Pumpkin Satin

I have finally come across some pumpkin-hued satin in my second-hand perusing! The texture and colour are dreamy. My plan is to turn this scrap into a spaghetti strap shirt with a ruffle neckline. 

Strawberry Shirts Forever

As per June tradition, the strawberries outside are flowering and I'm working on various strawberry themed creative projects. Here's a dress from Joe Fresh I found at a thrift store, shown partially deconstructed. I already own it in blue, so I decided to turn this pink version into a shirt. It will likely be a peplum crop top with puffy sleeves. I wish I knew the name of the surface pattern designer, as it is the fabric I love. It's like a fusion of my Strawberry Blonde and Splashy in Watermelon! Thank you, anonymous creative!

All that Jazz

I have been on the hunt to find or make a neon sign that says "jazz" but have not yet found what I have in mind. So in the meantime I have decorated a shirt to suffice. I found this cropped navy sweatshirt at the local thrift store. It originally had large white bell sleeves sewn under the sleeve ruffle. It was a cute design, but it looked absolutely dorky on me, and wouldn't be practical for working or dancing anyway, so I cut them out. I knew this navy was going to be the perfect background to have text stand out on, so I just needed to find some embellishment materials in the form of ribbon. In my stash I dug out some vintage poppy red lace bias and gold rickrack, both in their original packages. First I trimmed the sleeves with the lace, mainly to keep the raw edges of the knit from rolling, and to give the ruffle a highlight of the poppy red. Then I wrote with ribbon and sewed it on and voilà! As improvised and vibrant as the music itself. Off to spend the weekend dancing to vintage jazz!

Copper Glitz

I have been staring at this thrift find for some some glam surface pattern design inspiration. I love the subtle copper glitz of the mirrored motif on the black, and the dainty neck and sleeve borders. 

Scandinavian Princess Shirt

I absolutely love to see what people create using my textiles! A friendly note from Suz Pozzo recently made my day. She ordered my Scandinavian Princess design on Modern Jersey fabric and sewed it into this shirt!

Liberty Apparel

Whenever I am thrifting I keep an eye out for Liberty clothes! The calico cottons are unmistakable. My latest acquisition is the William Morris Strawberry Thief shirt. These florals make my heart sing!

With Sewing Hearts

I'm wearing a shirt made of fabric from my With Glowing Hearts collection for the day of festivities! 

Happy 150th to our glorious and free home and native land! Happy Canada Day!

Yardage

My Yardage design is up for voting in Spoonflower's T-Shirt Design challenge. It illustrates Spoonflower fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap getting snipped into swatches--complete with spoons and flowers--in honour of the wonderful company and the creative community it represents!

Recent Thrift: Pink Pleat Blouse

I found this linen Laura Ashley top at Value Village for $6. The buttons up the back and pleats are lovely.

Aquamarine Peplum Shirt

I owe a humble thank you to an unknown rodent!

This shirt, which I planned on altering, was too big for me to begin with, and the neckline was too low. I figured I would have some extra fabric to work with, and it's a good thing I did. After I washed it it was fluttering dry on a chair in my backyard, but I forgot to bring it in for the night. When I went out to get it the next morning, I discovered, much to my annoyance, that some little rodent had ripped holes right in the front of the shirt! I tried to sew them shut, but the result was obvious and ugly.

I sliced out the rodent holes, which hit around waist level, and took in the sides and sleeves of the shirt. Then I gathered the bottom portion of the shirt to the new width.

I sewed the gathered edge onto the shirt to create a peplum, and also made two pleats in the neckline to keep it from gaping. It's now one of those throw-it-on-and-feel-great-about-the-casual-prettiness-of-it kind of shirts.

Frankly, I don't think my original, vague, alteration plan would have turned out as well, so sometimes frustrating situations force out better creative results.

DIY Stamp Shirt in Moustache

Stamps are an easy way to make an all-over print on a shirt.

Materials:

T-shirt of choice

Similarly sized piece of cardboard

Acrylic or fabric paint

Paintbrush

Stamp

Step 1: Insert the cardboard into the shirt so the fabric surface is smooth.

Step 2: Load the stamp up with paint.

Step 3: Stamp and repeat! (Pretty self-explanatory!)

Fruity Floral Shirt

When I was a toddler I had a pair of lime green shorts covered in a cheery fruit print. They met their demise when I dropped an ice cream bar on them. Death by chocolate. I was more devastated over the loss of that beautiful fabric than the ice cream, and ever since I have adored fruit print clothing. In the fragrant sea of berries, melons, and roses that is July, my wardrobe looked like it could use some of that fruity loveliness.

So I started with this coral t-shirt.

I painted it with acrylic paint.

I absent mindedly started painting the reference rose while waiting for the shirt to dry...

And here is the final product!

Quick Tip: DIY Lace Collar

I turned this yellow linen top into a lemony confection with just a bit of lace. Simply trimming the neckline of a shirt with the same circumference of lace gives it a pretty collar.

Anchor Attire

I've been on a nautical fashion spree--a wonderfully inexpensive nautical fashion spree! I snagged the chambray anchor print shirt for $2 second hand (originally from GAP), and made the necklace and bracelet using a pair of pliers and some time. The necklace is just a piece of wire I bent into an anchor shape and then wrapped cotton string around it. I made the bracelet out of a scrap of gold chain with anchor buttons attached by gold wire jump rings.



Collared Shirt Repurpose

I had this men's dress shirt kickin' around and decided to experiment with it.

I whacked off the sleeves, picked out the pocket, took in the side seams, hemmed the bottom edge, and finished the sleeves with bias tape.

I was originally going to leave the white collar on the shirt, but its sharp points looked too severe against my face. I opted for a peter pan collar in a calico instead.

Then I stumbled upon a fat quarter of this gorgeous fabric (yes, fruit and polka-dots!) and knew it would be perfect for the embellishment.

And here's the result!

Threadless Design: Flower Face

This design, a collage I made using pressed flowers from my mom's garden, is one of the by-products of my Pressed for Time post. It's my second t-shirt design on Threadless, and is now up for voting right here in the Mixed Media Challenge!

Cat Love Shirt

Way back in the spring I had hopes of making myself a lavender cat print romper.

I undertook the project and printed out various cat silhouettes onto cardstock, cut the shapes out with an X-Acto knife, laminated the paper, and then cut the laminated cat shapes out to make 4 cat stencils. While searching for some lavender fabric and a good romper pattern, I tested the stencils with different types of fabric paint. I never found the fabric and pattern I had in mind, so the stencils sat on my desk the whole summer acquiring dust.

However, with cat print clothing items popping up in many stores this fall, I became even more determined to accomplish the task. I began my search for a t-shirt to modify. There were so many t-shirts on the clearance racks in stores, but none of them fit the bill. The neckline, material, or color were all somehow wrong for what I had dreamed up. I am rather particular, so my crafting always involves some form of a massive process of elimination. Then, one night as I was falling asleep (that's often when I manage deep and successful creative pondering, and then I am forced to lay there, wide awake with excitement) I remembered the dark grey knit fabric in my closet--a Lands' End turtleneck. Since I am a fabric vulture I had been hanging onto that men's extra large shirt for some future use, and I found one! The fabric itself is some mighty fine combed cotton. Just like a furry feline, it is very soft, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the knit is flexible but sturdy to sew. Most knit fabric is not that cooperative.

I cut the neckline, shortened the body, took in the sides, and used the top halves of the long sleeves to create shorter ones for my altered shirt. There was a lot of draping, pinning, sewing, and seam ripping involved! Through that complicated trial and error process I created a relaxed shirt with a sweetheart neckline, a scooped back, and fluttery sleeves. Considering I was completely winging it and teaching myself as I went along I can't even describe how amazed and amused I am with the result! Although that was just the base.

Then the cats came back.

I used the stencils and white fabric paint to add a heart crawling with cats spelling out the word "cat"!

Talk about a multidimensional learning experience! I even got to practice my patience skills! It's no lavender cat print romper, but I am just as delighted with this shirt as I was with the romper prospect.

 As a final note, of course I have to wear this shirt with my hand painted cat pendant! My crafty cat love is finally satisfied!