It doesn’t get much simpler than this.

I made these shorts:

from these pants:

I bought these pants about 4 years ago, and they’re petite trousers.  Trousers just aren’t as flattering on me as I used to think.  Let’s face it:

I’m short.

White, baggy pants don’t help.

So here’s what I did… I cut them off about halfway up the leg.  Straight across.  Then I tried folding them under and hemming them, but that didn’t work.  The outside bunched, and things started to look sloppy.  So then I cut them again where I had attempted to sew them (because it was impossible to ignore the perforation after I ripped my stitches out).  Then I made 1 1/2 inch bias tape out of the leftover pieces and finished the edges with it.  Worked like a charm.

Although I will point out that I literally kissed my sewing machine for working so hard.  She made it through something like 9 layers of heavy chino material!  I’m so proud.

This is what I wore yesterday with the help of my blogging-internetting friends.  Thanks for all your input!  :)

(Doesn’t my pic look a lot like a Japanese craft book?  That wasn’t on purpose, but I like it.)

Now that I have all these flow-y tops, I can see myself obsessing over belts next.  I guess I forgot how nice a belt can be when I didn’t have a waist for like, um, years.

Anyway, I want to point you to Darling Dexter, who was so kind as to feature me here and constantly inspires me with her daily outfits.  I think we share the same “style essence” because I covet everything she puts on her body.

And speaking of style essence, I think I’ve captured the essence of the dress that got my wheels turning - captured the essence without duplicating the inspiration.  And I modeled it for y’all too.

Yay for being completely ridiculous and posing with knitted flowers!

This week, I have some refashions in progress, so be on the lookout…

First let me remind you that a chambray dress from Gap inspired me to get a little sewing-machine-happy.  You can see it again here coupled with a seemingly unrelated cardigan refashion.

But that dress really was the instigator, and it was only a matter of time until I cut into the 2 1/2 yards of chambray bought at the height of my inspiration.

Thus, I present to you the chambray tunic/dress/shirt… You decide!  What does this garment need?

The hem is still unfinished, and I really need some female sartorial feedback on this one.  (Evan’s pretty sure that I keep making the same shirt.)

This top is from the Built By Wendy Simplicity pattern 3964.  Which actually features a pentagon as part of the yoke.  I redesigned the front yoke and cut a new pattern piece for it out of muslin.  So I can make this again if I want to! :)

I also put binding on the sleeves instead of elastic.  For some reason, I feel kinda over elastic.  At least for now.

I’m probably going to make a belt to go with it - the simple tie belt from the pattern.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

I forgot to take a before shot of this one, but it’s pretty obvious.  It was a simple, smocked top with spaghetti straps.  Nothing else, really.

Now it’s Emily’s Easter dress.

One thing I love about it is that she can easily wear a shirt under it if Easter proves to be a chilly day.

This was a simple refashion inspired by a Mini Boden dress I saw yesterday.  I cut about 2 1/2 inches off the top and then cut curvy armholes on the sides.  Then I added binding around the armholes.

To add a little whimsy, I crocheted circles for the ties.

Then I added pockets.

With reinforcement.

And a bunny. :)

Here’s last year’s refashioned Easter dress.

I did it!  I pressed on, and the shirt is done.  And fits.

(This is another faceless shot of my torso.)

Finishing wasn’t as simple as I posited.  I had to trim up the sides a couple times and add shape to avoid the cinched-trashbag look.  I actually sewed the sides 4 different times.  Trial and error, friends!

Then I made binding for the armholes, and that just never seems to get easier.  Does anyone have advice on armholes?

The gathers are actually pintucks.  That was kind of where I started.

Have you noticed a common theme with every shirt I make?  They all are loose-fitting in the general tummy area.  They might even be misconstrued as being maternity tops.  I’m not pregnant.  (I don’t think.)  I just have an empty baby house,  and I’m decidedly okay with that.

So I was making all these clothes.  Shirts, actually.  And somewhere along the way I got over-confident.  I decided to design my own shirt.  And that’s where I hit the wall.  Over the past week, I’ve come back to this shirt half a dozen times, trying to figure out why it wasn’t working.

(It’s inside-out, in case you’re wondering.)

I’ve been comparing it to actual pattern pieces to try to get the armholes right.

The kinks are mostly worked out, so I’ll show you the finished product as soon as the armholes and hem are finished.

(Unless something disastrous happens.)

Meanwhile, here are some necklaces (hanging on the wall) that I made while think-thinking about the shirt.

Here’s to a new week with fresh inspiration… Happy Monday!

By now, you might think this has turned into a blog about sewing shirts.  I assure you, it hasn’t.  But I have a few more things to show you before I’ve totally burned myself out. :)

This tunic is a combination of Simplicity 4589, McCall’s 5388, and my own modifications.  I liked the length and width of the McCall’s pattern (which I used for this top).  But I wanted a sleeveless top with a yoke (like the dress that inspired it all).  I made the yoke much wider than the pattern called for, but I kept the neckline wide enough to slip over my head.  I also topstitched everything.

I’m in love with this fabric.  It’s cotton.  It’s comfortable.  It’s got some weight to it.  It has texture.  It’s bold but not too bold.  Also: I paid about $7 for all of it and can probably make Emily a dress or a shirt out of what’s left.

Now I need to sew up some leggings.  Got any ideas?

The final installment for the week is a refashion from a cute-but-homely sleepshirt.  I bought this before married life was on the radar…

So I thought long and hard about this one.  It would have been much easier if there was no pocket to deal with.  But eventually I figured it out.  I used this Built By Wendy pattern to get the raglan sleeves right.  Then I gathered the neckline and added bias tape to it.  I cut the bias tape from the 8 or so inches I cut off the bottom. Then, of course, I hemmed up the bottom.

Voila!  Easier than I thought it would be.

[Don’t you just love taking really bad “before” pictures so the “after” looks even better?  I get super-excited about a project at 10 pm and don’t have good light and don’t care.]  We have some very kind neighbors - a woman and her two adopted daughters - who bring us hand-me-downs often.  This jumper was in a grocery bag on our doorknob when we returned from a walk on Monday.  It was providential, I tell you.

I made this up as I went along, but I was certainly inspired by this free pattern I saw a few days ago.   I used white muslin for the lining and white knit cotton as interfacing just to give it some weight.

[First, I have to tell you that Little Miss Emily allowed us to sleep in this morning.  By playing in the bathroom.  We found the nozzles off several perfume and lotion bottles, and the toilet seat was mysteriously damp.  She later claimed that she was giving her Pooh Bears “a bath in the toilet bath.”  Um.  It’s only a matter of time.]

I thought I’d taken a good “before” picture of the dress I used for this refashion, but I can’t find one.   So here’s a link.  Honestly, I hated cutting into it because it was without a doubt the most fabulous bridesmaid dress I could ever imagine.  I wore it in my best friend’s wedding nearly 4 years ago.  And then I wore it once more a month later.  Three years passed, and I put it on for a date with Evan last summer.  The boning dug into my side, so I decided not to wear it.  And then I realized that I was never going to wear it.  Unless.

Unless it became something else.

Using a shirt that my friend Mindy gave me (that has moth holes) as a pattern, I refashioned my seersucker dress into a very wearable top.

The shape seems much fuller because the seersucker doesn’t drape like the stretchy knit fabric does.

I changed the back to accommodate a button.

Now I have a fresh, green top just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! :)