warm weather - I miss you

I have one more refashion to post, but I will save that for tomorrow. 

We haven't had a cold winter by any means, I mean its been unusually warm (if you call 40's/50's warm)...well, besides the 10 days of 12 degree weather in December.  Other than that, it has been rainy and gray...and what I consider "cold."  I am tired of wearing layers and coats, I miss shorts, tank tops and slippers (flip flops).  This is my first "real" winter in five years, so I think it has me a little down.  Whenever I feel down, I browse through pictures from our life in Hawaii.  They can make me so sad, but they also bring a smile to my face.  I miss the sunshine, palms and warm water.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you...

leeward oahu

my backyard in early 2006

my name in the sand at waimea

view of waikiki from diamond head

napping sea turtles (honu)

my jeepsee at laie pt

ala moana beach park

queens in waikiki

sunset beach

bellows

north shore during the calm of summer

view from our bedroom window in waikiki

the ala wai canal

and lastly this is my most favorite place on this planet - lanikai

hope you all had a great weekend!

xoxo

crissy

refashion #4

Cardigans are everywhere this spring.  I have quite a few plain ones so I decided to dress one of them up with some ruffles.  If you don't like ruffles then don't read any further.  :o)

you'll need: a cardigan, some ribbon (I used organdy), scissors and of course the trusty sewing machine

figure out where you want your ruffles and cut the ribbon twice as long as you need

my ruffles are going to run vertically down the front

now its time to gather - set your stitch length to its longest setting

and set your tension as high as you can

sew down the middle of each ribbon piece to gather it

pin your ruffles in place - pretty pretty

hope you can see this clearly - I folded under 1/4 inch to keep the ribbon from fraying - or you could just use fray check

sew your ruffles in place

all done, like new!

Tomorrow is refashion #5 - come join me!

xoxo

crissy

refashion #3

This one is fun and very easy.

I got the idea here.  

you'll need: a plain t-shirt that you don't mind cutting in half, some ribbon, a safety pin, scissors and a sewing machine

lay your t-shirt out right side up

fold it in half, back sides together

mark down the middle line (this is your cutting line)

cut all the way up the front of the shirt

cut all the way around the neckline too

mark off the area between the neckline and the middle of the shirt and cut this will get rid of the corners - repeat on the other side

your t-shirt should look like this now

this next step is completely optional - I serged all around the "raw" edges

now we need to create a casing all the way around, mine is 1 inch, just a little bigger than the ribbon I am using

here is the casing, pinned all the way around

sew around to form the casing

thread the ribbon through using a safety pin

(I didn't cut it until after this step because I wasn't sure how long it needed to be)

figure out how long you want the ribbon by gathering the shrug...now you're done!

xoxo

crissy

refashion #2

Now I know I said I would be using a thrifted men's shirt to make a cute shirt for myself.  Well, let's just say I had a "craftfail" moment yesterday.  I was about halfway done with the tutorial and while trimming the sleeves I cut through the shirt.  Yep, ruined it - not repairable.  Fantastic! 

I. was. so. mad.  Fuming.

SO... that shirt went in the scrap pile.  Maybe I'll make Leilani a little skirt out of it.  

Anyway, here is the tutorial I will show you instead...

you'll need a shirt that you want to shorten the sleeves on, a sewing machine, some elastic, an iron and of course, some scissors.

this is a cute long sleeve, button up, shirt that I found on a clearance rack - I love purple

but it has a hole in the top of one sleeve - so lets get rid of that hole!

I cut the sleeves off right at the hole, and did the same on the other sleeve - make sure they are even with each other, you don't want asymetrical sleeves

using the edge of a t-shirt sleeve as a guide, even out each sleeve

now we need to hem the sleeves, depending on how long/short you want your sleeves, turn under the hem - I turned under 1 inch

I rolled the hem over once more (another inch) to hide the raw edge - press

repeat this on the other sleeve and you are ready to sew

stitch all the way around the hem on each sleeve with coordinating thread

here's the finished hem - you can stop here, but I wanted to add some girly flair to my sleeve (because a purple shirt with floral print isn't girly enough)

now you'll need to cut two pieces of elastic, the size will vary depending on how tight/loose you want the sleeve to fit around your arm.  I cut each about 1.5 inches.

now, find the center on each sleeve, about .5 in above the hem - mark it with a disappearing marker

pin the elastic to the center line you just marked

stretch it out on both sides and pin, this will show you how much your fabric will gather and where to start sewing the elastic

place the elastic at the to the top of the three pins - start sewing and make sure to backstitch to hold it in place, after the backstitch, start sewing.  keep the elastic straight as possible

repeat this on the other sleeve

here is the finished gather from the outside

and the inside (my stitches are a little wonky)

all finished!

I think the sleeves are adorable - a nice winter weather shirt turned spring!

xoxo

crissy