Colored Denim for SNAP

I've been obsessed with adding color to everything in my wardrobe this week.  Thursday it was earrings, Saturday it was a belt, and today it's jeans.  I have a new shirt I plan to wear at the SNAP conference but was having difficulty finding pants to wear with it.  The only option that seemed okay was jeans.  But I wasn't thrilled with the combination so I decided to take a risk and dye my jeans.  I love the outcome!

My grandma is the queen of scoring awesome garage sale finds.  Last year she gave me an entire box full of old Rit dye.  I'm not sure how old the dye is and if it expires but I decided to pull it out for this project.  I was aiming for fuchsia so I planned to mix red and blue dye. 

Instead of stripping the jeans of color before I used the dye I decided to ditch the blue and dye the jeans with only the red.  The previous blue tone of the pants mixed with the red dye made the perfect shade!  You just might see me at SNAP rocking my new colored denim!

I love the updated look of this outfit!

 

2 Simple Remakes

I have 2 projects to share with you today. I have just been having so much fun with this reuse and recycle week. I have a lot more projects along this idea (just didn't have time to finish them.)

Here is the first project. It is actually kind of a fail project but I know how I messed it up.

I fell in love with the idea of this t-shirt on Pinterest. I LOVE OMBRE and dying fabrics.


Here is my take.

I started with a plain white shirt. This shirt is actually dip dyed so I started with the bottom of the shirt and held it in the dye for about 2 min. Then I moved up another 1/3 of the shirt and held that in the dye for another 2 min. I left the top white.

Here is where I messed up. When I rinsed the shirt I rinsed the whole thing. Next time I will leave the white portion out of the water so that the dye doesn't bleed into the white part. I used Rit dye in Scarlet if you are wondering about the color. If you want more info about dying fabric check out this post for my formula. I still like the shirt and think it is pretty cute for Valentine's Day. Maybe I can add some embellishments to jazz it up a bit.

The next project was inspired by the long socks at Target. Have you seen them? They are so cute and less than $2 each. I don't really wear socks like this but I thought it would be fun to make something out of them. So I went with new tights for my daughter. I took an old pair of tights that don't fit her anymore in the length but do fit her waist. Then I used a current pair of tights that fit her now as my pattern.
The grey polka dots are the socks, the black polka dots are the current fitting tights, and the white are the old tights.Start by lining up your socks with the current tights at the heel. Now you will be able to use the current tights to measure the length of the foot. I also used the length of the current tights to measure the length of the socks. Cut off the tip of the foot of the socks and the top of the socks using the current tights as a measurement. Repeat with other side.Now use the top of the current tights to measure how long to cut the top of the old tights. Mine had about a 2inch inseam.
Now match up the right side of the socks with the right side of the old tights top. Make sure you are matching right side to right side and pin together. Then sew making sure not to sew the underneath portion of the socks (otherwise your little girl will not be able to put her leg through the tights, :)Finally finish by sewing the toes closed. I would do it in more of a curved motion because otherwise it will end up having a lot of tights in the toes. Turn right side out and your are done!
Can you imagine all the possibilities! You can make a new pair of tights for each outfit and you won't have to worry about searching for the perfect pair of tights!

Another thought comes to mind as I am writing this post....how about ombre dyed tights? I already know my next project!!

Layered Flower Shirt

I love a remake, especially when the remake is something old or stained. My daughter had a basic white t-shirt that she stained with something (who knows what with kids right?) So I decided to try and salvage the shirt and try something new. I started by dying the shirt teal. I used Rit dye and my usually dying technique, you can find it here. I am learning a lot about dying from all my experimenting. One thing is that teal dye is quicker than other colors. I have practiced with yellow and scarlet now and teal is by far the fastest as far as color intensity. So when dyeing with teal, don't leave the clothing in for too long. The shirt turned out a little darker than I liked.

Next I cut out circles from charcoal grey cotton. I started with the largest circle and slowly degraded in size. Once I had all my circles cut I added a button to the center and sewed the entire flower in place on the shirt. The cotton frays a little in the wash which I really like, but if you don't just finish you edges off with a serger or zigzag stitch.
This was really easy and I really like how the remake turned out.

Lillian Apparel

I have found a new love. Don't worry it's not a person, it is dying fabric. I love dying fabric. You can make any color you want from a basic wonderful textile. And there are so many dying options. I'm not talking about the tie dye of the middle school days, this is a little more sophisticated process. Not too complicated though. This outfit consisted of Rit dye and tea dye.
I made a tutorial on this however I accidentally erased all the pictures for my tutorial. (I hate that.) Anyways here is a little breakdown of what I did to make this skirt. I took some cream jersey fabric that I had on hand and made a basic elastic waist skirt. Then I cut strips of the same fabric to create the ruffles. I began by throwing the strips and skirt into the dye bath (to see how to make a dye bath check out this post). Then I took out 1 strip after about 20 sec. The next strip after 1 minute and then another after another minute and so on. I saved the last strip and the skirt body for the end. This creates the ombre look. Then I gathered the strips, added them to the skirt body, sewed on the waist band, and added the elastic.
Next for the top I took a basic white t-shirt and dyed it in a tea bath. It is basically hot water, tea bags, and some vinegar. Soak the shirt in the tea bath unit you get the desired color. (This might take awhile, the tea is not as strong as the dye). Wash and dry the shirt as you normally would to set the color. Next I added a doilies to the front the shirt using wonder-under. Then I trimmed the doilies in bias tape and sewed it to the shirt around the neckline and the doilies, and then down the center. Finally I added a few buttons to the front just for a sweet touch.

Isabella Dress

I love checking out the fall color combinations. So inspiring. Teal and red, plum and brown, and most of all yellow and gray. I decided to make a dress of the later color combo when I found this adorable fabric by Michael Miller. I LOVE IT! OBSESSED! Here is what I came up with:

I started with a basic t-shirt and dyed it yellow using RIT dye. The shirt actually had a few stains so it was good to reuse something I already had in stock.

Next I cut out circles of gray felt. (Use fabric felt not craft felt).

I laid all my circles in the pattern I wanted and started pinning from the bottom. Sewing each circle down in each row, and back stitch at each end.




The shirt was cute like this but I decided to add a skirt section making it a t-shirt dress. For more information on how to add the skirt check out this tutorial.



I love making t-shirt dresses because they are so comfy. She can wear it to church or just for playing.

I'm linking up here.

Anthro Style Ruffled Scarf

Don't you just love Anthropologie? I love everything about it...except the prices. As a mom I don't really have the luxury of buying expensive clothing. So I have to improvise. This time by making my very own version of the Catch and Release scarf. There is a great tutuorial on this scarf I found HERE.

So I figured I'd give it a go. Problem...I do not know anything about textiles. I really want to take a textile class to learn more. My main fabric I sew with is cotton so I need to gain some experience sewing with different types of material.  She recommends a light and flowy cotton. I couldn't find anything that I liked in that area. So I went with this amazing light and a little bit silky polyester blend. However the fabric that I chose did not work with elastic thread. It wouldn't gather so I had to improvise. Here is my version:

1. Cut you fabric 90"x18".

2. Fold over the sides 1/4" and press, then another 1/4 inch and press. Next you will sew this hem down.
3. Fold the scarf in half and press. Then open it and fold in towards the middle crease with both sides. This will make 3 pressed folds and will be your guide for your stitches. (you can mark them but I just used the press marks)

4. Using a loose stitch sew down each pressed line and leave the ends long for gathering. Then gather at each end making a ruffle effect. Repeat until you have ruffled all three lines. You might have to do some adjusting so that they are even. Your fabric should be about 45 inch long by the time you are done.

5. Tie off the thread at the ends to hold the ruffles in place.

 

6. Fold over the ends 1/4" and press, then another 1/4" and press. Sew this hem down.

That's it!. Problem with this method is the ruffles may shift which they won't do with elastic thread so if you can do the elastic thread.

 

But I'm not done. White is a little boring so I wanted to try and dye it another color. I wasn't sure how the fabric would react to the dye so I just decided to go with it.

Here is how to use dye:
1. Fill a pot of water that will cover your clothing, 1 cup of salt, and put it on the stove to boil.
2. In another measuring cup add 2 cups of hot water, the dye packet (I used Rit dye), and a cap full of vinegar. Mix together and add to the water pot.

3. Get your fabric wet and put it on the water pot. Bring the water down to a simmer and continue to stir the fabric around. Leave the fabric in the water, stirring consistently, until it is a little darker than your intended color (some of the color will come out during the rinse).

4. Once you have the color you want rinse the fabric in the sink starting with warm water and gradually bringing it down to the cold water. Rinse until the water runs clear.
5. Throw the clothing in the washer and wash with laundry soap. Then put it in the dryer to set the color.

 **Again polyester does not dye well so my scarf turned out a bit lighter than the intended color of mustard.  But I still like the lemon yellow color. Cotton fabrics dye the best.