Skirt from Ugly TShirt

Hello! I have an entry to the Lil Blue Boo Ugly Knits contest! I made Delilah a skirt from a Tshirt, embellished with fabric paint and applique. Check it out!

Ahhh - 'scuse the tongue out on my sweet model!

We're loving Mr Men books right now!

I just love the Union Jack. I came to America when I was 12 years old, from England. So the Union Jack has been in my life and my heart for a VERY long time. Let me show you how I put this together. And....my technique could just as easily be used for the Stars N Stripes or any other nation's flag you love.

Here is the TShirt I started with:

Anyone familiar with the Buccaneers last football season has to agree it was UGLY! I happen to be a Buccaneers fan. This shirt was a gift to my husband from my BFF. However, my husband is a Buffalo Bills fan. (Insert groan here) There is no way my dedicated Bills fan husband would deign to wear a Tampa Bay shirt, so to him, this shirt is TRULY ugly. It's way too big for me, so the ugly knit contest it is!

First, I cut off the bottom of the shirt at about 12 inches.

Then I got to work on the Union Jack. I took a piece of freezer paper, and used my ruler to draw straight lines. First is the basis of the flag, the St George cross.

Now, this flag is so familiar to me, that I just drew it up from memory. I've been coloring it since I was a little one myself so I didn't need a picture to follow. Plus it's all straight lines so pretty straightforward. Another way to do this would be to print a flag out and trace it.

I had all my lines drawn, so it was time for cleanup.

Ahh, there ya go! My pretty Union Jack on freezer paper!

Next it needed to be cut out to make it into a stencil. Keeping the pieces in the right places is important.

Now, the stencil is to cover the parts of the flag that are red and blue. So starting with the center stencil piece, I ironed on the center cross.

Then I carefully placed the corner pieces onto the fabric and ironed them on too. Good thing I kept them in order!

Once they were all ironed on, it was fabric paint time for the white parts.

Note I left the outside of the stencil rather sloppy. For me that was part of the "punk appeal" of the design. It would be pretty easy to make the stencil more precise if that's a look you prefer.

I used two coats of paint, letting it dry between coats.

While it was drying, I started work on the blue applique pieces. I wanted to use another "ugly knit" but didn't have a blue ugly knit that qualified, so I grabbed a piece of blue Kona cotton from my stash. I used Heat N Bond to apply to the fabric, following instructions on the package.

Once the Heat N Bond was secure to one side of the fabric, I ironed the remaining unpainted stencil pieces to the fabric to give me a cutting guide for my triangles. I needed 8 triangles.

Ok - the paint dried! Time to carefully peel off the stencil.

Leaving a cool white imprint! Honestly, I was tempted just to stop there. I found the simplicity of the red and white really appealling.

But I had my triangles ready. I played with them a bit to get the placement right.

Then cut off the excess from them to clean it up a bit, ready for applique.

Once placed, I peeled off the Heat N Bond backing paper.

And ironed on. Now, since there was fabric paint on the fabric, I put a piece of muslin over the section I was ironing, to protect the paint from scorching and messing up my iron. The heat from the iron through the muslin also helps to heat set the fabric paint.

Once all ironed on, I set my sewing machine zig-zag stitch wide, with a narrow space between each zig - it looks like a satin stitch this way. I then sewed around each piece of blue fabric that was adhered with the Heat N Bond.

Ok - All pieces stitched in place and almost finished! I was glad I went ahead with the blue. That's the flag I love!

Last thing to do - the waistband. I turned the skirt inside out, and folded down the top edge about 3/4 inch. (My elastic was 1/2 inch.) I didn't double fold, because the knit won't fray, and to be honest, I didn't have much extra fabric at the top to allow for lots of folding!

Then I slowly stitched around the fold, creating a pocket around the top for the elastic. I left about a 2 inch opening to slip the elastic in.

To slip in the elastic, I attached a safety pin to the end of the elastic. I like using diaper pins because their larger size makes it easier, in my opinion.

Once the elastic was through, I sewed the ends together and sewed the 2 inch opening shut. After all those photographs of every step in the process, for some reason my brain switched off and I didn't photograph that last little bit. Sorrys!

Here is the finished skirt.

It's a little long for Delilah, but she's growing up so fast, that won't be true soon. I can't believe my baby girl is SO BIG already. How time flies.....

Handing an acorn to Daddy - awwwww!

Thanks for visiting. I hope I haven't turned off all my American friends by being so obsessed with my dear Union Jack. I love America!

Later skaters,

Janimal

Another TShirt to Toddler Dress

I love turning my old clothes into outfits for Delilah!

Making simple dresses from T Shirts is my new thing. This project can be completed quickly (always a plus for a Mom with limited time) and since I am using a shirt I don't wear, it doesn't really cost me anything. And if I mess up too badly on an upcycle, (and I messed up on this, I'll show you my booboo) it's not like I spent a bunch of money on the fabric. Which reminds me of the $17/yard Kokka fabric I ordered and can't bring myself to cut. I am SO nervous about cutting that stuff - it's too pretty!

Anyway, on with the Dress tutorial. Very similiar to THIS one I posted before, except the sleeves are much better on this one.

Start off with a T. This one was some kind of promo one my husband brought home from work. Too small for me. I like the logo "Tuff Girl".





When I started I wasn't sure what I was doing. I grabbed a TShirt of Delilahs to take a look at how much I was going to cut from this shirt.



I decided that I wanted the black of the sleeve to be just on the sleeve on her dress too. So I had a plan in mind to sew at approximately the lines I drew in the below picture. (What I SHOULD have done, is not shorten the sleeve length. I should have used the existing sleeve hem. Ah well, it turned out ok, and I learned something.)



I cut a bit first. One side at a time.

Ok, cut! Now I had to be sure to sew so there was no black in the side seam. But I needed to be close, to have the dress be wide enough.

Here I start to sew.

Clip threads (here I realized I should have changed my bobbin thread. ) and cut into the corner of the sleeve seam too.

Turn right side out, and we're on our way!

This probably would have been a good time to stop, try it on the child. But she was sleeping. So I forged ahead, hoping this wouldn't be a waste of time. I left the sleeves just cut. The knit doesn't fray.

Now to tackle the length. I got out my handy metal yardstick.

And drew 3 strips using the yardstick as my guide.

Cut!

I cut the strips and sewed them end to end, to make one loonnng strip of fabric.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART!

Set the sewing machine to the highest possible number, which is the lowest possible tension. And to the widest stitch possible, a basting stitch. Sew down the middle of the 1' strip, and see the magic that happens to the strip of fabric!

And this is my least favorite part - pinning. Pin the ruffled strip to the bottom of the dress.

Now sew the strip to the dress, right down the middle, attaching the strip to the bottom of the dress.

NOW HERE IS THE BOO BOO. I forgot to reset the tension on my machine. Oopsy. The fabric got pulled down into the thingymabob and was stuck. This was not fun to fix. So -- let me give you a warning - check the tension!

Put this dress on your child, and she is raring to go outside and play.

This dress is fun to play in!

Even looks good with sidewalk chalk markings!



Ok, that was fun! Very simple, and I learned a few things.

So far, my TShirt refashions have been very simple. If you want to see some much cooler refashions, you must head to the blog Lil Blue Boo. The MASTER of TShirt refashions for kids! I recently purchased the Sienna Dress Pattern and I am excited about it. I read through the directions and am SO pleased at how simple and straightforward they appear. The pattern is uncomplicated, not many pieces. It is awesome how she makes sleeves look easy!

Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to see your TShirt refashions. And here is a preview of a smocket for a tutorial hopefully later this week - just 1 pattern piece!