Limbs and head flopped out to sleep. Looking d-e-d.Filed under: Finished it, Fixed it, Gifted it, Made it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: Buddha, mama, maternity, refashion, Salvy, surgery, t-shirt
Mama’s shirt took more time and more hair-pulling compared with Poppa’s. I found this Buddha t-shirt for $1 at one of my favorite Salvy’s in the world early in her pregnancy.
Finally got the nerve to chop it right before her baby shower but didn’t quite make the deadline.
Anyway, she had about six weeks to wear it and seems to love it and it turned out a perfect fit.
I had to buy a new craft T and opted with a fitted one from JoAnn because Mama has a small and delicate frame, and I wanted the top of the top to fit her nicely.
So the logo was going over her belly. I thought about chopping the bottom off the plain T, but I ended up chopping the belly out of it, and fitting the logo back on. I also chopped about three inches off the bottom hem off the big logo T to make a tie – and to keep the nice hem.
The logo part got gathered on the sides, to make a pocket big enough for a full-term belly and sewn back on across the front and sides.
Look how cute she is!
Check out this how-to.
Filed under: Do it, Gifted it, How to do it, Made it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: gift, maternity, refashion, Salvy, surgery, t-shirt, wardrobe refashion
This surgery makes a cute maternity top with hip sash from a small plain T-shirt and a giant logo-printed shirt. You use the logo shirt as a sort of pocket for the big belly.
Make sure the top T-shirt fits the top of your lady’s frame.
Measure where the belly starts to protrude (right under the bosom) and mark with chalk. Carefully cut across the front (only the front) of the shirt. To open the sides up, measure about an inch away from the T’s side seam on the front and cut.
Figure out where you want the logo to go.
Cut across the giant T right below the arms, and slice up the back to open up the fabric. Fit the logo into the front and trim accordingly. The logo fabric should hang down below the hem of the plain T a few inches.
Chop off the hem of the giant shirt. 
If you have room, chop off a few inches at the bottom of the giant shirt and put that fabric aside to reuse the finished hem.
Gather the logo. 
With a long basting stitch, baste the top of the logo piece and along the sides. Pin the center top of the logo piece to the center of the plain front. Pull the gathering threads until the it fits. Pin. Baste in place if you like.
Fit the sides. Pull the gathering threads on the sides of the logo piece, too, fitting the fabric along the base T’s sides. Pin. Baste if you like and sew into place. Sew the top, too. (I used a wide zigzag.)
Finish the bottom. If you chopped off the hem of the giant T, pin roughly the center back of it to one side of the shirt. Pin along so you have a sort of sash at the bottom, easing so the sash ends up longer than the shirt. Remember the front of your new shirt is a lot bigger than the back. Stitch.
Filed under: Do it, Finished it, Gifted it, How to do it, Made it | Tags: baby, Big Poppa, Biggie Smalls, freezer paper stencil, gift, t-shirt
My dear friends are getting a baby in a few weeks. So of course we made them some presents. The bebe gets a blanky, a giant square of a blanky crocheted from fun Hobby Lobby yarn in circus colors. Mama, like me, isn’t into pastels and is convinced the most unisex color of all is red.
Mama I adore, but Poppa is my colleague and original tie to the family. And since we’re not particularly into indulging the demands of teeny babies, Poppa — our loyal date to summer rock and roll concerts, our link to Boris and the Hold Steadies — has our sympathy and especial love.
Poppa also has fab taste in music and a demeanor best described as generally nonplussed. At any rate, he’s not into pastel schtuff either, and wasn’t likely to receive any special presents at this weekend’s bebefest, so we made him one to treasure.
And he did love it when we called him, at the shower, Big Poppa, comme ca:
Really. My mister is loving freezer paper stencils since watching me craft a Halloween costume from a yellow t-shirt. We were Pat Hughes and Ron Santo of WGN’s The Pat and Ron Show, and since Pat – the literal play-by-play broadcast man is so very boring, I had to invent his costume and dress him in a t-shirt of one of the show’s sponsors, Square D, (Part of the Power of Wrigley Field).
But I digress. Mister saw the custom Square-D shirt and became convinced we could copy the method. So we fought over WHICH Biggie Smalls song to print onto a shirt. He voted for the “One More Chance Remix”, featuring the opening lyric, “First things first, I Papa,” and continuing in a filthy manner.
It’s not that I vetoed, it’s only that I had to cut out the letters and “Big Poppa,” as in, “I love it when they call me”, would be easier to chop out of freezer paper and also would fit better across Poppa’s front.
Anyway, enjoy the effect of a freezer paper stencil. We used this velveteen finish paint from the JoJo if only because it was the only black finish available in the small bottle.
I’d buy it again specially since it worked very simply; you wait until the paint dries, then hold your very steamy iron about half an inch away and watch the paint rise and get a velvety texture. Plus it comes readily at the JoJo.
If I had Poppa’s shirt to do again, I might have the Mister cut out the other parts of the design. Maybe we cut the wrong negative space???
Anyhoo, my how-to is here.
Filed under: How to do it, Love it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: applique, how to, Led Zeppelin, Roxborough, Salvy, sister, t-shirt
Courtesy of my sister in Philadelphia, who transformed a classic Led Zeppelin shirt that had seen better days into two shirts. Zeppelin thrifted by me for $.99 at my favorite Salvy in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. New backing shirts purchased by her on the Kohl’s clearance rack.
Check out the how-to here.
Filed under: How to do it, Sewed it | Tags: applique, how to, surgery, t-shirt, wardrobe refashion
My sister and I really like this technique where you chop out the part of an old t-shirt that’s cute — the logo, a photo, whatever the design — and sew it under another shirt. Then you can recycle the logo part if the old shirt is disgusting, too small, partly bleached, etc.
1. Cut the design off the old shirt, leaving about 1/2 inch around the part you want to show. If the material’s flimsy or really threadbare, feel free to reinforce it with a little fusible interfacing.
2. Decide where you want the logo to go onto the new shirt. Turn the new shirt inside out, and pin the right side of the logo in place on the wrong side of the new shirt.
3. With the new shirt inside out, sew the logo on, about 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around. I like to use thread that stands out from the new shirt but maybe compliments the logo.
4. Flip the t-shirt right side out. Carefully with sharp scissors, pierce the fabric covering the logo and trim 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch away from the stitching inside the seam. Be so careful not to poke through the logo.
Sweet!
Now check out the new shirts my sister made using this technique.
