Heather's Handmade Life

Fashion Recycling Week: Day 2 (T-shirt to pillowcase dress/tunic)

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

This week, I’m going through a few kiddie-clothing remodels that I’ve done, so I could add few casual don’t-care-if-they-get-coated-in-ice-cream shirts to C’s wardrobe.

The girl certainly doesn’t lack crisp sundresses or leggings, but she was really short on cruddy tops for beating around the playground. (And of course, I want cruddy to still be cute!)

This shirt was a favourite of D’s, because he loved diggers. Is this a digger? I don’t know. I call them all “yellow things.” Anyway, C loves construction equipment, too, so I thought this would be a fun one for her.

The navy blue neckline and blue overstitching felt really “boy” to me, so I cut straight across the top of the shirt and diagonally down each side, to make the shape for a pillowcase dress …

I folded down the top of the dress (front and back) to create a little pocket for a string — to make it a halter. Then I cut a strip of navy T-shirt (from one of C’s outgrown tops) to make a ruffle for the bottom.

After I sewed on the ruffle and the pockets for halter strings, I had a very cute little “digger dress.” I have yet to try it on C, so I’m not sure if it will be more “dress” or “tunic,” but I hope she loves it.

And I also hope that I someday figure out the different between these yellow machines …

Stay tuned all week for more mini-makeovers!

xo

Fashion Recycling Week: Day 1 (T-shirt to ruffled tank)

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

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When D was one and two, he had a lot of hand-me-downs — which meant we had to buy less new clothing, and helped a lot. We’d pick up a few pairs of shorts or whatever he happened to need, but that was about it. His hand-me-downs looked great on him. End of story.

But with C, it’s a totally different story, for a few reasons:

(A) Girls’ clothing is way more fun to buy, and there are SO many more choices

(B) I love to sew outfits for C

(C) C is a little peanut who fits into clothing for a long, long time (so I get bored, and the clothes get worn out)

(D) We have very few hand-me-downs/thrifted items for her

(E) Did I mention how cute girls’ clothing is?

Because I love making clothes for C, my idea of “seasonal shopping” is getting to run around the fabric store like a madwoman and grab beautiful bolts to make my own creations. I’d much rather spend the money there, rather than in a clothing store. But it doesn’t always cover all of the things she needs.

C just celebrated her second birthday, and got some new spring/summer outfits. But I realized what she was missing were casual tops. Sure, I sew dresses for her practically every week, but I seem to neglect to make more low-key pieces that can be worn to the playground or smeared with ice cream.

So this week, I’m going to show you how I’ve made five “new” casual tops for C — using only hand-me-downs, outgrown clothes, stained clothes, etc.

Here we go!

Pin this!

I bought this shirt for C to wear on D’s birthday last year. It’s got a large chocolate-y stain down one side, but it’s otherwise fine … I’m just bored with it, because she’s worn it for a full year now (and it still fits).

I grabbed my rotary cutter and sliced off the sleeves, just following the curve of the original sleeves. I also sliced down each side of the shirt (not pictured) to make it more fitted.

Then I cut a few strips of pink fabric (from a too-small top) and pinned two ruffles on the bottom of the front, and two ruffles on the bottom of the back of the year.

I cut two skinny strips of pink T-shirt and stretched them out to make them really stringy, and tied little bows around the tank shoulders.

Same message, different shirt!

I put it on C when she woke up from her nap, and she approved! (Admittedly, it’s a little snug, so maybe I got too overzealous with “trimming” the sides — whoops!)

Stay tuned for more projects this week!

xoxo

Fashion Recycling Week: Kick-off party (of sorts)

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

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Weekend naptimes are usually my sewing times, and I value those hours more than you can imagine!

After working Monday through Friday (in my home office, yes, but still working) and spending every other minute wrangling my sweet-but-screamy two-year-old and three-year-old, the idea of sitting down … alone … and quietly creating something? Yeah, that kind of my definition of perfect alone time.

I usually spend a little time during the week dreaming of what I’m going to make during Saturday or Sunday naptime, and this morning I decided I wanted to make some recycled-type projects. C really needed a few new summer tops — as I’ll explain in more detail tomorrow — so I gathered up a stack of old clothes, a grocery bag of fabric scraps from my mother-in-law (a quilter), and got busy.

I made SIX tops this afternoon, which is only possible because I was re-vamping most of them. This week, I’ll go through each one and show you how I made it — scissors, basically, and occasionally a few seams. So easy!

The only new from-scratch top I made today was this one, and I wanted to post it as a reminder that you don’t need much fabric to make a top for a teeny two-year-old girl. I usually focus on dresses for C, so it was nice to make something different.

Ready, set, sew … (Heyyyy, that should totally be a reality show. I’d watch)

This is the piece of fabric from my mother-in-law, folded in half (the fabric, not my mother-in-law)

I cut one edge to make two identical rectangles (one on top of the other) and then just trimmed diagonal lines down each of the top corners — to make openings for C’s arms.

I folded, ironed, and pinned a hem (front and back), as well as folded under (and ironed and pinned) the arm holes so they didn’t fray (cotton’s a bitch). Then I folded down the top edges to make a little pocket for a string to slide through, making a halter neck.

Didn’t it turn out cute? I can’t wait for her to wear it with jeggings or pink shorts.

(I made the halter strings from a scrap of old pink T-shirt, and just stretched them in my hands until they were long and thin. It was way easier than sewing little sash-style ties, so I may do that again!)

Pin meeeee!

I’ll be posting about a different clothing-remodel each day this week, so grab your scissors (and an old shirt) and keep checking back!

xo

Talking about toys!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

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In this week’s “The Mom Scene” column, I’m talking about TOYS! I would love it if you guys popped over to check it out.

This week’s column (I love that the graphic they used looks a lot like my D!)

Are you a Naturalist, a Quality Controller, a Nostalgist, a Minimalist, a Half-Hearted Hoarder, or a Kijiji Crew? Check out my super-official-ish quiz!

(BTW I am all of the above, depending on my mood …)

xoxo

There’s a new gig in town …

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

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Guys! Things are busy! I’ve been an absent blogger, I know!

I just had to stop in quickly to tell you about a fun new writing project I have during my “work life” — writing a column on … you guessed it … parenting!

You can read the first column online here, and it’s set to run every Wednesday in four different papers here in Nova Scotia.

I promise I’ll be back soon with details on what else has been keeping me busy (i.e. a second-birthday party for Little Miss C, some house-y projects, and a very special present we’ve made for her big day).

xoxo