Sewing

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KCW Winter 2015: Easy Tee to Dress Upcycle

Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

Kids Clothes Week rages on and I’m back at it with a very simple project this time. This one transforms a t-shirt from the Target clearance rack into a fun dress by pairing it with a bright Amy Butler fabric.

I love stripes. For real. I just can’t resist striped attire for children (or myself). And stripes paired with a big, bold floral print become both sporty and feminine.

This project started as a long-sleeved t-shirt that I scored for $3.50 from Target (had to buy two colors at that price!). I sized up and purchased a size 4T because it seems like the Circo brand always shrinks a fair amount after the first washing.

Circo Shirts

I hacked off a good 10+ inches from the bottom of the t-shirt, and about 5 inches from the sleeve length. I then made a skirt using two width-of-fabric rectangles of a bold Amy Butler print. I used this same fabric when I made Daisy some summery skirts when she was about 9 months old. It’s kind of a crazy print but the colors are so great.

Circo Tee Upcycle by fromwholecloth.com

I gathered the extra wide skirt portion to make it the same size as the bottom of the shortened t-shirt, and then attached it to the bottom of the shirt using a zig-zag stitch to allow for as much stretch as possible (since the knit t-shirt fabric is stretchy, but the woven skirt fabric is not). Then I hemmed the skirt.

Sleeve Detail on Circo Tee to Dress for KCW by fromwholecloth.com

The size 4T sleeves were way too long for my daughter. I could have just shortened and hemmed them, but I decided to add a ruffle to the shortened sleeve for a little girly flair. I used the hacked off bottom of the t-shirt to make a ruffled cuff. No wasted fabric on this project!
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Upcycled Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

 

Upcycled Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

This bright dress seems like the perfect remedy for all the snow and cold weather we’ve been experiencing lately.

Upcycled Circo Tee to Dress by fromwholecloth.com

As a side note, there was another Kids Clothes Week project that I was working on last night. I had scored a pair of purple velveteen jeans from Goodwill about a year ago with hopes of transforming them into a soft pair of pants for Daisy. But, it just didn’t happen. I was most of the way done with the sewing when I realized I really didn’t like how they looked. The envisioned pants were better in my head than they were in person. I could tell they would not be a hit with Daisy, either.  Pants are a hard sell for her to begin with – she’s a leggings girl. And so, I just walked away from the project.

There’s a certain luxury associated with working with upcycled materials. Because the cost of entry is generally pretty low, you can feel free to take risks you might not want to take with your “good” fabric, or, as in my case, to abandon a project that doesn’t quite satisfy your creative intentions.

The pants cost me about 75 cents at Goodwill. Much, much less than the cost of the same amount of a new, quality fabric. The time spent sewing was good practice – I view it as an investment in strengthening my sewing skills. Rather than feeling guilty about “wasting” good fabric on a pair of pants that would never be worn, I could walk away from the nearly finished but unremarkable pants without a second thought.

I have at least one more project to share this week. Until next time…

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KCW Winter 2015: Inversion Conversion

Inverted Pleat Skirt KCW Spring 2015 by from whole cloth at fromwholecloth.com

So, I haven’t blogged in months, and now I’m jumping back into it just in time for Kids Clothes Week Winter 2015. So nice of me to make an appearance, huh? There actually has been a lot of sewing going on, just not much blogging. We’ll have time for catching up soon enough. But for now, let’s talk Kids Clothes Week, shall we?

kid's clothes week

This season’s theme is upcycling – giving a piece of clothing (typically a previously worn item of clothing) a whole new life by converting it into something new. Luckily my mom and my sister know I’m always eager for hand-me-downs to play around with for sewing projects. That, combined with items I’ve curated from Goodwill and the clearance racks at department stores, provided me with plenty of inspiration for this challenge.

First up…. a vintage J. Crew long skirt that has been converted into a girl’s skirt with a deep inverted pleat.

Here’s the skirt in all of it’s original glory.

Skirt Original

This was my mom’s skirt. Confession — I had the same skirt in a hunter green background, rather than blue. I got a lot of wear out of that skirt. And, I swear, my mom and I did not wear them at the same time! Timeframe: late ’80s to early ’90s.

OrigSkirtTag

The skirt is a lightweight cotton twill. Years of wear and washing have made it so soft. Interestingly, the original size eight waistband measured just shy of 27 inches. Nothing like the vanity sizing we have today! I suppose, too, this skirt was from an era when skirts and pants were worn on our actual waists, not the low waist. I chose to save myself any unnecessary anguish that would be associated with attempting to fit into the skirt today!

I made the converted skirt a girl’s size 6. My daughter, currently three years old, likely won’t fit it for a couple years, but as I contemplated my intended remake of the skirt it just seemed like this style would wear better on a slightly older girl — and I had plenty of fabric to accommodate a larger size, so I went with it. One current drawback is that I can’t show you photos of the skirt being modeled live. Sorry, you’ll have to suffer through boring hanger shots.

Overall the conversion was pretty straightforward. I started by chopping off a whole bunch of length from the original skirt. I cut the skirt to an 18 inch length, which allowed for a nice thick hem on what should be a knee length skirt, and still left me with a fair amount of leftover fabric for a potential other project from this print.

Skirt Cut

Since the skirt had a separate waistband, I unpicked about 6 inches of the front center skirt where the waistband attached to the skirt to make it easier to create the deep inverted pleat. I feared that unpicking the waisband would be difficult and tedious, but the stitches gave way very easily. Like buttah, I tell you. A benefit of the skirt’s age, no doubt.

Waistband Unpicked

I then cut away a portion of the front center of the skirt to allow a space for the contrast fabric. There was enough fabric to make the pleat using the original fabric, but I thought the contrast fabric would liven things up a bit and highlight the pleat.

Skirt Front Cut
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And then, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the process. Oops. It got late. I was tired. And stopping sewing to photograph is just not a natural occurrence for me.

So let me just quickly tell you what I did. I’ll use my words, like a big girl. (Can you tell this a frequent topic of late in our household? Terrible threes, anyone?)

I took the waistband in a few inches by simply cutting out a portion of the original waistband and sewing the remaining waistband back together. Then I sewed a contrast piece of fabric (actually two layers of handkerchief-weight ivory linen basted together as one piece) to the existing skirt fabric lengthwise. I then folded and basted the inverted pleat, and then fit the new, pleated skirt front back into the unpicked portion of the waistband and sewed it shut. Finally, I hemmed the skirt with a wide 1.5 inch hem.

Ta da…

Inverted Pleat Skirt, Upcycled Long Skirt by fromwholecloth.com

Being able to easily separate the original waistband from the skirt was key to the ease of this project. It allowed me to use a contrast fabric, make the pleat and reduce the waist size without having to totally hack up the skirt. And I love the clean look of the separate waistband for this style, as opposed to a bulky elasticized waist.

I was also able to retain the original back invisible zipper and button closure. Such nice features that I most likely would have avoided for a child’s skirt project (mean mommy!). This upcycling stuff is pretty nice – I like having someone else do the heavy lifting for me. A girl could get used to this!

Pleat Skirt Back

Ooh, and pockets, too! Thank you, J. Crew. Your contributions are appreciated!

Inverted pleat skirt by fromwholecloth.com

 

ISkirtDetail

 

Okay, well, … so I guess I’ll just throw this in the closet now and wait a couple years…. Kind of an anticlimactic end to this project.

KCW Inverted Pleat Skirt by fromwholecloth.com

Have a great start to your week, and stay tuned for more upcycled creations this week. And, check out the kids clothes week blog for a peek at what others are sewing.

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Polka Dot Peplum in Knit

I told you I like this pattern. It’s the First Day Dress Pattern from MADE – again! I like it so much I sewed up a second peplum in the same week.

polka dot peplum sewn by #fromwholecloth

When Dana recently posted a bunch of finished garments from her pattern, there were several polka dot peplums. They looked so darn cute I was inspired to make my own. Polka dots + peplum = perfection! And alliterative overload.

Peplum #2 is made from a knit fabric. The fabric was in my stash – I believe I purchased it from Girl Charlee. It doesn’t have much stretch, so I’m guessing it’s all cotton.

polka dot peplum sewn by #fromwholecloth

Knits are a staple in my daughter’s wardrobe and I was hoping to add this pattern to the knit repertoire. Knit was not included among the recommended fabrics for this pattern, and I was curious if it would work or if, for example, the peplum skirt would fall flat in a knit fabric.

I wanted a quick way to determine if the pattern would support this kind of fabric without expending too much time or using more fabric than necessary, so I some modifications from the full pattern instructions for this “muslin.” I didn’t fully line the bodice — essentially I made more of a “facing” by lining enough of the top bodice portion to allow me to enclose the raw edges of the neckline, armholes and the back slit. I didn’t pay close attention to the length of the facing when cutting it, and I ended up with just enough to cover the back opening. Phew! I didn’t line the skirt at all.

Despite taking a quick and dirty approach to the bodice, I decided to fully line the sleeves. The underside can sometimes be seen when the top is worn, and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity for a fun surprise underneath, and I was concerned the knit fabric might cause the sleeves to droop in an unflattering way. I really like the perky sleeves that you achieve with woven fabrics in this pattern, and I was hoping to mimic that in the knit top. I ended up using a woven fabric to line the sleeves, both because the color worked well (it’s a yellow polka dot print) and I thought the woven fabric would lend structure. Also, since my knit exterior fabric is not particularly stretchy, I wasn’t concerned about the combination of different substrates creating a wonky or misshapen outcome. I also added piping between the bodice and skirt on this peplum. Just for fun and an extra dash of color.

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My verdict — I think the pattern works well with knit, bearing in mind I used a lighter weight knit with limited stretch. I’m pretty confident it would work just fine with a medium weight knit, too, but you might lose some of the peppiness in the skirt because of the additional fabric weight. Also, next time I sew this in knit, I’ll just line the whole bodice. Making the facing was intended as a shortcut for this muslin, but a full bodice lining doesn’t use much more fabric and I didn’t really save any time with the facing. The full lining would also eliminate any bumps or shifting that the facing might produce.

I’m so glad to have another pattern option for sewing with knits!

In case anyone was wondering… how do I know when my daughter is ready to call it quits on our photo shoots? She launches into crazy eyes poses!

polka peplum5Polka Dot Peplum

 

Yep, time to call it a day!

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Pretty Peplum: First Day Dress & Top Pattern

first day top sewn by #fromwholecloth

I admit, I’ve been converted.

I have historically not been a fan of the peplum. Perhaps because I don’t believe it would be a particularly flattering style for myself, and so my mind just clicks off at the thought of them.   The whole volume at the hips thing; it’s just something I try to avoid. But when Dana of MADE posted the creations by the pattern testers for her new First Day Dress Pattern, I was immediately smitten with the peplums. (You can check out her post here.)

I could not resist the power of the peplum. It went like this: read Dana’s post, ooh & aahh, buy pattern, choose fabric, cut, sew, smile.

first day top pattern sewn by #fromwholecloth

The First Day Dress and Top Pattern was released about two months ago. I liked it when I first saw it, but since I already have several little girl dress patterns (not all of which I’ve sewn yet — *confession*), I decided to hold off on purchasing it. But the peplum …. well, the peplum’s a bird of another color — it’s a top not a dress! I’m completely justified in my purchase! Ahem, of course, that’s not to say I won’t be making the dress versions included in the pattern, too.

first day dress and top pattern sewn by #fromwholecloth

In addition to my new found peplum-adoration, I just adore this fabric. It’s Dainty Daisies from Joel Dewberry’s Bungalow collection. The top is lined in a solid olive by Amy Butler.

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1st Day Peplum

Let me tell you, this thing’s got SWING! You just have to twirl in a top like this.

As with Dana’s other patterns, the instructions are thorough and make for an easy sew. Since Daisy is starting to size out of size 2T, I made this in a 3T even though she met the size 2T measurements. My only modifications were to cut the neckline slightly wider and also cut the back slit 5 inches long, rather than 4 inches. (Thanks to Erin at hungie gungie for that pointer!) The finished garment is intended to be fitted through the bodice, which makes it extra feminine, so these modifications assisted a bit in helping pull the dress over Daisy’s head and shoulders. I also finished the hem using a method I learned from The Cottage Mama patterns, as opposed to the method shown in the pattern. It feels a bit funky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it makes finishing the hem on a lined dress a breeze.

I would definitely recommend this pattern. Not only does it produce a great looking result, it has several options included (A-line dress/top, swing dress/top, with and without sleeves), so you totally get your money’s worth out of this pattern. I still can’t believe I completely overlooked the peplum option when the pattern was first released.

first day dress pattern sewn by #fromwholecloth

She likes this top. I like this top. Everyone’s a winner here. Power to the peplum!

first day dress pattern sewn by #fromwholecloth