T-Shirt Pants! And Also, Longer Pockets

Originally posted on A Frayed Knot Knits 12 September 2009

Today I made a total of 4 pairs of pants and a skirt for me, a skirt for Becky, and deepened the pockets on a couple of pairs of Kit’s shorts. (We will not discuss how long those shorts languished in my “to sew” pile before I got that done. Suffice it to say that I only vaguely remembered them when I found them during one of my studio clean-up days, and he didn’t remember them at all.) Here’s the stuff I made for me — I didn’t think to take pics of the skirt I made for Becky, and Kit’s wearing one pair of shorts and I’m not sure where the other one is, and besides, that’s so easy I probably wouldn’t even count it as a make on its own: just cut the bottom out of the existing pocket, cut a rectangle of muslin twice the length you want the new pocket, fold in half, sew up the sides, attach to bottom of existing pocket. Easy-peasy.

Okay, so the yoga pants-from-tshirt idea came from an article on Craft. However, I felt that the careful measurements and shaping were Not For Me (y’all know how I am), so I simplified. I simply cut the shape of the crotch seam where the armholes are, cut on the fold at either edge of the tee, then sewed the crotches, refolded the tee so the crotch seams are at the center point, and seamed up the inseam. I did add tops to these (except for the lighter blue pair, which were large enough that I did a drawstring waist) by sewing together sleeve pieces in a band and attaching them to the top. The tricky bit is to sew it right side to wrong side so that when you fold the band over, all the seaming is hidden. The coolest thing about these is that t-shirt material doesn’t ravel, so there’s no need to finish the edges. Sweet!

Now I’m off to pack for vacation. Just as a reminder, I won’t be posting much if at all while I’m away, but will continue to make and document every day, and will post a big digest of the week’s projects when I get back. Just so you know, it’s probably going to mostly be knitting, since that’s easy to pack and easy for me to work on without a lot of big machinery, like, say, a sewing machine. But I have some more big sewing projects, and also some cookie and treat making days, planned for when I get back. Oh, and my mom’s coming to visit later this month, so I’ll rope her into helping out, too!

Found It on the Internet Friday #9

Love, love, LOVE these skirts! The ease of a circle skirt without the bulk at the waistband/belly area (because really, who wants that?). So far I’ve made two, with two more cut out and ready to be sewn. This one is totally my favorite:

Clearly, this one make me feel fun and saucy.

I also have one that’s a little longer, made of the same solid red that’s the waistband on this one. The two to make are a purple raw silk and another print, this one with a black waistband. And I’m sure there will be more when those two are done…these are so easy to make and look great on. The one big change I made is that I didn’t bother with the buttonhole. Not because I was being innovative, but because I couldn’t find my buttonhole foot for either of my sewing machines. I’m not fond of sewing buttonholes by hand, so I tried the all-but-buttonholed skirt on and found that it looked great just twisted over (where the inside edge meets the top, bring the bottom sash end up over the top and just keep wrapping). Since that made the skirt even easier, I plan to keep doing them that way.

• Original idea found at Simple Simon & Co.
• Additional useful tutorials at Made, Ruffles and Roses, and Bored and Crafty

Found It on the Internet Friday #2

Something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

This will never be what it's supposed to be. Just not gonna happen.

I found this awesome tutorial for making ojami (japanese bean bags) a couple weeks ago and thought, “Hey, that does look like fun!” So I decided it would be this week’s FIotIF project. It looked simple enough, and really, it probably is. But when you’re too lazy to look up the instructions on your interwebby device and just trust to your somewhat dodgy memory, things can go — and in this case clearly have gone — awry.

Now that I’m looking at the instructions, I clearly skipped, oh, about 7 steps. And also just made up a bunch of stuff. So I’m thinking I’ll try this one again over the weekend, actually following the directions this time. And I think it’ll turn out great. Because again, awesome tutorial. It’s hardly their fault I’m too lazy to follow them.

From bench to boudoir

(ETA: This is the second of the three projects I mentioned in yesterday’s post.)

Inspiration

A few months ago I was flipping through a home dec magazine and came across a clever idea for a headboard. Since I was in the market for a headboard, I clipped it an added it to my idea wall. I decided the easiest way to get the look was to use a bench cushion. I kept my eyes open, but didn’t happen on anything suitable until a few weeks ago.

I was in IKEA, making my way to the one non-self-serve check-out that was open (I hate self-serve checkout. If I wanted to work in retail, I would. At the very least I should get a discount, since I’m doing the work of a checkout clerk they no longer have to pay. But I digress.) and there, right in the middle of a bunch of other completely unrelated stuff, was a single patio bench cushion. I figured it would be pretty cheap because, you know, IKEA. I was right: for $7.99 I finally had my headboard cushion.

The only thing was, it was covered it a very bright blue and purple striped fabric…definitely not something that would fit well in my lovely, tranquil boudoir. It’s pretty easy to recover a cushion, so I hit my fabric stash and came up with a great print that I bought last year on a business trip. Not only was it pretty, it coordinated beautifully with the fabrics I already had in the room and would serve as a great focal point — something the room had heretofore been lacking.

I didn’t have quite enough to cover the whole cushion, but I reasoned that there was one whole side of the cushion that would only be seen by the wall, so it didn’t really need to be covered. I also decided that since the cushion would get very little actual use (as opposed to if it were actually be used as a cushion), and since I was planning on using buttons to tuft it as in the original, I really only needed to tack down the edges.

Tufting accomplished with vintage buttons

I really love adding vintage touches to projects like this, so I dug into my button stash and came up with a bunch of buttons of different styles but similar sizes. I got the tufting done with minimal blood loss, and added on ties made from strips of the same fabric I used to make my curtains. Then I turned my attention to the “shelf” part of the project.

A close-up view of the tie

I really didn’t want to spend a lot of any money so I headed out to the garage where I found this perfectly sized, already finished piece of wood. Gotta love it when that happens. I originally thought to mount it perpendicular to the wall so it could serve as an actual shelf, but I didn’t want to spoil the look with brackets, and I didn’t have screws long enough to support it via holes drilled in the shelf, so I ended up just hanging it flat on the wall. I screwed a few small eye bolts across the bottom, and tied my cushion on.

Now I have a great, inexpensive headboard that also serves as a focal point for the room and — to my delight — a comfortable back and head rest when I’m sitting and reading in bed.

Works beautifully, dontcha think?