How 1 became 2!

I picked up this turtleneck a while back at the local Goodwill, wasn't sure how I would repurpose it until today.  It hit me: I could make leg warmers and embellish a plain cardigan.  Here is the how-to:

For Leg Warmers:

Cut the sleeves off at the seams

I used elastic ruffle trim for the tops of the leg warmers.  Cut a straight line across where the sleeve was attached, to square off the top of the leg warmer.  This is where you will pin the elastic on,  the hem on the sleeve now becomes your ankle hem.

I measured below my knee and cut the elastic 2"shorter for a good tight fit. Pin elastic to the top and sew.

How fun are these??!!!

Leopard Leg Warmers

Plain cardigan re-do

Cut the remainder of the turtleneck into strips, width wise.  

Ruffle them using a basting stitch on a sewing machine, or gather by hand.

I gathered 5, and only used 4 of them.  Pin onto sweater then sew on with a zig-zag stitch.

Too cute! Can't wait to wear it with the leg warmers :)

Sew nice to be back!

Hello all! I am back and crafting again, now that the house is hopefully rid of illness. Today I threw together a black tank top with chiffon ruffles and a ribbon embellishment. Here is how it goes:

Supplies: one black knit tank top, 1/4 yd chiffon, 3-4 different size circle templates, ribbon (optional)



Cut circles of chiffon in different sizes. Fold chiffon circles in half, pin, and then on top of the one you just folded pin another circle folded into fourths.



Sew with a straight stitch by machine or hand, starting from bottom of the neckline working your way to the shoulder.



Add ribbon and voila!

Feelin' Ruffly and Girly

I'm baaccckkkk! The dear ol' sewing machine has been acting up on me, so until I absolutely have to take her in for service I just let her rest for a couple weeks then come back and abuse her again :) As you all know, I LOVE ruffles and girly accents and turning tees into some sassy works of art. today I did just that. I took an old striped tee and made yet another cardigan. Then I ruffled up an old navy clearance find. Finally, I made a shirt (inspired by a designer dud) I posted last month for my dear friend Chrissy. Chrissy is a super cute, rocker wife who is expecting her 3rd baby and has been wanting some "prego chic" tees (checkout her blog!). I can't wait to see her in it! With Spring Break next week, I am ready to just hole up in my craft room and produce some more tees. The list is long and the inspiration never runs out it seems!

Cardigan de' jour:


Ruffles de' jour:



Prego de' jour:

From Jailhouse rock to one sassy frock!

I have had several sketches in my sketch book about turning old tees and sweaters into new creations for months. Actually getting around to making them is a whole another story. I love all the repurposing projects out in the blogosphere. Great minds must think alike because a blog, that I love and follow, called "Adventures In Dressmaking" posted inspirational ideas from JCrew's current line and many of these inspirations were just sitting in my sketch book and my brain. Many thanks to Adventures In Dressmaking for kickin' my booty into sewing gear! On Monday, I picked up this vneck, pullover cardigan from Target's (yep, my favorite place!) clearance rack for $4. I knew I could give it new life. I just love the way it turned out and I hope all you girls can do something like it too!

The jailhouse rock sweater, cute but needed some help for me to sport it :)



I made the ruffle out of an old black sweater.



Added some ruffled tulle, and a lace tie closure and voila! One sassy frock!








Many thanks to one of my blogging best friends, Andrea, on how to insert a link! Check her out at The Freckled Bug!

Gettin' crafty...again!

I just love it when I see an idea that popped into my head, but not yet my needle and thread, is posted out there in the blogosphere.; it's a total "ah-ha" moment for me! Here are 3 projects I've recently crafted and seen in various forms on other blogs. Time to jump on board girls! Get crafty and make something "one-of-a-kind" for yourselves!


This ruffle tee was made from a $2.74 Old Navy clearance tee and a funky striped turtleneck from Target's clearance rack. I love it when you can repurpose one shirt into another. I even have extra to make a striped knit twirly skirt for my Olivia...one of these days.



Another Target clearance tee (actually 2) turned into a rosette shirt:



I am loving all the variations of bib necklaces out there, that I just had to do one myself. Thanks to JoAnn fabrics and a funky thrift store picture frame with houndstooth rosettes on it, I now have one too! It only cost $4 to make!