A "New" Necklace from Broken Costume Jewelry

Today I discovered all the broken costume jewelry I have in my jewelry box.  I must have been holding on to it for years...I had a lot!  Instead of throwing it away I used the pieces from an old broken necklace to turn it into something I would wear again.

My mom gave me this odd necklace with turquoise colored plastic beads for Christmas a few years ago.  I wore it a lot because I really liked the color.

Eventually the clasps broke on the ends and I retired the necklace in my jewelry box.

Today I took it apart to salvage the beads.

I'm a big fan of mustard yellow and turquoise together so this little yellow ribbon was perfect for my necklace.  I used a needle to string the beads on the ribbon.

 Five minutes later I had a "new" necklace.

Go check out your jewelry box; you might have some broken treasures waiting for a makeover.

 

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!!

Clothing Makeover - Old Sweater to New Cardigan

I'm really excited to wear my new cardigan!  Isn't it pretty?

It didn't start out so pretty.  In fact, it didn't even start out as a cardigan.  This was an old sweater that had made it to the bottom of my "you should do something with this" pile.  At one point I had cut down the middle and chopped off the neckline.  Then it went back to the bottom of the pile with out a second glance...until tonight.

In addition to the sweater, I used an old pair of maternity pants in this project.  I don't plan on any more babies but even if it were to happen, I would not be wearing these pants again.  The fabric was perfect for the trim on my new cardigan!

I cut the pants into strips of fabric.  I cut a couple of 3" strips and a couple of 4" strips.

I used my sewing machine to put a zig zag stitch on the edges to prevent fraying.

Next I sewed two strips directly to the edge of the sweater (the 3" strip on top of the 4" strip).

I finished the neckline by simply rolling the edges and securing with a straight stitch.

A pretty button completed the cardigan.

I promised my daughter I would take her to the zoo tomorrow morning.  I'm looking forward to debuting my new cardigan!

The downside to sewing at midnight is not wanting to take any pictures of yourself modeling what you've made.  Trust me, it's been a long day...

I'm linking this post here.

 

Sewing with Sheets - New Valentines Outfit

I had so much fun making my daughter an outfit for Valentines Day this week.  Surprisingly she was very willing to model it for some pictures too.

I didn't purchase anything to make the outfit.  I used embellishments, a stained shirt, and two bed sheets! 

We recently upgraded my daughter's bed and were left with a pantry full of cute toddler sheets.  Last week I came across the sheets and knew I could turn them into something fun.

I picked two sheets to use for the skirt and ruffled heart on the shirt.

The sheets were fitted so I started by cutting off the elastic.

I didn't have a pattern but cut pieces for a very simply (very very simple) skirt.  The dotted fabric made perfect little pockets on the front of the skirt.

I sewed the two skirt pieces together, hemmed the bottom, and sewed in elastic.

The pockets were dressed up by a couple of hearts.

The shirt was really easy to make.  Instead of using a new shirt or making my own I used my daughter's stained owl shirt.  She has outgrown the sleeves but the length of the shirt is still okay.  The cotton made it easy to alter the sleeves - just cut them off!  No hemming was necessary.

I made a heart template that would fit over the owl and stain.  I traced the heart directly onto the shirt and cut it out.

Next I cut strips of fabric from the sheets and changed the tension on my sewing machine to make ruffles.  If anyone is interested, my birthday is at the end of the month and I really really want a ruffler foot for my Singer sewing machine!

Adding the ruffled heart to the shirt was time consuming, but not difficult.  First I cut a heart out of white cotton fabric to serve as a base.  Next I pinned the ruffles directly onto the heart, sewed around the heart edges, stitched directly down the center of each ruffle, and then trimmed the edges.

Finally, sew your heart in the shirt.  Stitch around the edges of the heart opening on the shirt with the ruffled heart behind it.

I added a few embellishments to the shirt when I was finished.

My daughter had so much fun wearing her new skirt and shirt yesterday!

This project cost nothing and I still have plenty of sheets for more sewing fun!

I'm linking this post here.

 

Collared Shirt Remake

With the way the world is going it is more important than ever to reuse and recycle. Between the world's resources and the bad economy great ideas for remaking old products are cropping up everywhere. In honor of this idea we decided to devote this week to get inspired by products we already own. Here are some great ideas I have pinned to my reuse and recycle board. I love all of the clever reusings (I just made up a word).

Kate from See Kate Sew made this adorable shirt from a men's dress shirt

I've seen this scarf remake done over many times but Put up Your Dukes has a great tutorial.

I love all these fantastic pallet ideas from Sugar and Spice Design. I really should try to be more handy in my crafts.
And Ashley from Art with Ashley came up with a great idea for Sew you Think you Can Sew. Take some baggie pants and make them into skinny pants. LOVE IT!

Thanks for the inspiration ladies.


Now unto my remake. I took this old shirt of mine that has been hanging in my closet for who knows how long. I just love the pattern and the colors. The problem is it just didn't fit me right. Too short and too wide. (I hate that). Anyways, I decided that it needed to retire from my closet but I thought it would be fun to try and make something for little Lizzy. I wanted to make a tutorial for you but honestly as I got to working on it my methods were just too complicated and I just kind of sewed it together until it worked.

I used the original hem and cut the top into a basic aline shape. The I cut under the armpits about 2 inches and gathered the rest of the shirt sewing it onto the bodice. I use the original sleeves just shortening them and adding a thick band around each arm to make it puffy. Then I used some contrasting fabric I owned to make a collar and tie around the waist.


I really love how it turned out. The ribbon down the button line is such a cute characteristic and the tie makes it girly. It was actually fairly easy once I figured out my pattern because I didn't have to hem or put on the buttons. Great remake in my book!