The Fabric Floozie

Since yesterday was essentially a “snow day”, and my husband was home to help with the kids, I spent yesterday and early this AM pretty much just finishing up old projects that had been sitting around “waiting” for something.

First up is a dress for Lily. It’s from the Miss Madeline pattern at the handmade dress. I’ve made one of these dresses previously and loved it so much that I immediately started this one with fabric I had on hand, but I ran out of 1/2″ elastic. Once I had enough elastic, I realized I ran out of brown fabric. So I waited and waited until I’d run out of, and purchase more elastic multiple times. Finally yesterday I decided I had to find a way to do it without finding more brown fabric for the waistband. Otherwise she’d have outgrown it before she ever even got to wear it.
So I zigzag stitched the elastic waistband into the inside of the dress. Not the prettiest or best way to finish it, but atleast it’s wearable, and before she’s past the 1T size.

Next up is a pair of sweater pants for miss Lily. I’ll be posting a tut for these later today. I had this sweater that I’d chopped up a while back to make a soaker out of. But I saved the sleeves for something else. I dug them out yesterday and made her a pair of ruffly sweater pants. I don’t love the ruffle b/c I just zigzagged it and pulled it tight to give it the ruffle, but it’s functional and they are so stinkin cute on her.

And finally, is another pair of Lightning McQueen pants for Brendan. I’d made him one pair previously and they are now his favorite. I realized I had enough fabric to make a 2nd pair so I put these together the day after making the first pair. But (once again) I was out of 1/2″ elastic. So I waited. I finally had some, so I added the elastic and hemmed the bottoms this morning.

And I’ve finally figured out a way to tag the clothes (for free/cheap) so that my husband will stop dressing the kids backwards

So that is what my last two days has consisted of. Hope the kids like them!

Did you miss step one? CLICK HERE!!!

okay, so here is part two.
Lets grab the bodice part of the cut up shirt, and that RTW shirt you picked out from the closet.
You’ll also need a rotary cutter, fabric scissors, pins, your cutting mat, and a serger (if possible).

Here I’ve laid the RTW Shirt on top of the cut shirt. You’ll notice that the tip of my scissors shows where the deepest area of the V-neck lies behind the RTW shirt. This doesn’t have any significance for the directions other than showing you where it’s lying since you can’t feel it like I could

You’re going to cut off a bit of the shoulder area b/c otherwise the neckline will be way too big for a childs head/shoulders.

We’re going to cut the front panel. When you pin this area, just pin the top layer. It’ll make cutting easier.
Pin around the 2 sides and bottom hem of the shirt, just a little outside to create an extra seam allowance.

You’ll notice that I put a little diagonal pins at any of the “peaks”. The corners of the shoulders, the end of the arm opening at the arm pin, the side of the shirt where it meets the hem, etc. That’ll make cutting less confusing.

here it is minus the RTW

Cut out the top layer

Here’s the front panel

Take the excess fabric and lay it as flat as possible, then lay the front panel down on top of it, lining the top shoulder areas of the front panel with the back neckline. This will save you from having to finish the back neckline.

Cut it out

Now that you’ve got your front and back panels, lets do the sleeves.
My little girl is VERY petite, so I prefer to give her sleeves a little less bulk to them, otherwise her clothes just look very oversized. That’s why I shape her sleeves the way I do.
You can shape yours differently – however will fit your child the best.

This is how I make mine:
I make a template for my sleeves.
You take a piece of paper, line one edge up with the side seam.
Trace the bottom hem, and cut it out

Now you will lay your front/back panels over the paper. This placement is all about your judgement/preference. The side seam of the fabric you are about to cut will be the area of the sleeve that drops down from the shoulder over the bicep. So when you lay the front/back on it, you need to be sure that the angle of that side seam is at the right angle for your sleeve shape preference.
I prefer lily’s sleeve to drop a little more than a traditional t-shirt.

So here is mine. Just trace the arm hole, then cut it out with scissors.

Use your rotary tool to cut the fabric out

Do this a 2nd time to make your 2nd sleeve, then this is what you should have

I had to remove a small tag from the side seam of one of the sleeves, so I ripped it out, then re-serged over that area to close it up again.

Flip your front/back panels so they are right sides together, then serge the shoulder seams.

Now you want to open up your shirt, so the inside is down, right side is up. You are going to open one sleeve piece and lay it right side down on the front panel, lining up the edge.

Serge the edge of the sleeve to the edge of the arm hole. (the center serged line is from closing the hole from the tag i removed. You won’t have that most likely)

Finish the other sleeve

Sew up your side seams for the shirt and sleeve

Do the same on the other side

Turn right side out

You then hem the bottom of the shirt. I can’t finish the hem on this right now, b/c my red thread is too thick for my machine and it keeps crapping out on me. So I just serged the raw edge for now, and I’ll hem it up later

So that’s my tutorial.
As always, it might not be the best way. It might not be the prettiest way. But it’s functional and it’s a money saver. So I wanted to share how I do it, in case anyone else might be interested in trying.

Hello! I made a pair of PJs for Lily last week out of a womans shirt that my mom wouldn’t wear, so I thought I’d try it again, and post a tutorial this time.
Right now I’m only posting the pants section, b/c I have to do a few things today before I can start on the shirt, but at least this might be able to get ya started

First you want a shirt that is kind of big. I’d say a lg or xl. that worked well for my 12-18m pjs. You also need 1/2″ elastic, and a serger will make your life easier on this, but it’s not totally necessary.

Here is the shirt I used. If you notice, It has small seed beads and bugle beads along the neckline. I started by clipping the strings the beads were on and removing them all. This is important b/c you will likely remove part of the top of the neckline in order to downsize the head opening. When you do this, you will cut through those strings, and after washing or wearing, the beads will come off which can pose as a choking hazard.

Now you will cut the sleeves off. Cut as close as you can to the original seam.

It really helps to have a cheering section

Now go through your child’s closet, and find a ready to wear (RTW) shirt that fits the way you want this shirt to fit. And a pair of pants (preferably not jeans, you’ll see why) that fit the way you want the pants to fit (not necessarily cut, but inseam, length, etc)

Here’s the shirt I picked

Then flip it inside out, while leaving the sleeves inside.

You will use this for your shirt pattern here in a few minutes.

Over on the cutting board, we have our sleeves, and our pants

Flip your pants inside out, leaving one leg inside the other. This will expose the “J” shaped crotch seam.

Move one sleeve off to the side.
Line the hem of the pants up with the hem of the remaining sleeve. If you need to add some length (like I did) you can just slide the pants up as far as you need to add. Ie. I wanted to add 1 inch, so i slid them up one inch.
Now pin just slightly above the waistband on your sleeve.
Measure your inseam and full length (top of waist band to bottom of hem). Write these numbers down if your memory sucks as much as mine does.

Now remember, at the top you have to allow room to serge your raw edges, fold over and insert elastic (or turn, case and insert elastic, if you prefer) so we are going to add about 1.5″ to the top of the pants. Pin that spot too.

Now I used my other rotary cutting board (smaller) and used that as a straight edge. I used my rotary tool to cut in a straight line at the top pins

Grab that 2nd sleeve you set aside, Put the cut sleeve on top. Line up the bottom hem/lace as perfectly as possible. If they are very uneven, you’ll have uneven inseams.
Cut along line (I used my mat as a straight edge again)

Grab the RTW pants you have out, and lay them back down. Line up the bottom of the jeans with the bottom of the hem (or up an inch like I did). You should still have 1 pin just a hair above the waist line.
Now line up the outside seam with one edge of the sleeves.
See that J shaped curve in the crotch I talked about before?
We’re going to pin along that shape, leaving a very small seam allowance.

Cut it out

Clip the sleeves right side out, and you’ll have this

Flip one sleeve inside out. Place right-side-out sleeve inside the inside-out-sleeve. This will make your right sides face one another, and allow you to serge the crotch seam without too much fabric to maneuver.

Serge around the crotch seam (it will go from center from waist to center back waist) being sure to line up the raw edges. Don’t worry if the top of the pants (waistband) area isn’t completely straight. If it’s not, it’s probably b/c when you cut it, it wasn’t a perfectly straight line, and that’s okay. You’ll serge off some of that anyways.

End with this

flip right side out

Look at paper to find full length measurement from RTW pants. Mesure from hem/lace up to that measurement. Pin on front of both legs.

serge raw edges

pinch at pins, fold excess fabric into pants. Pin. This will be your casing.

Stitch around pants, leaving small opening for inserting casing.

Using a safety pin, thread 1/2″ elastic through casing. Stitch ends of elastic together when you get it through.

Finish sewing casing closed.

You now have pants from sleeves

Check back soon for the shirt part

eta: Here is the shirt section!!

So I got this t-shirt from my mom. I think my grandmother gave it to her or something? Anyways, it didn’t fit her. And it’s not a style I’d use. So I snagged it to make Lily some PJs

The first part of the project was to make a pair of Pajama Pants.
Using a pair of jeans as a template (since Lily was asleep at the time, so I couldn’t measure her) I got an idea of how long they needed to be. Only problem is that I had to add a little fabric to the very top (near the waist band) or they wouldn’t have been wide enough to add elastic in and have them still fit over her cloth diapers.
So there is a small V of excess (same print) fabric on the front and back at the very top

Next I have to make the shirt… but that might have to wait til naptime.

I’m working on my first recon today… I’m so nervous. LOL. Wish me luck

Along with sewing and photography, I’m passionate about fitness, wellness and women’s health. Specifically about Women’s Breast Health.
While I was pregnant with Miss L, my doctor found a 1 inch tumor in my left breast. I was only able to do minimal testing at the time due to my pregnancy, and had to wait to do another more extensive (mammogram, etc) until after I had given birth. Since I was only 4 months into my pregnancy when it was found, you can imagine how stressful and un-enjoyable the last 5 months of my pregnancy were.
Shortly after Lily was born, my husband nearly lost his job and, in an effort to avoid any income-less time, found a new, lower paying job which didn’t include health insurance. With a new baby, a tumor, and no health insurance, I struck out to find the cheapest and easiest way to get a mammogram once and for all.
Being 24 years old, I was turned down by many places. I was told that I couldn’t have a mammogram until I was done nursing, and even then I had to wait until 6 months post weaning. I was told that I was too young, and it was “unlikely” that my tumor was cancerous. I was aware of the likelihood that my tumor could be something bad. But I was also aware that breast cancer in the under-30 crowd is one of the most vicious and fast developing forms of breast cancer there is. I was also aware that a friend of mine had lost her sister before she ever reached her 20th birthday due to a particularly terrible case of Breast Cancer. With a 3 year old and a newborn, I wasn’t about to take any chances, and I certainly wasn’t going to wait 12 MORE months to find out what was growing inside my body.
I contacted Susan G Komen and found out what locations in my area offered free/low cost mammograms. I contacted them and ended up going in to a local Breast Health office for a sonogram and mammogram. They did the sonogram first, in hopes of not needing to do a mammogram. The sonogram showed that after 5 months of pregnancy, 5 months of nursing, and 2 months of being weaned, my tumor had not grown at all. This was an extremely good sign because, as I noted before, Breast Cancer in younger women is EXTREMELY fast growing.
Lily is now 15 months old, and I plan to go have another sonogram done when she’s 1.5-2 years old, just to keep tabs on it, but for the time doing I’m happy and healthy and feel so fortunate that my story turned out the way it did.
This year I will have health insurance again. FINALLY. We are are finally back on our feet after the job switch-up, and I’m ready to do something to support a cause that is now very close to my boobies… errr…. heart

in November 2009, I will be walking the Susan G Komen 3 Day in Dallas, Texas.
I will spend 3 days walking 60 miles in support of Breast Cancer Research. With this walk, I have to raise $2,400 in order to participate.

So what I’m asking is this… if anything from this site has been helpful, If you’ve enjoyed my tutorials, or made use of my patterns…. if you have gotten any enjoyment out of anything I’ve shared on this site, and you feel so inclined, please hop onto my 3Day site, and donate $5.00. I try to provide lots of free patterns and tutorials. I do not WANT compensation for the time/effort put into them. But I would never turn down a little bit of fund-raising support! Thank you so much for ANY help you can provide!

Hello everyone!

I hope you have enjoyed surfing my blog, checking out my projects and using my tutorials. I love putting together tutorials for the projects I do, to help others try their hand at the same items.

All tutorials I post on FF are free for you to use however you see fit. I love to see photos of what you’ve made with them, as well!

If, however, you would like to pay back something towards the tutorials you’ve used on this site, please make a donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day via this site
http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/DallasFtWorthEvent?px=2969661&pg=personal&fr_id=1295
in the amount you see fit. This will be a great way to say “Hey, thanks for sharing that! It helped me create what I was envisioning!” while supporting a fabulous cause.
Even $2 is super helpful and much appreciated.
Thank you!