Refashioned Shirt: Take Two

After my first attempt at refashioning a shirt out of hand-me-downs and outgrown clothes, I decided to head to Ross to look for some cheapie tshirts. Following another tutorial from Tea Rose Home I made a second shirt as a gift for a sweet 16 birthday. The pictures aren't great, but they get the general process. I really liked how this one turned out (and it looked super cute on, too). Happy Sweet 16 Kylie! :)

The finished product.

Cut the down the sides and remove the sleeves from one shirt.
You should end up with two pieces that look something like this.

Cut on the diagonal to make long strips 2.5" wide, do this on both pieces.

Round the edges of each strip.
Cut each strip with a wavy edge on one side. (I didn't get a picture of this step,
but you can see it here on the tutorial I followed.)

Run a straight stitch using a wide stitch down the straight edge of each strip.
Pull one thread to ruffle the strip.

Ruffle all remaining strips.

Using one of the smaller strips, pin and sew it on the collar's left side.

Continue pinning and sewing strips, folding and overlapping them.

Once you near the bottom of the left side, repeat starting from the right side of the collar.
I kept most of my strips toward the left side, overlapping my first set of ruffles.

The finished product. :)

Refashioned shirt - Take One

Browsing around the internet today looking for sewing projects I could make with the girls, I came across some fun ideas for refashioning shirts. After seeing this tutorial by Tea Rose Home (and the following pictures are just me copying that tutorial) I was so inspired I went digging through the girls' clothes to find something I could use to try it out. I found one shirt that fit and one they'd outgrown... so here is my first try at refashioning a shirt. I am totally addicted now, and am dying to go looking for some clearance shirts to remake.

The finished product

The before shot of the to-be-refashioned shirt

The shirt the girls had outgrown

Cut the shirt in half and lay flat

Cut six 2.5x12" strips and four 1.25" strips

Using a long stitch, straight stitch 1/4" from the edge of the 2.5" pieces.
Holding one thread, bunch the fabric to make ruffles.

Straight stitch through center of 1.25" pieces, combining two strips end to end to make one long strip. Bunch to ruffle.

Pin 1.25" strip to collar and sew in place

Center first 2.5" strip, pin and sew in place

Continue adding ruffles, placing each 1.5" below the previous ruffle's seam, so the ruffles will overlap.

There you have it! I added the flowers you'll see on the Tea Rose Home site after I took these pictures. But I had to get Torrey to try the shirt on as soon as she got home from school.

watermark tutorial

the question i've been asked most often about my project 365 is how to get that scrolly watermark on the bottom. well, after some google searching, downloading, recording, editing, rerecording, editing again... having a random program shut down, starting over, then editing some more... i finished my first ever screen capture tutorial on how to make that cool scrolly watermark in photoshop elements for your pictures. in the tutorial i used photoshop elements 8. i am on a mac, but all of the instructions are the same for pc users. the brush i used for my tutorial is available here, but the options are endless for cool brush styles you could use. let me know what you think, or if you have any questions!

and because it's 2:33am right now, and i still have a few minutes before my video is done uploading, i'm going to throw the 365 picture from today in.

today was a much more sunshiny day, both in the weather and in spirit. i'm sure the one helps to encourage the other, and for both i'm thankful. i worked this morning at my killer 2.5 hour/a week job. (i am a receptionist/weigh in person for weight watchers. i'm not responsible on my own, so having to maintain my lifetime status to work there is a bonus. plus the girls i work with are fabulous!) it is an encouraging job though. having been on the other side of that weigh in table myself, it's wonderful to see people succeed on their journey. and it's equally as wonderful to come alongside people as they struggle (just like we all do) to make it to the next step. of course i am ever grateful for the people who encouraged me when i was there, and 41 pounds and three years later... i'm still so thankful for their constant encouragement!

wow, i'm not really sure where that tanget came from, i had intended to write about the girls playing with their walkie-talkies after school. hum, i am a distractable one, aren't i?! but yes, onto the picture of the day... the girls decided to make the most of the sunshine that was leftover after school and get some backyard playing in. they've recently rediscovered their walkie-talkies, and i've been blessed to hear them in the mornings getting ready saying things like, "yes, mom's doing my hair, but you better get down here quick. OVER." so after school they grabbed them again, and went to play outside in the waning light. emma got geared up like an explorer and set out around the house... torrey spied on her from the deck. i spied on torrey, who was spying on emma, who was being a goofball. this was the result of all that spying. :)

happy tuesday!