Sweater Dress Reconstruction...Sort of

It has been so long since I have posted anything and a super long time since I have sewn anything.  And I know this because when I was trying to reload my bobbin, I couldn't remember how to do it.  It could also be that I have been in school for the past couple of months and I have a little bit of brain fry.  But either way, I do have a new reconstruction for you!  Sort of.  Unfortunately I don't have much time for a long, pretty, witty post.  So, here is my fast and the furious reconstruction. 

About a month ago, I went to the Goodwill and pick up a really cute sweater dress.  I loved the color and the scalloped bottom and sleeves.  The unfortunate part was the armpit area was extremely huge and baggy.  So, I did a little bit of thinking,  a little bit of cutting, and a little bit of sewing. 

can you tell how big the armpit area is

I love the scallop on the bottom

sketched out where I am going to cut

I went about a fingers length in

on both sides

after I cut off the sleeves I used a zig zag stitch to finish off the sleeves

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 With the boot sock and leg warmer trend, at an all time high, how could I resist making my sleeves into matching leg warmers.  And of course, I will have to wear a cardigan with the outfit.  For some reason, I don't feel right in the winter without layers.

These Shorts Are Made For Walking

I had a minor break through on my laziness today!  While going through my clothes, I found 14 pairs of khakis!  Yes, 14 pairs.  I had that many because at my last job I was a manager and we had to either wear khakis, black pants, or navy pants.  So, my wardrobe consisted mainly of khakis.  While going through them, I found a pair that I had purchased at the Goodwill.  They were loose fitting on the legs and while wearing them at work I some how got a black marker mark on my tush.  I was going to throw them away, when I started thinking of all the black shorts that I see and have been loving the last couple of months.  So, I decided I would try to dye the pants and make them into shorts.  Here is what the pants looked like before I started.

As you can see on the right leg, I started to cut the lower part of the pants off.  I just wanted to have the least amount of fabric to dye.  I would recommend wearing gloves when dying, but if you do not have gloves you can use a ziplock bag.

I made sure to follow the directions on the container of black dye.  After letting the fabric soak in the dye for 30 minutes, I hand rinsed the shorts.  Then to be on the safe side I washed the shorts and dried them. 
This is what they looked like once dried.

They came out brown! With a purplish tone...but mostly brown. 

I like that the stitching didn't dye.  It made for a good contrast

I wanted my shorts to be about 5" long from the inseam.  I plan on making them longer so I can hem and fold them over.  I figured an extra 2" would be enough length....but it really wasn't.  I would suggest that if anyone is going to try this they add 3" to the length they want.

I cut off any excess and then turned the shorts inside out and folded the shorts over about 1 1/2" and pinned it down. 

Then I sewed a straight stitch as close as I could get to the edge.

At this point, I turned my iron on and needed it to warm up.  So, while it was warming up, I decided to fix the awful pockets on these pants.  They were all huge and the back pockets made me look like I had a lump of poo in my pants.  Take a look at the photos to see how big these dreadful things were.

One of the front pockets before fixing it. 

one of the back pockets before fixing it. 

To fix them, I just sewed a straight stitch across the bottom.  Then, I cut of the excess and did a zig zag stitch on the outside of that.  Seen here.

my stitching is not pretty, but no one can see it. 

the back pocket.  Now I won't look like I have a lump of poo in my pants. 

After this, I ironed my pants and this is what I ended up with.  I could have left it like this, but my stitching was awful because my bobbin thread was acting up on my first leg I sewed.

See, you can even see where I didn't sew all the way around on that side.  So, it's a good thing I was planning on folding the bottoms up.  Once I did that, I put a small stitch on each side seam to hold the fold up and two stitches in the front and two stitches in the back to also hold the fold up.  I just made sure to not stitch through the top layer.  That way, you can't see it.  Then, I ironed the shorts again. 

Mens Button Up Shirt reconstructions

Last week, Louis and I did some late spring cleaning.  I cleaned out my shoes and he cleaned out his clothes.  I refused to clean my clothes out because you never know what you can use to make something better.  While Louis was cleaning his side of the closet, I started to get sad because there were quite a few shirts he was getting rid of that I liked.  But, then I started to get excited because my pile of reconstruction clothes was getting bigger and bigger.  After I had looked through the pot of gold pile of old clothes and found my favorite shirts, I went online and started looking for button up shirts that I liked that I could try to copy.  After only a few minutes I found this shirt.

from the Buckle

 I really love the ruffled bottom and the band across the waist.  So, I set out to try to come close to this shirt.....I won't keep you in suspense.  I failed miserably!  I had these two shirts I was going to use to convert into the Buckle shirt.

I was going to use the brown shirt for the ruffles on the bottom.  I didn't plan on doing the  ruffles on the sleeves or the fabric around the collar.  So, it seemed like an easier reconstruction.  To start off I took the sleeves, pocket, and collar off with my seam ripper...ok maybe not a seam ripper but I have not been able to find my seam ripper in over a month!

 So, this is what I had left after taking those seams out.......

body of shirt minus the sleeves, collar, and pocket

collar pieces...I will be using these again

My next step was to take the body of the shirt in so it will be fitted.  My plan was to take the sides in just a tad and then put some darts in when I got to my next step.  I put the shirt on inside out and pinned the sides leaving some wiggle room.   After pinning I sewed where I pinned. 

I then found the verticle center of the shirt and the middle of the collar and pinned the two together.
This next part I kinda reverse the belt part compared to the inspirational shirt.  The only reason I did this was well.....because it was easier for me to do.  I created it in two parts.  Here is the first.

find the center of the back of the shirt

I pinned it so I knew where it was

found the center of the piece of collar fabric

pinned the two middle spots together

Then, after I measured from the bottom of the shirt to the safety pin I measured the sides the same way to make sure the piece of collar was going to be straight across.  I then pinned the sides of the collar fabric to the sides of the shirt.

pinned the side after measuring from the bottom

pinned the other side

pinning the collar fabric to the back left side you want to do this on both sides

pinning the collar fabric to the middle of the back of the shirt

I then pinched what extra fabric there was in the middle and pinned

After I had the collar fabric pinned to the back of the shirt I used a straight stitch and sewed it down.


  My next step was the sleeves.  They were probably the easiest thing for me to do!  I used the existing sleeves and folded them in half like this and stuffed them into the shirt.

Yeah, I know poor picture, but here is a video to hopefully help you see it a little better

The next thing I started to work on was the collar.  I was originally just going to make it more like the inspiration shirt by rounding it just a bit....but I took my shirt in too much!  Yeah, a newbie mistake.  So, to keep myself from busting out of the shirt, I had to alter my collar and the front of the shirt.   I started by putting the shirt on inside out and pinning it trying to make it look cute and even.  Then, I sewed it using this foot which folded the seam over for me 

It was as simple as that.  Here is the picture of the pinned shirt.

I actually cut of as much as I could before sewing it. 

Remember that belt? Here is how I made the second part of the belt.  I cut sections of the left over fabric from the sleeves and sewed them together making 6 strips long enough, if attached to my side, it could reach past my other side if stretched across the front.  Then I took 3 of those 6 strips and braided them together and sewed the ends to make them look a little prettier.  I repeated the braiding on the other 3 strips.  Then I sewed them to the sides of the shirt where the collar fabric that was sewed to the back of the shirt touched.  I sewed a button on each side to add a small embellishment and that completed my belt.

 
  Remember that brown shirt at the beginning?  I was going to make that the pleats on the bottom of the button up.  Well, that was the part that I failed miserably at.  After cutting up sections of the fabric and trying and trying to make the pleats, I decided I didn't have enough fabric to make the pleats the way I wanted them to look.  So, I trashed the idea of the pleats but still wanted some type of girly aspect to the shirt.  So, I decided to go with a fabric flower using the brown shirt.  Here is the tutorial, from Tea Rose Home, I used to help me make my flower and here are some pictures of my flower while I was making it. 

 After making the flower I sewed the flower onto a safety pin and pinned it onto my shirt.  I thought making a pin would be better than sewing the flower onto the shirt.  This way I can take it off to wash it separate from the shirt.