The Fabric Floozie

Today is the last day to get in those recon projects! Click the link at the top of the page to submit your project!

In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of my latest recon

Last night I made my first reversible reconstruction. I don’t mean reversible as in “the inside is one fabric, the outside is another”. I mean, it can be worn forwards or backwards with 2 slightly different looks.
Now, for most people, it wouldn’t really be worth it to take the extra steps to make something forward/backward reversible JUST to have two “slightly” different looks. BUT here’s where it comes in handy:
When you have a toddler who is growing at breakneck speed and you are trying to keep her in clothing that will last a while.

That’s right, this will fit her at 2 different stages.

Backwards it features a squared neckline, puffy elbow-length sleeves and a flat front empire waist with a slightly higher neckline (perfect for young toddlers with narrow shoulders).

Forwards, it features a mitered square neckline, puffy elbow-length sleeves, and a gathered empire waist front with a slightly lower neckline (better for older toddlers/young kids who fill out the shoulder straps more).

As usual, I started with a size medium women’s shirt (handed down from my mom) and went to town cutting it apart.

I started by removing the sleeves at the seamline

Then I cut the framed neckline at the 45 degree angle in the bottom 2 corners, both on the front and back.

Cut up the sides of the garment along the seam lines, making a front panel and a back panel.

Taking the shoulder straps that you removed, cut off the serged area, plus about 1/4″ of fabric to scale them down for a smaller garment.

Using measurements from your child, measure out the chest of the garment (for Lily, it needs to be 20″ around for the chest) and mark the fabric.
Cut front panel using your measurements.
Do the same for the back panel.

Taking one strap, lay it face down on top of the front panel. Line the top-stitched edge up with the neckline of the dress and pin at a 45 degree angle where you want to attach it to the garment (for Lily, I leave about a 5″-5.25″ neckline), then stitch down at 45 degree angle.

“unfold” upwards, and top stitch. Do the same on the other strap.

For the back, you can either do the same, or do a simple squared neckline like I did by laying it flat under the back neckline and top stitching. To make it reversible, do not line up the front and back necklines up exactly. Instead, stagger the back a few inches (1-2″ max) higher than the front neckline.

Serge up the sides of the dress while inside out.

Serge hemline and hem to your desired length (mine was 16″ from the center neckline).

Take the sleeves and cut them down (on the seamed side) to the width you need. Consider the sleeve lenght you want, and cut, then serge, inside out.

Turn dress inside out and place sleeve in through sleeve hole right side out. Serge to dress body

Do the same for the other sleeves, then turn right side out. (Shown “forwards”)

So that’s step by step of how I made Lily’s latest dress.
For the time being, she’s in it “backwards” as the lower neckline is just too low for my tastes. Once she’s a little bigger/taller and fills out the shoulders better, she should be able to wear it either as a dress forwards, or even as a tunic top

You think she likes it?

Earlier this year, our family gathered at my Mom’s house to say Goodbye to my Grandparents before they headed home to California from their holiday vacation.

While there, my aunt said that she’d brought a coat that she had and could not longer wear. She asked if I’d like it to make something for Lily. Of course, I said “yes!” and got excited thinking about what i could do with it.

The piece, to start with, was a Style&Co (Macy’s brand) Off-White Suede outer, faux-sherpa inner button down coat. It was a size XL in womens.

Since the coat was constructed using a patchwork design, I decided that to salvage as much material as possible, I would disassemble it using only a seam ripper. It was surprisingly easy and fast, and it allowed me to really focus on how each element on the coat was completed, giving me ideas for how to reconstruct it later.

Once the coat was completely taken apart, I started piecing together a pattern. Since I knew in my head what I wanted it to look like, I took all of Lily’s measurements and wrote them on a piece of paper with a diagram of a body. This allowed me to keep better track of EXACTLY where each measurement started and stopped. I drew out each pattern piece i’d need on separate pieces of computer paper with a sharpie. With sweat on my brow and fear in my heart (was I going to trash this perfectly lovely jacket that didn’t NEED to be taken apart in the first place, and not even end up with something wearable in the end?!) I began cutting pieces of suede to match the pattern pieces.

I utilized the existing button holes and buttons, as well as later using the existing collar piece. Pretty much everything else was just cut using random shapes of fabric that didn’t apply to the new coat pattern.

As the project went on, I was more and more excited with the outcome. As I told a friend of mine, I NORMALLY like what I make. I’m RARELY proud of what I make. And I’m *really* proud of this jacket. It came out perfectly. More perfect than I’d even hoped for. And it was so easy to do (from disassembling the XL jacket to sewing the buttons on the final product, the project took me less than 1 day).

Since Lily’s 2nd birthday is coming up next week, it was time to take her out for some birthday photos anyways. So one of her outfits for the photos was her new homemade coat. *swoon*

Check them out below (Hat by beaniesbystacie.com)

Grandmas and Toddlers have something in common it seems…

They both like sparkly things

At least my grandma does!

This is a reconstructed shirt, made from something my grandmother passed along to me. It was tricky to position the detailing just right without hacking off too much of it (afterall, it was sized down from a XLWoman to a 2T), but it turned out pretty good. There is a keyhole in the back to allow for it to fit over big noggins

So there is my recon for the week Working on a pink shirt right now and about to start an AWESOME sherpa jacket recon. Check back soon!

As you all saw a few weeks ago, we picked up a really cool, ornate dresser on Craigslist.
It was a steal and I knew it would be beautiful in our Master Bedroom.

The first step in restoring this beast was to remove all the drawers, and then all the hardware

Since the back panel of the dresser was damaged, we tore that off too, prying out all the old rusted staples.

The hardware was looking less than awesome, but the style was imperative to the design of the dresser. So I knew I had to work with what I had

Using equal parts White flour, vinegar, and salt, I made a paste, scrubbed the hardware, and let it set for over an hour.

Once you rinse it all off, the tarnish should wipe away as well.

After that it was time to start on the wood. I had to sand/buff out any rough areas on the drawer fronts to make them smooth, and ready for primer.

As always, my primer of choice in Zinsser Primer’s Cover Stain as it works on glossy surfaces. You can purchase it at The Home Depot.
First coat went on nice and easy

2nd Coat as well.

Now it was time to tackle the issue of ugly hardware. Brass goes with… well… NOTHING in my house. So I knew it needed a facelift.
I picked up one can of Rustoleum’s Metallic Spray Paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze and 2 cans of Rustoleum’s Ultra Cover Clear Gloss (Since I needed it for the dresser too) and went to work. Ladies… Don’t ever think these projects are too big to tackle, b/c if you find the right product that works, it’s a breeze.
Just give the hardware a few very light coats of paint and you’re good to go until it’s dry.

Since the hardware had to dry, it was time to start prepping the dresser body for priming. It started with tearing off the trim (which was missing a side piece)

and finished with sanding down any rough/scratched areas on the dresser body. Not realistically, this is a refinished piece of furniture… it’s not going to look AS smooth as a brand new piece of furniture unless you are able/willing to take the time and energy to sand the entire thing down to it’s bare bones. And even then, this piece probably wouldn’t have looked brand new b/c it was covered in a laminate veneer.
But since I like the look of a vintage, refinished piece of furniture, I’m okay with that.

Priming time

Then I did 2-3 coats of Rustoleum’s UltraCover2X White Spraypaint in Semi Gloss on the drawers to get them good and even, followed by 2 coats of clear

I then laid out the hardware on a clean surface and covered them with 2 light coats of Clear.

Look at those beauties

In an effort to keep costs and material waste down, we went through our stack of scrap materials. We found some previously used Luan from a booth I built for a Expo I’d participated in a few years back. One side is painted dark grey, the other a cream color. We opted for putting the cream side out (since the drawers will block the dark grey) and chose not to paint it since it won’t be seen anyways.

We purchased a few feet of a rectangular trim to place where the old trim was. Once we started cutting, we decided we liked the look of the bare sides better, and decided to only trim out the front of the dresser.

We topped that trim with another piece with a rounded face. We’d wanted a rounded face to begin with, but none of the rounded trims were tall enough to use on their own.

And then it was time for a full coat of white

At this point, the start of an Arctic Freeze heading into Dallas put a damper on our plans. Since our garage is our only workspace, it’s obviously very cold at night in December/January. This wasn’t a problem until it got below freezing and started compromising the finish of the paint I was using. One drawer had to be sanded down and repainted (the broken drawer. The face was sitting on the concrete and the freezing cold seeped up through the concrete floor and into the wood, causing the paint to scale) but that didn’t put too big of a crimp in our plans.
Check back later for Phase 2: The completion!

This weeks recon project was admittedly a very easy one. Not only is the design I used the obvious choice given the original style of the shirt.. it was also one item in my recon basket that i was REALLY looking forward to working on.

Here is the before

It was a size medium tie-back top from Motherhood Maternity. I purchased it back in 2004 when I was pregnant with my son and wore it for work with a black suit. Since I wasn’t working while pregnant with Lily, I never wore it during her pregnancy as it was too dressy for my taste.

The after was much cuter, and obviously more flattering.

Since the style of the shirt was so similar to the intended style of the dress, I kept most of the shaping similar and utilized the bottom hem as the skirt hem and neckline as her neckline. I also saved the ties to re-use at the back of the dress near the waistline.

In the chest area, there was an abundance of gaping fabric that would have looked strange on a 2 year old. So I simple pinned in 2 pleats per “side” , facing inwards, creating a faux-pin-tuck look. It was very easy and took all of about 3 minutes, but gave the dress a much more fitted look for her tiny body.

So that was this weeks recon. Hope you enjoyed it. IF you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section and I’ll do my best to respond.

If you have not done so already, sign up for the 2010 Recon A Thon challenge. No cost to enter, just the chance to win some awesome fabric. All experience levels welcome. Learn more HERE.

Hello, my name is Jackie. And I have a recon basket.

Sometimes admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

So today, for all of you to see, I’m admitting that I not only tuck stuff away to be reconstructed for the kids… I actually have an entire basket dedicated to items waiting to meet their fate.

The basket isn’t huge, but is isnt small either. It can hold upwards of 20 items at a time, and I’m finding that I’m starting to experience a bit of… “overflow”.

I do have a selection of items in the basket that are my “favorites”. That I’m actually excited to get to work on. While I have others that I’m just baffled with how I can possibly re-use them.

So over the next several weeks, I hope to recon at least 1 thing a week. We’ll see how long it lasts, but you can’t work towards a goal if you don’t set one, right?

If you have not done so already, join the TFF & Spoonflower Recon A Thon 2010, by grabbing the button on the right column of the blog, and commenting on this post with a link to your site.

Now, let me start by saying I don’t YET own pinking shears. Notice the Yet. So while my Ravioli do not have the fancy little pinked edges, they will whenever I get around to buying a pair.

The other day I used this tutorial on Frugal Family Fun Blog to make some ravioli that the kids could use with their new kitchen. I used some extra pillow stuffing I had, some gold-ish felt I had on hand, and cream thread.

But since I’m a bit anal about toys being contained most of the time, I had to find some kind of packaging for them. That’s when I realized we had run out of Nestle chocolate powder. I quickly checked it for size and sure enough, all the pasta fit.
So I headed up stairs to make myself a label for the Nestle package that would make it look more pasta-ish, and less rabbit-ish.

What you will need to make the matching label for these cute little pasta pieces is:
1 Nestle Container (10.2 ounces was the size I do believe)
1 sheet of printer paper
colored ink cartridge
mod podge

Just print out the template provided here:

Fold on the grey lines
Mod podge the front and sides of the nestle container
line up the label and stick down
mod podge the back of the container
apply rest of label.
LET IT DRY.
Then apply a light coat of mod podge to the front/sides of the container as a “clear coat”.

Now, yours will look different than mine. While I did measurements for the sides thickness and the fronts width, i did NOT take into account the curve of the container. So yours will be lined up much better than mine, and will be without grey lines

So all in all, yours will be much cuter than mine

Enjoy!

(though out this post will be photos of past reconstructions. click on a photo to learn more about the project)

Since we all know that one of my favorite things is reconstructing clothing, I’ve decided to commit to hosting a semi-annual Recon-a-thon. That means in January and July(or August), each year, I’ll host a Recon-A-Thon open to ANYONE that wants to participate.

I’m pleased to announce that the first Recon-A-Thon is just right around the corner and with Spoonflower as the fabulous sponsor for this contest, you can not possibly go wrong!

If you’ve never been to Spoonflower… well, first, Shame on you. Second, go there right now. They are a fabulous up-and-coming website where you can not only order some of the coolest fabrics on the net, you can also… brace yourself… upload your own designs and have them printed to high-quality fabrics for… brace yourself again… LOW prices, with NO minimums! No, I’m not kidding. Yes, I swear on my childhood-pet-goldfish’s grave. The prize for the RaT10 will be a fabulous addition to your fabric stash, from Spoonflower.

So go on, lovely readers. Go dig in your closets and grab out anything you can find that you’ve been wanting to try to recon. I’ll post all the nitty gritty details later, but for the time being, know that you can use up to 2 items from your home/thrift store/corner dumpster (i’m only kidding… sort of), so dig around and set it aside. The rest of the details are coming soon!

If you plan to participate, please grab the button from the right column, and comment on this post with a link to your blog

Back on October 3rd, I hit up a garage sale in a affluent neighborhood near us. It’s one of those beautiful areas where everyone has 10 acres of land, and no one has a mortgage payment under $4k a month. Where your backyard either houses your guest quarters, your RV and boat, or your pool that is designed to look like you live in a tropical rainforest. It just also happens to be where friendly and relatively wealthy middle aged women sell their well cared for clothing for $2 a pop.

So while out, I picked up these capri pants for Lily. Not something I would *ever* buy for myself – not my style at all – but I LOVED the embroidery on each leg, and knew I could turn it into something fabulous for Lily. Only a few days prior, my mother and I had been at Old Navy combing their sale racks for clothes for the kids (and holy cow did we score that weekend!) We found  beautiful white-with-black-embroidered-flowers dress for Lily, but of course since it was clearance, they didn’t have her size. Bummer. Enter stuffy looking capris. YAY! Perfect match.

First thing to do was decide how long I wanted the skirt to be (since I already knew what cut/style I wanted the dress to be). Once that was decided, it was time to cut. I cut the legs off about .5″ longer than I had intended for the skirt to be. Then I carefully cut up the inside leg seam on each leg. I did the same on the lining too. Then off to my serger to turn the 2 pieces of leg fabric into one big circle of leg fabric. I did the same with the lining.

I used the existing waistline (not stretchy) as the neckline of the dress, and utilized excess fabric from the back of the pants for the straps. I added a zipper in the back for opening it big enough to slip over her head, and the black band was some excess black fabric I had lying around.

ETA: Her dress has some extra loft b/c I cut a row of tulle out of a wedding dress I have lying around and put that in between the lining and the skirt.

This dress was actually done in Mid-October, but being my lazy self, I decided to not take pics right away. I finally remembered to do it today and figured I better post before I put that off for entirely too long as well.

Here is the final product

Overall project time: probably 6ish hours max, but i did it over the course of 2 weeks.

Difficulty: difficult. No pattern was used, so it was all off measurements and eyeballing. I also didn’t use a RTW item as a template, so that took out some of the simplistic nature that most of my recon’s have. Also, since I was working with a smaller item, you have to be careful how you utilize fabric… there isn’t much to spare. Zipper went in a little fussy, but not enough to bother me.