SewMona – Page 22 – A slice of my Florida life

Making An Outfit from T-Shirts

My son found an angry bird shirt in the old shirt pile and wanted it remade to fit him. That’s easy enough. I took the sides in and shortened the hem up. I cut binding from the shirt to hem the armholes. He loves it!

My daughter pointed out to me that it looks like he has no arms. As my son is less than thrilled with modeling for me, this will have to do.

Then I had quite a bit of t-shirt leftover. What to do? Add some decoration to a pair of shorts made from another t-shirt!

I had made him a pair of black shorts and carefully positioned the logo at the hemline. I cut two strips of the angry bird t-shirt scraps 3″-4″ wide and the length of the shorts. I sewed them on using my double needle (before hemming or doing the waistband).

I did the waistband differently than I normally do. Normally I just put the elastic through a casing. This time I sewed the elastic to the waistband. First I sewed the ends of the elastic together. Then I marked fourths on the elastic.

Then I pinned it to the shorts matching up the pins and the seams. I folded 1/4″ over the elastic and sewed it down with a zig zag. Stretch gently as you sew.

Now the elastic can’t go anywhere – no twisting, no weird bunching.
Sewn Elastic

Fold the waistband down and pin it.

Carefully stretch and sew down the elastic.

For this pair I only sewed one time. They’re perfect for gym shorts.

If you want to, you can sew around the waistband a second time 1/4″ from the top.

What else could you make from a t-shirt that is ready for upcycling?

Making Shorts From Old T-Shirts

Do your kids shorts look like this?

Or maybe you’ve tried to fix them?

Either way, it’s time for some new shorts! I looked at some in the store, but even on clearance, they’re $3 and I was sure I could make them cheaper. My husband had recently culled his t-shirts and I had a pile of t-shirts that weren’t quite bad enough to be turned into rags and while I could donate them, I was sure that I could do something with them.

I dug out a shorts pattern and cut out a pair. I had to cut them a little big since the pattern only goes to a size 4.

I cut an old pair of shorts apart to use as a pattern for my nine-year-old. Don’t forget to add a little extra for the seam allowance and add at least 1.5 inches to the top for the waistband.

If you forget to add extra for the waistband *ahem*, you can always cut a strip or two 3 inches by the size of the waistband you need and sew it on.

The waistband attached.

The shorts ended up fitting my 11-year-old better.

You could also use a coordinating material for the waistband to make it a little more interesting.

Adding cuffs to the shorts for a little added interest or to make them longer?
Either way, it works.

Don’t throw away those too small or unloved t-shirts. They can easily be recycled into something useful! What do you do with unwanted t-shirts?

Gardening – Southwest Florida Style

My garden is doing so-so. I’m not sure what happened to my carrots – the original ones never came up, the ones I replanted never came up, and now it’s getting too hot for them. I’ll try again towards the end of summer.

My honeydews and watermelons are growing like crazy! If all the watermelons actually make it, we are going to be eating watermelon with all our meals!

Look at that beautiful watermelon!

Hopefully this honeydew makes it. Something keeps munching them. I put a plastic lid under it to help protect it.

Another watermelon! We easily have 8 – we’re going to be eating and sharing a lot if they all make it!

My cantaloupes, not so much. I’ve replanted a couple of them to see if they do any better.

I’ve also replanted a couple gourds as the originals got munched by rabbits. I planted some marigolds near by in hopes of keeping the rabbits away.

Poor dead gourd…it got munched!

Hopefully the rabbits leave these alone!

I also planted some peppers, beans, and catnip. We’ll see how they do. I think my biggest problem is that things need to be watered a lot here in Florida! I’m not so good at remembering to do that…good thing the rainy season is coming soon.

How is your garden growing?

Where To Find Money

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Sometimes you need to find money, just a little bit to get you through until the next payday. If you need more than that then you need to do something bigger like a yard sale which requires advance planning. Although I have heard of yard sales being pulled off in a short time and being successful. However, I’m talking about smaller amounts of money – maybe you need a can of formula or a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs and your grocery budget is spent until payday and it really isn’t an emergency. Then it’s time to look for money in other places.

First is the obvious – couch cushions, car change holders, money found in the laundry, bottom of your purse, your piggy bank.
Paypal – I normally have money there from selling items on eBay and facebook flea market sites. It does take a couple days to get to your bank account.
WalMart Savings Catcher app – of course it will only be good at WalMart, but there’s no minimum balance and they do sell everything! It only takes a few hours to transfer to a gift card.
SavingStar account balance – the minimum is only $5 and you can transfer it right to your bank account.
Ibotta account balance – there’s a $10 minimum to transfer, but you can transfer it to a gift card or paypal.
Checkout51 account balance – there’s a $20 minimum for this one (and I personally don’t have much luck with it) and I think they only mail checks.
Swagbucks account balance – With a minimum of 500 swagbucks you can cash out for a $5 gift card to a variety of places – WalMart, Target, Amazon, Visa Reward Card. This can be slow – up to 10 days to transfer!
Sell stuff on craigslist and facebook flea markets. I’ve not had luck with craigslist, but facebook flea market sites work very well for me! Search for your town or county and flea market or resale. I’ve also recently discovered destshing sites on facebook. For example, I have a lot of material that I’m never going to use, so I’ve been selling it on fabric destashing sites. If you live in a bigger city, craigslist might work as well.
Look through your desk for any uncashed/forgotten rebate checks.
Look for ECBs and use them for groceries at CVS or sometimes local stores will take them as competitor coupons (I can use mine at Publix and WinnDixie).

Where do you look for money?

Sewing A Simple Dress with Kids



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My daughter loves to sew! She’s always asking to make something. Recently, she wanted a lightweight robe so she dug through my material and found some she liked. We found a pattern in my stash and I helped her make it. Now, she has it in her mind that she’s going to make dresses for three adorable little girls at church. We looked through my patterns, but they were all a little too complicated or didn’t have the right sizes. Then, I remembered the Janey Jump Around Dress from peek-a-boo pattern shop. It has all the sizes we need plus it’s an easy sew – perfect for my daughter to make three times – and best of all, it’s free! She dug through my stash of knits and found ones that coordinated.

I normally pin the pieces in a couple spots to make sure they stay put, then she finishes pinning them and cuts them out with her own scissors.

We read the directions together and then I pin the seams for her.

She did all the sewing herself.

She was very proud of herself when she finally finished! I think it took her longer than she thought.

There were three happy little girls too.

What’s your favorite easy pattern?