Mommy Monday: Easy Burp Cloths

Here's another fun and easy project for the beginning sewing enthusiast. Gerbera designs shows us how to fancy up some simple cloth diapers to turn them into some very charming burp cloths.


Click here for the tutorial.

Make Your Own Layering T-Shirt

So, they're a big deal these days - shirts made specifically to go under other shirts/dresses/tank-tops/what have you. The problem for cheapskates like me is that, heck, they can get kind of pricey. All for a shirt you're only going to see the bottom of, or maybe the sleeves. So, what can a cheapskate do about it? Well, if that cheapskate has a sewing machine, that cheapskate can now take advantage of (dun dun duuuuuun)

The Great Layering T-Shirt Tutorial

Step One: Find yourself a big ole t-shirt that has your desired color, stretchiness, and softness. Maybe someone in your family can donate one to you, maybe a trip to your local Goodwill/DI/Savers will do the trick. I got mine at Savers. The t-shirt should be many sizes too big for you.


Step Two: Remove the sleeves. Cut them off, leaving about an inch beyond the seems.


Step Three: Turn the shirt inside-out. Find a shirt or tank top that fits you well and line it up with the t-shirt so that the collars are in pretty much the same place (I think the picture makes it easy to understand). Trace the sides and pin.


Step Four: Sew along the lines you drew, then trip the excess.


Step Five: Iron down the seams, so that they are open. Then, sew a top-stitch on either side of the seam. This gives it a nice detail and makes the shirt fit you more comfortably, with no bunchy seams.


Step Six: The sleeves. For this, just fold down the inch of sleeve material, then fold it under. Or you could fold it halfway, then fold it again. Just look at the pictures, hopefully it will make more sense. Then, sew down that hem.


If you want, you're done! You can also cut off the collar to make the neckline more to your liking (as I did) and you could also shorten the t-shirt if you feel it's too long. But there you have it - your very own layering t-shirt.

Make Your Own Backpack

Shopping for a new backpack was always a bit of a struggle for me. I could never find anything that was both original AND cheap. Because I am cheap. Very cheap. If only Threadbanger had existed when I was in high school. This week, they posted an awesome video on how to make your own backpack out of an old men's jacket. This tutorial has so many amazing possibilities for originality, I would almost willingly go back to school just to carry my own home-made backpack. Almost.

Grr, for some reason I can't get the video to embed. I'm not so smart with the html, so I'm not sure what the problem is. So for now, just go here to watch the tutorial and get inspired.

If you make it, let me know! I would love to see the results.

Making Anything Out of Anything

Obscure Homestar Runner reference aside (if you go watch it, wait a little while after the end of the toon, you'll see the funniest part), this week's focus will be on back to school fashions you can make yourself. More specifically, things you can make yourself out of things you already have. Amazing, eh? The reasons why are as follows: a) back to school shopping can be fun, but it can really drain your account. b) do you really want to show up to school the first day (whether that's high school, college, or dropping your kids off for their first day of kindergarten) wearing the same thing as nine other people? ugh, no thanks. and, c) what better way to ensure that your wardrobe is modest than to have made it yourself?

First up, a pretty awesome crafter on crafster.org posted a tutorial on how to make this awesome skirt out of a pillow case. I am absolutely in love with it, and really want to make one myself. I imagine you could make it out of any random textile you have lying around your house: an old sheet, a curtain perhaps?

Here's a link to the tutorial: pillowcase skirt

Memory Skirt

Well, I am happy to say that I put another one of the tutorials I've posted on this blog to the test--and it turned out moderately successful. I used the men's shirt t0 skirt tutorial to make a skirt out of three shirts I wore on my mission. These shirts were very dear to me, but they had really seen better days. I wanted to hang on to them and had some sort of half-planned ambitions of making a quilt, but I don't think I have quite enough old mission clothes to pull off a real quilt. So this tutorial was a great solution for my what-to-do-with-these-shirts-I-don't-want-to-toss dilemma. So, here's the finished product:

The front:
The back:

My favorite detail, the lace:

Unfortunately, even with the lace it's still a bit too short--guess I have pretty short arms. As you can see in the following picture, I have to sag it way down to get it to the right length. I've got to figure something out, because I think it's really cute and I don't want to have to abandon it. Any ideas?

Easy Fix

Ok, so I bought a really cute dress, um, last year, but haven't been able to wear it in a while as my husband pointed out that it is too short in the back and shows my garments. Whoops. So, taking some inspiration from vintage hem, I made my own lengthening underslip. Here's what I did.
First, I gathered my materials:
One, an old, knee-length slip I probably stole from my mom somewhere between 5 and 7 years ago. :) Love you Mom!
And two, about two yards of thick lace I bought for 67 cents a yard.

Next, I busted out the handy sewing machine and just sewed the lace to the slip, basically just using a straight stitch to tack the lace right onto the slip. And ta-da! Now I have a modestifying slip for whatever occasion :)


So now I'm happy cuz I get to wear my cute dress again, and maybe take a second look at some dresses that were not-quite-long enough. :)

Modestify in Action!

Someone really did it - and did it well - she used one of the ideas on the site! My excitement is unparalleled. I hope she doesn't mind, but I'm going to share some of the pictures of the awesome skirt that my sister in law's sister (aka my brother's sister in law, aka my neighbor, aka a very nice person, aka a friend, aka she has an awesome garden, aka she's cool!) made using the men's shirt sleeve idea. Yay for her!



Any one else try anything lately? Or want to try something and don't know where to start? Leave a comment, email a picture, tap a message in morse code on my front door (and as soon as I learn morse code I'll get back to you), anything! :) Thanks for reading.

DIY Skirt Idea

Here's a fun and really simple idea for making a skirt out of some old men's button-downs. Looks like a great way to make something unique and modest to add to your wardrobe without much pain in your wallet. :) Enjoy.

Patterns! Continued

So, continuing with the sewing theme this week has mysteriously taken on, I've decided to post some of my favorite patterns I've found on Burdastyle. The ones I've picked to someday make myself are all in the very easy to moderately easy category, so if I can do it you can do it! Just gotta get some ink for my printer... Anyway, here they are:

Patterns!

With all the amazing sewing sites out there these days, all you really need to make your totally unique, personal, modest wardrobe are some sewing skills and a pattern. My favorite source of patterns is Burdastyle - it is "open source sewing" which means most of the patterns are available to download for free AND there are tons of people all working on the same or similar projects to help you out when you get stuck. Here is an awesome video in which my two favorite internet craft addictions - Threadbanger and Burdastyle - have teamed up to teach us all about patterns.

Sewing Tips: Hemming

For the longest time when I was sewing things, I left the hems unfinished or tried to fudge my way through that part of the project. Well, to save you the sadness that comes from having a nearly perfect clothing item ruined by a botched made-up hem, I am posting this awesome video from Threadbanger that teaches you not one but two ways to hem. Good luck!

Ten O'Clock Monday Night...

So. It's ten o'clock on Monday night and I still haven't posted. I know everyone is just distressed and distraught with grief at my lack of posty-ness. No? Well, just to assuage my own sense of guilt at not meeting a goal, I will post, even at this late hour. Just a short one to link you over to this interesting article giving some very good recommendations for how to sew and where to find modest clothing from a pattern. Hope you enjoy it.

Keep Cool Secret #4

Ok, so it's not much of a secret, but another way to maintain modesty and keep cool in the summer is simply to find yourself a great pair of shorts. I love me a pair of cutoffs from an old, ratty-but-extremely-comfortable pair of jeans. There are also a few companies that sell adorable long shorts that will help you feel happy in the heat. Here are some of my favorites:

First off, from the Gap (these are a little more pricey, but they are very cute, especially the denim):





Next up, Great Lengths Shorts. Shorts are their specialty, so they have some great selections. I dearly love those plaid ones. (They also have a whole page of denims!):



Last, if you're feeling a little adventurous and would like to make a pair of shorts, this is a pattern listed on Burdastyle that I fell in love with the moment I saw. (By the way, you have to become a member to download the patterns, but it is free and so totally worth the trouble):

Another Adorable Shrug

Time for more shrugs - and more "I made this!" joy. Using a video tutorial from Threadbanger (below), I successfully made the adorable little shrug shown below. It worked perfectly. The sweater I used was a Christmas gift from a few years ago; I didn't want to get rid of it because it was cute and I am sentimental, but the darn thing squeezed my arms mercilessly and had some sort of vendetta against me that involved constantly showing off my stomach. And so, I revamped it and have been terribly pleased with the results.


Improvements: 1.) Now it's supposed to be short. 2.) Cutting the sleeves and doing a zigzag stitch really opened those sleeves up and now they don't make me feel like I'm about to bust out like the Hulk. 3.) The button. I heart buttons.

Make yours:

Fun With T-Shirts

Here's a really cute video from Threadbanger on how to make a frumpy ol' ugly ol' t-shirt into a cute fitted one (with a boat neck, which is happy for me, since I hate t-shirt necklines, as previously mentioned.)

How-To Tuesdays: Darting T-shirts

No-Sew Fitted Tee

I've been posting a lot of tutorials and projects lately that all involve sewing. I realized today that this could be rather frustrating for those who don't know how to sew, who don't have a sewing machine, or who (like me) have a broken one. So, I found this neat little tutorial on how to make a cute fitted t-shirt out of a big ol' baggy one without one single stitch.
I'm coming in to a giant bag of t-shirts today (love freecylce) so I plan on trying this project soon. Hopefully I'll be able to expand on this and do something with the typical t-shirt neckline - which, as previously discussed, I can't stand. Anyway, enough about my t-shirt issues. Here's the tutorial from instructables.com. Enjoy, and please let me know if you try it!



P.S. Don't you love that she's wearing a Napolean Dynamite shirt? I surely do.

Cutesie Flowers

One of the fundamental premises of this blog is that being modest is not the same as being frumpy. Choosing modest clothing does not mean rejecting style, beauty, or originality. And so, in that vein, I've chosen this tutorial from Bitter Betty Blogs for today's Make Your Own feature. If you try it, send me an email or write a comment and we'll post your creations right here on the blog. Enjoy!

T-Shirt Jumper

Oh the DIY joy! I found this awesome tutorial on how to make a t-shirt into an adorable jumper skirt at threadbanger.com, which is rapidly becoming my top favorite site. I personally hate wearing t-shirts - something about the way the neckline is so tight or maybe it's the loose-fitting sleeves - I'm not really sure. But I do think some t-shirts are adorable and/or fun and wish I only had the disposition to wear them. Now that I've found a way to wear my t-shirts and like them too, this is a project I'm definitely looking forward to trying out for myself.

Scrap Skirt

I'm dying to make one of these!


What I'd really love to do is mix up the colors and the fabrics to be a little more similar to this one I saw on Pretty/Modest. And that's what's so great about DIY - I can make it look however I want! (In theory.) And so can you :) Here's the tutorial: (You're going to want to click on the pictures to enlarge them and actually read the instructions.)


This tutorial is courtesy of craftleftovers.com. Definitely go check it out - lots of fun, adorable crafts to engage in. :)

Also, please note there is a poll now to the right of the screen. Cast your vote, express your opinion - let me know you're reading! :)

Be Original

I don't know about you, but I've never thought it was much fun to look like everyone else. That's why I think DIY clothing is so much fun. Find a cute fabric, some fun trim, and make yourself a skirt that no one else will ever have. And, as a bonus, you can make it exactly as long or short as you're comfortable with. I'm not much good at sewing, but I can have fun with simple patterns and projects, such as one I found on crafster.org. You have to start by making this circle skirt:


Then follow these instructions*:

a) make a simple circle skirt (there's a great tutorial for that here on craftster!) but INSTEAD of cutting an arc to get rid of the squared-off fabric, leave it. It'll give you the aysmmetrical hem.
b) hem the bottom so that your hem line is about a centimeter above the bottom edge of the fabric
c) pin lace ON TOP of the fabric (right-side up!) so that the extra centimeter overlaps- or, rather, bottomlaps, I guess
d) sew on lace, using same coloured thread as the lace colour
e) bunch up the top a bit at random places. this will allow the skirt to fit you better, and looks prettier
f) hem the waist-edge of the skirt
g) make an elastic band for the top. I just cut up an old blood donor shirt, but anything with some give to it with colours that match should work!
h) attach elastic ON TOP of waist hem so that there's a bottomlap, like on the bottom with the lace
i) BY HAND, sew on pearl strands that are of varying lengths. If you do this by machine, you might accidentally kill yourself. I know I did.



*Originally posted here by Crafster member odile.