Upcycling!

I recently came across some super cute patch style, up-cycled dresses and did the "I can do that!" thing... I thought it was such a cute idea, I had to try it. 

I'm hooked.
The first one I made was definitely the most difficult. I was too excited to see how it would come out to slow down and pay attention to what I was doing... But, after a few long nights and several curse words I cam up with this. I think it is totally cute, and she loves it!

I liked the idea of using old shirts, but didn't like how "patchy" some of them were, so using an old pajama pattern I picked up from Walmart eons ago and only 2 fabrics, I dove in.

The pattern I used was super easy to follow, only 5 pieces! I used the old Callahan Auto shirt for the main body and simply dropped the hem to a longer dress/tunic length. For this one I thought it would look neat if the design was sideways so I arranged my pieces accordingly on the shirt. For the sleeves I chose the shorter length and lined the pattern up with the existing hem of the old shirt, this way I didn't have to mess with hemming the sleeves. I also cut the collar from the blue shirt.

I was cruising right along until I got to the collar... I glanced quick at the instructions and went back to my machine. Once it was sewn on, twice around... I realized I had sewn it to the outside, instead of the inside... great. So for an easy fix I just rolled the collar back over to the front and ran a stitch around again. The result is a slightly thinner, wider neck which I actually kind of like on the girls dresses. 

Then I had to hem it. Now my machine used to belong to my grandmother, and it is the same age as me, so it can be a bit touchy. I got almost half way around the bottom and I noticed THIS:

A big mess of extra thread on the outside of the dress! Awesome. So I sat and ripped the whole seem out, and of course I cant find my seem ripper... So I am using a stick pin and a tiny scissors. I eventually got the whole thing ripped, but I am still not sure why my machine does this to me. It happens somewhat regularly and I have tried everything; changing tension, adding bobbin thread, needles... It really seems to just stop when it is good and ready to sew again. I eventually decided that I would not hem the dress both for aesthetic and stress reasons. 

I am totally hooked on these shirts and dresses, and I have made several projects out of recycled shirts, including some leggings!