Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Wild Kat's Semi homemade clothes

This project is inspired by so many things. First, I have been wanting to make a dress from a shirt ever since I saw a post on Lovely Little Things, next I saw an article about a woman who bought an item a week for about a dollar from the thrift store and made it into a dress, and the rainbow of shirts I see every time I go to the local Goodwill. I don't necessarily need to make it, since I don't have a daughter, but I gave in last time I visited Goodwill.
I saw this shirt.
A steal for only $5.99!
I love the combination of cream and black, and it has some silver mettalic pinstripes. There is cute ribbon detail at the back.
Lining up a pattern I had already.
I had originally planned to do a placket of ruffles on the front, and then it occurs to me that maybe I can do some pom pom trim too (I am just drawn to them, the fuzzy, colorful, spheres). However when I got the shirt out, I figured I would be less work to use the finished hems that were already there. I decided to keep the lower ribbon trim on the back for the front since it had a snap. So what to do with the cute lttle black pom pom trim I purchased? I decided to insert them in what was the back center seam and now will be the front.
My friend, the seam ripper, at work.

I used two lengths of trim and alternated pom poms.
A row of soft pom poms to play with.
Next I stitched the shoulder seams together, then side seams. Now for the sleeves, I was planning on just making a little ruffle on top but I think the current finished sleeves will work out great.
I used a pattern for a sleeve as a guide.
Next I basted the top of the sleeve and gathered it.
After attatching the sleeve, I finished the front neckline.
One side done, one to go!
Looking pretty cute! Now to finish the hemline, I will have enough material left to make a ruffle so I cut the sleeves in half,
and trimmed the ends and sewed them together, end to end to form a circle.
I then basted two rows of stitching , gathered it to fit the hemline and attached it! Ta da, total cuteness!
I made a headband hairpiece out of the leftover snippets, this was a very fun project. I apologize for no model, if I can find one I will be sure to post pics. Planning is great but sometimes you have to just go for it and trust your creativity to guide you. Happy sewing!

4 comments:

  1. Love it! Today it rained most of the day, so I took advantage of being stuck in the house by refashioning some t-shirts. Now I'm hooked. I'm afraid my closet will be seeing a lot more of my scissors and sewing needle.

    ♥ Rebecca Jean
    Midnight Maniac

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  2. LOVE dingle balls!! I've done something similar with my husband's flannel shirts, made over into fall jackets for my son.

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