Biking in a blue star shirt!

{this moment) boating on glen lake

{this moment}

an extraordinary moment that I want to savor and remember

inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama

Hope you have a wonderful summer weekend! Enjoy the water if you can!

revamped tanks to tunic

Three tanks for revamping. The tie dye is my favorite, it's from an art fair a few years ago, brightly twisted is the name I think...

First I cut the top of the aqua tank off, just below the trim. Then I cut a band of the green tank and made sure it was close to the same width around as the aqua tank. Since the aqua tank had a bit of a curve, I decided to keep that when I stitched it onto the band from the green tank, using a stretch stitch on my machine.

Then I cut off the top of the tie dye tank with my rotary cutter. It was quite a bit larger than the green and aqua tank, so I sewed it up a bit on the side seams and then slid it inside the other two tanks, right sides together, so I could stitch them up. Since the tie dye part was wider, I had to stretch the green part as I sewed.

If you are new to this technique, you will probably want to pin at the sides and then stretch to pin the front and back, so you have pins in four places. This is also how you would attach elastic if you were making something like underpants. (Yes, Ashlea, I'm thinking of you!) Then you just stretch each section as you sew to make it even.

Then I topstitched both the top and bottom with a stretch stitch to get them to lay a bit flatter. I could have ironed it a bit, but didn't get that far yet...

First there was a sweater torso, which I cut off the crew neck and added a collar made from t-shirt material and a button placket from another sweater. After sewing on the sleeves, I wanted to make them longer, like wristwarmers sewn right on. I took another black shirt and cut off the sleeves and the bottom. Sleeves were taken in a bit and stitched together. Same thing on the bottom.

All you have to do is make sure that the "tubes" you are adding are the same diameter as the shirt. For more detailed instructions, check out my tutorial down a few posts.

Right sides together

Ooh, I'm toasty in my new shirt! It's great under sweaters and the new wristwarmers fit into my mittens, so no more cold snowy wrists.

all the numbers recycled dresses

A friend turned me on to this great creative site. Seems like all my friends are having girl babies (within the last year and a couple coming up!). Kiki at all the numbers makes dresses out of all kinds of recycled things, and these are my favorites! There are plenty more too, so check it out!

revamped shirt with wristwarmers tutorial

Here's a fun little tutorial about recycling and revamping a shirt by lengthening a shirt to make it a tunic, adding sleeves to warm your wrists, and reshaping a neckline.

One brown shirt, bearing the logo of my favorite little chocolate shop started the whole thing. The fit just wasn't quite right, and it languished in my closet waiting for inspiration.

The inspiration was this pink striped shirt. It had been attached to a tank top as part of a tunic, but the tank wore out so I cut it off, along with the hem of the sleeve on the chocolate shirt. Cut the wristwarmer section either part of the body or the sleeves of another shirt, adding about 1/2" for seam allowance. These are about 8" long but could be longer or shorter depending on how you like it. Fold the wristwarmer section with the right sides together and sew a tube that is wide enough to fit over your hand. If you are using a shirt sleeve, stitch along the seam to make a tube. The idea is to make sure that the openings in the sleeve and the wristwarmer section are the same size.


Slip the wrong side of the wristwarmer onto the sleeve so they are right sides together. Stitch with a stretch stitch (it looks like a little lightning bolt) or use a serger. Turn right side out and try it on. If it needs tightening, you can turn it back to the wrong side and stitch it again, making the tube a bit smaller.

For the neck, cut the collar off the shirt. Try it on and make little cuts or pin before you cut it out since stretchy shirts look different on your body that when they are laying on your cutting table. The new neckline could be square, v-neck, scooped or asymmetrical.

Cut 1" strips of fabric for the trim on the neckline. If you want a ruffle, stitch down the middle of the strip with the longest stitch length on your machine. Pull one of the threads and gently squish the fabric along the stitching to make either a tight or loose ruffle. Lay trim pieces along the newly cut neckline and stitch with a stretch or zig zag stitch.

For the bottom, cut off the shirt hem and measure the length you want to add. Cut and sew it into a tube that is the same size as the bottom of the shirt. Turn it wrong side out and slip it over the shirt so the right sides are together. Stitch with a stretch stitch or serge.

recycled boy's shirts - cowboy style!

After much thought and consideration, I finally decided what to make for Fyn's buddies for their second birthdays. Fyn had an abundance of button up shirts, so I took some of my cool new fabric stash and spread out the graphic goodness!

It was so much fun, I made a few more and posted them on my etsy site!

Anyone know why blogger wants my pictures to be all sideways?

Back to the shirts - I found that cutting the fabric to fit each shirt and leaving it raw was the coolest effect. Serging the edges works too, as long as you remember to leave a little extra when you are cutting it out. Prewashing the fabric might be a good idea, but I didn't find it to be necessary. It does make the fabric fray a little, which looks rough and kinda cool for a boy, don't you think?


Fyn helped me decorate some plain white bags from my crafty stash, and we cut slits with a scissor and threaded some scrap ribbon through, tying it in square knots and trimming the ends. Happy Birthday to our friends!

violet's new (revamped) shirt

Here's a little something I finally finished for my friend's daughter...

sunshine harvest

Our garden was slow this year, due to the cool weather and light sun. Deer ate most of the tomatoes, and we did get one cucumber. Up for next year, soil amendment.

Found a little shirt dyed orange, and decided it was just what Fyn needed, with a little sunshine added, in yellow twill and orange cross-dyed linen.

the birthday boy

Happy Birthday, Fyn! One year has passed and so much has changed. Thank you to all our friends and family for being part of our lives.

Fyn's sporting his very own version of the rockabilly cowboy shirt, complete with pearl snaps and faux wood grain fabric, made by his momma. I hope he thinks it's cool someday.

etsy photo shoot

Fyn and I spent a day with our friend, Holly of www.hende.etsy.com, taking photos for our etsy site. He was a star, but was worn out by nap time! He fell asleep in his hand art printed shirt...

recycled rock star boyfriend shirt

Check out this recycled+revamped shirt, made with vintage shirts. It is now headed to Portland for some wild times.

It all worked out great in a trade. She chose a vinyl clutch for makeup in her purse. He chose a shirt and I picked some lavender comfort wraps - great gifts from www.blissbotanics.com. Perfect for keeping my toes warm on the cold northern winter nights!

Bob- thanks for being a great model! Your identity has been protected for the blog...