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wardrobe refashion: de-ruffling a shirt

floral shirt

Here’s the shirt from yesterday’s garage sale finds. I really liked the fabric, but the shirt was a little bit too frilly for me.

floral shirt

The first thing I did was cut off the gathered cuff and replace it with a simple rolled hem. Next I removed the ruffle and reattached the fabric with no gathers. Finally, I snipped off the ties, stitched the center closed and added a vintage button.

floral shirt

I like the shape of peasant style blouses, but I’m not a big fan of all of the frilly stuff. This turned out just perfect for me. Plus, I totally love that button!

refashion: Shirt 75 cents from a garage sale. Vintage button from my stash.

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wardrobe refashion: shirt to skirt

I found some cute shirts at a garage sale this morning. I’ve already refashioned two, but it was too dark to take the second “after” photo. Here’s the first one.

circle print shirt

The top portion was a little tight and the bottom was big enough to be a skirt. Ha! A skirt! I cut off the top and sewed a casing for the elastic. It even already had pockets!

circle print skirt

It hits just above the knee, which is about as high as I go these days. The fabric is lightweight and it’s going to be a nice, cool skirt for the hot days of August.

refashion: Shirt 50 cents from a garage sale. Elastic from my stash.

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my first granny squares

granny squares

I needed a small, portable project for our trip to Kearney last weekend. In the past, my travel projects have mostly been socks. Now that my daughter is older, I prefer something that doesn’t require so many needles and won’t completely unravel if I throw it in my bag to chase her down.

granny squares

I decided it was time to try my hand at granny squares and I think they’re looking pretty good. I finished one in the car on the way out and one during the day. (That’s the president of the local BMW Car Club holding my square over a Porsche. Isn’t it great how the fiber arts bring us all together!)

granny squares

I’m planning to seam these together and make a scarf for myself. I’m really happy with the colors and the yarn is really soft.

stash: Yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease from a giant freecycle haul. Most of what I got that day has been given to knitting guild members to make squares for charity blankets. There were about five skeins of this colorway that I kept for myself. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rest of it yet. Maybe matching wrist warmers?

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my little perch

bella's first swim lesson

Last week Bella tried swimming in the bathtub. I asked her if she wanted to take swimming lessons and she said, “YES!” There just happened to be a class open that started this week so I signed her up. Every day so far has had its own milestone.

Monday: This day was a little overwhelming. Skills covered were putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles, which she did not want to do, floating on her back, she kept bending her knees, and jumping off the side of the pool, which was more like me lifting her off.

Tuesday: A much more comfortable day in the water. She floated on both her front and back with help, jumped off the edge of the pool holding my hands and put her face in the water to blow bubbles.

Wednesday: I’m amazed at her progress. She’s putting her whole head under water, floating on her back, kicking while floating on her front and today she jumped off the side of the pool into the teacher’s arms and didn’t hold hands!

I wish I could take pictures, but I’m in the water with her. I’ll post more of her progress, though. Can’t wait to see what she does next!

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wardrobe refashion:
pajama pants from thrifted sheet

thrifted sheet pajamas

It seems like everyone in blogland is making comfy pants out of vintage sheets. I don’t think mine are that old, but I still love them. They turned out a little big, but after my too-small skirts, I wanted to make sure they were wearable! I’ve adjusted the pattern a little for next time and can’t wait to make another pair. I’m also thinking of making a matching pair for my daughter with the leftovers.

refashion: Thrifted sheets are a great alternative to buying new fabric. You have a lot to work with and you don’t feel bad if you mess up! This sheet was one of my $2 deals and the pattern is Simplicity 3935 from a 99 cent sale.

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kearney cruise ’09: the details

It’s been a long time since I’ve taken pictures just for fun. Usually, I’m trying to document a milestone in my daughter’s life or get a close-up of something I’ve made. On Saturday, I took pictures just because I was feeling creative. This set is the detail set. Larger pics in my gallery.

kearney cruise

kearney cruise

kearney cruise

kearney cruise

kearney cruise

kearney cruise

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no vacation yarn for me

kearney yarn store

Wooly Mammoth Yarn Store, Kearney Cruise 2009

I’m kind of surprised I didn’t buy any vacation yarn yesterday. I’ve found so many exciting garage sale deals this summer, that going in and just buying yarn seemed kind of boring. There’s no thrill of the hunt. There’s no adventure in bargaining. I did go in and look around, though. I’m not crazy!

I also looked around the antique store, but everything seemed so expensive. I guess that’s another side effect of thrifting. I kept thinking, “They want how much?!” After that, I decided not to go to the fabric store. Instead, I sat under a tree in the shade and crocheted some granny squares with my freecycle yarn.