Sewing An Apron For Mother's Day

I decided not to wait until the last minute to sew a Mother's Day gift for Mike's mom. It feels great to cross one project off my list for this week. I gave Mike's mom an apron last year and I decided to give her another one this year. I am satisfied with the pattern I draft, but will give it another go when I make one for myself. I found a cute cupcake remmant a while back at Hancock Fabrics and I had aprons in mind when I saw it. The best part is that I have enough left to make myself one with this fabric too. What do you think?

Materials:

• (1) 3/4 - 1' of outer fabric
• (1) 3/4 - 1' of lining fabric
• (1) 66x6" strip of lining fabric - waist tie (piece together several pieces, if necessary)
• (2) 22x3" strips of lining fabric - neck ties
• (1) 12x12" of lining fabric - pocket (optional)

Instructions:

I fit XS-S sizes and included my measurements for each section of the apron below. The only modification I would make next time is to cut about 2" from each side of the chest section. I rounded all corners, but the waist corners do not need to be rounded (I had intended to add the waist tie differently).

Top - 13"

Waist - 16"

Bottom - 20"

Top to waist - 10.5"

Waist to bottom - 21"

(1/2'" seam allowance)

When the two body pieces were cut, I started preparing the accent pieces. I ironed after each step.

• Iron the waist strip in half long ways wrong sides together.
• Open up with the right side facing down.
• Fold the corners towards the middle crease line, making sure to come to a clean point.

• Fold the both top and bottom edges towards the middle.

• Fold the whole piece in half again and top stitch all around.

• Do the same thing for the neck ties, but skip the pointed corners.
• Fold in half to get your crease line.
• Fold top and bottom edges towards the crease line.
• Fold a little bit of one end in before folding the whole strip in half again. (You can leave the other end unfolded because it will be hidden between the two body pieces)

Optional pocket:

[You can create the pocket pieces like the ties straps (fold sides to the middle and then in half) If your fabric is thick enough, you can just hem the sides. I did it the following way to get the desired thickness for the fabric I was using.]

• Fold the pocket piece in half right sides together.
• Sew the three unfolded sides together and leave a 3" gap.
• Turn the pocket right side out and edge stitch the folded side. This will be the top of the pocket.

• Iron the other three sides in about 1/2".

• Sew the two body pieces right sides together, but leave the top of the apron open.
• Cut notches into the corner seam allowances and turn right side out.
• Pin the neck ties in place (in between the front and back body pieces at the opening) and top stitch the whole apron.
• Pin the waist tie amd pocket in place and sew onto the apron.

 Good luck to all your Mother's Day projects!

Transform Stains In Jeans Into Something Cute

It was past midnight. I had just finished hemming and taking in a pretty pair of floral skinnies. I was on a roll, so I started rummaging through my closet for something to refashion. Nothing. Oh wait... I do have a pair of stained jeans... It was time to get to work.

Good jeans are hard to come by for me. So, I wear the heck out of jeans that I LOVE. One of my favorite pair of jeans is from Express and they've been in my closet for ten years. That seems like a long time, but they are still in good shape... aside from an icky stain I got in the front. I'm not sure what it was, but I was sad that I had to retire the jeans. Ripped jeans are fashionable to me, but dirty is not. I couldn't think of anything to do with the jeans other than trying to "rip" the stain out. I didn't quite get the technique right, so I decided to go a different route and turn the stain into a heart cut out and back it with lace.

Here was the very noticeable stain:

Materials:

• stained jeans
• enough lace to cover the stain

Instructions:

• Draw a heart shape (or any other shape as desired) to cover the stained spot(s) and carefully cut it out.
• Cut out a piece of stretch lace bigger than the heart, and stitched it to the inside of the jeans by hand. The stitches don't need to be perfect, because the last step is to fray the edges and the stitches just get hidden in the fuzz.

• In order to fray the edges, I just scratched back and forth around the edges and also picked at it with my nails. It frayed nicely and the stitches stopped it from fraying more than I wanted.

VOILA! I have conquered the stain!

Make Suspenders In Just Ten Minutes

www.peoplestylewatch.com

Suspenders... love them or hate them? I have secretly always wanted to rock a pair of suspenders, but I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. I am still not sure, but I thought these women made it look easy enough. So, I am going to give it a try in my wardrobe. I had plenty of elastic, so all I needed were suspender clips. These were super easy to make and only took me about ten minutes to whip up. It cost me about $4 to make, so the margin of savings wasn't as great as other things I've made. I do like the fact it's much easier to customize when making it (or anything) yourself. I may try to do some tan, red, or leather ones if I end up loving them.

Materials:

• 1" elastic (How much elastic do you need? Put on a pair of pants that you would use with suspenders. Start your measuring tape halfway between your zipper and your side. Bring the measuring tape over your shoulder to the opposite side, about halfway between the middle of your back and your side. Multiply by 2 and add 4".)
• (4) 1" suspender clippers

Instructions:

• Loop 1" of one end of the elastic through the front of the clip and sew it in place with zigzag stitches. Both sides of elastic look about the same, but one side is slightly flatter than the other. I let the flatter side face out. The difference is almost microscopic though. :)
• Clip the elastic to the back your pants and bring the rest of the elastic to the front. Position and pull taut but not too tight. Mark where the elastic meets the top of your pants.
• Unclip the strap and cut the first strap 1" below the marked line. Sew the second clip on the other end in the same fashion as the first. The front of both clips should face the same direction.
• Cut the second strap to match the length of the first. Be sure to accommodate for the 1" loop on each end.

• Once all clips are sewn, try the clips on. Carefully pin or mark the cross section in the back.
• Sew a diamond shape in this cross section. Alternatively, you could leave this unsewn and use a decorative pin to hold the straps together. (I would have done this, but I didn't have any on hand. I can take my stitches out and pin at a later time.)

DONE!

Double Layered Sheer Skirt

I'm beginning to realize that sewing clothing requires ALOT of patience and trial and error. It was the reason I wanted to learn to sew in the first place, so all I can do is practice until it comes more naturally. One of my goals for this month is to devote more time to learn to sew clothes and also do at least three refashions per month. So, yesterday I attempted and completed my first skirt.

I've been wanting to make something with this soft creamy sheer fabric for a while. I bought it at Joann's during one of my first fabric purchases (last fall). Here's a close up of the fabric...

I decided to use it in a circle skirt and lined it with a nude pink cotton fabric. I followed a tutorial to do the measurements for the circle pattern. It ended up being a bit off (was it me or the instructions???). I ended up winging it and making adjustments as I went along, which is why I won't be posting a tutorial of this. I have a game plan for how I want to do my next skirt, so I will do a tutorial then. I wanted to at least share a picture of my first skirt with you now. :)

On a different note, I just downloaded the Craftgawker app on my phone. O.M.G... I have been obsessed with it all night. I barely have enough time to make all the things on my current To-Make-List, so this app was a really bad idea!

Simple Dress Alternative (Taking in the Seams)

Don't you hate it when you find a dress that you think you are about to fall in love with, but then find realize it's not your size or it fits weird? I am so thankful that knowing just a little bit of sewing can go so far and how it can put potentially missed opportunities straight into my closet. I fell in love with a pretty peachy pink lace dress at H&M, but it was very unflattering on me. It was already an XS, but I was looking a little frumpy. The material felt great and the quality was good, so I took a chance. And, I'm glad I did! That worked out so well that I bought another oversized and unflattering dress at Walmart to take in.

Most dresses are fairly easy to take in with just two new side seams. The easiest way to do this is to turn your dress inside out, and trace the outline of a dress that fits you well. Be sure to account for the difference in stretchiness.

As you can see here, I took in more around the waist. Once the new seams are sewn, try it on. If it fits, then trim off the excess fabric and press the seams.

If you don't have a dress already in your closet to use as a guideline...

Then, WEAR your dress inside side out, pinch in the excess fabric with your fingers, and mark your potential side seams.

Don't pass up another deal.

Don't let your body changes keep you from enjoying your favorite dress.

Don't be afraid to experiment and take chances!

I was too eager to fix this and didn't get a chance to take a before shot.

Easy Basic Fitted Tee

Yay for my first completed shirt! It's a pretty basic design, but you can jazz up anything! At this moment, I am in love with lace :) This was fairly easy to do, but working with stretchy fabric is tricky. I did a lot of research prior to starting, but I wish I would have found this blog post before I started: http://sewaholic.net/a-big-list-of-tips-for-sewing-knits.

Materials:

• (1) yd of stretch knit
• (1) fitted tee from your closet
• embellishments (optional

Instructions:

• Fold your shirt in half and trace this outline on the wrong side of your fabric. Allow for 1/2" seam allowance.
• Fold your fabric along the shirt's fold line and cut along the outline.
• Use your newly cut piece as the pattern for the second piece, but do not add additional allowance for seams.
• Mark the necklines and cut out it out for both pieces.

•  Sew your embellishments. In my case, I sewed the lace during this stage, but saved the buttons for when my shirt was completely sewn.
• Place your pieces right sides together. Sew the shoulders, underarms, and sides together.
• Hem sleeves, neckline, and bottom.

The lace is actually pretty straight and even in real person, but I had a hard taking a straight picture. Hope you guys like it!

Quick and Cheap Scarf

I have been in a sewing frenzy. I get highly motivated, sew a lot, then burn out. Hopefully, I can keep my momentum going! One thing that I have been meaning to do is make scarves with the pretty fabrics I bought for just that. Almost all of my scarf fabrics are remnants from Joann. I made this scarf with about half a yard of fabric. I love the spring print and there's little textured bumps on the right side. I also liked the fact it's not so obvious as to which side is the right side until you are closer. I did not pre-wash the fabric. I figured it would be easier to hem and I wanted the hemmed edges to shrivel and warp some. I like a messy edge.

Instructions:

• I used half a yard of fabric but you could give or take a few inches. I cut it in half so that the selvage sides measured 12". I used a scarf that I liked as reference and decided to make it about 60" long.
• I wanted to sew the pieces together so that the seam would in the middle of the scarf (at back of the neck), so I cut two pieces 30" long and sewed right sides together.
• Hem up the sides. I preferred to use the selvage for the ends.

SOOOO simple and CHEAP! I see so many pretty scarves at the store that I am always tempted to buy, but I can't justify it knowing how easy it is to just make my own! This cost me about $1.