Some "It's-Almost-Friday" fun...

Have y'all seen Regretsy? It is so hilarious and they find the most random stuff people make to sell. Definitely makes you think twice about selling anything remotely weird (is this avant-garde, or just regretsy-bound?) but so funny to read.

Take this vest, for example. Must try to incorporate into my next sewing project.

The Silly Shirt liiiiives!

I know I mentioned I had a very silly-looking shirt that I planned to make into a bag. I don't make bags often, so it was a little intimidating (you'd think i'd embrace the rectangles) but I did it!

The shirt probably isn't silly to some people. In fact it would look great on me if I were a bigger person and also planned to be an obnoxious tourist in Hawaii.

So I took basically everything from the armpits down, slipstitched the button placket closed, pleated the whole thing, and made it into a bag. I switched out the buttons because the original ones are quite nice shell buttons and I didn't need to waste those on a bag.

It had to hold my sheet music, shoulder rest, tuner, and notebook, so it didn't have to be anything super special but still sturdy. I think it's going to work great! There are some things I'd do differently next time, but that's what learning is all about! Yaaaay!

One thing I tried that I'd recommend if you'd like your bag to look a little less 'boxy'-- put a small casing on either side of the top of your bag, then make one long circular strap that runs through both of them. When you use the two loops as handles, it'll cinch the sides of the bag via the casing and create a more trapezoid shape. I got the idea from Bend-the-Rules Sewing-- more details below if you are interested.

Here you can see the right edge of the bag, inside the black band that runs around the top. You can see the casing where it looks like a strip of fabric is coming out both sides. That strip of fabric is one continuous strap, and it goes through a casing like this on each edge of the bag. That leaves a loop of the strap on the front and back of the bag for me to put my arm through, and when it has weight in it the casings cinch up to gather the top of the bag together a bit.

Alright, refashionistas...

Time to earn your stripes. I posted about this fabric on my blog, but I think this is a great forum to ask an expert opinion.

What in the world do I do with this fabric?

The scale is pretty large, and it's a loose weave. Was probably at some point a tablecloth? Or wall hanging? The color is pretty accurate on my monitor-- navy with some bright fuschia, off-white. Odd spider snowflakes and duck horses. See for yourself.

My hope is to make a cool blazer? What do you think? I refuse to say no to free fabric (except that one time), so I'm hoping for some creative genius to step in and save me please!

Hullo, Rabbit!

Name: Bobindsay, Lindsay
Location: DFW, Texas
M.O.: Writing about sustainable styling on mah blog.

This is already an awesome community, I can tell. And no, I don't think this a biased audience.* My refashion projects mostly revolve around items that still look very similar to fabric-- tablecloths, curtains, muumuu dresses, etc. BUT I recently acquired a very silly-looking shirt that will be perfect for schlepping around my sheet music.

... It's only in communities like this where I don't have to explain how a shirt can carry things. My friends often are the recipients of exasperated explanations a la "duh, I meant after I sew it into a bag, hell-oooo." I'm a lot like Napoleon Dynamite, only without the llama. Sadly.

Hi new friends, I can't wait to hear all about you!

*Although I don't enjoy having tomatoes thrown at me, either.