One summer dress is better than two summer tank tops!

I found these two ruffled shirts at a thrift store for $1 each.  One was size 6 and the other was size 7 and BOTH still had original retail tags; cute and ruffled.   My first idea was to size one of them down to a size four so each of my girls could have a shirt.

However, shirts are in LOW demand and sundresses are in HIGH demand around here, so I changed the plan.   I cut the top off of one of the shirts and added the remainder of it to the other shirt.  Instead of a shirt with 3 layers of ruffles, it is now a dress with 5 layers of ruffles.
My neighbor exclaimed, "That is so cute!!!  I can’t believe you made that!!!  I could never do that, I can barely sew a straight line."
"But it *IS* just a straight line!" was my reply, with a laugh.  "I made one cut on the shirt and sewed it back up with one straight stitch to make a dress."
Admittedly, there were several pins involved, but it was so easy!   Less than 10 minutes, I bet.

This is the only action shot I can find with Grace sporting the dress.   We were out on my dad’s boat on the Irondequoit Bay with cousins.

Another quick summer alteration was adding the letter “G” and a flower button to a cute little denim skirt.  It has the shorts built in under the skirt (love), but I couldn’t not get my pink lovin’ girl to wear it until I added a little bling. 

Thanks for looking!
Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

snip, snip

Isn’t this a pretty tank top?  It’s Anne Taylor and I found it second hand at one of my favorite shops.  I love the detailed pleats and fabric roses and tone on tone colors.  But this is what I’ve figured out:  there’s always a reason people donate nice clothes.  Always.  I realized this pretty little tanks flaw pretty quickly:  the elastic band around the waist makes it ride up my belly.   B-A-D news.


If I had paid $30-40 for this new tank from Anne Taylor , I’m not sure I would have the guts to take a pair of scissors to it.  However, I had only spent a few dollars which gives me the nerve to try and alter it.   Snip, snip, snip.  Off came the elastic.  It curled up around the raw edge and I left it as is.  Now it is very comfy AND pretty to wear!

Easy alteration.  Easy is good.
Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Silk Help

I'm a bit out of sorts with this silk shirt.  I found it at the thrift shop for a couple dollars and grabbed it.  It has three tiers of ruffled layers and is gigantic.   XXXL, I think.   I thought I could resize it at the sides to fit me as a long tunic with leggings, but it isn't going so well.

Does anyone have tips on sewing with silk, or what you would do with this fun silky find?

Thanks for your thoughts!
Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Tank top to a small nightgown

(Kaylee signing I REALLY Love You)

My itty bitty friend Dana passed along an Old Navy pink tank top. We were going to make tee shirt yarn or something for a craft night, but didn’t use this particular shirt that night.
I’m more of an extra large gal than an extra small, so I turned it into a little nighty for Kaylee. I cut the straps and tied them to fit her little body.  Then I added two ruffled silk borders (from another shirt that didn’t fit well) using two different ruffling methods.  There are so many ways to ruffle…I can’t believe that I’m still learning/ figuring out ways to play around with ruffles.  

(She's signing I Love You here)

See Katie Sew  found through Pinterest, of course.

Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Are you pinning?   Oh my goodness…I am pinning things left and right.   I’m overstimulated, to tell you the truth, by all the awesome ideas I see.  It’s so easy to pin, but to actually reproduce the awesomeness takes a lot more effort.  I started a new board called “I pinned it and did it!” for those projects/ideas/recipes/ that I, you know, actually tried out.  So far there are 28 on that board. 921 pins left to go.  
Anyway, this hot pink scarf was “pin-spired”.   I took a thrifted pashmina (which is a scarf.  I didn’t know that until 2 years ago.  Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know; it can be the one new thing you learned today.) and a twin bed skirt from an estate sale and sewed them together.
It is quite gigantic.  It looks cool in this windy picture, but it’s just way too much fabric for me to toss around my neck. 








The colour is off, but this is the original pashmina with the stringy ends. “fringe”, I guess.  I cut those off, then sewed the bed skirt to the straight edge.  I wore it once and then decided it was no good.   I cut off the bed skirt portion off and try again with the chunkiest lace I could find in my stash.





Final product:  lace edged pashmina.  I wear it constantly and get comments on it all the time.  Hot pink + lace= a winning (easy) refashion!
Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Pajama tote bag

These cozy pants were given to me (thanks Cindy!) and I liked them as pants.  They were soft, they were snazzy with the black and white print.  They were nice pants….except they were high waisted.  Now, I’m not one to really “dress to impress” when I’m headed to bed, but I just COULD NOT DEAL with them up so high on my tummy.  
I altered the crotch area so they fit low on my hips.  Better.
Except now they were a bit too tight around my hips.  I snipped the elastic and tried to wear them but it was basically just terrible.
I tried, but some alterations are just not meant to be.   I decided to do what I do best and started slicing the pants into strips with my rotary cutter.  
Ruffles….gorgeous soft ruffles….I can’t go wrong with ruffles glued onto something, right?

Another freebie canvas bag from some conference.  

I layered a gazillion rows of ruffles, gluing them down with hot glue as I went until I ran out of ugly canvas to cover.

I sent this bag to my sister hoping that she can use it for library books or something.   (and think of me and ruffles each time, knowing that I love her and them, well…her more than them of course.)
The. End.

Elastic thread on my sleeves. Is that called "rouching"?

I found this purple shirt at a thrift store near my mom’s house for $1.99.
Love the color.
Love the price.
Love the bling along the neckline.
It was a size 2X, so I grabbed it, because I can *usually* alter things to fit me.
I cut about 4 inches off the bottom and didn’t bother to hem it because it rolled up and looks just fine!  Sweet….

Then I pulled out the elastic thread and decided to try it on the scrap piece I cut off the length.  To my great surprise, it worked and gathered up the fabric just right.   I’ve tried elastic thread about 4 other times over the past year with zero success.  I’m not sure why it worked this time around…but makes me think, “If at first you don’t succeed, try  try again.”  There’s a reason that quote took off….huh?

I love the rouching (is that the right word?  Spell checker has never heard of it…) on the sleeves, which turn them into the  right length so I don’t have to push them up all day long.

Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Doily and lace shirt

I made this funky shirt by layering pieces of doilies and lace onto a plain shirt.   It’s not quite my style, but it was fun to play around with pretty little scraps.



I tried something new on this project; spraying adhesive onto the doily before placing it on my shirt. That gave me a tacky hold and  I was able to move the piece around a few times.   When I was happy with the placement, I sewed it into place without worrying about pinning it down or it slipping out of place.   The spray was a little bit stinky, but it washes out just fine.

Have you ever used spray adhesive in sewing something?   Is this a big "no-no"?   I have no idea!!!!

Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Ruffled flower tote

Snazzy little tote, right? It wasn’t always this rufflelicious…. 
A friend gave me this happy striped bag and immediately I knew I wanted to ruffle it up a little bit.   There is a teeny tiny spot of dirt that I wanted to cover up too.

I found a white camisole in my refashion pile.  Someone cut off the shoulder straps.  I guess that would be me, but I can’t remember why.   Whatever- I don’t need them anyway! 


I started an episode of Downton Abbey, grabbed the shirt and some scissors.  Starting at the bottom and cutting in a spiral, I cut one long strip of fabric about one inch wide.  That took one episode.   Because I could barely take my eyes off the show.  Wow.   I’m hooked.
The next night, I ran that super long strip of  shirt fabric through my machine using a long stitch and high tension setting to get a pile of ruffles.
Then I plugged in my hot glue gun and started up the next episode of Downton  Abbbey. 
The clothes.  That HOUSE!  60 maids????   oh my. 

Starting in the center of the bag, I glued the ruffle strip around and around.  It probably took me an hour…a Downton Abbey hour.  Sigh.  

Do you sew and watch shows too?
Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

maternity shirt to skirt

I wore this maternity shirt to a friends wedding 7 years ago.   Every once in a while I would try to wear it as is, but it’s way too flowery and crazy to wear near my face.   I cut right above the armpits, folded over twice and sewed a hem for the top of the skirt.  It fits just right over my hips, which is not something to brag about, but it made this an easy refashion!

Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Ruffly conference bag

I made myself a new tote bag out of some stuff headed to the garbage:  An old conference bag from 5 years ago and a shirt that Brian discarded due to red ink stains and snags.

This is a pretty decent bag, as far as conference bags go.   It’s sturdy canvas with a zipper.  It’s Just. So. Ugly.

I bought this golf shirt for Brian, possibly even at full price  (GASP!) because I loved the color.  I was trying to be supportive of his hobby, I guess.  It’s one of those breathable shirts that the golf people sell.  Unfortunately, it did not withstand the laundering conditions at my house and landed in the throw away pile.


I cut the shirt into one inch strips and then ruffled them until I had yards and yards of ruffles.  Those crazy conference people had printed stuff on the back AND the front of the bag, so I used every possible part of the shirt to get enough ruffles.
This is all that was left of the shirt! Wow, right?

I used my hot glue gun to attach the rows of ruffles on the bag.  And I glued on some rolled flowers made from some old lady scarves.   I love how it turned out, transforming two ugly things into something pretty and useful.


Love,
Amy Jo at The Little Moments

Summer dress

At the end of the summer season, my favorite consignment store Clothes Mentor, clearanced out some of the summer inventory.   I got this for only $3.  It had never been worn and had the original store’s tag still attached.  I love the color and the soft drape-y fabric.  It was a good fit…nice.   But I wanted to play around a little with adding some thing extra.

I ironed on some wonder under to a bright flowery fabric from my stash, and then cut out clusters of flowers and placed them along one side of the dress.   I sewed them down on my machine so they won’t go anywhere.
 



I like it!  It's not a boring summer dress anymore.

Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Summer dress with flowers

At the end of the summer season, my favorite consignment store Clothes Mentor, clearanced out some of the summer inventory.   I got this for only $3.  It had never been worn and had the original store’s tag still attached.  I love the color and the soft drape-y fabric.  It was a good fit…nice.   But I wanted to play around a little with adding some fabric.

I ironed on some wonder under to a bright flowery fabric from my stash, and then cut out clusters of flowers and placed them along one side of the dress.   I sewed them down on my machine so they won’t go anywhere!



Thanks for looking!
Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Fleece sweater flowers

In college I worked at Old Navy, where I gave most of my paycheck back to them every week purchasing clothes.  This was in the late 90’s when fleece was just starting to be mass produced and flooding the markets.   I remember one day, I hid this fleece waaaaay in the back of a pile of fleece sweaters so that no one else would buy it.  At the end of the day, the boring old brown fleece was mine!  It’s a men's size large, so it was big and cozy.  My sis stole it from me a few times and she loves to tease me about how I still wear it 14 years later.
Sadly, I wore it while touching up some paint in the kitchen and got some on the beloved sweater.  (Right where that flower is now.)


I decided to resize it to fit me better in the sleeves and sides.  When I cut off the excess, I was left with these crazy shapes- perfect for making a tone on tone design to cover up the paint.

I played around with shapes and layout until I was happy.

I can’t wait to see what my sister says when I
pull it out of my suitcase at Christmas!

Thanks for looking!
Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments

Sweatshirt and Camisole remix

One of my friends let me look through her pile of junk that was headed to a donation pile.  This grey sweatshirt was something that I grabbed.  It had a grease spot or something on one of the pockets…no big deal.   It has been well worn by someone I love, plus it has a thick Sherpa lining and is super warm.

Next up:  an XL camisole that was about $.50 at a community thrift store.  I know it’s weird that I grabbed it, but I like the fabric.  I don’t think I could ever wear a used negligée….

I found this pair of baby velour pants that the girls outgrew.   I already used part of one leg for some other project, but there was plenty for me to use on the other side for the sweatshirt.

Ta-Da!
Silky ruffles
Strips of soft velour
Camisole straps as detail on the hood

Here it is in action!


Thanks for looking!
Love,
Amy Jo @ The Little Moments