Dolmen shirt

I've been working through my sewing project piles (yes, piles, I had two), and I came across some fabric and lace I had been planning on turning into a shirt for myself.  I had recently come across a tutorial to make a simple, loose shirt, and wanted to tweak it to make it a dolmen shirt, but didn't think I had any fabric.  And then I found the fabric in my stash of projects.  Happy day.  I drafted the shirt, but put off making it because I was trying to get the quilt for Dan and me done (which I originally cut out pieces for about 3 or 4 years ago).  The quilt is still not done, but I got tired of waiting for my shirt.

After I drafted my pattern, I also came across another tutorial, this one for a dolmen shirt (and then tweaked my pattern, because I liked the way she did the bottom of her shirt better than my idea).  If you want to make your own, you should check out those tutorials  (Unless you want to make yours a maternity shirt, like mine, in which case you should add a couple inches to the front and ease the extra length in when you sew the sides together).  I made mine, and then had to take the sides in, since I made it too loose at first.   But now it fits great, except for the bottom of the sleeve, which is just a little too snug.  And I even have extra room for when my tummy gets really big. 

I love the lace on the shoulder, which was inspired by all the shirts we sell at work which have lace panels on the shoulder.  This way, I get the pretty lace without my shirt being see through.  Perfect.

And, as a bonus, it matches this month's color at work, so I wore when I worked last week.

Mu-mu Redo

One of my favorite blogs to read is New Dress A Day.  Every day she posts about a vintage dress she's found (usually a dress, sometimes something else) and changes it into something new.  She makes a lot into tops.  I discovered her about 100 days into her project, which is supposed to last a year.  I spent about 3 days reading all the blogs back to the beginning.  You could say I was hooked.

Inspired by her efforts, I dug out a mu-mu my Granny sent me awhile ago.  I cut it in two, making it into a top for me (after also adjusting the sleeves), and used the excess material from the sleeves and skirt to make a top for Emily.  Here are the results:

Emily's turned out a little big on her.  I think she might be able to wear it for year.

Okay, so you can't really see mine.  But it looks like Emily's.  Except the sleeves are more fitted.

In the Kitchen

Yesterday was a good day for the kitchen.  Not because I was cooking--unless you count putting yogurt, carrots, and cheerios on Emily's plate as cooking.

I did paint Emily's desk dark gray, which she seemed happy with:

And we did Mommy-Daughter pedicures:

Emily was very intrigued with the cotton balls, which I used to take off my last coat of toenail polish (hers had disappeared long ago).  She was also very interested in the toenail polish when I put it on her toes.  Between those two, I had to paint one of her big toes a few times.  I tried to get her to blow on her toes, hoping she would do that instead of poking at them--no such luck.

I also altered one of Dan's old shirts so that it looked better on me (not actually in the kitchen, but I took my after shots there):

Men's shirts are great because they are so much longer in the body, and since my torso is so long, it's hard to  find shirts that don't ride up to high in the back, especially since pants now-a-days are cut so low.  But men's shirts are cut for men, and end up looking a lot like a sack.  Sometimes a sack with a really high neckline.  And too long, baggy sleeves.

So, instead of sacrificing style to wear something modest & comfy, I decided to alter the shirt.  And yesterday, about 12 hours after Dan had left, with him not expected home for a couple hours, seemed like a good time.  (Oh yes, for those who have not heard, Dan is again gainfully employed.  Or, at least, I hope gainfully employed, since he is going to be selling knives for cut-co.  He already made one sale his first day.  Go Dan!).

For those who also resort to stealing their husbands shirts, or buying from the mens section, for the length, here is how to change your shirts into something more feminine.


Men's to Womans T-Shirt
The shirt was a Gap T-shirt with lots of stretch (purchased years ago for a family portrait, in which everyone wore pink).  I started by figuring out where to take it in--I found my natural waist, and pinched in the fabric in front of a mirror, noting how much to take in (about an inch from the existing seam) and how far down (about two hands widths).  I also checked how much shorter I wanted the sleeve ( I wanted them to be about a inch long under the arm).

Your measurements might differ, so try on your shirts for yourself.  It's important to use a shirt that gives your enough room around your bust--I find that shirts that are too tight just don't get worn.  If their too big, you can take them in there as well.  Mine fit well except it wasn't fitted around the waist, so I just took in the waist.

After trying it on, I turned it inside out and pinned where I wanted the seem to curve in the most, making sure the two sides matched.  Then I started about 6 inches above the pin, sewed to the pin, and then back down to the original seam.  I tried it on and had to make some adjustments, because the sides didn't come out the same.  Make sure that there aren't any weird bumps where your new seam mets the original--the probably means that the angle of the new seam is too steep, and you need to have it a little longer.

Now's a good time to dispense my wisdom about sewing on knit fabric (picked up from different places)--DON'T stretch one piece of knit fabric to fit another that isn't stretched.  This leads to bad things, and lots of time removing the seam.  DO stretch your fabric when you sew inside seams, using the regular stitch.  Your thread might seem a little loose, but they shouldn't break when you stretch your clothes.  I use a zig-zag stitch for hemming sometimes so that the thread isn't so loose, and it lets you stretch it out as well.

Next step: cutting the sleeves & neckline (make sure to leave enough length on the sleeves for hems):

I folded up the hems on the sleeves, pinning them in place, and sewed along the inside edge.  (Also, if your sleeves are too baggy, now is a good time to take them in--I took mine in about an inch from the seam, so 2 inches total, but I didn't do that until I'd been wearing it awhile.  But if you can, I suggest doing it before you hem).

To finish the neckline (since I cut off the exisiting binding), I used the leftovers from my sleeves.  First, I trimmed off the excess above the hem:

Then I sewed the two sides together at one edge, about 1/4" from the edge.  I pinned the new binding to the edge of the neck, matching the mid-point of one sleeve length to the back of the neck, so the seams joining the two sleeve hems would be near my shoulder seems:

Once it was pinned most of the way, I could see where to sew the other to ends together ends together (it ended up being exactly the right length, but the last time I did this, I had some left over).

I lined up my needle to the middle of the new binding, and sewed all the way around.  Then I flipped the shirt right-side-out and folded the shirt edge so that the binding lay flat, and zig-zag stitched around about 1/4" from the seam, to hold the excess binding down so it doesn't flip up after the shirt is washed.  (This happened with my last refashion).

And since I had been thinking that I wanted more than just a T-shirt that day, I also embellished my T-shirt, inspired by a blog tutorial I saw a while ago at Ruffles And Stuff, which is also a lot like a T-shirt Jeanie bought me from J Crew.

I used some shimmery ribbon to make the stems, and zig-zag'd it down.  I tucked a different pink ribbon underneath the stems where the crossed before I sewed them, and then tied a bow after they were sewn.

To make the flowers, I cut out some fabric:

And gathered the flat sides, so that they could curve around to make a flower:

The smaller petals went on the bigger ones to make a full flower, like a peony:

And then I hand sewed them on, with buttons in the center.