Sewing – Page 3

Pattern Review – Roxy Bathing Suit by Made for Mermaids

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Making bathing suits for my daughter wasn’t something I ever really considered until last year. It turned out that making girls swim suits wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought. So, when Made for Mermaids announced they were looking for testers for their newest bathing suit, I jumped at the chance. The Roxy bathing suit is a two piece vintage style bathing suit. The high waisted bottoms and top with three length options are sure to please even the pickiest girl (and mom)!

The high-waisted bottoms cover the belly button and can either be ruched (have gathers along the side seams) or not and there are optional ties that can be added.

High waisted bottoms (with ruching) cover the belly button

The top comes in three lengths – bikini (no ruffle/peplum), short peplum, and long peplum.

Short peplum – no belly showing

My daughter really wanted the long peplum – she felt like it would cover better. However, even the short peplum covers the stomach since the bottom are high waisted (they cover the belly buttom).

This is the long peplum.

The top has wide stripes that are slightly gathered. Even though they sit at the edge of the shoulder, they still feel secure and don’t slide off. You can add elastic to them to help keep them in place.

Go ahead, jump on over to Made for Mermaids and buy the pattern! It’s sure to be a hit! There’s also a Mama version available.

Interested in a one piece bathing suit? Look here for my review of the Camilla (and notice how my daughter’s taste in swim fabric doesn’t change).

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Reviving Fitted Sheets

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There’s nothing quite as annoying as a fitted sheet that just won’t stay, well, fitted! Waking up in the night with a corner undone and the sheet bunched up under you is not restful. Having to put the sheet back on every morning is just frustrating.

This corner should be fitted not flat

Fixing this is actually really easy and if you’re new to sewing, don’t worry. No one will see it when it’s done – it’ll be tucked under your mattress where it belongs. All you need is some elastic – 1/4″ would be best, but 3/8″ will work too. Anything bigger would be too bulky.

Use .25" elastic

Then you need to figure out how much elastic you need. Measure another corner (hopefully all your corners aren’t flat). Currently the elastic goes about 11″ beyond the corner. I decided that I want mine to go 15″ beyond to hopefully help it stay in place better. I’m very exact when I measure elastic….no, I’m really not! I held one end of the elastic at the 15″ mark and gently stretched it to the end of the tape measure. Then I doubled it so it would stretch from one end to the other. Mine ended up being around 18.”

Measure the current elastic

Fold the elastic in half and mark the middle (I use a highlighter). Clip it to the seam at the corner.

Clip the middle of the elastic tothe seam

Measure from the corner seam out however far you cut your elastic (15″ in my case) and clip the end there. Do the same for the other end of the elastic.

Measure to see where to clip the end of the elastic

Here you can see how the elastic will need to be stretched as I sew.

Clip the elastic at the ends and in the middle

You want to sew the elastic with a stretch stitch or a zigzag so that stretching it doesn’t pop the stitches. You will also want a ball point needle otherwise your machine will make a mess of the elastic. Gently stretch the elastic as you sew. I hold the sheet and elastic near the middle clip and stretch from there so I get a nice even stretch.

Stretch the elastic and zigzag it

Next, admire your beautiful work. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect (mine looks a little wonky in spots) – no one will see it and it will still work!

Fitted sheet with elastic sewn in

Finally, make your bed and know that in the morning all the corners will still be tucked in.

The revived fitted sheet

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Take In A Simple Skirt

I got this skirt in a bag of hand-me-downs. I love the print and the style, but it was a little too big. I looked at the waist and realized it would be so simple to take the waist/hips in a bit. There’s a zipper on the side that I absolutely do not want to mess with! I also don’t want to do anything to the hem. So, all my adjustments will taper out before I get to the hem.

Side invisible zipper that I'm not touching!

Before I could take anything in, I needed to undo the stitching holding the facing down. Fortunately this was easy since they just did a couple little stitches at each seam.

Undo the stitching tacking the facing down.

The easiest adjustment is to the back. There’s a seam down the center back that I can very easily take in. I tried on the skirt and clipped it where I want my back seam. Pin it and make sure to taper it in gradually so that you don’t need to mess with the hem. Sew it and try it on to make sure it fits. Then trim (and serge if you want) the excess from the seam.

Pin the back seam tapering it in towards the bottom.

To help balance out the amount I took in at the back (so the side seams aren’t noticeably towards the back), I also took in the front darts a little bit. I only took each dart in about 1/2″ (green line in photo below). After I tried it on again, I trimmed (and serge) the darts to help them lay flatter. Otherwise you end up with a really thick spot in the waistband which can be hard to make lay flat.

Take in the front darts.

The final step is the tack the facing back down again. Just a couple quick stitches on the side and back seams plus the front darts and it’s secured. Iron the facing and darts to flatten out the new seams and you are good to go!

Finished taking in the skirt

Shortening the Rise on Elastic Waist Shorts

FixingDroopyDrawers

Ever buy a pair of shorts (or pants, but I’m in Florida and basically live in shorts) and the rise is just too long? You feel like you’ve got them pulled up to your chest just to have them not look like droopy drawers. Most annoying! With kids, you can roll the waistband down, and chances are as they grow, they’ll grow into them and you won’t have to roll it anymore. However, as an adult, you probably aren’t going to grow into your shorts (or at least I hope not!) As long as they don’t have a functional fly, it’s actually very easy to fix!

First, I iron the waistband to get rid of the wrinkles and to make it easier to line up and sew in place.

Jeans shorts that are too long waisted

For kids, you roll the waistband down and to the outside simply because that’s the only way it works. However, for adults, you want to turn it to the inside so it can be sewn down. I turn it down on the seam and clip it into place.

Fold the wasitband in and clip it

Then, sew it down by sewing close to the bottom edge. I usually line up the outside edge of the presser foot with the bottom edge of the waistband. If you have thread that matches what the manufacturer used (in this case denim yellow) that’s fine, but in my case I went with navy blue so it wouldn’t show.

Sew the waist band down

All sewed and ready to go. It probably takes 10 minutes tops to do this – quick & easy!

Finished jeans shorts with waistband sewn down

The only thing that might be a problem is the pockets. You’ll be sewing through them and making the opening about two inches smaller. It shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s something to think about before you sew the waistband down.

The pocket will be slightly smaller

See – you can still fit your hand easily into the pocket. It’s not as deep as before either, but it’s still functional and there’s no more droopy drawers!

Even though the pocket opening is smaller, it isn't too small

Upcycling a T-Shirt and Color Blocking a Dolman

Finished Dolman Upcycle Color Block

My daughter got this shirt for her birthday year or two ago and loved it! However, it has recently gotten a little tight and she was sad about the thought of it going to the rummage sale.

Original too small shirt to be upcycled

I told her I might be able to upcycle it into a “new” shirt. She was agreeable and I decided that a dolman was my best option (OK, actually I was going to do a raglan, but I would’ve had to reprint the pattern…foster kittens got to it….the dolman pattern was all printed and ready to go). The first step is to cut the sleeves off (and throw them away!) and cut the side seams and shoulder seams. I cut as close to the seams as possible. You should end up with a front piece and a back piece.

First cut off the sleeves, upcycle

To make the dolman work, I would have to color block. Color blocking is not my strong suit! I have a hard time seeing what the finished thing will look like. I tried laying out the fabric on the pattern so I could get an idea of what it would look like.

Laying Out color blocking

While doing this, I realized that I needed to straighten out the sides to the shirt and the arm cutouts to make it more like a panel, so I trimmed it down some. Once I was happy with they way it looked, I sewed my pieces together. First I sewed a pink rectangle to a blue rectangle. I also hemmed the bottom of the blue since I was keeping the original t-shirt hem. Then I sewed it to the newly straightened out sides of the the old t-shirt. I also decided I was going to need to redo the neckline, so I cut the neckband off.

T-Shirt Color Blocked

Then, I folded my piece of fabric in half and put it on the pattern and trimmed it to fit.

Attach the color blocking

Then, I sewed the side seams. At this point, I was really worried about the neckline. It looked really wide for my very modest teen! I was hopeful that the new neckband would pull it in!

Dolman upcycled t-shirt

I had her try it on and I was still worried. It just seemed overly big!

Dolman neckline too big, upcycled t-shirt, color blocking

I figured at this point, I might as well finish it. All I had left was the neckband and hemming the sleeves. I’m actually pretty happy with the way it turned out!

Finished upcycled color blocked dolman

I probably could’ve made the neckband smaller, but it works as is too.

Side view finished color blocked upcycled dolman

Do you upcycle your kids clothes? Do you color block?

Back finished upcycled color blocking dolman