pajamas into ruffled tote

These cozy pants were given to me (thanks Cindy!) and I liked them as pants.  They were soft, they were snazzy with the black and white print.  They were nice pants….except they were high waisted.  Now, I’m not one to really “dress to impress” when I’m headed to bed, but I just COULD NOT DEAL with them up so high on my tummy.  
I altered the crotch area so they fit low on my hips.  Better.
Except now they were a bit too tight around my hips.  I snipped the elastic and tried to wear them but it was basically just terrible.
I tried, but some alterations are just not meant to be.   I decided to do what I do best and started slicing the pants into strips with my rotary cutter.  
Ruffles….gorgeous soft ruffles….I can’t go wrong with ruffles glued onto something, right?

Another freebie canvas bag from some conference.   I’m sorry Apress spent so much money on this method of advertising because this bag is clearly not going to give them any business leads unless some crazy Goggle search lands people onto this page where they will be so confused with all the ruffle references.  
(This may be the last conference bag I have left, so I hope Brian gets sent somewhere soon!)

I layered a gazillion rows of ruffles, gluing them down with hot glue as I went until I ran out of ugly canvas to cover.

I sent this bag to my sister hoping that she can use it for library books or something.   (and think of me and ruffles each time, knowing that I love her and them, well…her more than them of course.)
The. End.

Large purple shirt

I found this purple shirt at a thrift store near my mom’s house for $1.99.

Love the color.

Love the price.

Love the bling along the neckline.

It was a size 2X, so I grabbed it, because I can *usually* alter things to fit me.

I cut about 4 inches off the bottom and didn’t bother to hem it because it rolled up and looks just fine!  Sweet….

Then I pulled out the elastic thread and decided to try it on the scrap piece I cut off the length.  To my great surprise, it worked and gathered up the fabric just right.   I’ve tried elastic thread about 4 other times over the past year with zero success.  I’m not sure why it worked this time around…but makes me think, “If at first you don’t succeed, try  try again.”  There’s a reason that quote took off….huh?

I love the rouching (is that the right word?  Spell checker has never heard of it…) on the sleeves, which turn them into the  right length so I don’t have to push them up all day long.

Doily and lace shirt

 

I made this funky shirt by layering pieces of doilies and lace onto a plain shirt.   It’s not quite my style, but it was fun to play around with pretty little scraps.

 

I tried something new on this project; spraying adhesive onto the doily before placing it on my shirt. That gave me a tacky hold and  I was able to move the piece around a few times.   When I was happy with the placement, I sewed it into place without worrying about pinning it down or it slipping out of place.   The spray was a little bit stinky, but it washes out just fine.

Summer ruffle tote

Snazzy little tote, right? It wasn’t always this rufflelicious…. 
A friend gave me this happy striped bag and immediately I knew I wanted to ruffle it up a little bit.   There is a teeny tiny spot of dirt that I wanted to cover up too.

I found a white camisole in my refashion pile.  Someone cut off the shoulder straps.  I guess that would be me, but I can’t remember why.   Whatever- I don’t need them anyway! 


I started an episode of Downton Abbey, grabbed the shirt and some scissors.  Starting at the bottom and cutting in a spiral, I cut one long strip of fabric about one inch wide.  That took one episode.   Because I could barely take my eyes off the show.  Wow.   I’m hooked.
The next night, I ran that super long strip of  shirt fabric through my machine using a long stitch and high tension setting to get a pile of ruffles.
Then I plugged in my hot glue gun and started up the next episode of Downton  Abbbey. 
The clothes.  That HOUSE.   60 maids????   oh my. 

Starting in the center of the bag, I glued the ruffle strip around and around. 
It probably took me an hour…a Downton Abbey hour.  Sigh.  

If you like ruffles, check out these other projects!
Conference bag tote
Ruffled hoodie refashion
Pillowcase and Ruffles Dress
Ruffled Curtains
Waterfall Ruffles Pillow
Ruffled Sweatshirt
Orange Shirt, Pink Ruffles
Ruffled Grey Tee Shirt
Ruffled Pants
DIY Ruffled Layering Shirt
Ruffled Crepe Paper Decorations

maternity shirt into skirt

I wore this maternity shirt to a friends wedding 7 years ago.   Every once in a while I would try to wear it as is, but it’s way too flowery and crazy to wear near my face.   I cut right above the armpits, folded over twice and sewed a hem for the top of the skirt.  It fits just right over my hips, which is not something to brag about, but it made this an easy refashion!

I’ve been wearing fleece lined leggings almost everyday.  They are so cozy and warm, even when I’m walking across campus in the dead of winter.   I have them in black, navy and hot pink, and buy them through Amazon.
Leggings, skirts and boots= my style at age 34.

Conference bag plus shirt

I made myself a new tote bag out of some stuff headed to the garbage:  An old conference bag from 5 years ago and a shirt that Brian discarded due to red ink stains and snags.

This is a pretty decent bag, as far as conference bags go.   It’s sturdy canvas with a zipper.  It’s Just. So. Ugly.

I bought this golf shirt for Brian, possibly even at full price  (GASP!) because I loved the color.  I was trying to be supportive of his hobby, I guess.  It’s one of those breathable shirts that the golf people sell.  Unfortunately, it did not withstand the laundering conditions at my house and landed in the throw away pile.


I cut the shirt into one inch strips and then ruffled them until I had yards and yards of ruffles.  Those crazy conference people had printed stuff on the back AND the front of the bag, so I used every possible part of the shirt to get enough ruffles.
This is all that was left of the shirt! Wow, right?

I used my hot glue gun to attach the rows of ruffles on the bag.  And I glued on some rolled flowers made from some old lady scarves.   I love how it turned out, transforming two ugly things into something pretty and useful.


If you like ruffles, check out these other projects!

Summer Tote with Ruffles
Ruffled hoodie refashion
Pillowcase and Ruffles Dress
Ruffled Curtains
Waterfall Ruffles Pillow
Ruffled Sweatshirt
Orange Shirt, Pink Ruffles
Ruffled Grey Tee Shirt
Ruffled Pants
DIY Ruffled Layering Shirt
Ruffled Crepe Paper Decorations

$3 summer dress

At the end of the summer season, my favorite consignment store Clothes Mentor, clearanced out some of the summer inventory.   I got this for only $3.  It had never been worn and had the original store’s tag still attached.  I love the color and the soft drape-y fabric.  It was a good fit…nice.   But I wanted to play around a little with adding some fabric.

I ironed on some wonder under to a bright flowery fabric from my stash, and then cut out clusters of flowers and placed them along one side of the dress.   I sewed them down on my machine so they won’t go anywhere!

SEW PRETTY….   lol.

An oldie but a goodie

In college I worked at Old Navy, where I gave most of my paycheck back to them every week purchasing clothes.  This was in the late 90’s when fleece was just starting to be mass produced and flooding the markets.   I remember one day, I hid this fleece waaaaay in the back of a pile of fleece sweaters so that no one else would buy it.  At the end of the day, the boring old brown fleece was mine!  It’s a men's size large, so it was big and cozy.  My sis stole it from me a few times and she loves to tease me about how I still wear it 14 years later.
Sadly, I wore it while touching up some paint in the kitchen and got some on the beloved sweater.  


I decided to resize it to fit me better in the sleeves and sides.  When I cut off the excess, I was left with these crazy shapes- perfect for making a tone on tone design to cover up the paint.

I played around with shapes and layout until I was happy.

I can’t wait to see what my sister says when I
pull it out of my suitcase at Christmas!

Free Hoodie gets an update

One of my friends let me look through her pile of junk that was headed to a donation pile.  This grey sweatshirt was something that I grabbed.  It had a grease spot or something on one of the pockets…no big deal.   It has been well worn by someone I love, plus it has a thick Sherpa lining and is super warm.

Next up:  an XL camisole that was about $.50 at a community thrift store.  I know it’s weird that I grabbed it, but I like the fabric.  I don’t think I could ever wear a used negligée….

I found this pair of baby velour pants that the girls outgrew.   I already used part of one leg for some other project, but there was plenty for me to use on the other side for the sweatshirt.

Ta-Da!

Silky ruffles

Strips of soft velour

Camisole straps as detail on the hood

Here it is in action!

Ruffles and pillowcases

I found this gorgeous ruffled girls shirt at a thrift store.   
It was shaped funny, so I took in the sides a little bit and then added part of a pillowcase to the bottom to make it into a dress for next summer.  I kinda wish it was in my size.


I kinda wish it was in my size!

rocking chair love

I love rocking chairs.  I have 5 of them in my house.  My in-laws bought this one for us when Joshua was born and it’s my favorite one.  It’s got smooth moves and I’ve spent days, possibly weeks of my life rocking and nursing my little babies here.   I’m never getting rid of it.  Never.  I’ve moved it all around the house and it currently sits in the playroom because uh…I have four other rocking chairs.

My mom showed me some “happy chairs” made by Shawna Robinson, and we both decided that we needed something like that in our house too!


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Tee-shirt scarf dress

This pretty dress started out as plan Jane navy t-shirt from some thrift store.

 

I added a pretty scarf to the bottom for a flouncy skirt. (I sewed a straight line using a large stitch along the edge of the scarf, then ruffled the length until it was the same as the shirt's bottom)

 

Kaylee wears leggings under all her dresses, so I didn’t worry about the length.  She wore it to school today, but wasn’t in the mood to pose.

Yah… I’m lucky I got any action shots.