Another t shirt embellished and refashioned

 I hope I'm not boring you with all my refashions but I'm having heaps of fun doing them. 

This one is done with a simple $5 tee from K Mart.

Why?

Because I liked the colour. 

Specifically I wanted a colour I could wear with this circle skirt which was made a couple of years ago from an old tablecloth.

But a plain $5 t shirt isn't very inspiring so I decided to jazz it up with the help of some doilies.

Unfortunately, two doilies were hurt in the course of this job.

I used two squarish ones and laid them diagonally along the v neckline then simply sewed along the original seam line and snipped the left over pieces off in the back and zigzagged them neat.

The work didn't take much longer than the typing of this once I had made up my mind to do it.

Because the top was a little long and wide I took it in on the sides and ruched it up by applying ordinary 1/2 centimetre elastic along it using a largish zigzag stitch.

I found that the elastic needs to be stretched almost to it's ultimate stretch to give the effect I want.

And that's about it.

Except that I then decided to use the scraps I had cut offfrom the sides and make a little decoration for the centre.

Psst.

Thankyou to everyone who said to mow.

I did but it's rained heaps this week and it all needs redoing.

O dear.
Looks like I'm going to have to do it all over again.

T-shirt refashion

Take one Black Pepper t-shirt with a touch of bling

Cut a couple of inches of the hem. 

Slit it down the centre.

Shape the neckline and undo and inch or so of the shoulder seam.

Sew beautiful cotton lace purchased by beautiful daughter whilst in New York along the bottom.

Sew more beautiful lace along the centre.

Do a touch of handsewing, including attaching some buttonsand neatening the shoulder seams etc.

Now you have a refashioned Black Pepper t-shirt jacket.

Hooray!

Refashioning - How to enlarge a too small t-shirt

This tutorial will only work if your t-shirt is longer than you would normally wear it. I am a short person so am quite happy generally to shorten my tees. Or you may wish to use co-ordinating or contrasting fabric from another tee. I have also seen this done simply to featre a favourite piece of woven fabric so that is another option for you.

I generally wear an XL but found this perfect size M at the oppy today. I knew that I really wanted to spend some time playing around with unfitting clothing and doing some refashioning so this was a perfect start for me.

First I cut off the hem just above the stitching line. 

Then I cut a section approximately 7 cm from the bottom of the t-shirt. You must work out how much you will need to add according your t-shirt size.

The best way is to measure your bust. Then measure the bust of the t-shirt when it is lying flat and unstretched. Take this measurement away from your bust measurement and you will have the overall difference. Next you need to divide this for the two sides and add on two seam allowances. This will tell you how wide your inserts need to be. Hopefully you will still have enough length on your finished t-shirt for your height as well as inserts that are long enough to go from waist hem to sleeve hem. Please calculate these before proceeding.

 

After that I carefully removed the side seam being sure to only cut off the smallest amount. 

 The 7cm (0r whatever size you are dealing with) strip from the bottom of the tee is then split into two pieces by cutting the side seams out.

One piece gets sewn into the gap at each side, being carteful to align hems at the waist. 

After that you simply cut off the extra pieces at the sleeve and hem according to your taste. 

 If you want to turn over a hem at the sleeve you will need to leave enough allowance for this when you cut off the extra bit.

Please don't forget to clean your seams according to your favourite method.

If you are a novice when it comes to sewing with knit fabrics like I am then I would suggest taking a slow speed and gently feed the fabric in from the front and side. 

DO NOT pull from the back or you will stretch the fabric.

I used a 1/4 inch seam in size 3 stitch length (Brother machine) and cleaned the seams with a simple zigzag, feeding the seams in slowly again so as not to buckle them. Of course if you have an overlocker or serger and know what you are doing with knits this will all be a breese for you. As it is the project does not take a long time.

Enjoy!

I may or may not be back to show you how I further embellish this top. (that's if I even do!).

Another doily and beads T shirt

Well this one is finally done. 

That means I can put away the bread board that was holding it perfectly flat while I decided if I wanted to do it or not. 

That is, if I could be bothered to do it or not.

But moving the board around finally got to me so I ironed all the bits on and then machine sewed the large pieces. The rest is hand stitched down while the beading took place.

Wouldn't you love to have creamy white skin and a svelte figure like my model?

T shirt transformation is finished

Well, here it is.
Just a cheap oppy find in some of my favourite 70's colours (from when I lived back then) cut up the middle , slightly shortened in body and arms, neck shaped and a touch of lace around some edges and hand sewing with 3 strands of black floss for the others.
Too easy! And very wearable.
Just have to work out how to clean the stabilisaer off from inside and promise not to use it again in such a situation.

Assault on a T shirt

Just a $3 Millers t shirt. Chop the hems off because they are yucky.

Then cut it up the centre and shape the neckline.

More to come when I get there.

Another circular tablecloth dress

We seem to have joined the ranks of the sickies here but before we did we were able to attend a goodbye party for some friends who are off to Thailand. Knowing the family who threw the party I expect that this was a good excuse to show off the newly fixed garden before the long awaited baby arrives next week. Because I had just bought this tablecloth on ebay I decided that it would be nice to wear that night so transfomed it ito a dress during the morning. These are really fast to make, 20 minutes or so, and even look reasonable on plump old chooks like me.

From a tablecloth to a.....?

Finally I have some refashioning that is not all about bags.

What do you get when you cross a round tablecloth with a cotton-on singlet?

Why: A dress of course!!

In an effort to not overuse my girlfriends sewing skills, I have been fluffing around this week (and not sleeping properly because off thinking) doing all sorts of things to do with circle skirts, including dyeing. I'll leave the dyeing for another day because I did a big woopsie with that one but here is what I made in less than half an hour this morning. including multiple try-ons and back patting.

Just a simple singlet from cotton-on with the straps shortened (because I am not a fashion model, thankyou very much!), the hem turned up 10cm and attached to a circle tablecloth that has had a circular hole cut in the middle. Dinner plate size with an extra inch all round!

(The extra hem piece inside has a bit of elastic threaded through the hem casing. Easier than cutting it off and strengthens the white colouring in that area.)

Voila! I can now do my own circle skirts...or dresses.

The top is far too flimsy to wear without a cover so I topped it off with a cute little knit cotton top that I talked the ladies in the oppy down to $2.50 instead of $3.5o because the neckline was pretty chewed. Easy refashion that: I just too the neckline off - me and my trusty scissors and quick unpick. Only one slip but the washable fabric glue has looked after that.

I'm thinking of crocheting a new edge there latter but my girlfriends were so impressed with my outfit that I think if I don't get around to it I shan't worry too much.
O! and a little modesty touch with a folded over doily sewn onto the singlet.

T-shirt makeover

From a $3.50 Best and Less t-shirt to a - well still - a $3.50 t-shirt with a couple of scraps for the bin.

In my before photo I have already cut off the bottom hem and lettuce hemmed it. This is the first time I have ever done this and let me tell you I might grow a few more muscles now. There is a lot of stretching involved but otherwise it is a really simple procedure.
The same technique was used around the sleeves.

I did not stretch the fabric while zig-zagging around the reshaped neckline but it still enlarged slightly anyway so I inserted a small piece that was stretched while sewing. Then, to hide the zig-zag stitches I cut the ribbing from the former neckline, stretched it to billy-o and simply sewed it down flat over the edge.

The bow was made using further off cuts from the neck. It will be interesting to see how the garment washes.

All the ideas for this makeover were garnered from Nikki Shell's fabulous blog

Wardrobe Refashion.

Here is the finished garment with a skirt that was originally a round tablecloth (made by the amazing Jacinta who is blogless).