this chick shannon is AMAZINGLY crafty!

I have a shirt, okay I have ALOT of shirt that I can't stand. However, this particular one I usually wear as an undershirt. Well, this time it came out of the wash the top of the shoulders were miss colored.

They looked like this:

What is up with that. So the creating began. I scrunched up my shirt and rung it like a rag and filled the sink with bleach. I barely rubbed it in the bleach and then would ring it out. Then re wind it up and do it again.

Then I washed it in the washer and there you have it.

But, it wasn't completed yet. So I took eight strips of fabric that were 2 inches by 7 inches. I layered two of them on top of each other and sewed a gather stitch down the center.

And then I gathered them.

And then along the neck line I pined them in s-shapes.

One after the other. I did three of them on the neck line and then the fourth one I put underneath the 1st and 2 one to make it more full.

Then sew them on. Just down the center of the s-shapes.

Take out the gathered stitch, and there you have it!

I LOVE it, but I am afraid it might be a little too crazy and out there! What do you all think? Am I going to make the worst dress list if I wear this outside of the house?

Cartigan

I love the look of the long simple cardigans that can be found at Anthropology, Down East, and pretty much every store on every corner. So I thought I would give it a try and make my own. You will need 2 yards or more of a jersey knit fabric.

Measure yourself from your t-shirt line on the back of your neck, down to the bottom of your t-shirt. I measured 27 inches. Lay your fabric out and cut it that width.

Fold in both sides 18 inches. And pin starting from the end, not the fold, for 8 inches. You will leave the 10 inches remaining open and unpinned.

Here is a close up view (and I can't figure out why blogger rotates some of my photo's like the one above...)

Take this to the sewing machine and sew from the edge to the pin mark at 8 inches. Do this to both sides.

Now you need to put it on. This might be tricky. The part that you have sewn will be under your arm pit and down to your waist. In other words the part that you left unpinned is where your arms go through. The opposite edge that you did not pin goes on your neck and you just drape the ends down over your arms like you are putting a towel around your neck.

Take two pins and mark the bottom of your neck on both sides.

Take it off again and fold it how you had it when you sewed the sides. Now on the fold place a pin.

Draw a line with chalk from the pin you just put in the fold to the pin you put in by your neckline.

Baste on this line back stitching at the start and then gather as tight as you can. Tie the two threads together on the other end and cut.

Put it on, and there you have it! You can wear it like this for a dress down look.

It looks great with jeans or a skirt.

And it's super comfortable.

And who would have guessed that the back would be so beautiful? (If you want your draped fabric to be longer so your shirt isn't showing then you need to use more fabric than 2 yards.)

Or you can grab the ends and tie it up in the front for a more dressed up look.

The perfect touch to take your outfit up a notch.

And again, the back is stunning to look at.

Halter Dress, to SKIRT :D

As most of you know I am a Member Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. And because of my decision in that aspect I also choose to dress 'modestly'. I bought a skirt from Tilly's in December that was a halter top. It was $4.00, I couldn't pass it up. I LOVED the print. But it was too short to wear it as is, and I hate having to wear a shade shirt under everything. I've worn it to church a few weeks, and have just tucked in the halter part and worn it as a skirt. I finally decided to pull it out of my closet and fix it for real this time. It was super easy. So grab your halter dress and let's go...

First using a seam ripper or small scissors unpick the halter seam.

I had to unpick the waist band a little to get the front completely off.

And then I laid the dress flat and pinned across the front of the skirt, to hold the lining to the skirt front.

I then cut out the elastic from the back of the halter.

And then I tucked the lining and the backing in just like the front, and pinned it together.

I then headed to my sewing machine and sewed the sides together.

(You know you are jealous of that nail polish) In the back I then sewed with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, just along the back to make a casing.

Take your elastic and sew one end to one side using a box stitch and then the other end to the other side.

Then sew along the top of the back and the front of the skirt.

And there you have it! A fun skirt. (And a picture of you that you had to majorly suck in your gut to even get to look decent...but ti's okay I am losing weight...you can follow my journey on my life blog above if you are interested...)

And of course you better save the top and the tie of that halter. I'll be crafting with it soon too!

Half Apron

For an apron the size I made I used two yards. One of each color. Measure your waist from one side of your hip to the other. This will be the width of the apron plus four inches. Then measure from where you want the apron to tie on your waist to how long you want it plus four inches. Cut a rectangle from the main piece of fabric that is these measurements.

Take your contrast fabric and cut it to be four times the length of your apron and 6 inches wide. If necessary sew the peices together like I have done below to get the length you need.

Fold the contrasting waist band in half. Fold the apron in half and attach the two together in the middle, right sides facing. Sew along the top edge of the main fabric piece until the apron sash is attached all the way across. (Ignore the stitching down the sides. You do not need it there...that is for a straight apron. You will leave the frayed edge out)

Once the waist band is attached fold it in half and tuck the edge under 1/2 inch. So it looks like the picture below. This way their is no edge left to fray. Continue to fold and pin all the way down the length of the waistband.

When you get to the edge of the waistband. Cut into a triangle. Fold the outer edge in so no fray edged is showing. Pin all the way down.

Sew along the very edge all the way from the triangle point, through the apron fabric and to the other triangle end.

Lay your apron with waist band on the table. Now you are going to measure for pockets. You want to mark for the number of pockets you need. I put four across. So I measured to the center and put a pin. Then form that pin I measured over 1 inch on either side. Leaving two inches inbetween each pocket. My pockets were 5 inches wide by 7 inches high. So I then measured over 5 inches and placed another pin, then 2 and placed another pin, then 5 inches, and then 2 more inches was the end of the apron.

If you enlarge this photo you can see the pins that I have marked with.

Take your contrasting fabric and cut your pockets. I cut four. I wanted my pockets to be 5 inches by 7 inches. Therefore I cut them 6 inches by 8 inches. Lay them out on your apron.

If you are going to applique something on the pocket now is the time to do so. I cut pieces of the fabric pattern and put them on. I sewed them on using a really close zig-zag stitch.

Take all of your pockets and fold over the top edges 1/4 inch and iron.

Then fold over 1/2 inch and iron.

Sew along the folded edge that you just ironed, to make the top of the pocket.

Fold the sides in 1/2 inch and iron.

Now fold that into thirds so the frayed edge is in the inside and pin. You can still see the line where I ironed in 1/2 inch. This will cover about half of it.

Now iron the bottom up 1/4 inch and then 1/4 inch more and pin. Here is what it looks like when you get to the corner.

Pin to the apron and sew down the side of the pocket and then sew down the other side of the pocket, leaving the top and bottom not sewn down.

You will be able to slip your hand through the top and bottom of this pocket.

Now pin the center of the bottom of the pocket down and press to the outer edge, pinning as you go. There will be left over fabric. Don't panic. There is suppost to be. Make a pleat and pin down. This allows the pocket to stick up off the apron making it easier to put hands in and out of them.

Sew along the bottom of the pocket. The top of the pocket will now be sitting up off the fabric.

Here is a side view of the pocket. You can see how because of the pleats it is lifted up off of the apron.

Sew on the remaining pockets. Lay out your apron so we can now curve it. Once again, don't mind the seing up the edges, I started to make a square apron, but found she secretly wanted a rounded one...no worries...easy to fix! Look closely and I have pinned a curved edge on the fabric.

To make this curved edge, fold you apron in half. Then pin through both sides making a curved line. (You can trace a plate if you wish)

Cut along the pin lines. Then unpin. Then head to your ironing board.

Fold under the edges of the fabric 1/4 inch and iron. Then fold over 1/2 inch. Because it is curved you will need to pleat as you go. It doesn't need to be perfect. You won't see it from the front or the back.

Here you have it. Now if you want to add ruffles. You need to take the remaining fabric. I did two rows so I did the first row with the same fabric as the apron. Cut your remaining fabric into 8 inch strips. Then sew them together so they are one long peice. (you are going to want it at least three times the length of the outer edge) Then fold it in half, right sides together, and baste down the entire length. Turn right sides out and gather to fit around the outer edge. (I don't know why I didn't take pictures of this.) Pin the ruffle so the gathered edge is facing the outside curve of the apron. Then you will sew it along the frayed edge to the apron. Fold the ruffle over so it is now facing down and not up, and sew along the edge as close as you can to keep it down and give a decorative stitch. Repeat with the contrasting fabric. However this time use a 6 inch piece of fabric. When you are attaching this one pin it just above the other ruffle so when you fold it down you will be sewing just above it.

And here it is...the final product! With the ruffles attached! Click to enlarge and you can see the sewing lines where I have top stitched the ruffles down!