T-shirts into Maternity Clothes

I've only got a month - plus or minus left to go with the baby. I do not plan on having anymore, but I still didn't want to only use my maternity wardrobe I already had. Well, that and this is the first time I have been this pregnant in warm weather and all summer long. So, I did need to add a few items, since sweaters don't work too well during a summer full of days with record breaking heat. I am so glad it has cooled down now. Fall is the best!

Not wanting to splend a lot of money, I bought a few $5 men's XL shirts from Target and had a few already on hand from clearance sales at Old Navy that I had intended to freezer paper stencil for my husband.) This pink one was one I tried bleach spraying with. The ones I made the boys turned out better, but this still worked for me. Before I started though, I traced a maternity t-shirt I love and cut the sides of the shirt so it would be more tapered and less boxy than a standard t-shit at the top. I cut off the collar and had to do two little pleats, as I think I cut it a little too low and it was gaping a bit. I tapered and shortened the sleeves too. It's been a comfy shirt to wear.

I had one more shirt I was going to maternity-ize too, but I'm so close to the end, that I will just save it for normal sized me.

This, along with my other t-shirt skirts I made with the intention of making them work post-baby too. I love all of them and they really are super easy to make. I don't have a step by step tutorial or anything like that to show you, but I sort of explain how I made my green one in this post.

I wanted to mix up my hem lines so all the skirts didn't' look exactly the same. The green one got a ruffle and this one got...I don't know what to call them. Petals? Weird circles? Anyway, it was inspired by this skirt. All I did was cut out a whole bunch of circles out of the left over red fabric. (A contrasting color would be fun too.) I arranged them on the skirt, sometimes as singles, other times 2-3 in a layer. I pinned them down and then just started sewing them on, making a simple "x" over each. I varied which way the x's went. As it get washed they change and curl a little - which was the point.

Here's the last t-shirt skirt. I used the same basic principles before, but changed the hem again. And sorry the pictures are terrible. For some reason it was tricky to photograph it, The shirt is just a regular brown color. Anyway, I tried the lettuce hem technique that I read about here. I just had a zig-zag stitch, so it's not super ruffly, but it works.

  This was a shirt I picked up at the thrift store. It was actually a maternity shirt and I could have just keep it that way, but I really wanted a striped skirt and as a shirt I think it would have been too big. I just cut an a-line shape out of it, re-matched the stripes up (sort of a pain, but I always things it looks much better to have your stripes align on the sides and worth the effort.) Using both Ashley and Dana's instructions on exposed elastic waistbands, I just added some wide black elastic.

I did the same here for a skirt I'd previously made to fit a pregnant me. The knit I used for the old waistband didn't hold it's stretch and eventually was useless and annoying.

The good thing about both of these, is that I will be able to use them post baby, at some point needing to shorten the elastic for a better fit.

And this is not from a t-shirt nor nothing I made recently, though it is recent-ish me. I used a pattern to sew this when I was pregnant with my now 6.5 year old. I never liked it and it has since been donated, but I do like to document all of my projects, so here it is! I think if I were to make it now with my more improved skills, it could have been better. I do not remember what pattern it was from.

Finishing Things

 Because of the new baby coming we have been emptying out the basement so we can finish it. Three kids in one room is squeezy enough. We can't do 4! Anyway, I was using a corner of the basement for my sewing space and have been evicted. I pulled out some "current projects" and sorted them in groups of things that could be sewn with the same thread.

Anything that isn't needed or can't be done (like altering a dress to fit a not pregnant me) before the baby got labeled and put on a list to wait until post-baby to even think about. There are 2 boxes full of this type.

I nicely folded my fabric around comic book cardboard (like suggested on this post at Smashed Peas and Carrots) so that when I can put them back on the shelf they are ready as mini bolts of fabric. And, I sorted my fabric by types and make great lists so that if I do NEED something, I know where to find it fairly easily. So, what have I done from my pile of things to finish? Quite a bit. Some of it small and some bigger.

Using some fabric that was given to my by my sweet neighbor Marie, I made my baby girl some much needed warmer weather PJs. I bought a 3 pack of undershirts (used the white one with these), and just added some little cap sleeves (thanks to the great instructions at Make it & Love it) to match the pants. The pants I just drafted by tracing around some bottoms she has that fit her. I think these are her favorites that I have made for her. she even started super posing for the pictures.

This is a pair I started a long time ago and just needed to hem, put in the waist band and sew the  applique down. They look like they are really comfortable.

Another pair for my daughter. This time I used some t-shirt left over from a pack I bought from my boys when they were smaller. As far as PJS are concerned, I think using cheap (and I mean cheap as in 5 shirts in a pack for $5 or less cheap) is just fine. For her shorts I so just didn't want to hem them, so I found some left over trim (I think I bought it to make hair clips that I never got around to) and just sewed that on. I think it makes the pajamas look a little more girly.

I'm short, but I don't like short skirts. Well, I should say I don't like really short skirts and quite frankly, no one would want to see me in them. So, when I ordered some jersey skirts from Old Navy (like the olive colored one below) earlier this summer, I was sad to realize after I had worn and washed it, that I had accidentally ordered a petite size in one of the skirts (no wonder it felt like I was flashing people!). Anyway, I had seen these extender slips around and though that would solve the length issue and the "this is a little too see through" issue. Well, it looks weird with the jersey shirt, but I can use it with other things. The lame thing is that I bought a slip from a thrift store for practically nothing, but to find the trim I really liked, I spent too much. Normally I don't buy anything without a sale or 40% off coupon at the fabric store, but I had neither when I found this. So, hopefully it will at some point serve me well and will be worth what it cost.

There are still projects left in the "current projects" pile. I also have a few other things I was going to add to this post, but they are maternity related, so I decided to post on their own so someone looking for that type of thing doesn't have to scroll through my other rambling projects. 

Also, I have a ton of recipe reviews queued. Watch for another post about that tonight or tomorrow...or Sunday. I'll try to do 2 a week for awhile. there really are that many and they have 3-4 recipes on each post!

Shirt to Pants

One of my favorite thrift stores nearby is organized, well-stocked, has  colored tags that are 50% off each day, has amazing sales, and sends coupons in the mail. So, not only can I get some nice used stuff for a low price, sometimes I can get discounts too! Every time I find stuff at thrift store I get so annoyed at myself for when I shop at regular stores.

 Anyway, this what I came home with recently. Everything was for me except the shirt. I bought it with my baby girl  and St. Patrick's Day in mind. (I have already been complimented on the shoes, am working on that spot on the shorts that I didn't notice in real life, and feel the need to go drink some (diet) Mt. Dew right now.)

 I just traced around a pair of bootleg pants from Target that she has, cut and sewed them and a short time later, she had new pants (with plenty of fabric left on the shirt  for other potential projects.)

 So, now she gets to be festive this holiday and is safe from green-less induced pinches.

And even if her brothers don't want her to play with them, at least she can be happy in her green like they are.

(If you feel like making some festive "clover' treats today as seen above, head on over to Heaps of Laundry)

Dress-up Case

When I saw this idea on A Girl and a Glue Gun last spring I decided I must make one. I thought it was such a clever idea and created a way to put a cap on the number of dress-up items to have. (Well, ours might not all quite fit in it!)

I found an old suitcase at the thrift store. It was in pretty decent shape as far as the exterior and the latches were concerned. Plus, it was only $3 or something like that.

The inside was falling apart, but that didn't matter since it would be torn out anyway.

I covered up the shiny parts of the suitcase with tape and then went to town with some red spray paint. 

As you can see it didn't cover perfectly even, but I like it. (Maybe I needed more coats or else I am just not a good spray painter). And you can see in the picture below that the handle is black. I just used a permanent marker for that.

I didn't photograph the process of adding new lining, but the original tutorial does a great job. My glue gun broke in the middle of the process, so mine is have hot glue and half some kind of tacky fabric glue. It wasn't hard to do though.

I love having this as a place for my boys to put their play clothes. There are a few Halloween costumes in there that are WAY too small for them, but they still try to wear them and play with them. 

And if you are looking for something more ambitious and really cute that also displays the dress-ups, you have to see this storage set up.

Steelers Girl

 Can you guess who we are rooting for on Sunday?

 Ever since I have known my husband he has been an avid Steelers fan. Our boys were small enough to fit into this cute Steelers outfit given to us by their uncle. Their little sister was a summer baby, so I needed to find something for her to wear to support them in the Super Bowl tomorrow.

Enter the "meant to freezer paper stencil something cute on this for my son" 3T shirt that he is too big for now (with pocket already picked off).

I lined it upwith a dress that it a little too big for her to get a basic dress shape (and really, with an a-line I could have just eye-balled it).

I cut the sides and then cut the sleeve narrower too.

  Like so.

Then I gathered some some basic supplies (I had no yellow fabric paint, so I improvised and the used dryer sheet will be explained in a bit).

I slipped my printed out logo under an old white t-shirt and traced it with a washable fabric pen. This is something you could use a freezer paper stencil for, but I felt okay with the idea of semi-free-handing it.

I filled in my logo with paint and waited for it to dry. Once it was I ironed some light heat and bond on the back and cut out my circle.

I ironed it on the front of the shirt. Then centered the used dryer sheet under it on the inside or the shirt and pinned it in place. You could use pellon (or nothing really), but it is a nice stabilizer and it is a nice easy way to recycle. I got the idea from V & Co., but they used it for the front part of an applique.

Zig-zag stitch on the front and then turn over and you can trim your stabilizer.

Once that was done I just sewed up the sides on my dress. I thought it turned out nice but needed just one more thing.

Cute. I've yet to try it on her, so hopefully it fits and she won't be the only non-fan in the house.
Have fun tomorrow watching the game or more importantly, eating snacks and watching the commercials.
Go Steelers!

Chalkboard

 Last year I saw this hammered looking chalkboard at the thrift store. I knew my kids wanted one, but I passed. A week later it was still there and I decided it was meant to be so I got it. It was super cheap and needed some serious clean-up.

Because I had some supplies on hand, this really was an inexpensive project. My mom had a big container of chalkboard paint and she let me have some. I washed off the junk that was on there and then painted a few coats of paint on it. Once that was dry I used a little wood glue to stabilize the corners of the frame where the two sides came together. Then I covered up the new blackboard and brought it outside to spray-paint the trim. (Sorry that there are no pictures of these processes, but really, you can easily imagine it.)

Once I finally got some chalk, the boys were so excited to be able to sit down and  scribble all over. Originally I was going to staple or glue some ribbon on the back and hang it at the foot of their bunk bed. Eventually I figured that was a bad idea. So, finally, I found a way to put it up in the kitchen without making any permanent damage to the doors in there.

I attached it to the door with these adhesive strips. They are amazing, easy to put on, and so strong. (We've got some of the same brand of hooks to hold the boys coats on in their room. Our house has very tine closets and certainly no coat closet!)

Now the boys have a little spot in the kitchen to go draw and I have a little more color in there. (Plus I get to look at cute drawings like this one of "dad" by my son when my husband was out of town.)

Un-Abandon

My poor little abandoned blog. I actually have projects I haven't posted, but admittedly haven't been working on much lately. Last night I wrote up an entire post and with one accidental keystroke and Blogger's mostly nice auto-save feature (which was not so nice in this case) it was deleted. Awesome. You may feel like you've seen the next 2 items. The first one you sort of have. A friend of mine was helping with a gift shop for the Festival of Trees in December and the proceeds went to a local children's hospital. She asked if I could make a few things. I whipped these two up with stuff I already had on hand and wish I was less lame and had made a few more.

I love these. I still had rick-rack left over from the other shirt I made. The striped fabric was originally used for a pair of PJ capris for me (that of course have not been blogged about) and also used for the turtle on the other shirt. (Again the idea was from Homemade by Jill, although she fancies it up one step further with added buttons. I might need to try that next time.)

I liked my little caterpillar and am getting better with all those stitches around such a small area.

I love argyle. If you look in my sock drawer you will see that it is true. When Dana from Made posted this a couple of years ago I figured I could use the idea for my own boys (It's true, look at the comments). I haven't yet (and it also put an idea in my head for a really cute idea for a skirt for me that I will make someday too).

The pink fabric was left over from some receiving blankets and burp cloths that I made this summer. I don't think I would have normally chosen this color combo, but I wanted it to stand out from all the other presumably similar looking items in the gift shop. In the end I liked it a lot.

The ruffle bum. I love the ruffle bum. This time I used jersey fabric from an old t-shirt (that was also used to help make a sweet earth costume that I will get around to posting too, though maybe at this point I need to wait until early October!).

I think the jersey will look better after washing than the plain cotton has. I used the pink thread to match the front fabric for a nice added touch. 

Hopefully both my items sold and that some happy girl & boy are wearing these right now. I am glad I could contribute just a little bit to such a good cause. I know many people whose families have been blessed by the services of those at Primary's, including my own. It is nice to have a hospital dedicated to helping kids so close to my home.