Miss, Corrected

In late October, I made this dress and was very unhappy with it.  I removed the velvet and lace and still didn't like it, so folded it and put it aside in here.  I didn't plan to do anything with it but donate, but I didn't have anything else to donate, so I ignored it.

This morning, however, I decided that No!  I would try to save it!  So I carefully picked out the waist stitching, cut a wide band of ribbing, and got a spool of elastic and made it into a shirt

 

 and a skirt

 

 They're still not great, but they are significantly better.

An Enhanced Dress

Near the end of 2023, I used some fabric I really liked to make a dress that turned out rather short.  At the time I thought the length wouldn't bother me.

I was wrong.

Sometimes I wore a skirt under it for decorative length, but, mostly, I looked at it and despaired.  I liked the print too much to let it go, and it took until just a few days ago to realize that I could remove that pink contrast at the bottom of the skirt and add something longer. 

This revelation snowballed, and I ended up adding a lot of other things to the dress, too.

 

 I could have added more, but...didn't wanna.

Quick note on a quick note

In March of this year, I took in the waistband of a skirt by 3". Well, I just let it out again by an inch and a half, because apparently I expanded a bit, and the altered waistband had become uncomfortably tight.  I got that inch and a half back by picking out the front darts (again, given how I'm shaped, this made sense.)  I possibly could have done some things to the side seam allowances, too, but that didn't seem entirely necessary.  Yet.

Also, there was a recent incident with a sharp fresh box cutter, and that left a sizable hole cut near the hem of this dress that I put together in 2020.  I have worn it a lot since, and didn't want to give it up over this, so I did some rough hand stitch mending.  I also discovered that its thrifted tiered skirt is wearing through in a lot of spots.  I'm not sure if I want to add patches all over it--the dress is worn so often because it is plain, solid black--or create a replacement skirt.  Ah, well, I have a little more time to consider my options now.

Batty Alteration

Early last year, I made a shirt from the bat print that I used in the patchwork cardigan.  Although I declared the shirt Fine in the original post, it turned out not to be so good.

The big issue was that the neckband was cut too long, and it didn't snug the neckline up so it laid nice.  Because of that, I stopped wearing the shirt--sadly, because I do like the print.

Handling it in the patchwork project made me decide to revisit that shirt's neckband.  I initially thought I'd carefully pick out the stitching and make the existing band shorter before sewing it back in, but I decided I'd rather play it safe and use a proper rib knit.

I buckled down and clipped through the stitching, the top stitching, and the serging, which took much longer than getting the new neckband cut (limited by the width of the rib knit I had), sewn into a loop, mark all the centers, and sewn in place, with top serging and top stitching.

I will say, I hadn't realized it was...so short

And when I found the original post about making it, I see that it originally was not.  I shall have to hand-wash the patchwork cardigan and let it air dry.  This shirt will still work fine for layers.

Another Quick Note

I just took in the waist about 3" on this black twill skirt I made last summer.  I said in the post "it's loose"; I have worn it many times since then, and that should have been "it's too big."

I finally got tired of it drooping below my waistline, so I removed the button and picked out the waistband stitching from the button side around to just past the other side seam (leaving the buttonhole untouched.)  I folded the inside-out skirt and trimmed off the top of the side seams, then re-stitched with a half-inch seam allowance, finished with serging; repeat for the lining.  Then I sewed the waistband back on, cutting off the newly-created excess at the end and finishing it for the button extension.  I sewed the button back on with the machine.  Skirt fits better now.

Wool Slip Fix Skirt Hack

So, in April, I made a wool bias slip dress that...did not go well.  A few weeks later, I fixed the problems.  Not blogged: finding that I hadn't managed to avoid all the moth holes, and clumsily mending one on the upper back.  Yeah, I didn't wear it much.

I finally decided I would go ahead and turn it into a skirt, but it took me days between making that decision, making the decision on how I'd do it, making the cuts to do it, and then actually doing it.

But I did do it!

Jeans Alteration

A few years ago, Husband bought a pair of inexpensive jeans that ended up being a bit small.  Instead of returning them, he gave them to me.  At the time, they were a bit too small for me, too, so I put them away for The Future.

When I finally tried them on after losing weight, they...were too big.

I considered donating them, but the fact that they're relaxed fit and the waistline does sit at my waist means they're quite accidentally in fashion, so I decided to try altering them.

I consulted several websites that said all that needed to be done was pick out the stitching holding on the waist band (and any belt loops in the way), cut out some of the center back, then sew everything back together.  There may have been better and more detailed instructions than that, but that's what I took and ran with.

I tried on the jeans and pinched out the excess in the center back and safety pinned that in place. I then (well...a few weeks later) used ore safety pins to emulate a line of stitching, then tried the jeans on again.  Things felt like they where where they needed to be, so I used my index finger width (which is roughly 5/8") to draw a line with tailor chalk parallel to the pins, and that's where I cut off the excess fabric.

Due to the way I'm shaped, taking out the center back excess but leaving the front intact still leaves the side seams right where they're supposed to be.

I ended up opening the entire center back seam, and a bit of the inseam, which was easier than it should have been, because it was sewn entirely with safety stitches.  All I had to do was cut a bit, find the right thread end, and, zoop, the stitch pulled apart.

I loaded a yellow 'gold' medium weight thread into the top of the machine and left the yellow green in the bobbin in place since it was the same weight.   The color and stitching are far from perfect, but no-one's going to look very closely when I'm wearing these.

I also very quickly decided that I was absolutely not going to do a welt seam. I've never been good with welt seams, and I don't think my machine would have taken it well, either.  When I sewed the inseam back together, I just top stitched through everything.  My serger definitely wasn't happy with what I'd asked it to do.  But, again, no-one is going to be looking.

I haven't worn jeans for a very very long time.  This could get weird.

Quick alteration

 Made these leggings years ago, outgrew the waist a few years after that, finally added a ribbing/elastic band last week, posting it here as a record of Things Sewn

will resist wearing it with the previous dress to reduce Star Trek vibes.

Grayyyyyyyy, revisited

 So about a year ago, I made this

with the intent of wearing it as a layering piece.  However, I immediately realized that it was just too long, and I didn't wanna deal with shortening the skirt.

So.

Upcycling #1

I grabbed all of the skirts in my closet that I have not worn for a year and decided I would use them as skirts for more loose pull-over dresses.

And then they sat in a box in my sewing room for a few weeks.

Chip said it made a great cat bed.

Two days ago I made myself cut out the bodice pieces for one, and yesterday I started sewing it, using the "sew one seam, go do something else for fifteen minutes" method.  I got the bodice assembled and picked apart sections of the skirt side seams to insert pockets yesterday, and early this afternoon finished.

Yes, it's another fake Burda 6401, with a skirt variation because, as mentioned above, it was a thrifted skirt so I didn't make the decisions involved in sewing it.

Yes, I know, such a cheerfully summery frock!

Another "quick" project

Among the many textile things the friend brought over the summer were many pieces of partially dis-assembled clothing, including a purple tiered skirt with the waistband cut off.

  I had it stuffed in with my fabric for a while, and finally decided to make a quick bodice to sew it  to, to make another under dress.

Of course things didn't go as quick as they could have.

It's Easy Being...Red

I volunteered to chaperone the kiddo's field trip to a science center, fun!

But.

Everyone had to wear a red shirt, or "as close to that as possible."  I delved into my closet, pretty sure I didn't have anything red, but was surprised that I didn't even have dark pink.  Huh.  So!  A trip to the thrift store on 99¢ day and I was able to find a short sleeve button up woven shirt that I turned into...