Old adult skirt into child's hooded cape (Halloween costume)

Hello!

This old skirt has been kicking around my closet for years, and I have two others very much like it, so I decided to give it the old chop-choppy, since my little one decided at the last minute to copy her older sister's costume and I only had one witchy-looking cape (but luckily two hats!) The rest of the outfit you see here is just her going through the laundry and playing dress-up, not the ensemble costume, but you can see what the cape turned out like anyway ;)

Before:

After:

I used a bit of scrap fabric to make the hood, and just added ties made out of T-shirt yarn to fasten at the collar. Luckily the skirt was already the perfect cape length and the fit was perfect for tapering at the shoulders once I chopped the waistband off.  The whole thing took about 20 minutes.

Thanks for reading, and happy Hallowe'en! 

Amy

Torn, too-small dress into skirt

Too small!

My four year old daughter looked sooooo sad when she realized that her favourite dress was too small (and was also coming apart at the neckline), so I made it into a skirt for her. It might have been a bit cuter if it were shorter, but she likes long skirts, so I kept as much of the original fabric as possible, and then added a bit to create the casing for an elastic waistband.

Top-chopped

I think she likes it.

Bonus! It fits both of them.

Thanks for reading, 

Amy

Adult button-up shirt into child's shirt

Hello!

Sooooo... I'd been hanging onto bits of this old shirt of mine for years because it had a cute pattern and I liked the shape of the collar, and also the fabric is of a nice quality. (Also I have a wee bit of a hoarding problem.) But anyway, I'd long since chopped pieces out of it (mostly sleeves and a bit of middle) to make baby bibs for my kids. For this refashion, I frankensteined the leftovers together with a fat quarter that just happened to match the colour perfectly, and pow!

I kept the collar and the bottom of the original shirt, mostly because I hate hemming and collar-ing. My sincere apologies for the lack of before pictures, I honestly wasn't expecting this one to turn out and wasn't planning on it being a blog post! Next time I will resist the urge to serge before snapping a pic ;)

Thanks for reading,
Amy

broken umbrellas = child's rainy day circle skirts

Hello!

I often wonder whether I'm doing the right thing by catering to my daughters' hoarding tendencies by letting them keep things like their broken umbrellas, but, hey, they really like them. And they're made out of fun, waterproof fabric, and the shape is perfect for a little kid's circle skirt.

Anyway, here's the sad, broken umbrella. Better off as a dress-up skirt than in the garbage, I think!

 I cut the old metal umbrella bits off, being careful not to cut any of the fabric. As you can see, it has a cute ruffle. I decided to keep the velcro tie tab with the little bow as well as the little plastic nubs that covered the umbrella's spokes - my three year old says those are her favourite parts. Best thing about using an old umbrella - no hemming! Just cut the waist to the right circumference, insert an elastic waistband, sew the casing shut, and you're done. This one's a work in progress, I just started it this evening.

Here's one I made out of our last broken umbrella. (I apologize for the missing before-shot of this one.) I made this quite a while ago but it still fits my five year old, who loves to wear it over splash pants in the rain and slush.

With a side view:

Thanks for reading!
Amy

Old t-shirt into toddler p.j. shorts and bib

Hello!

I recently ruined my kitchen sink (who knew you weren't supposed to leave steaming hot pots in an empty melamine sink?) and, being the optimist that I am - after stomping around and grumping for a few minutes - I decided to do some tie-dying. Yep, that's right. Don't need to worry about staining that sink anymore ;)

Anyway, here's an old painting t-shirt that was in the rag bag:

And here are the new p.j. shorts and matching bib that I made from it. I still have enough tie-dyed orange material left over to make another set, too. 

Thanks for reading!

Amy 

Toddler zip-up hoodie dress out of two old sweatshirts

Hello all!

I can't stand sweatshirts with logos all over them. My husband always seems to end up with them - I don't know where they come from. He never buys them, he doesn't wear them, and they sit in the basement for a year or so before ending up in the give-away bag. The one in the picture (on the right) was made out of a nice thick soft cotton, and I thought I'd try and make something for the kids out of it.

The hoodie on the left is an old one of mine. It's pretty worn (especially the sleeves) but had a nice hood, zipper and pockets. My three year old loves all of these things, plus the pattern.

I made it kid-friendly by taking out the drawstring, and made the new sleeves tie in with the body of the sweater by making cuffs from the main hoodie. I kept the length (she wanted more dresses) and took in the sides. My daughter loves putting this sweater on top of her other outfits - it also satisfies her requirement for a "dress"!

My apologies for the fuzzy picture. I didn't even realize it until I uploaded it here ;)

Thanks for reading!
Amy

Toddler hoodie made from two adult-sized shirts

Happy new year, fellow seamsters! (seamstresses? seamisters?)

This is a toddler sized 3/4 sleeve hoodie made from the leftover scraps from two adult sized shirts. I kept the original pockets and the lining from the hood, and used the outside fabric from the original hood to make the back of the new sweatshirt, since I was short on fabric. Also, I kept the original cuffs from the t-shirt to make the cuffs on the toddler refashion. Here's the new hoodie:

And a refresher of the original outfit I made from two of my old shirts (already posted a couple of months ago):

The original shirts, before they were given the old chop-choppy:

Thanks for reading!
 :) Amy

Bat costumes

I meant to post these earlier, in October, but to be honest I only finished them on Hallowe'en - just in time for the kids to go trick or treating! I cut up my husband's ugly old bathrobe for part of these costumes (the white fabric). I didn't take a clear before photo of the bathrobe, because it was one of my first ever projects done on a sewing machine (I used to make wacky clothing in high school by hand) and it was crazy ugly and sloppy. Anyway, here's the bathrobe being disassembled:

 As you cas see, I used a dress that fits my daughter as a guide for sizing. Let's get a close-up of that mug!

And here's the inspiration stuffy:

The kids were pretty happy with the final product!

And a better look:

Thanks for reading! 

Onesie and pants from two old shirts: even better this time!

Well, here's another oldie but goodie. I found this one when I was cleaning out my kids' closets. I got a few items of kids' clothing out of these two old shirts of mine. I loved the fabric and the colours and the print - they were even better the second time around.
Here is what the shirts looked like before:

Here's the onesie and pants that I made out of them, using the online tutorial that I linked to in my last post (here it is again, in case you need it:
http://omi-creates.blogspot.ca/2010/02/baby-boy-onesie-with-binding-tutorial.html)

You can see that the sleeves of the long sleeved hoodie ended up as the legs of the pants, and I used the raspberry stripey shirt for the body of the onesie, with some scraps from the hoodie as the binding:

Pretty cute, eh? My daughter is five now, but I've kept this outfit, she wore it so much, and so did her little sister - waiting for somebody special to pass it along to! Stay tuned for the sweater I made more recently out of the hood and scraps - my three year old is still wearing it!

Thanks for reading,
Amy

Toddler onesie from adult t-shirt

Well, here's one I did a while ago, and I realized that I'd better post it before my daughter gets too big to squeeze into it! I used an old t-shirt and a bit of stretch fabric I had leftover from another t-shirt that I'd cut up already. I followed this tutorial - it was my first try at binding, and I was quite happy with the results:

http://omi-creates.blogspot.ca/2010/02/baby-boy-onesie-with-binding-tutorial.html

It's getting a little small on her already (like I said, I did this one a while ago), so stay tuned for the refashion of the refashion! (I'm thinking chop the bottom, add a skirt!)

Thanks for reading!
Amy

Cowboy shirt made into A-line high-waisted skirt

     I have always been a fan of the A-line skirt, and I've been tinkering with that high-waisted trend that I'm dangerously close to missing out on entirely, so here it is - the cowboy shirt turned high-waisted A-line skirt.

     Unfortunately, I missed taking a "before" photo of the shirt I cut up, but here's one that's exactly the same, dome buttons and everything:

     Here's the skirt I drafted using a basic A-line pattern. I used a formula that I was taught at a library workshop, but to be honest it fits quite snugly, i.e., I can't eat much more than a few celery sticks in it before it feels like I'm going to pop a button, and I've had better luck just eyeballing it and drawing one up based on an existing skirt that fits me well. 

     The best thing = no hemming! No buttonholes, either, except for at the new waistband. Wahoo!

     I may take that waistband down an inch or so and make it a bit looser, just to give myself some more room, but other than that I was pretty happy with this one. 

     Thanks for reading! 

      Amy Rotini :)

Raglan sleeved toddler bunnyhug/hoodie (by Amy Rotini)

Hi everyone! I'm Amy, and most of the sewing/upcycling I do is for my two little kiddos. I'm excited to share one of my favourite projects with you as my first blog post. This one is great for using up those old T-shirts. It's even more fun when you tie-dye or fabric paint the shirts first. Also, the part I find tedious about making shirts out of knit yardage is finishing neck and sleeve openings. Upcycle a couple of your old t-shirts and you can just use the existing hems.

1. Find a raglan sleeved shirt that fits your toddler well

2. Place your child's shirt on top of the first T-shirt. Fold the sleeves and hood back, so that you can see the shape of the main body of the shirt.  If you want to cut down on the seams you will have to sew, align your child's top along a side seam, so that the new shirt only has one side that has to be sewn up. Using your rotary cutter and cutting mat, cut around the main body of the shirt, leaving a one-inch seam allowance. You should now have a front and a back piece.

3.  Lay your pieces (front on top of back, wrong sides facing) on your cutting mat, and trim the armholes for symmetry. I'm a bit of a sloppy seamstress, since I don't particularly like to use patterns, but that's the beauty of owning a serger. If your pieces are more or less the right size, the serger evens it out for you, since it cuts the fabric as you sew.

4.  Lay your original shirt on top of old shirt #2, and align the sleeve against the side seam with the cuff lined up with the bottom hem. Cut around the sleeve.

5. Now take the sleeve you just cut, flip it over (so that you're cutting it's mirror shape) and align it with the side seam on the other side of the old shirt. Cut out your second sleeve.

5.  Turn the sleeves inside out. Sew the open sleeve sides.  Start at the hem (cuff opening) and sew upwards, so that the hems are aligned at the wrists.

6. Turn the body of the shirt so that the right sides of the fabric are together, and sew up the open side seam. Start at the bottom, so that the bottom hem is nice and even.

7. Keep the body of the shirt inside out. Turn a sleeve right side out and place inside the body of the shirt, aligning the underarm seams. Pin together and sew in a U shape. 

8. Your shirt should now look more or less like this:

9. Repeat for the other sleeve.

10.  Draft a hood shape.  I used an old hood cut off from a stained shirt that was too small. My daughter likes a loose, wide fit, especially at the neck opening (I think most toddlers do!) so I tend to make my tops and hoods a bit oversized.  I like my hoods with long "tails" so that I don't have to finish the neck openings - here is the hood that I drafted:

If the tails are too long, you can always overlap them at the front, which looks cute, or just cut them off as you're sewing with your serger.

11. Sew the hood peices together, like this:

12. Finish the face seam of the hood - you know, the one that goes around the face. Hey, I'm newish to sewing, and I don't really use patterns, so I'm making up my own terminology here ;) You could just serger-seam it, or you could iron it over 2" and zigzag stitch it if you're using a regular sewing machine.

13. Pin your hood to the neck opening. With all pieces of the shirt right side out, align the center seam of your hood with the middle of the main back piece. Start pinning there, and pin all the way around to the front on both sides. If the tails overlap, that's great. You at least want them to meet. Sew in place.

14. Finish your thread tails, and you're done!