Felting

I've felted (or tried to) 3 more sweaters.  I am working on making my sister 3 project bags.  I washed and dried 3 sweaters.  Two were 100% wool.  I thought the 3rd one was but I messed that one up.  It was dry clean only so it did shrink.  Anyhow.  I'm working on the three bags.  Today I cut them.  Next up will be sewing them.  Two I'll line, I think the red one I leave as is. 

Speaking of Evolution

After I finished my gloves/wrist warmers this morning I moved on to my ruffled shirt made from a man's shirt.  Or in this case, Brian's hand-me-downs.   I had already detached the sleeves.  I sewed up the sides to see how it would fit.  Turns out I need the same width for hips, just less width for underarms.   So I took out the seams and tried again.  This time angling slightly from hips to under arms.  I finished all the cut edges.  And then I cut out the neckline (I didn't want a regular collar) and finished it before adding a ruffled collar.  For this I took the fabric from one of the sleeves and cut it into strips.  One strip covered from center to shoulder, one strip from the other center to other shoulder, and the last strip from shoulder to shoulder.  The only thing I was not liking was the shoulders themselves.  They were too wide for my shoulders.  So I cut a little bit more, finished the edges, and then rolled them under.  Perfect, except now I have to wear a tank or t-shirt under it because the arm holes are huge.  I learned to go with the flow...

Evolution

I bought and felted a dark grey wool cardigan.  I didn't have any particular plans for it except that I wanted the experience of felting something and then turning it in to something else.  Last night I got the energy to make something with my felted wool.  I started with wrist warmers.   I saw something I liked earlier and copied it: circles folded to make flowers.  I added 3 of those to each of the gloves.  I then found the original buttons that came with sweater and sewed two of those on each glove.  I wasn't quite satisfied.  The gloves were somewhat formal looking but they were too big around the wrists (fit perfectly on my hands).  So I decided to take them in.  And so now they are complete.  I didn't envision this as how I would turn my wool sweater into something, but it is how it evolved.   The same thing happened when I made the matching scarf.  I really wasn't sure what to do.  The front of the cardigan was useless (almost, anyhow) so I didn't have a lot of material to work with.  I did some searches and found a scarf I liked.  I "copied" the directions and ended up with about 5-6 pieces.  I then tacked the ends of them together and sewed a button on each of the joints.  Last, I made more circles which I attacked to the ends.  I put six on each.  Not something I had planned, but it evolved out of what I had. 

Ruffle Shirt

Today I started several projects.  I completed one.  The first is a ruffle tee.  I started with a ladies fit tee (new) and a regular tee (also new) both in black, made by the same company.  I cut out (down?) the neckline of the ladies tee and cut apart the regular one.  I added a ruffle around the neck and five ruffles down the front.  I worked on a rose to attach to the front.  I found a really pretty cardigan at Target that I plan to wear with the black tee.  I'm not sure that it will look right with the rose which is why I've held off on attaching it.

A project I started (but couldn't finish) is making Brian a guy-apron.  I'm using one of his old shirts that is too small for him.  I realized that the using of a man's shirt assumes the shirt is larger than the wearer.  Because of that I'm going to add a piece from the back to the bottom.  I also ripped part of the fabric when removing the breast pocket.  I emailed Mom and she is going to embroider his name on a piece of fabric (I'm sending her) and then I'll sew it on over the tear to cover the patch.  There isn't a whole lot I can do with that until the patch comes back.  I may go ahead and stitch the bottom on and make the ties.  (I guess there is more to do!)

The last project I started was taking another of Brian's old shirts and turning it into a sleeveless shirt for myself.  I took off the arms and cut up the sides.  I'll have to measure and stitch up the sides and see how it goes.  I think it will be fairly simple to turn it into a blouse for me.  I'll see how it goes when I get back to it.

Bolero!

I pulled some clothes out of my drawer last night that I could no longer wear.  Included were a navy blue t-shirt (too short) and a multi-print spaghetti strap top (stained).  They are both dark blue and the spaghetti strap top has (had, now) a ruffle on the bottom.  I loved the fabric on the top which is why I didn't get rid of it.  I was thinking of transferring the ruffle to the t-shirt and making some adjustments to the neckline and arms.  During the night, while I was half asleep, I redesigned my original idea and decided to make a bolero.   I would use the ruffle to edge the t-shirt after I cut it.  I could even use the contrasting fabric to do something fancy with the sleeves. 

At this point I've decided not to do anything with the sleeves because I like them as they are.  I may add some of the contrast fabric later, time will tell.   My first attempt at re-purposing cost me nothing except a little bit of time. 

My Point!

I started this blog for only one purpose:  I wanted to record my creative endeavors.