effort to make patriotic clothing my little guy to wear on the 4th of July. It only took me about a half hour to complete.

Newborn Hats

I made a few more newborn hats this week. I'm in full nesting mode (only 2.5 weeks left til my due date!); at least as much as I can be since I don't have my own house

(5 weeks til our projected move-in date!)

I made these hats using the tutorial and pattern I posted here.

Something really exciting is that a friend of the family is working with a church group to make hats and blankets for the local hospital (the same hospital where I'll be having the baby!) She said that some of the moms have nothing for the baby and the hospital staff has to scramble to find a blanket for them to take home. So my friend is going to use my pattern to turn t-shirts into hats for these underprivileged babies.

I'm thinking that I'll take my extra newborn hats in my hospital bag and leave them with the nursing staff to give to moms in need. My baby can only wear a few...it IS July, after all!

Yellow and Gray Zippered Ruffle Pouch

I love the color combo yellow and gray. You may be seeing more of it from me.

I made this pouch using the same procedure I did for the tutorial found here. The only difference is that this pouch is 5" x 7". I made it to protect my itouch.

Part of it is even repurposed: I used a zipper from a pair of pants I ripped apart to make

into maternity shorts.

Gathered Tunic Shirt

Talk about a super easy frugal, repurposed tunic! You've got to try making yourself one of these.

I started this project because I had this tank top with two stains on it.
No idea how they got there.
I love the color, so I wasn't ready to say 'bye-bye' to the shirt itself.

I got this shirt below practically free from a church rummage sale. It's brand new; it has 'sample' written on the inside in permanent marker.

The shirt was too small for me to wear (I am really tall, and it's a size small!) but it was perfect for my project.

Not sure how to obtain more sample clothing. Ideas? What do stores do with their samples?

I cut off the blue shirt below the bust as I wanted to create a tunic with an empire waist.
I have another shirt with the same type of style, so I measured it and found it was 12" from the shoulder to the waist.
I added an extra 3/4'' for seam allowance to the length before cutting.

I took the second shirt and cut it right underneath the armpits. I wanted the waist of the tunic to be as long as possible.
The yellow shirt had a greater diameter than the blue one. I gathered the front and back of the yellow shirt until it met up with the blue shirt's diameter.
Gathering just the front and back (not the sides) gives a more slimming effect.

I pinned the tunic pieces into place with right sides together.

After sewing the seam, I turned the shirt right sides out and removed the basting stitches I had used for gathering the front and back.

Press the seam with a steam iron.
I could have stopped right there, but I couldn't resist adding some sort of an embellishment to the upper part of the shirt.

I decided to add a little ruffle. I just gathered a strip of the solid yellow fabric with my sewing machine...

...pinned it into place...and then sewed it down. Then I removed the basting stitches I had used for gathering the ruffle.

All done! I can't model it yet because I'm still nine months pregnant. I'm looking forward to wearing it this summer after the baby arrives!

You could easily make this a maternity style shirt, too. You'd need to start with a shirt larger than a size small for the bottom half and probably do some heavier gathering than I used for this one (you might have to gather the sides!) Alternatively, you could probably pleat the front and leave plenty of room for a pregnant tummy.

Bathing Suit Cover-Up Tutorial

It's been hot! I have been taking my son to the pool a few times per week. I need some sort of a bathing suit cover-up. However, after I got halfway done with this one, I was discouraged to note it was not going to be flattering on an almost-9-months-pregnant woman.

I will be saving it for when I'm done with this pregnancy in about 4 weeks!

...and after I lose the baby weight and feel like putting on a bathing suit...which could be next summer...

I used three t-shirts to make this cover-up. I determined how much fabric I could use from each shirt (I cut around any printing on the t-shirt to just use plain fabric) and planned a finished length of 35". That meant seven 5" strips. I made the strips 44" wide which was the full width of the t-shirts.

Note: I cut the white strips 6" tall to allow for seam allowance after assembling the strips. I also made sure to use the hem of the shirt at the bottom of the cover-up so I wouldn't have to do my own hem.

After sewing all the strips together and then sewing the assembled strips into a tube, I folded the top strip down about 1/2" and pinned it into place. Then I pressed it.

This will be the elastic casing.

I sewed around the whole top of the pressed-down piece but left a tiny opening.

I cut a strip of 1/4" wide elastic long enough to securely gather the fabric just below armpit level. I inserted my elastic into the casing and ran it through using a safety pin.

I securely stitched the ends of the elastic together.

Then, I sewed the casing shut the rest of the way.

I determined the straps needed to be approximately 18" long. I wanted the straps to be 2" wide in their finished form. I sewed two tubes and then turned and pressed them flat. To attach the straps, I tried on the whole cover-up to determine where to place them. Then I stitched them into place.

Somewhere along the line, I made a belt (I forgot to take pictures). I used leftover fabric from two of the shirts, stitched it together, turned it, pressed it, and sewed the open end together. It's about 3" wide and 44" long.

I made the belt loops 2" x 4". I sewed them together, clipped the corners, turned them, and pressed them flat.

I sort of had to guess where to attach them, but ideally, I would have measured where I wanted the belt to hit. Since my waist feels it is 100x its normal size right now, I just guessed!

Another free project! I love using old t-shirts to make new things. These shirts were such great colors, too.

I can't wait to get my 'regular' figure back so I can try it on. I have found that horizontal stripes are not the most flattering on my pregnant frame.

If you wanted to make this for a toddler or small child, you could just use one t-shirt, not strips. That would allow you to skip the first few steps.

Toddler Shorts Repurposed from Men's Shorts

I love to make things for my little boy. I wanted to make him some plaid shorts for the summer with a slight patriotic theme (since it is Memorial Day!)

Here's a preview:

I decided to buy a pair of used shorts from the thrift store. They had a missing button. I should've asked for a discount, but didn't. I paid $5. A little steep? Maybe.

Anyway, I used the pattern for flat front pants from MADE. (And I didn't do a whole tutorial, just a few highlight pictures from the process. So visit Dana's site if you want the whole scoop!)

I cut these so I could use the existing bottom hem for the new shorts' bottom hem:

Keep in mind that the front and back of shorts and pants should be a little different, even for kids. One exception is that usually newborn pants can be made with the same pattern for front and back.

Sew the crotch seams up to the waistband. Don't sew down the legs yet!

To sew down the legs, you'll attach the front and back pieces. (No picture for this).

This is what the elastic casing will look like:

Since I did the flat front version, there is no elastic in the front of the shorts.

Trying to get a good picture of my child is difficult. Even with a graham cracker bribe.