Mini project of the week 2 - PJs to daytime T-shirt

I have had these pyjamas for about 6 years. I don't usually keep PJs for this long (I do have some standards), but I absolutely LOVE these ones.

Whats this?!

I have a real thing for the Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington rocks. Plus, these pyjamas were a present from Hubby, so I didn't like to get rid of them. However, I think the time has come. They have stretched, they are becoming bobbly and the print is flaking. Boo hoo hoo!

Waaaaaaah!

Sob.

I can't bring myself to just get rid of them though. It goes against the grain. So, I took my seam ripper to the appliqued Jack on the T-shirt and removed him. I got loads of black glitter on my hands at this point, so I figure the PJs must have been sparkly when I got them, but it's so long ago that the sparkle has been lost in the mists of time.

Well hello Jack!

Then I pinned this to a nice, fitted black T-shirt  I had in my wardrobe and stitched it down.

Hey presto!

Perfectly acceptable (and very cool) day wear. Took about half an hour. Woohoo!

Mini project of the week 1 - Kitchen organisation sack!

This morning I got irritated. Every time I open the cupboard that we keep crisps in everything falls out. I'd love one of those kitchens you see in the showroom section of Ikea where every drawer has useful storage whatsits, but as we rent our tiny tiny house and the kitchen is really weirdly laid out, we have to resort to cramming things in wherever we can. Hence the avalanche of packets of crisps every time we open this particular cupboard.

See what I mean?

So, I decided to make a sack to store crisps in, similar to the potato bag we have in the same cupboard (well, crisps come from potatoes don't they? Of course they should be stored together...).

I started with two contrasting cotton fabrics from my fabric bag.

Pretty colours!

I cut matching pieces from each fabric and folded each piece in two. Then I laid one piece on top of the other and ran a line of stitches down each side.

Next I turned the fabric the right way round and folded the top over, running a line of stitches along the raw edge.

Getting there!

I turned the top over again, further this time, and ran a second line of stitches around the edge, leaving a small area unstitched. Lastly I threaded a piece of yellow ribbon through the top hem I'd just created, to use as a drawstring.

Ta dah!

Finished! This took literally about half an hour to do and it was so easy, and when we eventually move into a not so tiny tiny house we can use the bag for something else.

Sorted!

Embroidered tunic to sparkly top

Once again I have to apologise for not posting for a couple of weeks. This time it's hubby who has had the plague and I've been playing Florence Nightingale, although I must admit I'm probably a much less tolerant nurse than she was. I started this project last weekend and didn't have time to finish it, and then I didn't have time over the week so it had to wait until yesterday. It was good timing though as I went to the lovely Maria D'Silva's hafla in Leicester last night and sparkles are always good for a hafla.

I started with a beautiful kameez tunic that I found in a charity shop near where I work. I love teal so this colour was perfect for me.

SPARKLES!

First step was to turn it inside out, put it on and pin it. This is harder than you might think, especially when you have to get it off again without the pins stabbing you. I should invest in a dress form really, but I have no free floor space in our tiny tiny house. One day...
I ran a line of stitches plus a line of overlocking stitch down each side to prevent fraying, and took my stitch ripper to the sleeves. then I folded the raw edges of the sleeve holes and stitched them.

Off with your sleeves!

Next I chopped off the excess fabric from the sides, although I had to stop at where the slit sides of the tunic started.

Looking good so far...

Next I chopped a few inches off the bottom. I wanted this to be a long top rather than a tunic as such.

I then unpicked the side seams where the side slits were and took them in to line up with the new seam line. I hemmed the bottom raw seam at this point too.

Much neater. 

Next up was to sort the neckline. I have figured out from this project that I am no good at necklines. My skills are not up to scratch. I need practise. To be fair the heavy beading around the neckline did not help one bit, but I still need to practise. In the end, after a couple of tries, i  managed a respectable scoop neck. There was a snag half way round but by this point I was so fed up I figured nobody would notice and I could fix it another time. Unfortunately my friend Colleen noticed it straight away. Sigh.

Sorry about the dog head, she refused to move. Apparently the floor is very comfortable.

Finally (finally!) I took the strips I had cut from the bottom hem, unpicked the lining, cut each strip in half and stitched the ends together to make long strips. Then I stitched the long edges together inside out, turned them the right way and boom! Ties for the sides. I unpicked a small part of the hem on each side, inserted the ties and restitched the sides.

Boom I tell you! BOOM!

And that was it! A pretty sparkly top with a slightly wonky neckline. I was concerned about refashioning a kameez top to start with due to cultural appropriation issues, but in the end I figured that it was an unwanted garment and I have used it for the fabric rather than to wear it as a kameez. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think about this.

Behold the spangles! Ignore the twisted strap! (Of course that's all my hair...I don't know what you mean!)

I had a lovely night at the hafla and got a few compliments on my top, so I think it's a success. I'll just have to remember to keep Colleen away from me when I make tiny (almost invisible, honestly), mistakes in the future. She always spots it!