Funky T-Shirt ReFashion

November 8, 2014

Born Natural T-Shirt Funky ReFashion

This is another refashion attempt, yes, attempt (as in no plan ahead of time).

I have a couple of natural hair T-shirts that I am refashioning into something a... little more.  T-shirts with a little pizzazz was the plan.  But of course when you don’t lay your plans out ahead of time...and when you don't you simply grab the scissors to start cutting and serging pieces back together.  When you do this I find you are taking great risks.  What risk of what you may ask, of coming out with something that looks NOTHING like the picture you had in your head when you started, sigh.   But it is done.  

This particular T-shirt is from a local young lady named Daphne Pollard and her hometown small based business is called ‘Born Natural’, you can find her on Facebook here.  If you are not local you can find her T-shirts, sweatshirts, totes, tank tops and even cell phone cases here . 

As I stated this one did not come out according to plan, I mean had there been a plan PRIOR to starting.  But no worries, I plan to buy a red one (of course, being my favorite color and all) and start with a well laid out plan and hopefully come out with the picture I stared with in my head.  

So here is the T-shirt as it came from Born Natural. 

Isn't that the cutest?!  So, I somewhat planned (in other words, as I was standing there staring at it about 3 minute before I started cutting) where to make my first cut although I had no idea where this was going after that initial cut. 

                             

That first snip is always the hardest and most nerve wrecking, but there I did it.   

 

Then I cut off the sleeves.  

Then I measured one side on the front rib neck to the middle and marked it, I repeated the same on the other side.  

                   

     

This was to mark how low in the FRONT only that I wanted to cut my T-shirt, to far down and you will be showing a lot my of your ahem, natural born beauty.

Cut the front neck off.   

Then cut the back of the rib neck off.  You may dip down an inch or so if you want it to fall lower on the neck.  I did go down just a bit.

You will be left with something like this.  (this tag was ironed on so there was not cutting it off completely)

My first thought was to use this zipper yardage I bought on our anniversary trip, but decided I didn’t like it for this project.              

My second thought was to use bias binding the same color (you know, since I had some in the cabinet).   Hated that idea.                 

I left that for now and moved on to open both sides (I’ll come back to the neck).  I cut them open.           

I wanted to do something with the waist area of my T-shirt so I held a ruler up to myself and measured (I don’t know where my tape measure just disappeared to) 2 or so inches under the middle section of my bra down to my navel. 

     

I then folded that bottom piece in half (with the entire hem on the bottom), went up the number that I measured, drew a line, and then cut all four layers on that line.  .                 

     

    

   

 I ended up with this.                

Then I cut a wave in the middle piece like this (still folded the same from the previous cut).     

I then laid that piece upside down on the bottom of my T-shirt and cut my T-shirt to match.  

And I got this.                  

This is how the T-shirt looked when it was open, you see the sides are split (previous step).       

Now I sewed the middle wave part the matched wave part of the T-shirt.  

 Actually I serged them together, on the right side of the fabric (the pretty part they people will see).  That’s my baby Ricardo, he’s such a good boy.     

I ended up with this.  Apparently I did not cut the wave deep enough to get the effect I was going for.  But moving forward anyway. 

I then serged the sleeves back on, again on the right side of the fabric (T-shirt).                        

     

I ended up with this.   

             

I then took those leftover pieces from the bottom piece of the T-shirt and cut off the hem.  

I then serged 2 pieces to each other, twice (reminder there were four layers that we cut because we had it folded in half).               

Next I put each of those new pieces on each open side of the T-shirt.

     

And came out with this.          

Then I remembered the pretty little remnant piece in my stash that had sparkles in it.  Ohhhhhhhh what girl doesn’t like to sparkle a little?  Okay, okay, a lot!  

            

With the fabric folded in half and then folded in half again (out of the 4 sides of this now square piece of fabric you will have bottom with 4 open layers, one side on the fold with the opposite side also having 4 open layers and the top have 2 folded layers.  Whew, it’s clear as mud now, right? LOL)  I did the same you would do for a circle skirt.  I always ended up making mine too big so I followed some wise advice if you are small go 3 inches down, medium 4 inches down and large 5 inches down and about ½ an inch down for each bigger size.  Not sure that’s good advice because I still come out too small or too little.  So from experience on myself I know to start at about 5 inch cut.  So I put the tip of tape measure on the point of corner with fold and mark with chalk at 5 inches from one the folded edge all the way over the top side with the 2 fold edges.  I then cut that out and then open the fabric and hold it against my waist just to be sure it will fit (believe it or not some fabrics are just different with this).  

           

     

And of course that is some type of the flimsy fabric like chiffon so I had to refold it and go back to take off another inch.       

        

Now I measured from there as long as I want the little peplum type bottom to be.  In my case I wanted it as long as I could get it.   Again I moved my tape measure all around the bottom of the first cut.  Cut this piece out.  As I was cutting I decided to just use as much of the fabric as I could since it was so cute and sparkly.   

                         

Tadaaaaa!  

                      

               

Here’s a close up of just how purrtttty it is. 

                          

I then slipped the top of my top right side out (pretty side out) into my little peplumey skirt bottom with right sides (pretty sides) of each touching and pinned. 

                            

There’s my bob Ricardo again, hard at work.    

         

In the end, after no planning, I ended up with this little number.  

                         

Close up of the top portion with the ‘Born Natural’ logo. 

This is my attempt to style it for a run around town to look for a stove date night with the hubby.

Sorry the pics in the stores just didn't come out right, so you just get to see these 3 in our driveway.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Love and Shimmies,

Special Event or Dinner Party

Special Event or Dinner Party by stephsgotit featuring a trench coat

Monday Madness...herstory, updates, Sept. schedule

Howdy Hon,

No I have not forgotten about my dear blog!!

But I have been taking some much needed time to get my head and my heart together.  I was feeling some kind of way mentally, emotionally and physically.  But this blog was not only meant to share parts of personal life but to be fun and share knowledge/information.  That's what my whole world has become.  Learning new things and sharing those things with others.  And if no one reads it, then at least I have a location to refer back to all my notes on things, lol.  

There are so many new things coming into add our lives a new homeschool program, new grade, and yours truly will be going back to school as well.  woot-woot.  I will officially begin the Pathway  program on the 18th of this month.  I have already been officially accepted and paid my tuition for the fall quarter which is really inexpensive with this new program set up by my church.  I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!  Our church has always been big on everyone getting an education.  They realize that sometimes life and finances (or the lack there of) can get in the way and prevent higher education from happening.  Sooooo, the presidency of the church and one of the churches school's BYU-Idaho (Brigham Young University, in Idaho)  established a program for members with just such situations in life.  The program starts out with the Pathway program which each student enrolls in and must take for one full year.  There are only a few basic life courses to complete (because so many people didn't learn how to do some the of the basic things every adult needs to run a household, ex. create a budget...).  In addition we must also attend a meeting once a week during this time.  Upon completion of the Pathway program we get to enroll as official students of BYU-Idaho On-Line degree program.  We get to take any course currently being offered and the best part of all we get to do it at that same rate per credit that we had in the Pathway program.  So you darn tootin' I am in!!  

My life concerns these last couple of years have moved from computers to a interest in health and wellness.  Although my DH and friend that I should go for the CIT (Computer Information Technology) degree my heart just wasn't in it.  But I wanted to get a Bachelor's degree, I have an Applied Associates degreee in Business Computer Programming.  My intention was to start there and get my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.  Soooo, what happened you ask,  I fell in love, completed my Associates degree, got pregnant, and started working on my Bachelor's degree at Tuskegee Institute (now University).  Somewhere along the way he did propose and I accepted.  Long story way short - I was rushed from class one day to the emergency room.  Due to my size, condition and distance between classes and stairs, it was decided that I should drop that semester and return after the baby was born.  Speed forward, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, realized my relationship was not one a child should use as an example, so I set out in the workforce to support myself and child (with the help of my loving mother).  So thus life began (I like saying that line).  Years later I got a job at a nursing home which allowed me to go to classes for CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) and I worked my way up the ladder with that company until employment ended.  Okay, that's enough herstory.  The point is although I have had many trainings, have an associates degree and have many certifications I still want that Bachelors degree.  I am going to go get it.  Thankfully the church has provided a way for me and many others to go about getting it.  Also they have added some more courses to the BYU-Idaho On-Line degree program which means I will NOT be taking CIT but I will be majoring in Health Science, yeah me!!  This scares me to death, there is a possibility of a Physics class, yikes.  I can get through the Algebra with studying but Physics... I hopefully will not have to take that one.  Of course, I could start studying Physic now so it won't be so foreign, lol, that's an idea.  I have a whole year to finish Pathway before starting the degree classes soooooo,guess  I better get to work huh?

I still intend to blog, I'll be doing so all along and keeping ahead of the schedule so things will be in place and ready.  I hope to share not only the stuff I already know but all the new things I continue to learn along the way. Including hopefully some stuff from school as well as the things you're probably checking out for blog for anyway, like sewing, crafting, recipes, natural hair, DIYs, etc,...

I'm so excited again to get back to it, I did enjoy the little I have done on this blog and hope that someday you will feel the same! 

Thanks for stopping in.  Oh, if you're interested in a schedule for the rest of the month: of course it's still all the Monday's and we're counting today as the first Monday for September (I know it's actually the 2nd Monday, just work with me here okay).  So that makes the 8th, today, Madness; 15th, Recipe Review: Spinach and Cheese Manicotti - ooohhh yummmmm; 22nd, DIY finally finish Large Picture frame thread and bobbin holder; and 29th I am doing several sew-a-longs in a couple of Facebook groups I am a part of so we will just have to see which one will get featured in this months's Marvelous Monday.  I'll also post one in the OOTD tab, so you get two of them this month, woot-woot!  In addition I  have a tutorial I am doing for one of the groups.  It's for a very simple top which is in one of my pictures already posted on the blog, so I think I will post it this month as well!!  Yes, so much coming up, I do hope you will stop by and check it all out.  Feel free to leave a commit, I would love to hear from you and if you like the direction the blog is going in.  Of course, I would not mind at all if you became a subscriber as well, tee-hee, I know, shameless!

Love and Shimmies,

Still Editing, software update, temp Break!

Howdy Hons,

Yep it's Monday, and yes I am editing the video for Stitch Fix Review Box #2.  Apparently I was late getting the update for my editing software, sigh.

I was beginning to wonder should I just give this up, this blogging thing.  I mean really, I have homeschooling for our son about to start in a month, I will be starting school for myself as well, just got a new calling in church, two new roles in Toastmasters, taking a tribal bellydance class, sewing for myself, sewing for charity, learn to play (again) and practice my autoharp and psalter for a Christmas performance with my honey, learn to play something else, and or course everyday life like cleaning (which I hate), cooking, being a better wife, a better mother, scripture study, prepare Zumba classes, bellydance troupe practice...That sounds like a full plate already without the aggravation of trying to blog.  Especially when no one sees it but me, sigh.

So that brought me to one major question.  Why did I want to do this blog in the first place?  What drives me to constantly be thinking of ways to make it better?  Why do I feel like a failure if I don't put a post up?  I keep coming back to the same simple answer.  The things I post about are things that I love, that I enjoy.  And it's my nature to share the things that bring me joy in hopes of helping to bring that same joy to others.

Sigh... soooooooo here I am.  I know I need to be more consistently with the times in which I post.  But it's hard sometimes to get on track when you know it's not being seen yet.  Of course, how can it be seen if it's not where it's supposed to be right?!

So I have decided to take the next couple of week off, BUT not just to sit around and mope.  Oh no, I am going to build up the posts and get a head start on them so that I have a better grasp at posting on a regular schedule about the things I said I wanted to post about.  I would like to add more sewing related posts as well since that is a major part of my life and there is always something to learn and share.  There are always cool DIY's to try and come up with.

So the next post is scheduled for August 11th!  That will  be the review and YouTube video complete with pictures, then the recipe I promised, also with pictures.  I am praying that this will help me get ahead of the game and thereby posting more quality for your bang.

Okay darlings, it's back to editing right now!

Love and Shimmies,

P.S. Remember I'll be on a short break and will be back on August 11th!!

Monday - ahh, yeah, late

Hello Honey,

Late this week.  Suprise there ah?

Last week was my anniversary so we were on our 4th honeymoon (as dh likes to call our anniversary trips, lol). However, I did record the 'first look' into my second stitch fix box for your review.  I will spend the week editing it and post it for ya on this upcoming Monday.  

Below is a picture of the cool serger box bag from the review I did 2 weeks ago.  Since I didn't have any takers for the freebies I decided to make one for a WAHM swap I participated in.  Actually, I did three of them trying to get it just perfect.  It was not perfect but I sent it anyway.  The teenager even took one to the earlier attempts on the bag.  This was an awesome zippered box bag.  Who knew you could install a zipper with a serger and it actually stands up like a box.  Loving it!!  The theme for the swap was 'the beach'.  Wellllllllll, that made things a bit harder, being in a city with limited fabric options.  But I finally found something at Hobby Lobby.  So I went with it.  Whadyathink (Translation: what do you think, lol)?  The little square in the middle is a matching business card holder I also made for the person I received.  I even had a greenish seahorse button for it, teehee.  I thought it was too cute!

I am finally taking another belly dance class.  This will hopefully help to get me started again sooooo... I found this cool wine colored fabric with these thin shiny gold lines.  I think these are gonna rock as a sweet pair of tribal pants.  I self drafted a pattern and made a mock up pair (that I actually wore to class).  My classes for a 6 week session will start on Thursday so I will let you know how the tribal pants work and then I'll post a tut for them.  Since I also have a workshop on Saturday I may make two pairs.  I am so excited to get these rusty hips and broken shimmy back into action.  Although I have never taken any classes on tribal style of belly dance I am looking forward to it.  I love the fluidity of their movement.  I will learn as much as I can about all styles and take what I like and leave the rest, this will help me to create my own sense of interpretation of music with the dance.  The more moves I have in my database the more choices I have to create to be free!

Well, that's about it for this week. My anniversary trip was great, I even found some fabric, of course, lol.  Oh and I am cooking the luncheon this weekend so I'll have a new recipe to report on and share with you.  So that's three things I know I'll be posting for the next three Mondays, woohoo, no excuses because these have to be done.  :-)

Ok, off to editing now, that is such an involved and slow process, sigh.

Love and shimmies,

Marvelous Monday Darlings

Howdy Hon,

What day is it?  Woot-woot, Marvelous Monday Darlings!

It's been a long weekend for me.  My goddaughter got married and who was asked to make 15 dozen deviled eggs, yep that's right, me.  In case you were wondering that's 360 deviled egss, TOTAL>>>YIKES!  I was up all night, no really, ALL NIGHT!.  We laid down at 5:30am only to be back up at 9:30am to put the finishing touches on them (I do something a little different with mine that no one else does, at the moment) and then pack them into coolers, shower, dress, and drive to a neighboring city (actually 2 before the day was over).  Then was up all day for the wedding and activities.  But it was a beautiful wedding and I am so happy for her.  We had to be back up early to drive to neighboring city again for Sunday morning branch presidency meeting,  then church service, then Linger Longer, clean up and finally the drive back home.   But I am very thankfully that due to someone else also bringing deviled eggs (of course our side only wanted mine, tee-hee) to the reception we had enough left to take to the church Linger Longer the next day.  Woo-hoo double score, because let me tell you, there is no way I could have come home and cooked that night.  Anywhoooo... here I am up late tonight typing this blog.   Yes, I could have done it earlier, but you have no idea how tired I was, everything hurt today and I was bed bound!  But no more excuse a blog (and the blogger) must be consistent! Right?? Right!!

So, let's do it! 

Today I am going to share with you one of my classes from my favorite site Craftsy! What is Craftsy?  You can go to their about page and learn a bit more about them.  But basically it's an online school of sorts.  They have hundreds of classes that you can choose from in a variety of interest.  You buy a class, of course you can start with a couple of the free classes, and anytime you are ready to learn from that class you go to the website, pull up the class (on your desk computer, laptop, IPad, smartphone or tablet) and watch it at your convenience and at your own speed.  The set up is great, you can even ask questions and talk with you instructor or fellow classmates.  And the questions stay on the right side of screen for all to see, at any time.  You just click on the question that interest you and there you will see all the responses on that question.  The videos are High Quality and a joy to watch.  The best part, THEY ARE YOURS!! They NEVER expire and you can watch them AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT!!!

I have many classes with Craftsy, free and paid.  The first one I want to review for you today is 'Beginner Serger' -Machine Basics and Techniques- with Amy Alan.

CLASS DESCRIPTION:  Sewing instructor Amy Alan introduces you to the endless potential of the serger, an overlock sewing machine. Once you discover how easy and versatile it is, you'll be hooked! Start with serger threading and maintenance, then learn basic and decorative stitches. Create a serger stitch book you can reference again and again, and get all the troubleshooting techniques you need to serge like a pro. Practice your serging on three fun skill-building projects.

I got my serger as a birthday present this year thanks to my dear sweet hubby!  I had been saving for it and planning to buy it so it was up on my wall over my desk.  Which turns out is not only a great thing to do to help me remember what I really want but, it's also a great place for dh to get ideas of what he can get as the perfect gift.  That people is a WIN WIN.  I was so excited and planning to change the appearance of all my garments to have a cleaner finish and look more professional.  Well, that was great and all but, there is a bit of knowledge that has to come first.  LOL.  Although I figured out enough on my own to be able to do my goal of nicer finishes.  I was always in fear of changing the thread spools, of having broken threads, stitches too loose or too tight.  Then what?!?!  And, let's not forgot there are so many cools things a serger can do other than overlocking our seams.  I was determined to find a way to learn all those things so I could progress faster in my skill level.  Especially since I was opening my Etsy store and would be selling things that I made.  So who did I turn to, one of my greatest institutions of learning Craftsy (YouTube being my favorite institution).

The Beginner Serger, -Machine Basics and Techniques- with Amy Alan, has been such a great help to me on my journey to becoming well acquainted with my serger thereby becoming a more professional seamtress (even if still in training, lol)!  I will be breaking this review into 2 parts.  Part 1 will be the review of the class and Part 2 will be the review of the projects that we did in this class.  I will also be giving away the 3 projects I completed for this class, FREE, to 3 lucky readers!  All you have to do is subscribe to this blog (I know you may think that this is just a shameless attempt to get subscribers, yep, you're right!).  And leave me a comment below.  

**FYI- I should also let you know that I am now an affiliate of Craftsy, but this review is my own.  I bought this class on my own and receive no compensation for it or my review.  However, now that I am an affiliate, it means that if you should decide to click on any of the links in the side bar, or special pricing post I put in the future, will lead to a small compensation to me.  If you decide to click on any of those links please know I greatly appreciate your support!!**

In this class the instructor is Amy Alan.  She has the sweetest personality I have ever seen.  She has one of those sweet smiles that you only see on babies, just a joyful countenance.  That alone makes her worth watching.  Amy is very clear, engaging, informative and enthusiastic.  She was very knowledge on the topic of sergers.  The class is done in 8 Lessons, plus a bonus lesson from Amy as a 'thank you' for taking her class.  How sweet is that!

Amy Alan, Instructor of Beginner Serging

Amy teaches sewing at Modern Domestic in Portland, Ore. and blogs at Really Handmade. She started crafting as a small child and has always made an effort to turn the everyday into art!

Lesson 1 - Introduction:  is about Amy, Craftsy, what to expect in the class and getting ready.  She also tells you about the course material provided and where to find it.  This is very vital information so that you know right off the bat what you will need to be successful in the class.  The handouts also include things such as what you will need for the projects at the end, a resource list, forms that show samples of work and useful tips to remember.  She provides worksheets for us to make a sample notebook that is based on our own experiences and our own machines.  This will be very helpful in the future trying to recreate the learned technique.  

Lesson 2 - Your Serger and How it Works:  is about threads, tensions, loopers, blades, dials, needles, changing colors and a whole lot more.  This is very helpful because you may know you sewing machine well, but I'm pretty sure there are no loopers on it, lol.  So in my case, I knew nothing about loopers nor how to recognize which thread was which looper.  Which tensions to change based on what the serge track looked like.  Changing colors was like creating a mini heart attack on demand, breath breath.   Now I can almost do it blindfolded, knowledge is power!  Understanding the cutting blade is also great to know.

Lesson 3 - Basic Stitches:  She teaches about 4, 3, and 2 thread overlock, flatlocks, rolled hem, stitch issues, and a whole lot more.  This was of course my favorite part.  I always wanted to do a rolled hem using my serger, tee-hee!  And all the different overlocks and flatlocks was simply amazing.  She was easy to understand and it was not too fast pace but no so slow you began to see sheep jumping over the fence.  It kept my attention (which isn't always easy, oh look there's a chicken).  I learned so much for this lesson and look forward to using flatlocks now.   I also appreciate the information on LOOPERS!!

Lesson 4 - Decorative Stitches:  I had no idea all this was possible with my serger.  This section went over various decorative stitches and various types of threads that can be used.  This was very interesting.  When I think decorative stitches I think of my beloved Cindy Lou (my brother's sewing machine) now she may become a little jealous that Ricardo (my brother's serger) has the ability to do a little decorating himself.  LOL, it's the battle of the machines.  Oh, back on point.  I appreciate her offering this lesson, although it was not vital in learning to use my serger it is very good to know everything that it is capable of.  Thereby giving me more options as a seamstress.  

Lesson 5 - Troubleshooting Your Serger:  is about issues with tension, machine, cleaning your machine and so much more.  This lesson should be required for all serger purchases.  You should definitely know how to do regular maintenance on your machine to keep it running smoothly.  She shows you how to clean it and what to take out and what you should NOT use to clean your machine and why.  Troubleshooting is always needed for any machine.  These are also included in the course material handouts so you will be able to reference them quickly when needed.  

Lessons 6, 7, 8:  These are your projects.  Each of these lessons is one new projects you get to make using a different technique and/or thread you just learned about (that I will be giving away FREE in part 2)!

Lesson 9:  is the BONUS lesson that Amy gives just as a 'Thank You' for taking her class.  That's a very giving person.  I enjoyed this lesson and the information that it provided.  I will only tell you that it was very informative and useful in my serger future!  You'll have to go get the class from here to find out what this lesson was about. 

That's it for Part 1 hon's.  I will have Part 2 posted next week and I will be giving away each project.  All you have to do is subscribe to the blog (I know, SMH, shamelss) and leave a comment.  You can just say, 'Hi Hon!', a comment, question or some helpful tip you have learned in using your serger.  

Well my dears, I now realize that it is 5:36am, Tuesday, phooey.  

Love and Shimmies,

P.S.  All the words in darkish red are links!  I couldn't resist not using some color for the other words!  :-)