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.

Handmade Thank You Cards

My son got some great gifts for his birthday.
Did you see my post about his birthday decorations here?

I obviously wanted and needed to write some thank-you notes, but I didn't have any cards that were suitable for a little boy to send.

That just shows how many thoughtful gifts this kid has gotten over his two-year life span...I went through all the boy cards in my stash!

After surveying the grocery store's selection a few days ago, I decided to just make some. I had all the supplies...I busted out my scrapbook paper, paper cutter, some ribbon scraps, and a new stamp I got for $1 at Target. They didn't match his birthday party's theme, but I couldn't bear to cut out any more cars after last week!

Ruffle T-Shirt Skirt

In case you missed my guest post at Couturier Mommy last Thursday, here is a repeat of it.

I made this skirt out of two t-shirts. They were both a pale green color--not my favorite but this was an experiment that turned out well. I used a piece of stretch jersey (5% spandex) for the waistband.

I used these two shirts. The second one is my Cleveland Half Marathon shirt. I was sad to cut it up but it had some fading by the neck, so I decided to give in and cut it because it matched this one:

I took a picture of it for nostalgia's sake. I can move on now!

First, I cut the fabric for the ruffle. I made my ruffle 4" wide and without any hemming on either side. I don't really love hemming, and jersey fabric won't fray!

I cut the skirt from the larger of the two shirts. The waist is large enough to fit around the largest part of my hips with an extra inch for seam allowance. I left the hem of the shirt on the bottom of the skirt. The ruffle will cover it up. I made the skirt A-line by just eyeing it up and cutting a straight line down the edges.

Next, I attached the ruffle around the bottom of the skirt. I pinned it over the hem of the t-shirt.

This picture shows how I tried to 'just cover' the hem so the skirt would be as long as possible (I'm a tall girl!)

To make the flower, I took strips of 1.5" wide t-shirt fabric, gathered it, and then cut a circle the diameter that I wanted the flower embellishment to be. I pinned the first row of ruffle around the edge of the circle.

I started sewing that row and kept sewing in a circle (without pinning). I tried to keep each subsequent row of ruffles close enough to cover the last row's stitching, if that makes sense.

There's the finished flower! I attached it to cover the seam of the ruffle (which ended up in the front and off to the side a bit).

The next step is to make the waistband. I made it a lot tighter than I thought I'd need it (this was an experiment...) but it worked really well. I usually make my yoga skirts to fit my waist minus 3". This time, I made it minus 6" and it is very comfortable, yet secure.

Cut two pieces of your waist's fabric to be 14" tall and then your waist measurement minus 6" (x-6).

Sew up the 14" sides with right sides together using a stretch stitch. Fold the waistband over with wrong sides together.

This next part may be a bit unconventional, but I wanted to only gather the back of the skirt, leaving the front part flat. I gathered the back part just enough so that the fabric diameter of the skirt's waist matched that of the waistband.

Then, I pinned the waistband in place (right sides together).

I used a stretch stitch to attach the waistband to the skirt. This is the outside view.

A stem iron will help to rid the skirt's waistband of wrinkles.

Here's a picture of the finished skirt from the back (waist is folded over).

Here is the front view. I like how the flat front looks.

It's been so fun for me to experiment with 'found' fabrics like "upcycled" t-shirts and other clothing.

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.