Old shirt, new shirt, red shirt, cute shirt

I don't own a lot of long-sleeved shirts, but since my move to college they've kind of become a necessity. I had some old long-sleeved shirts that I never wore so I decided to see if I could refashion them. This shirt was just a simple boxy crew-neck.

I took one of my shirts that I liked and traced the neckline and waist onto the long-sleeved shirt.

I cut along the lines and resewed them. I also ended up taking in the sleeves as well. There was a lot of excess fabric so I even made a little rose clip.

Turquoise Sweater

I'm pretty sure I picked up this sweater from Goodwill for a dollar. It was huge and extremely dated looking, but I thought it might have potential. I actually ended up giving it to a friend and we worked on it together. Here is the "before."

Absolutely heinous. We decided that the gold buttons had to go and that it also needed to be taken in on the sides and upper sleeves. She pinned it and I sewed it up.

After a few attempts, we finally got it looking decent. We never sewed buttons back on it (simply because of lack of time), but it looks ok without them and we can always sew some on in the future. Here is my beautiful friend and her finished sweater.

I Love My Major

You know you picked the right major when you get to sew for an assignment. For my special ed class, we were required to pair up and teach each other something. I decided to teach my partner how to sew and my first lesson was on fabric flowers. Here is my little flower I made.

I also sewed a clip to the back so that I could put it in my hair.

Camille's Quilt

This is the quilt I made for my friend for graduation. I made it exactly the same as my quilt except for different fabric. I had a whole bunch of left over squares so I decided to sew a pillow too. And of course I made the little birds a few weeks ago.

Pillows

I made these pillows last year when I was getting all of my dorm/college stuff together. I couldn't really find any that I liked so I decided to make my own.

For the first pillow, I found a tree silhouette online, printed it out, and traced it to a piece of black felt. I then spent days hand stitching the tree to my square piece of fabric. It took forever and my fingers were raw by the time I was done, but I love how it came out.

For the second pillow, I cut out a long strip of black felt and sewed it to one side of my rectangle. Next, I made a turquoise flower and sewed it onto the felt. I stitched up 3 of the sides, stuffed the pillow in, and hand stitched the last side closed.

Now my pillows have a nice new home in my dorm room.

My Quilt

I made my quilt several years ago and I absolutely love it. I found the pattern online and it was really easy to make. (It just gets kind of repetitive doing the same steps so many times.) I wanted my quilt to be rectangular so I made it 6x9 instead of 7x7 like the pattern said. I also didn't want it to look too "quilty" so I used one fabric around the edge and another in the center. One you are finished, you throw it in the wash and the fabric frays making the quilt really soft.

Pajama Pants

Pajama pants or shorts are super easy to make. I just used a simple pattern, but took them in a little bit. (They seemed a little on the REALLY big side). Once they are finished, you can add so many embellishments. I used lace on the bottom of one pair and a row of buttons on another.

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My Flower Frenzy

I got this flower headband at Anthropologie over a year ago.

It was kind of pricey for a headband, so I decided to make my own. I first cut a long strip of fabric about 2'' wide. (the length depends on how full you want your flower to be. You can always cut excess off if you don't need it).

Then I sewed a line with my longest stitch right down the center.Next, I gathered the fabric by pulling on one of the threads.Then I folded the strip in half, lengthwise, and sewed the folded edge to a circular piece of felt. (I use a small drinking glass to trace the circle.) I keep sewing until I go around the circle several times, getting closer to the center with each pass.I hand sewed the center to finish the flower and then stitch it to a headband or safety pin. And I end up with something that looks a little like this.

These are really easy to make and kind of addictive. This is my current flower garden, but I end up giving most of my flowers away as gifts.

If I don't feel like getting out my machine, I just fold and gather the fabric with my hands until it resembles a flower and hand sew up and down the center several times. Super easy.

Ruffle Skirt

For this skirt, I used the bottom section of my denim dress pattern. I had to modify it a bit because the original pattern had a seam for a zipper and instead of sewing it to a bodice, I sewed it to a piece of 2'' elastic.

My sister was nice enough to model the finished product.

After I finished it, I found this sweet look-a-like at dELiAs for originally $44.50.

Mmm....Cake

When I'm sewing I use a lot of pins. I needed something that would hold a lot of pins yet be easy to make and use. So I searched the internet and found a tutorial for a felt cake. I sewed it together, put a thin piece of cardboard in the bottom, stuffed it, and my pincushion was complete.I also painted my pins various colors to look like sprinkles.

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From Sweater to Scarf

Ok, so I can't take the credit for this idea. I found a tutorial on one of my favorite blogs for a sweater turned scarf. I loved the idea and have been wanting to make it for a while. I found this sweater at Goodwill and found another one in cream that I plan on using for another scarf.

I first sewed vertical lines up and down my sweater so that when I cut it up, it wouldn't unravel. Then I cut the sweater into 4 even pieces.
I sewed the sections end-to-end with the button (or button hole) pieces at the ends. And...my scarf is finished.And since it has buttons, you can button it off to one side!

Li'l Birdies

Last year I made my friend a quilt for graduation and had tons of scrap fabric left over. The pieces were too small to do anything with so I searched the internet for ideas. I found this adorable bird pattern. I made two birds in contrasting colors and gave them as a gift. I'm not a huge bird person, but these are cute!

Navy Shirt Refashion

I had this old navy shirt that I hardly wear. The style isn't the most flattering so it needed a makeover.
First, I cut off both sleeves and hemmed the edges. Then I removed the elastic from the bottom seam.
Next, I took the elastic that was in the bottom seam and sewed it to the underside of the back of the shirt. I stretched the elastic while I sewed so that it created a gather.

Here is the finished shirt:

And.......its great for the beach!