the Lotus Hoodie

Finally got around to taking some pictures of that reconstructed shirt this morning.

So this is what it started life as--a cotton yoga hoodie and a tencel Gap shirt from the thrift store. Loved the colors of both, but the hoodie was too short on both the arms and body, and the asymmetric neckline on the Gap shirt was just weird-looking on me, but the fabric was so soft I couldn't pass it up!



This is what it turned into. I cut the hem off of the green shirt and added a couple of inches to the hem of the blue shirt (and turned the original end of the blue shirt under and hemmed it to give it a more finished look--originally, the hems of the shirt and sleeves and the edge of the hoodie were all jsut serged.) I originally did the same thing to the sleeves of the blue hoodie, but then it just looked dumb. So I ended up cutting new sleeve extensions from the body of the shirt. Oh, and the trim on the hoodie was cut before I did that.

Those marks on the shoulder? No, that's not a weird camera blob. It needed something, so I took some inspiration from the hoodie tag.
It had this picture on it.
So I did some reverse applique with a leftover piece of the green. Freehand-drew it on first with a disappearing fabric marker, and then stitched around it, and cut the blue away to reveal what (hopefully) looks like a lotus flower.

Anyway, even though the sleeves ended up being a bigger frustration than originally planned, this was a fun project. And it was nice to do some reconstructing again, after the push to finish Christmas presents and ill-fated costumes and such!

Saturday refashions

I'd been pulling a lot of late nights this past week, so I'd fully intended to go to bed shortly after seeing if Sanctuary was going to be any good, so I could try and catch up on a little lost sleep. (Yes, I am a geek, and proud of it!) But as I was removing my stack of recon-potentials from my bed, inspiration struck at around 11:30! So I was up past midnight (again) cutting, pinning and seam-ripping to turn these...




(one hoodie with a lame logo, passed down from my mom, plus one too-short tank top)









...into this.
I also shortened the sleeves to 3/4, because they were a bit too short on my long arms, and adding enough fabric to make them a good length after removing the cuffs would have been so wide that it would have looked really dumb. And I need a few 3/4 casual shirts for weekends, as well as long-sleeved.








I also took this skirt that my mom made for me several years ago, I think during one of my busier college periods when I couldn't sew as much...

From sew and so

...which was a little longer than mid-calf (which is a really bad length on me), and shortened it to this.

From sew and so

Now it hits just above my knee. Much better, don't you think? And I'm also proud of myself, because I taught myself to use the blind hem stitch/foot on my machine, using an old sewing book for reference. It worked pretty well, once I figured out which way I was supposed to fold everything. I don't think I'll use it on everything, because some fabrics just demand the slightly more invisible hand stitching, but for casual skirts, this is going to be a huge time-saver!

Friday Favorites, Episode 8

You all were busy this week... I have to super-size it!


1. I'll admit that I'm not a fan of this high-waisted trend. Namely because I'm a flute player, and stuff like that restricts my breathing. However, this shorts version of BurdaStyle's Bella pants by the ever-so-stylish Koti*Koti is definitely worth a mention for the creative use of stripes alone.


2. Sew, Mama, Sew! hosted a sewing tutorial contest, and posted several rounds of finalists. My favorite picks: cute fabric toe separators for pedicures, a how-to for tightening up the back of jeans to prevent gapping, a quick way to make old bootcuts into Bermuda shorts, and an ice cream cone plushie. Timeliest entry for me was this nursing cover, since I promised a friend I'd make one for her and she's due in about 3 weeks, and I also have to mention this because, doesn't that look kind of familiar?


3. ThreadBanger pick of the week: A list of links for DIY headboards. I really like the idea of the padded one, because my Ikea bed has gappage issues between the wall and the mattress! And this one looks like it would be relatively easy.

4. I saw this hoodie on Wardrobe Refashion and thought it was cute.

5. The Sewing Divas had a nice tutorial on how to do mitered hems-- which will come in handy for the ends of ties and such!

6. I can't remember who posted the link to it, but thanks to that person, I found a nice blog that features scrapbook layout sketches, as well as several examples by different people of what can be done with each sketch. Which is always a helpful resource for me, and especially in light of my self-challenge to figure out what exactly my scrapbook style is and improve my layout design.

7. Angry Chicken posted a link to a great tutorial for 4x6 bound journals that use a photo for the cover.

8. I really liked Assorted Notions' twisted knit neckline-- really spices up an otherwise simple shirt!

9. Crafty Daisies' kids' quilt gets a mention, simply due to the fact that she found fabric based on the Hungry Caterpillar book. That just makes me happy.

That's it for now, and rushing off to work. Happy Friday!