Skirt to tank

I had a skirt that I loved the fabric hated the skirt so time to redo it.

First thing was to get rid of the waist band and since the top was pleated this opened up more fabric.

I measure from the top of my bust to under my arm and then from the middle of my underarm to side to get the dept and width of the cut I would need. The pockets did not matter since they were going to be cut out but I kept them for the should strap since I did not have a lot of material to play with. I cut strips and joined them to get two decent strips aproximately 10" long and 2" wide. I had some green satin left from another project and cut two strips 10" and 6" wide.

 I used iron on interfacing to give the fabric some weight then sewed the smaller strip to the wider one to form a tube. I made sure to serge the edges before turning.

I pressed them flat then sewed in the ditch to give them stability and strength. Remember that the patterned strip had several joints.

I added a small strip of the green satin to the front and back and added a small elastic to gather the material and help tie the look to the straps. The straps were placed on at a slight angle to make them lie flatter and prevent them from slipping

Simple Tank Top with straps wide enough to hide a bra straps. The Material is cool and looks good with jeans.

Obi Belt

My sister loves belts and in fact during Tax-mas she bought a lot but finding ones in her size can be difficult so I decided to try my hand at making one. I also love anime and saw a character wearing an obi and thought that would be cute as a belt since I could make it any size.


I measure my sister and made two pieces of fabric and one of canvas 6 inchs thick and 10 inches shorter then the measurement. This was to ensure that it did not overlap when pulled tight. Then added ribbons 1 1/2 times the length to ensure they went around the waist to tie in front. It worked perfectly and goes with several outfits.

As you see it fits nicely the canvas helps to keep the shape I did this one in a basic black and plan some more in solid colors. One thing I did learn was to place a small loop to thread the ribbon through near the front so that the ribbon stays in the middle and does not slide up or down. Simple but elegant something that anyone that can cut a straight line and sew can do and you can custom fit to your size.

Lace butterfly

Since I seem to be on a broomstick skirt run here's another. My sister for some strange reasons loves orange so when she saw this one at the thrift store she fell in love.

I did like the touches of brown it added depth to the skirt. This one was a 2X so there was plenty of material. I did the usual removing the waist band and opening the sides up. 

Now I could have just hemmed the armhole and closed the shoulder seam but I wanted something different. We are going to a family reunion at the end of may and definitely needed some comfortable but stylish traveling clothes. I decided that the front neckline needed something to take away from all that orange and to give a focal point. My sister went a little nuts on a site that had lace appliques and there was this pretty brown butterfly that just went perfectly.

I have never sewn on this type of applique. first I pinned then tacked with colored thread to remove easily. I thought at first of using a zizzag stitch over the ends to attach it. That didn't work mainly because the fabric is too gauzy. Next time I know to use a stabilizer. I ended up sewing on the thicker middle with a small stitch 1.5 following along the edge. Then I did a blanket stitch all around the edge to keep it flat. I think it turned out pretty good.

Its perfect for summer and for casual wear. For work she uses a brown belt to give it more shape and make it look professional. Either way the butterfly serves as a great focal point. It works so well on her because she has a large bust otherwise I would have used a small focal.

tshirt to fancy top

My sister had a very nice favorite t-shirt top with embroidery around the neck. The problem was that it was faded and was too short so any movement of the arms made the stomach ride up. So I decided we needed to make some changes.

I cut it about 3 inches below the armhole to give me enough room to attach a bottom but still have the seam below the bust. Next a dip in some red dye to refresh the color. I like to soak the fabric well and since I live in Texas there is always a lot of heat. I have a clean tall trashcan half filled with water and set on my deck. I had a pan of boiling water a cup of salt and the dye I stir with a long pole and put in the items one at a time. I leave it sitting in the sun for several hours stirring well 3 or 4 times an hour. then I wring it out place in the washer and have someone dump the liquid in the washer and wash normally. I always get a good color. Also if I want something dyed a lighter version of the color I will add it to the wash where it will get a light to medium tint of the color depending on the fabrics original color. Its also good for touching up something a little faded.

In one of our many thrift store shopping binges I found this lovely chiffon skirt. I took out the waistband and separated the inner liner which I have plans for. The skirt was a XL circle skirt so to get the top opening I needed I folded it into quarters.

(I am actually showing the liner because I forgot to take a picture of this step) To get the measurement I folded the shirt in quarters and measured adding a 1/2 inch. Then I measured carefully from the top as I needed to keep the circle shape of the opening. It took a couple of tries but I found the right distance from the top to give me opening size I needed. (I could have used my sister the math teacher for this one)
I attached the top to bottom and since the hem was already done I had a very nice tunic.

The chiffon skirt adds a nice touch and moves the shirt from casual to office dressy. Now I just need to make her some leggings. As for the left over piece  from the t shirt I cut about 5 inches from the overall length, hemmed it and tossed it into the dye. My sister had seen a Pinterest where they used t shirt bottoms as belt/sash. We found that a Medium/Large t-shirt makes a sash the perfect size for her even though she wears a 5X. I was shocked to realize just how much they stretch once separated from the top. Now we will keep an eye out for unique colors and patterns in smaller shirts to make the belts.