Yard Sale Booty

Fridays are my yard sale day.  I can drive around the area going to sale after sale, just browsing and enjoying myself.  Not much in today's haul, I'm afraid.  Two yardsticks...

Some pretty antique hankies...

A small bag of bias tape, piping and ribbon...

12 cards of buttons...

An antique bottle for a friend... it says Cramer's Kidney Cure on it.  I bought it for a friend who has kidney disease.  I also got a cute pair of costume earrings that will go with my lavendar suit dress, and this book.

The book is full of the former owner's cuttings from other books and papers...mostly poetry, so it will be fun to go through.  That's all folks!  Did you find anything cool this week?

Pipe Me Aboard!

In a fit of synchratic thinking, I thought piping would look nice on my yellow dress project. I've been seeing a lot of projects with piping as an embellishment all over the interwebs. Most of these also show tutorials.  Forgive me if this seems a little redundant to you, but here's my process for making piping.

First, make bias strips, and connect them so that you will have long, continuous strips of piping.

Next, select a plain cord of the appropriate diameter for the piping you want to make.

Place your zipper foot on your machine.  There are also cording feet, but I don't have one of these.

Place the cording in the center of the bias strip and fold over.  Stitch as close to the cording as possible.

And here is the finished piping!  I plan to use this as an accent on Simplicity 2249. What are your favorite embellishments and details?

Men's Shirt Upcycle

Remember the men's shirts I snagged at Salvation Army last week?  I decided to work with the blue checked one, which was $2.99 initial investment.

It's a very nice quality shirt - Polo by Ralph Lauren.  First I cut off the collar and the sleeves.

The I used some scrap quilting fabric I had on hand to make bias binding.  I used this to finish the neck and armholes.  Love the complementary colors!

I fitted the shirt to a woman's contours and added a sash made from the complementary fabric.

I made the back of the shirt into the new front, so all I have left to do is remove the pocket!

Even though the pocket still needs to be removed, I already wore the top out to do some errands.  Very comfy, and nicer looking than my usual T.  I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, but even if it was too "altered" for your tastes, you could wear it as a crafting or kitchen coverall!  What do you think?

Upcycled Mom Jumper

I call them "mom jumpers".  Those shapeless long jumpers that fill the racks at thrift stores.  Even if they are not your style, they offer lots of potential for restyling. Here's one I picked up at Salvation Army yesterday.

I felt as though the price for this one was a little high, given how very worn the jumper was in appearance.

There was fading along major seam lines and pleats.

And the kick pleat on the skirt was tearing.

But it was a nice sturdy jersey material, and I really liked the fish print!  So, first I cut off the skirt.

Next, I sewed the new raw edge to create what would become shoulder seams on a new crop top.  I left a wide opening for a boat neckline.  Next I made bias binding from more of the fabric.

The I cut sleeve holes just beneath the new shoulders.

I bound the neckline and the sleeves with this self bias binding.  I left the hem of the former skirt intact as the hem of the new top, but that left a problem because the kick slit was ripping.  So I made a little bow from more fabric and covered it!

Then I added my label!

And here's the finished product:

That was fun, and it took about two hours, start to finish.

Completed Project: No Money Down Sorbetto Top

Here's my completed blouse.  As planned, this blouse cost $0 to produce because I harvested the fabric from an old item that no longer fit me, made my own self fabric bias binding, and used thread I had on hand.  This top was very easy to make and I will definitely be making several of these, with various embellishments and alterations, to enhance my spring and summer wardrobe. Thanks again for looking at what I sew.

p.s.  Would you prefer to see me wear the things I make (when they're for me)?

Sorbetto Progress

This blouse has been a dream to construct.  Above, I used a piece of tape (cute duct tape, huh?) as a seam guide for sewing in the center box pleat.  Inside I used french seams to keep those seams neat, this time without the added bulk of a binding.  Here's where my dart meets the side seam.

The most time consuming part of this blouse so far has been making the self fabric bias tape.  These's a tutorial for this right on the Collette Blog.  Because this was harvested fabric, I used my own method of finding the bias and cutting.

One thing that's apparent in these pictures is how dry and cracked my fingers are by this time in the winter!  Wow, it's a good thing spring is around the corner.  Well, hopefully I'll get this blouse finished in the next couple of days.  Thanks so much for stopping by!