Dotty Tee Skirt

I bought a bright orange tee-shirt dress last year off the sale rack... I love the color and the cut of the top half, but I found myself avoiding wear it.  I think it was just a little bit too much orange.  Thus, I decided to cut off the bottom of the dress and turn it into a top/tunic.  But what to do with the fabric I trimmed off the bottom?  Skirt for Miss Zoe.

The skirt is pre-hemmed, which rules, so all I had to do was conquer my fear of sewing with knit fabrics, set my machine to zig-zag stitch, and add an elastic waistband.  Quite easy.

Then, inspired by this tutorial on Craftiness is not Optional, I added some reverse applique embellishments to the skirt using squares of knit fabric cut out of a couple of old tank tops that I never wear because they are... how can I put this delicately?  I can't: they're arm pitty.  Gross.  But besides the armpits, the rest of the fabric was totally usable.

I traced evenly-spaced circles onto the skirt hem using a round cookie cutter, backed each circle with a square of contrasting color fabric, sewed around the circle, then trimmed the extra fabric on both sides.

The inside of the skirt, halfway through the embellishing:

... from the outside:

And the final product:

I sewed around each circle three or four times with contrasting color thread, not worrying about getting the circles exactly perfect.  I like the slightly chaotic stitching style, a la Alisa Burke, whose mixed media, free style sewing I have been admiring for a while now.  Also, sewing knit fabric in a small circle is hard, so there's that, too. Ha.

I think with a little white t-shirt, this will be a pretty rockin' outfit.

 

Tiny Pocket(less) Tank

Since I am so in love with Grainline's Scout T-shirt pattern, I thought I would download another pattern from the site: the Tiny Pocket Tank. It's a simple but modern-cut tank perfect for hot Jakarta weather. 

I decided to make my first version out of an old cotton and linen button-down shirt of Tim's that he no longer wears.  In retrospect, perhaps I should have done a straightforward version of the tiny pocket tank rather than a refashion, but it turned out pretty well in the end anyway. 

I skipped the tiny pocket in the end, but left the button down placket from Tim's shirt intact.  I sewed it up, though, to prevent any gaping.  The chest area is a little bit tight on me (the top of the pattern is not quite as roomy as the Scout t-shirt- it's slightly more fitted- so I misjudged my size), so next time I may go up a size. 

I'm looking forward to making many more versions of this pattern! 

Anda Dress with Obi Belt

With so much time on my hands, I decided that I should make an effort to do some more sewing and improve my skills a little bit.  I decided I would try some downloadable patterns from the internet- novice level ones- as my first tasks before tackling more complicated patterns.

My first dress, which I am quite proud of, is a Maria Von Trapp-esque masterpiece.  Rather than buy new fabric to make the dress, like Maria, I used fabric from old household items.  In my case, an Ikea duvet cover that used to cover the bed in the infamous "Red Room" in the Irving Street house.  The duvet cover had a large hole in it, but still had yards and yards of useable fabric, perfect for turning into clothes and whatnot.  Who knows, maybe with the remaining fabric I'll make some lederhosen for... ummm...  Kurt!  God bless Kurt!

I found the dress pattern, Anda, on Burdastyle... the dress was cute, looked fairly easy, and I loved all of the simple modifications that I saw sewers making to the pattern, particularly an obi-style belt in place of the elastic/tie waist called for in the pattern. I found these free instructions for making an easy obi and gave it a whirl using the same duvet cover fabric, lined with some felt from an old Halloween costume.  The other change I made to the pattern was to use red piping to finish the neck and armholes rather than bias tape, since I haven't found a store that sells bias tape yet here in Jakarta.

I struggled a little bit with how to sew up the ends of the piping at the seams, and found it hard to properly hem a dress on myself, but otherwise things were pretty straightforward.  Without the built-in waistband, the dress is basically a sack with arm and neckholes, but with the belt on it, it's pretty flattering, I think. I think next time I could go down a size, as it's pretty room and the armholes are a little big.

Fraulein Maria would be so proud!

I'll try to get a photo of it on me, but so far my self-portrait efforts are a failure.

Recycled T-shirt Scarf

I love the internets... what did we do before they existed?

Today's example of the bounty of the internets is this tutorial for a ridiculously easy fringey t-shirt scarf. Another way for me to use up more of those busted Chuck Norris Experiment t-shirts I've been holding onto for years now since the team disbanded! No sewing involved, just some scissors and a t-shirt. Sweet.
PS: Do you like my new glasses? I love the glasses from Warby Parker- they have the cutest frames. Plus, it's cheap and they give away a pair of glasses to a non-profit for someone in need every time you buy a pair.

More Recycled T-Shirt Necklaces

Figuring that they would appreciate the recycled and homemade nature of the necklaces plus the funky style, I had the former-OSW ladies over to participate in a recycled t-shirt necklace tutorial and imbibe some tasty beverages. They made their own versions of the necklace I did a few weeks ago, and they came out beautifully! Just in time for Christmas gifting, too.

Recycled Paper Snowflake Garlands

I got on a paper snowflake making kick last week and went a little crazy... I used the Other Martha's directions for getting the fancy looking 5-sided snowflakes, cut up used notebook paper (law school notes, meeting notes from work), then strung the snowflakes on thread to get the garland look. I thought they came out pretty cool!

It definitely brought back some elementary school crafting memories, but there's something about opening up this little abstract triangle and finding out that you made this amazing kaleidescopey snowflake. The finished garlands remind me a little of those colorful hand cut Mexican Day of the Dead flags...

Recycled T-shirt Necklace

There's been a whole lotta crafting going on here over the past few weeks... unfortunately, because a lot of the crafting is for birthday and/or Christmas gift purposes, most of it can't be discussed or shown here for at least another month or so!

This necklace is purely selfish, though. I made it for myself on a whim, and I am really digging it. I envision wearing it with jeans and a t-shirt, or even a black dress to work.
Inspired by some tutorials and blog posts I saw on Ye Olde Internets, I cut an old t-shirt (R.I.P. Chuck Norris Experiment soccer t-shirt! You have served me well!) into strips, pulled them so they curled up, strung some silver beads on them, arranged them in graduated strands, then knotted them together in the back. For being made out of an old soccer jersey, I think it's pretty classy and dramatic!