Bits and Pieces

Blog Slacker here. Forgive me readers for I have been a flake. I have not posted since... well forever!
But I"m here today and thought you would love to see what I have been up to.

First, as an upcycler of clothing I have baskets of bits and pieces from the clothes I cut apart. Collars, pockets, sleeves and cuffs for the most part. I thought you might like to see what I do with all of them.

The above picture is of two men's cuffs sewn together to make a sweet little pouch. These are great for gift cards, that secret money stash for emergencies or a jewelry pouch for traveling.


The colorful scraps were from a quilt I made for my son. I can't throw out even the smallest scrap. (I might need that someday.) I iron a fusible interfacing to the underside to help hold it down and then messy free form sew it with colorful variable thread.
My favorite is from Sulky. On the above pouch I used Sulky Blendables color...

It looks very dark here but there are so many colors! You can really see how it looks when you use it above in the pouch. I sell this in my Etsy store. Just click on the picture to see all the different colors.

Moving on..

Here is another one I did.

This on was made from two different cuffs. The flower is from a Kaffe Fasset Fabric with a die cut leaf added in. The applique thread is black for simplicity. Again, just free form with my darning foot.

My next project was with the collar. Not as easy but lots of ways to use those little snippits of leftovers.

I just folded the collar into thirds and opened it up to look like a flower. Then use a heavy needle and thread and tack the "petals" down. The strips are just leftover scraps sewn to the back with a brooch pin.
Here is another.

Great for a shabby chic look. Again, just a white collar and scraps of white fabrics and lace.

I hope this gets your creative thoughts going.
Oh, I forgot about pockets. They are easy. I just sew them onto my upcycled clothing.

Next time... some hand stitching Boro style.

Thanks for visiting!

A Work In Progress...

Trying to get my MoJo back after a bout of just not feeling it. It comes and goes of course. But I'm back to it with gusto!

The weather (hopfully!!!) will be cooling down soon. So time to get those sweaters out that need an overhaul.

I forgot to take a picture of the before on this... sorry about that.

It was just a plain grey turtle neck sweater with long sleeves.

Out came the scissors and I hacked up the front sideways and through the collar.

I had this pair of button panels buttoned together waiting patiently for me to figure out where they belong.  They begged and pleaded to play with this sweater.
I added a triangle of a very heavy green flannel from a shirt I have been cutting off of for a while now. The little black dot on the right is a horse. I might applique something over it because I think it looks funny.

So this is what I have so far. Oh, and I cut off the sleeves.

I know, it is a nice picture with my pretty background. Usually I do it in my messy sewing room. But I was in there anyway....

Here is a closeup of the inserts down the middle.

I sewed one side (the button panel side) with a serger and did a small zig zag stitch on the side with the dark green.

I"m in a pickle as to what to do about sleeves. I cut them off and tried these wonderful heavy black and white checked sleeves but they were too small for the armhole. This may end up as a vest.

Any whoo, back to work! So many ideas!!!

I'm Celebrating!

I’m about to be featured on a wonderful upcycling  blog from down under! The post goes up in the next day or so. The blog is called Rude Record and they are masters at the upcycling and reusing game. So be sure to check them out and my blog post. There are even pictures of my messy sewing “studio”. So in celebration, I thought I would post a tutorial of one of my favorite dresses to make. 

So without further adieu, here is my tutorial for the shirt-sleeve dress.

Materials:

• A knit or button down the top shirt that fits you well.
• Two to four men’s cotton long sleeve shirts.
• Rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
• A manikin is helpful but not mandatory.
• Sewing supplies (pins and such).
• Sharp large scissors.
• Matching thread.

Start out with a top. It can be a favorite t-shirt, knit top or button down the front top.

Measure down from the armpit seam about 6 to 7 inches. If you are big busted, you will want to go with 7 inches.

I use a ruler and rotary cutter, but you can just as easily use scissors. Just try to cut a straight line.

Put it on the manikin if you have one. You can still manage without one. It is just a bit easier with one.

Cut the sleeves off of the men’s shirts as close to the shoulder seam as possible. You will need four sleeves.

Cut off the cuff. (you can use this to make a sweet little pouch like this later.)

Cut along the sleeve seam to open up the sleeve flat. I usually iron it at this point.

Button up the little slit where the cuff use to be. Sometimes I sew a little line to hold it shut.  If it doesn’t have a button, you want to sew it closed.

Pin the first sleeve on underneath the top at the narrow end of the sleeve. I pin about an inch under the raw edge of the top.

Continue pinning and overlap each sleeve a bit. Pin the long edge of the sleeves together for sewing later. Usually four sleeves are enough to go around up to an Xlarge top. Over lap as much as needed to make the four sleeves fit.

Unpin the sleeve skirting from the top and sew up the side seams sewing all the sleeves together.

 Lay the skirt on the cutting mat and fold it up until only one sleeve is showing. 

Measure down fourteen (14”) Inches from the top and using your ruler and rotary cutter, cut across the sleeve skirting through all the layers.

Pin the top part of the skirting back onto the top and sew with a zig zag stitch. 

Arrange the part you cut off back onto the skirting, only offset the fabrics so seams and fabrics don’t match. You might need a few tucks here and there. That’s OK. Just do what you need to make it fit. Sew it to the top skirting with a zig zag stitch.

The bottom should look something like this.  

I have decided to add side ties to this one. But just haven’t sewn them on yet.

You can cut the top skirting even shorter if you want and instead of adding the bottom back on, you can add bits of lace, linen strips… anything else you might find that fits.
 Here is an example.

 I actually cut a strip from the bottom part of the removed skirting and added the ruffle of other scraps for color. This is a wonderful dress to experiment with and use up all kinds of bits and bobs.

Oh dear! I just realized how messy my sewing room must look. It does get a bit out of hand at times. (How embarrassing!) I was just too excited about the post for the RudeRecord!

But there you have it. My favorite shirt sleeve dress. If you pop over to the RudeRecord blog you can see a few others I have created.

Have fun!

Cheers.

My favorite creation so far!

I created this dress a little while ago and I have to say. It came out really cute! I took it to a craft show last weekend and if it was a larger size, I could have sold it ten times over.

You can see more pictures of it on my Etsy Store. I made it from some men's shirtsleeves and leftovers from another dress.

It's Official. I'm Getting Published!

I'm so excited! I have been working on my sewing creations for my Etsy store for some time now. My goal still is 100 items.
I'm working on it pretty steadily.
I'm having a blast creating. I get side tracked so easily. But it always comes out well.

This is one of my favorites. It fits me of course. But I won't make any money putting stuff in my closet.

So back to the getting noticed thing.
I got my courage up and submitted an upcycled red jacket and skirt outfit to Altered Couture Magazine.  Lo and behold within a day after I sent it off, I got an email from the assistant managing editor asking about another dress on my Etsy store.
They hadn't even gotten my package yet!

I guess it was meant to be. I got the "official" email letting me know two of my creations were chosen for a future issue. I'm thinking February. Plus, they still have the red outfit and I sent them another hoping for another submission the future. We will see. Fingers crossed!

Oh, and I get to write two 600 to 700 word articles for the submissions... yea!! (said in a weak voice). I didn't know there would be homework!

I feel like I have finally found my "thing".

Something I love to do everyday. I dream about sewing these outfits. Crazy huh?
I'm working on getting noticed by potential customers.

 Etsy has many areas to get great help. Forums for questions and groups to join for support and education.

I have been reading a bit of unhappiness with the new seller rules. Etsy now allows sellers to have other people make their products. I don't think it will take long for sellers who are actually manufacturers to show up. I have seen them already. It isn't too hard to find them.

However, I see Etsy as a simple avenue for selling to my customers and giving them a place to find me.

I realize I need to be proactive in attracting customers.
Opening a store, adding products and waiting for the sales to roll in just isn't going to happen.
 It takes work!
Sending submissions to magazines is pretty scary. But it is necessary to market myself. No one else is going to do it for me.

I learn new things everyday in both my sewing and marketing. But for now, I'm enjoying the process.

Until next time....

This Is Not A Cat Free Zone!

I thought I would do a bit of a post about pet safety in the sewing room.
I have to make sure my pins are secure and my scissors are put away. All very nice toys. I actually found his sister with a needle dangling  out of her mouth. She had swallowed the thread and the needle was dangling from her mouth. Thankfully I found her just in time! I now put everything under cover. So think about cat safety in your sewing room. They are slick little devils! Pincushions are pretty handy.. to us and them.
No matter what time of day I head to the basement sewing room. Today I have a Helper. He is very snoopy and always gets in the way.
He has his own special way of letting me know something is OK. Here he is inspecting an outfit I'm working on. I think I got his approval to proceed.

Thankfully despite all his help, I was able to finish up.

Here is the approved project.

Later All! Enjoy your weekend!

Bunny and Alex