DIY Glitter Jeans Shorts Tutorial

Just a really quick way to jazz up some old shorts today. I don’t wear shorts very often but I’ve been liking them more lately for around the house. I had some boring ones which were laying around so I decided to make them a little more fun so they didn’t feel as much like pyjamas and I could feed my lazy inspiration addiction a bit.

 

For this tutorial you will need:

  • Old shorts
  • Glitter
  • Fabric glue
  • Chain (optional)
Lay your shorts out and make sure to put some paper down first so it’s easier to clean up later.
You need fabric glue for this, something which is washable. I’m using one from Helmar and it works really well. I’ve put these through the wash several times now and nothing has gone astray.
Paint a thick line of glue onto your fabric and make sure it gets into the fibres as much as you can.
Sprinkle glitter over the top. If you want to make sure it’s going to stick, you can mush it into the glue with your finger but that can get a bit messy!
Continue all over the jeans. I decided to only do one front panel and a back panel. I also added some gold chain around the edges to give it even more bling.
Once it’s completely dry (leave it over night if possible) set it through the washing machine with nothing else in there to get rid of any stray glitter.
All done! Comfy and much more sparkly! Sparkle for the win!
Definitely feeling a little more fancy at home now though probably not enough to actually wear those heels all the time >_>

Glitter for the win! Hope you guys enjoyed the quick craft!

Super Quick Bow T-Shirt Surgery Tutorial

A really quick t-shirt surgery today, turning 2 identical singlets into one with a cute little bow design on the front!

My Mum bought these but didn’t like the fit so she gave them to me, I thought they were a little boring so out came the scissors.

I put the lighter one inside the dark one.
I stitched them together at the shoulder seam.
Then I cut through the top layer at the bust in two lines.
I folded up the middle.
Then tied another piece of the shirt around the middle.
Taadaa bow!
It still seemed a little plain so I cut the top layer into a curve around the bottom too.
Easy!
Looking cute 😀
Still not 100% my regular style but good for around the house anyway 😀

How To Make Watercolour Scarves – Tutorial

I think I mentioned to you guys already that I’ve been working on some techniques to make my scarf painting a little more watercolour styled. I think I’ve got it much closer to a point that I’m happy with now and I’m having much more fun with it!

These are two scarves I made as gifts recently.

For all of my fabric painting I use Opulence silk dyes because they dilute really well and are fairly easy to control.

The basic technique is really easy. Just wet the fabric and then squeeze most of the water out. I’m using a basic cheap muslin.
Hang it up somewhere that it doesn’t matter if it gets messy. I used my shower door.
The water all over it will get patchy as it dries. You can add more or less water depending on the design you’re going for.
Slowly drip paint into areas where there is water. You will notice that the paint only travels along the water veins. You can add more water or keep it dry so the paint is quite vibrant.
Add a second colour overlapping the first. I use colours which are similar in tone.
Allow the first layers to dry and then repeat wetting areas and adding paint.
The effects you get depend entirely on your control of the paint and how much/little water it has to move around in. I like to add spots of water after the dye to move it around even more.
As it dries the paint is sucked to the edges of the designs so they look more vibrant.
Keep layering over and over until you’re happy with the designs.
With the blue and purple version I used much larger areas of water.
Once the design is how you like, just heat seal them with an iron and give them a final wash out.
The colours are so vibrant and pretty.
The crushable muslin makes a really nice fabric for a Summer scarf.
So there you go, another technique to add to your arsenal!

Now I need to stock up on some more actual silk and give this a try with that as well!

Maxi Dress Walk Through Tutorial

Kind of a dress walkthrough rather than a full tutorial today. I made a really basic maxi dress with some of the fabric I bought from Brunswick and thought you guys might like to see the process!

This fabric is so pretty. I love that it looks like rainbow paint spots! It reminds me of watercolours.

To begin with I cut two rectangles for the skirt and a smaller rectangle for the bodice. Helper dog kept all of my fabric straight for me.
I cut the back part of the skirt in half so I could eventually install a zip there and overlocked all of the seams. I stitched the 3 skirt pieces together into a long rectangle with the back seams free to put the zip into later.
I then gathered the top of the skirt section into a ruffle using the function on my sewing machine.
Skirt ruffle!
Huzzah, basic skirt!
Next I made the top. It was a very large rectangle folded in half and overlocked around the sides so it could be turned inside out.
The skirt was lined up with the bottom of the bodice and sewn on.
Getting there but  the bodice section needs to be gathered to make it fit correctly.
I ruffled the back of the bodice where the zip would eventually go and secured it with several lines of stitching.
Then I gathered a line on each side of the bodice and one in the very middle. This allowed it to become more form fitting and interesting. I also installed the zip into the back at this point and added a bottom hem to the skirt.
Lastly I sewed a couple of rectangles into tubes and made straps out of them. Considering I always wear cardigans with dresses like this the top really wasn’t a huge concern as long as it was reasonably fitted.
All done!
Floaty and fun!
This dress is so comfortable and nice to wear, the fabric is silky and beautiful. Next time I go I hope they have some more so I can make a shorter bias cut flippy dress out of it too!
Hope you enjoyed the “sew-through” an I’ll see you guys next time! What have you all been sewing lately? I need some inspiration!

No Sew Draped Cardigan Tutorial

Another no sewing tutorial, this time I made an easy draped cardigan!
I think the real key to all of these draped clothes is using the right fabric. I am using a really stretchy fabric which is also thin so it flows really well.

Stretch is much more forgiving if you’re just experimenting too! It’s really important to use a fabric which isn’t going to fray like stretch cotton if you’re not planning on hemming anything.
Of course you need a good little helper dog to do this even if she is really not very helpful.
To begin with I draped the fabric over my mannequin as if it was a wrap. Most of the fabric was bunched around the neck.
I pulled it tight so that the back looked more fitted.
I then cut out some arm holes.
Even this just by itself looks quite cute with a belt!
I wanted to have a few different ways to wear it though so I cut a slit on either side
Now to close it all I needed to do was take the corners and wrap them around to the back.
The underneath one pokes through the slit inside so you can tie them at the back.
It only took around 10 minutes to “make” if you can really call it that. And quite a few ways to wear it!
I could see this being really good in cooler months with a long sleeve shirt under it.

Now this is definitely a quick craft! Let me know if you give it a try!

School Dress Make Over Tutorial! – Do It In A Dress

Today’s tutorial is a special one! I’m going to make over a school dress for Do It In A Dress!

Here’s my finished skirt/shirt set:

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And here’s the original dress:

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Bit of a change yes? ^_^

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20-School-Dress-Make-OverBefore we get into the full tutorial let’s have a look at what Do It In A Dress is actually all about.

According to the One Girl website, girls in Sierra Leone are more likely to be sexually assaulted than they are to attend high school. There are so many things wrong with that and as a woman in a first world county, basic educational rights are something that I took for granted.

The Do It In A Dress challenge is all about raising $300 to send a girl in Sierra Leone to school. You can sign up to do challenges in October wearing your dress or donate to someone else doing the challenge.

You can visit the Do It In A Dress website or the One Girl website to learn more. You can buy your own dress just like mine in their shop here too.

So let’s get into what you can do with an old school dress!

You can use any school dress for this but I ordered a larger size from the Do It In A Dress website so I had lots of fabric to work with.

Before:

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I think I was fairly luck in terms of school uniforms, I lived in a very warm climate growing up and so we had loose shirt/skirt combinations in blue. The skirts were knee length and actually super comfortable and I kept mine for years after graduation to just wear around the house!

The goal of this make over was to see whether I could turn a generic school dress into something which I would still want to wear today. Recycling! I decided the most versatile way to use the dress would be as a shirt/skirt combination. I know, technically it’s no longer doing it in a dress but it makes it much more usable.

First step, turn the dress inside out and put it on.

Measure where you want the shirt to end around the waist and put a pin in. Make sure to leave enough room for hems! Next, pin down each side to make it more form fitting and add 2 darts to the under-bust to give definition.

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Take the dress off and lay it out flat to work. Cut off the bottom of the dress to separate it into skirt/shirt. There was a big sticker on the back of mine with the website information so I cut around it.

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So inside out you will have something like this:

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The sleeves were still looking pretty ridiculous so cut them off at the seam and remove the white cuffs. We are going to attach the cuff back to the shoulders to make mini sleeves.

Cut the extra fabric away from the side seams along your pins. Again, make sure you leave enough fabric there to sew it back together again!

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Flatten the shirt out so you can easily pin the white cuffs to the arm holes and stitch them in place.

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Next, sew the darts down and resew the side seams.

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It looks like a shirt again, yay!

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Now it’s time to hem the bottom. I was lucky that I was able to cut the hem so it didn’t conflict with button placement but if you aren’t, you can just move them or add a zip/snap closures.

Shirt done!

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Next the skirt!

The skirt area came with a little pocket which had a zip closure. Because the original dress was meant to be loose it didn’t require any other closures around the skirt. I decided to use to pocket zip as the actual skirt zip. To do this I just cut the pocket out and left the zip so it aligned with the top of the skirt. If you can’t do this with yours, you will need to include another way to get your skirt on and off.

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Now, put the skirt on inside out and pin on either side to form an A-Line shape. I made mine very high waisted so it could be worn with the matching top or other things in my closet easily. Originally I wanted to make a pencil skirt but that would have meant cutting a slit in the back to allow movement and would have required more zip placement changes etc so I just went with this.

Once you’re happy with the fit, sew up the side seams and hem around the top as well.

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Done!! Add some matching accessories and you’re ready to rock 😀

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Quite the change and definitely more my current style!


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Of course realistically I probably wouldn’t wear the two pieces together very often so the real test was weather they would go with the rest of my wardrobe?

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I’d say that’s a resounding yes!

 

 

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These kinds of make overs really are my favourite sewing projects!


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As much as this project has been really fun to do, it’s important to remember the reasons behind it. Please visit the One Girl and Do It In A Dress websites to learn about how you can help a girl get an education.

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Let me know if you take up the challenge, I’d love to see your school make overs!

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