Easy Refashion: Dress + Tshirt = Fold-over Waistband Skirt

This tutorial is short, sweet and perfect for a beginner. I’ve made variations of this skirt at least five times already this year and I never grow tired of the supremely comfortable, soft and stretchy fold-over waistband skirt. I am petite which means that dresses rarely ever fit me right. My proportions just aren’t the industry standard. I do however, frequently fall in love with the pretty fabric of dresses at my local thrift store and this is the solution to my former dilemma. For this refashion I used a thrifted dress with a cute floral pattern that was ill-fitting and had a few stains on the bodice. I also used a tshirt that had bleach stains and underarm stains, but would still had enough usable fabric to form a waistband.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• Cutting tools (pinking shears, fabric shears and a rotary cutter). If you don’t have all of these, you can get along just fine with a simple pair of shears or scissors.
• 1 Dress that will fit comfortably over your thighs. Take a dress that you want to work with and hold it up to see how it will look as a skirt. If it looks good, move on.
• 1 tshirt that fits comfortably around your waist and over your hips.
• Sewing machine or needle and thread
• Ruler or Cutting mat (or both)
• Tailors Chalk

How-To DIY:

1. Hold the dress up to your body and determine the length by folding it where you want it to hit on your waist. I chose to make my new skirt knee length. I folded in half and then marked with chalk. Cut the dress through all layers just above the line.

2. Measure 5″ from the bottom of your tshirt. This will create a fold-over waistband that is approximately 2″ wide. Mark with chalk, then cut through all layers to form a tube.

3. Slip the skirt into the tshirt tube and align the seams. The bottom hem of the shirt should be facing down toward the hem of the skirt. The right side of the dress (pretty side) should face the wrong side of the tshirt tube (inside).

4. Gather and pin the skirt to the tshirt tube waistband. Start by pinning the skirt seams to the tshirt seams. Next pin the center and then gather and pin at 1-2″ intervals until the skirt is secured to the waistband. You may need to gather and form a few small pleats if the skirt is wider than the waistband. You can do this at random around the waistband by spacing them evenly. You don’t have to be precise. Ensure that the top of the skirt meets the top of the tube.

5. Sew the waist band to the skirt using a zig-zag (or other stretch knit stitch). The zig-zag stitch allows the waist band and skirt to be stretched without breaking the thread. If sewing by hand, use the whip stitch.

That’s it! You’re done! See how easy that was? Now, just slip on your skirt and fold over the waistband so that it hides the top layer of stitches. Do a little dance, twirl around and show your friends and family how cool you are. You just made your first fold-over waistband skirt from a dress and a tshirt; how exciting! If you are lucky, you may even get a warm compliment like the one I received from my daughter, “Wow mom, it doesn’t even look like you made it!”

Threadbanger How-To: Spring Skirt from Old Dress Shirt Sleeves

That’s right, you read that title right. Take some old cotton dress shirts from your friend, father, or significant other, cut off the sleeves and make a really cool spring skirt with cute button embellishments. I’m planning on whipping myself up one shortly. I’m thinking I could also grab some corduroy or flannel shirts for some fall/winter wear skirts layered over tights; oh the possibilities.  Thanks to Threadbanger and Brooksie of Haute Stew for this awesome refashion tutorial! I’ll post pictures of mine once I have it finished; if you make one comment and let me know how it turns out.

Refashioned T-Shirt Gauchos Tutorial

In Megan Nicolay’s newest book titled Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt she shows you how to make gauchos out of a tshirt on page 69. This is a photo tutorial to review this project. You can make these eco-friendly refashioned gauchos with just three t-shirts and a bit of your spare time. The length of time needed to complete these will be determined by your skill level and whether or not you choose to sew by hand or machine.

Here’s how DIY:

1. gather 3 tshirts (l or xl), chalk marker, ruler, scissors, pins, needle thread and Megan’s book.

2. Turn your shirts inside out and cut two of the shirts into 15″ wide rectangles that extend through the bottom seam.

3. lay all four pieces together and cut off the bottom seams.

4. separate into two pairs of rectangles and pin along one side of each to create the legs of the gauchos.

5. Lay the pinned legs together and draw a gentle arc on each side to form the crotch of the gauchos about a 1/4″ from the edge and extending about 2″ long. Cut along the chalk line to finish shaping legs.

6. Open the panels and place them design side together, matching the curved edges and lining up the seams. Pin and sew with at least a 1/4″ seam allowance.

7. Use the third shirt to cut 2″ wide tubes of fabric from the bottom, just above the seam to create the waistband ties.

8. pin to the tops of the pants with an even amount of fabric hanging off both sides of the pants and sew on.

9. Turn your pants inside right and rock out! To wear, start in the front or back and tie the first panel around your waist like an apron. Pull the other panel up and tie to overlap. Now go show everyone how awesome your new pants are.

If you don’t want to make these pants yourself, pick up a pair in my Etsy shop. If you don’t see the ones you want, just convo me with your measurements and color preferences I’ll make them to order.

I look like a doily (and I love it)!

As many of you who have read my previous articles no doubt know, I gave up purchasing new clothes and have committed to doing so for one year with my new friends at TGAAD. While I do still enjoy swapping clothes that no longer fit properly or are generally unflattering, I do try to hold on to my modest selection of clothes that I really love. This could be because they are extremely comfortable, make me look hot or have some sentimental value. I haven’t purchased any truly expensive clothes in years, so in the old days it is very likely that if I ruined a shirt with bleach or benzoyl peroxide (both of which happen with alarming regularity) I would have either relegated them to cleaning or workout clothes, donated them to Goodwill, or used them for trash. I certainly could refashion them into something else where the stains aren’t visible, but for this shirt, it was so comfortable, and the fit flattering, and worse… I had just bought it! In fact, it was one of my very last purchases of new clothes before I started TGAAD, so I was determined to keep it as is. I began thinking of ways to cover the stains that appeared on the neckline and on the front of my shirt. Apparently I was washing my face with my benzoyl peroxide cleaner again, even though I know I am not supposed to, and dripped some down the front of my shirt. grumble. I was not giving this shirt up to cleaning or working out, how could I fix it? I could make a patch, but it’s so light weight that it would likely ruin the drape. I could do applique, but the stain was in some pretty strange spots for attaching individual designs. Then, I go the idea… what if I just bleach it some more so that it looks like I totally did it on purpose?  Eureka! So, I looked up online how to do this, and then after reading a few other blogs cobbled together a few ideas and came up with the shirt you see above. I found a cool doily that my mom had just given me (well, I rummaged from her pile of donations destined for the Salvation Army actually) and I cut out some cardboard heart shapes to cover the stain on the neckline to match the doily. I then mixed a 50/50 solution of bleach and water, put it in an old spray bottle, and went to town. I think it turned out really cool, and you can really see the detail of the lace. It looks a little hippie and a little handmade, but you know what; I love it! So file this in your bag of tricks for the next time you accidentally destroy a perfectly good garment and lace it up!

DIY Sweater Boots Instructable

I adore this instructable so I had to post it. Grab yourself an old sweater and a pair of flats from the thrift store or a clothing swap and make some fashionable sweater boots.

Upcycled Sweater Boots – More DIY How To Projects

Rethinking the Cotton Round

Photo: Sproutzstore.blogspot.com

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the production of cotton uses a lot of water which is a valuable and dwindling resource. Shortages of fresh water worldwide lead to famine and starvation, war and terrorism, poverty and disease. In thinking about how I can do my part to help eliminate the unnecessary use of this precious resource globally I have been looking to reduce consumption of disposable products that I can replace with reuseable options. The first and easist switch for me was to stop purchasing new clothes and reuse fabric that I have available locally. Next, I began to investigate other household items that I could replace and while I was washing my face last night it dawned on me; cotton facial rounds! These little cotton pads are great for removing eye make-up and cleansing, but I use several of them each and every day. I thought,”surely, there must be some way to buy or make my own reuseable pads”. This morning I began to look for alternatives and was pleased to find that I can both buy and make my own easily and inexpensively. There are packs of Organic Reusable Cotton Face Rounds on Amazon and variety of homemade versions on Etsy like these cotton buds or facial scrubbies. There are literally hundreds in a variety of colors, textures and materials on etsy just type “facial cotton” into the search box and go. If you are of the DIY persuasion there are even patterns so that you can crochet your own and tutorials to tech you to reuse fabric you already have to sew a few. My takeaway from this is that I can keep pushing myself to reduce my consumption in ways that help my family and the world, with little inconvenience to our way of life. Each little change that I make helps and if we can each change a habit or two, perhaps we can begin to make some real change. So keep pushing new ideas and sharing them with everyone so that we can all walk the long road to reducing our impact and improving our way of life for everyone together.

Blown MTB Tube = New Wallet

bike innertube wallet – More DIY How To Projects

Love Your Swiffer Mop but Hate the Waste?

Ah, the new year. I enjoyed celebrating the coming of 2010 with friends and family in my home with lots of snacks and libations. Unfortunately I now have to begin the dreaded clean-up. Fortunately, I purchased my Swiffer Wet Jet many moons ago and use it weekly. I love my Swiffer because it is easy to use and I don’t have to fill or empty buckets of water and cleaning solution to use it for spills, etc. For a really thorough cleaning I still go with the old school brush and bucket method, but for a quick kitchen clean-up and those high traffic areas of wood floor in my home you can’t beat it. However, the refills are both expensive and wasteful. They don’t make compostable Wet Jet pads and they are made mostly of plastic, which means that they will be sitting in a landfill sometime for just about ever. On Instructables they have great tutorials on how to remove that pesky cap on top of the solution bottle so that you can refill it with your own inexpensive and environmentally-friendly cleaning solution like this one:

Lemony Eco-Friendly Floor Cleaner Recipe
1 gallon water
3/4 cups olive oil
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
1/2 cup lemon juice

or if you would still prefer to pay more to purchase floor cleaner, but choose one that is environmentally-friendly you can go with any of the products listed at the end. The second tutorial from Instructables shows you how to make your own Wet Jet replacement pads from recycled tshirts.  Finally, at the end there are links to the Wet Jet starter kit, if you haven’t yet purchased one, as well as links to green cleaning products that you can buy to refill the solution bottle.  Happy Cleaning!

How to remove the cap on a Swiffer Wet-Jet cleaner bottle. – More DIY How To Projects

Swiffer Mop Pad (a reusable one!) – More DIY How To Projects

Products to Buy:

Recycled Tshirt Bracelet from Instructables

Recycled T-shirt Bracelet – More DIY How To Projects

DIY Christmas Card Recycling

Every year I get and save my Christmas cards so that i can reuse them for packaging and tagging gifts. This year I found a handy gadget for quickly making tag-shaped tags here Uchida LV-SJCP74 Clever Lever Super Jumbo Craft Punch, Merchandise Tag and it’s arleady on it’s way to my home now. You can always do it the old-fashioned way (as I have for many years), but what can I say; I’m a sucker for gadgets that make my recycling easier. While I was surfing around looking for new and creative ways to recycle my old greeting cards I found this awesome tutorial for creating gift boxes out of old cards. This is perfect for gifting jewelry and other small items; I am sew doing these tongiht!

How to Make a Gift Box out of a Greeting Card

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

This is a great way to recycle old greeting cards and make little boxes for small gifts (or for storing small objects). This box is different from an origami box because it includes a top and a bottom. It requires only a few simple tools and supplies, and the result is charming and eco-friendly. Click any image to enlarge it.

Steps

1. Gather your supplies and tools, listed below.
2. Cut the card in half along the fold. The easiest way to make the top fit over the bottom is to make sure both halves of the card are the same size, so you may have to trim a little. You will use the colorful front of the card as the box lid.
3. Decide how tall you want your box to be. This may depend on the design on the front of the card, or on how big the item is that you want to enclose. This demonstration uses 1 inch (25mm) for the top, and 1 and 1/16 (27mm) for the bottom. Add a little to the measurement for the bottom, so the top will fit over it.
4. Draw a square in each corner of the top and bottom of the card, the size of your measurements. You can mark just the corners, making a square so you can see where to cut.
5. Score the card all the way along all four sides, using the squares to give you the distance from the edge.
6. Cut along the score line from the edge to the next, perpendicular score line in each corner, but do so for only one side of the square you drew. Leave one side of the box uncut to make a tab. Do this for all four corners of the card.
7. Fold the sides up, and fold the tabs in.
8. Glue each tab and paper clip it into place until it dries.
9. Repeat the marking and scoring for the other half of the box.
10. When your box is dry, place your gift or other small objects inside.

Tips

• It is important to add a little to the measurement for the bottom, so the top will fit over it.
• To score the card, take your dead pen or other instrument and draw along the ruler from edge to edge on the paper, pressing down hard enough to mark the paper but not hard enough to cut through.
• Alternate the way the tabs fold on the top and bottom, so they fit together a little better.
• If you have trouble getting glue to stick to the glossy surface of a greeting card, help it out with a little tape on the inside. Or use an emery board or small piece of fine sanding paper to very lightly rough up the paper to take the glue better.
• Greeting cards are available for all sorts of occasions. Use a greeting card that suits your occasion.
• Reuse is a great way to recycle.

Warnings

• Be careful with the compass, if you’re using an old metal version with a sharp point.
• Use scissors and other cutters with care.

Things You’ll Need

• a greeting card
• a ruler
• a pencil
• a pair of scissors
• something to “score” the card stock (the point of a compass, an old ballpoint pen that is out of ink works perfectly, as does the tine of a fork, a butter knife, or a small-gauge knitting needle)
• glue
• paper clips

Related wikiHows

• How to Make Placemats from Greeting Cards
• How to Fold a Paper Box
• How to Make a Greeting Card Envelope
• How to Make a Word Search Greeting Card

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Gift Box out of a Greeting Card. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.