Easy Upcycles

My son has been asking me to make something for him since he sees everything I make for his sister. I decided to step into the world of boy's clothes slowly and simply and I found an quick and easy tutorial at Make It and Love It to turn pants into shorts.

When I first showed them to him he thought I made them from scratch, lol! He had a few pairs of pants that he either got too tall for or got holes in that I was just going to get rid of until I saw that tutorial...

so I pulled out my scissors and double needle..

now my boy has 3 new pairs of shorts! Lol, he wanted to look tough with his basketball :)

I have a few other ideas for projects for him too, my first try at making shorts from scratch needs some adjusting (and better fabric choices, right, Jeff, lol) and a few t-shirt refashions I haven't gotten to yet.

Speaking of t-shirt refashions...

My daughter has been wanting a Star Wars t-shirt and I'd seen this tutorial  a while ago so I gave it a shot. It literally took me 15 minutes and she loves it! 

After these easy upcycles turned out so well I'm hunting for some more ideas to repurpose their outgrown clothes-especially because, at their age, they often outgrow things they've barely worn.

A Labor of Love

My little girl LOVES rainbows! She draws them everywhere, colors pictures with rainbow colors and I've even found her putting toys in rainbow order. When I saw this pieced jersey dress on kojo designs I thought it would be perfect for a rainbow dress for my Izzie! Now that I'm conquering my fear of knits I wanted to make the whole thing from scratch and not use one of her existing tops. As luck would have it Old Navy was having a sale on t-shirts so I went and bought all the colors of the rainbow in the biggest sizes they had. That night I searched the internet for a way to do the top of the dress and I came across the warhol dress pattern by Dana at MADE.  I took a deep breath, reminded myself that I was no longer afraid of knits and started sewing. It was harder then I thought it would be but I love how it turned out!

Let's just say that my original idea started out with the traditional ROYGBIV but I made an error in my measurements and had to add the pink at the top. Luckily I had leftover pink jersey from another dress I had made for Izzie (which I will share soon) and she loves pink so I didn't think she'd mind. 

I think it's safe to say she loves it!! I'm so glad she does and relieved it turned out as great as it did because I was STRESSING over it the whole time! I was going to do exposed seams but decided against it at the last minute so I ended up using my serger to attach each piece. I've been working with quilting weight cottons and home dec fabrics since I started sewing and working with knit is very different! Piecing the colors together and making the seams match up made me nervous and I kept second guessing myself. I nearly cried when I was ironing the yoke because it was so long and I couldn't get it to stay put. Once I finally had it all done I was sure it would be way too small on her. I'm so lucky that Jeff is so supportive, he kept assuring me that it looked great every time I started freaking out! When I showed it to Izzie the next day she started screaming with excitement and had to put it on right away. I'm so happy that it fit just right!

I think I will try this style again since I love how cute she looks in it and it's such a comfy dress for summer...without the piecing though, lol!

This was definitely a labor of love, but totally worth it once I saw the excitement on my baby girl's face when she saw it for the first time! I think I'm starting to like working with knits!

I'M BACK!

Adjusting to going back to work has been a bit harder then I had anticipated, I didn't even sew at all during the first 3 weeks! Even now that I'm settling in it's a challenge, though I have managed to put a few things together. I've been thinking a lot about the direction that I want RGO to take. I LOVE making bags, but now with summer weather upon us (except for the last few days-gotta love Ohio) I can't stop thinking of all the cute summer dresses I can make! Then my son started getting a little jealous so I figured I might as well try some boy clothes. A lot of my friends have had babies recently and that got me thinking about making some baby stuff-LOTS of possibilities! So many ideas!! I can't really nail it down to just one area right now, especially now that I see fabric all day at work and get ideas from asking customers what they're making. I decided I will just make what I want and figure it out as I go!

First up is a bag that is based on this first bag. I had these changes in my head for a while and I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

I moved the pleats, gave it a longer top panel, and changed from the 2 shoulder straps to a wide adjustable strap. The finished size is 12" wide at the top, 17" at the bottom, 12" tall (without the strap) and the interior can open up to 9" deep. The strap is adjustable from 26"-46". I used  pink piping and pink canvas for the interior top panel and multiple pockets.  It closes with a magnetic closure.

I made another bag, an Isabel bag variation, with a concealed zipper top, but it needs a little tweaking before I'm comfortable with showing it off. I used the orange circles fabric (see it here) and it turned out so cute! I'm hoping to get it ready soon. I also have a new bag that I just drew up the pattern for that I have some great fabric for that I want to get done soon too.

I made a few dresses for my daughter and finally conquered my fear of knits, as well as a few projects I did for my son. I'll be doing posts on these soon.

It's good to be back! I'm going to work hard to keep this going and hopefully you'll enjoy some of the ideas I have!