Tie Dye!

Hubs and I are on vacation, so I thought I'd share some pictures from when my Little (big brothers big sisters) and I tie dyed shirts:

Here's my Little's shirt all full of dye:

Here's my shirt all full of dye:


The instructions on the tie dye package said to wrap the shirts in saran wrap to keep the dye moist... we tried that, but decided it was better to put them in plastic ziploc bags.



8-9 hours later, I rinsed our shirts out and put them through the laundry.

Here's how my Little's shirt turned out:

Here's how my shirt turned out:



I didn't think to look at the fabric contents before we dyed the shirts because the shirt I bought for her was from a stack right next to the tie dye kits. I used an old white shirt of Hubby's that had a stain on it fo myself.

I knew that dye works much better on cotton fabrics and looking at the shirts now it is very apparent.

My old stained shirt was 100% cotton and her new shirt (bought right by the dye) was 50% polyester and 50% cotton. Bummer. Her shirt still turned out really cute, but I would have searched for a 100% cotton shirt for her to use too... guess I shouldn't just assume the craft aisle has the best options in line.

Refashioned t-shirt (pintuck sunburst)

I'm not sure how I feel about this shirt yet... but here it goes:

Before:

1) Flip the shirt inside out to get rid of the huge logo.

2) Find a tank top or shirt that fits well and use it as a guide to make the shirt the correct size (be sure to add a seam allowance!)


3) Cut the sleeves smaller (if desired)

4) Sew the sides of the shirt so the inside of the shirt now has the logo on it.

5) Sew the sleeves back on the shirt.

6) Pleat the sleeves as shown below (this is a top view of the sleeve).

7) Sew the pleat in place.

8) Turn the sleeve edge under and sew in place.

9) Sew pintucks on the right sides of the fabric (I chose to make a sunburst type of pattern, but anything works)

10) Cut the collar off of the shirt (make sure to cut the tag off too)

Adjustable pouch

Somehow Hubby & I misplaced the doggie waste bag holder I made for Beagle's leash. Since little pouches can be used for many things I decided it was time to just make another one and not expect the old one to show up again.

Instead of a drawstring top, this time I used my snap pliers and snap set to make the pouch strap adjustable.


My assistant came around to supervise the project...

I just sewed a small rectangular pouch and added a strap

Then, I added a snap to the strap and two places to snap the strap onto for adjustable lengths.

(don't mind the white thread... I probably should have switched it to black, but just didn't care enough at the time :) )

Swimsuit cover up/dress TUTORIAL

Last week I posted about the swimsuit cover up I made. Thanks to the suggestions of readers, I will now have a lighter suitcase, since many felt this could double over as a dress.

There was a lot of interest in how the neckline was done so you'll find the tutorial below.

On a side note, I'm not sure if it is the "correct" way to go about making this neckline, but it worked for me and the whole project took less than 10 minutes so I'll take my chances :)

Here's what the final product looked like:

Here's the tutorial:


1) Starting at one shoulder, drape your ruler across the neckline to the other shoulder. Place the ruler so that the point of the V shape is where you want the neckline to be the lowest. Remember (or write down) this measurement.

(mine ended up being 19" from shoulder to shoulder)


2) Measure the desired length of the dress by measuring from where you want your shoulder strap to lay to the bottom of the dress.

3) Fold your fabric in half, right sides together and cut it. You'll likely be cutting a large rectangle, here are the dimensions:

Top of the rectangle: Your measurements from step 1 plus 3 inches
*if waist/hip measurements are larger than this you should account for that measurement accordingly and the fabric cut will not be a rectangle*

Sides of the Rectangle: Your measurements from step 2

*Make sure you're cutting 2 layers of fabric at these dimensions*

4) Starting at the location of the lowest point of your arm hole (you may want to measure this) sew the two pieces together on the blue lines (see picture below) and trim fabric closer to seams.

*since the fabric had a stretch to it, I used a zig-zag stitch*


5) Using your measurements from step 1 (the distance from shoulder to shoulder including the plunge of the neckline) mark where the shoulder straps will be made.

To do this, measure 1.5 inches in from each side (and 1.5 inches down from the top) and mark a dot. This dot will be the center of your shoulder strap.

6) Sew the top corners of the dress together, using the dot marked in step 5 as the center of your seam, sew at a 45 degree angle to form your straps, as seen in the diagram below (marked with green) and trim close to seams


7) Turn fabric right side out, taking each shoulder strap separately either pleat or gather the fabric and tack it in place (this helps encourage some of the fall of the fabric along the neckline)

8) Tie a piece of scrap fabric or some sort of a belt around the waist area and you're done!

*When the cover up is not actually being worn, the shape of it looks pretty crazy as seen below. The top looks really wide, but that's because it's laying straight across, not in the V shape*

Here is what is looks like when the shoulder straps are in place and everything falls the way it should.

Swimsuit cover up

Hubby & I are coming up on our 1st anniversary at the end of the month and will be heading on a trip. Since swimming suits and snorkeling will be a big part of our outing, I figured I'd better bring along a swimsuit cover up.

Since I don't have one that fits anymore, I pulled some fabric out of my stash and created a new one.



The photo above is a front view, but the back is identical. I used a piece of scrap fabric as a belt that ties at the waist, but may end up finding another option instead.

The fabric I used doesn't wrinkle and dries really fast, so I hope it does the trick!

Since people expressed an interest in how this was made, I posted a tutorial found here.

Embroidered kitchen towel

I'm getting back into embroidering now that my machine is fixed! (ok, ok, it apparently wasn't actually broken... but I am now reassured about it since bringing it in. I just feel like I'm going to break the machine when I put the hoop on it... guess not)

Here's the first thing I've made since:

The ribbon is stitched on with a decorative stitch from my sewing machine, and the P is embroidered.

I saw a fun linky party on Funky Polkadot Giraffe for things you've sent or received lately through snail mail and had to link up. I sent this towel to a close friend, and have been really excited to get awesome letters from her lately! (and some chili lemon mangos, which are amazing if you haven't tried them, thanks again!)