experimenting with sewing projects is fun and a little frustrating. haha. but this one turned out nicely! here’s my attempt to show you :)

pretty sure this is meant to be a dress…but it’s a shirt on me. there’s no waistband and i normally wear belts with it but i wanted to change it up. so i added a waistband with a casing!

*mark where you want the waistband on the dress (doesn’t have to be pretty since you are going to cover it up)…measure and add 1 inch for seam allowance.

* cut out your casing fabric to match the measurement. (i used the leftover fabric from the dress that i turned into a skirt)
* make sure the casing is wider than the elastic you are going to use (about 3/4 inch wider than the elastic).
* then measure your waist…add 1 inch for seam allowance and then cut elastic to match. (make sure it is snug enough but not too tight)

* fold over 1/4 inch on both sides of the casing and iron

* then fold over both edges 1/4 inch and iron. (make sure there is enough room for the elastic to ease its way through).
* sew the two ends together (right sides of fabric together) with 1/4 inch seam allowance (i didn’t do this part because i didn’t have enough fabric so i just hand stitched them together after i sewed them on) oops..lol.

* pin the casing to the marking you made on the dress.

* sew down one edge of the casing all the way around (really close to the edge) back stitching the beginning and end.
* and then sew down the other edge (really close to the edge) but leave about 2-3 inches open in order to put the elastic through.

* pin down one end of the elastic to the dress and attach a safety pin to the other.
* use the safety pin to pull the elastic through the whole casing!

* sew the elastic together. i overlapped 1/2 inch and did a square and x method or you can do several stitches of zigzag as well.
* (forgot to take a pic) but i sewed the remainder of the casing closed (back stitching at the beginning and end)..make sure you stretch out the casing fabric (since there is elastic in now) in order to sew the fabric without puckering (make sure you do not sew the elastic to the fabric!!!!).

yay! new shirt/dress. :) you can do this to anything…shirts, dresses, skirts, jackets…etc.

now i don’t have to wear a belt with this outfit. it has a permanent one!

peace and love
xox

i like to wear pajamas. all day. :) i even wear them to the grocery store. now, i’m talking about comfy pants and shirts…nothing crazy. :) anyways…i had these pants for the longest time and would wear it around the house but never out because they were too short for me to wear in public and be okay with it. a little picky i know. check it…

old (wrinkly…who irons pajamas??) and short pants.

busted out with some bias tape. this was already made but making your own bias tape is easy! maybe i can make that a tutorial some day. cut off about 5 inches of the pants and slapped this on…and bam!

new pants that i can wear out and not feel awkward. haha. if you don’t have bias tape you can just easily turn up the hem and sew the edges for a clean finish. super, super easy! since i am kinda tall i have had to do this to a lot of pants. :)

peace and love
xox

hello all!! wanted to share a little make over i did today. sooo i got this dress for uber cheap awhile back but never wore it because the top part didn’t fit me very well…lame.

sooo naturally i tried fixing it. i had a thought of putting some elastic banding around the top edges to make them more “supported”. hard to explain i guess. haha. anyways….i pretty much butchered it. don’t want to talk about it. lol. i loved the colors and tie dye so i couldn’t just quit…so i just cut the top part off!

chopped off the top.
took some jersey and made a waist band.
sewed one side to the waist band.
then folded the band and sewed the other side with a top stitch.
(forgot to take step by step pics) :(

now that i look at it…i probably should have ironed it….but oh well. it adds character. :)

got some crazy lighting but looks fun!

ready to go!

i heart wednesdays! spent the afternoon tie dying shirts with my girlfriends. good times. :) now off to youth. everyone have a blessed evening! don’t forget to check out my giveaway!!!

peace and love
xox

what a beautiful saturday!!! why am i not outside right now? oh yes, because i made a new necklace and wanted to share!!! one of my fav necklaces broke awhile back and never came around to fix it…until i saw this super super cute tutorial by One Pearl Button featured on Adventures in Dressmaking! aren’t blog swaps amazing. maybe i can do that someday!

i used some thick corduroy fabric i had and it turned out lovely! this tutorial is super easy to follow. everyone should check both Alli and Suzannah out! great blogs.

i can even wear it down the middle. gotta love versatility.

i heart my new necklace!

i heart saturdays too! awhile back i never had saturdays off. i don’t take them for granted. PLUS husband cooked us brunch today! (i do all the cooking…so this was a treat!) breakfast tacos with homemade salsa and fresh avocado. yummm. great start to the day! hope everyone enjoys their weekend!!!

peace and love
xox

new handbags are fun, especially if you make it. of course! i love jessica’s placemat clutch tutorial over at happy together. go check it out!! here’s one i made!

lovely vinyl placemat that only cost me $1 for 2 of them!

did some pinning…

did some measuring (i left 2 inches at the bottom)..some sewing…some turning inside out.

some cutting. i drew it out on the placemat and then cut one side.

then i just traced the first cut handle onto the other and cut that. super easy. :)

some sewing…you can’t see it but i used a bright blue stitching.

going for the “worn” look. ha.


glued some felt over some cardboard and glue it to the bottom. i would have used plastic canvas but i couldn’t find mine:( cardboard=next best thing.

some hand stitching…since i’m not eating sweets at the moment…this was hard. ahh a cupcake.


**what’s in my bag…

some good essentials. i’m thinking i want to add a pocket or two inside the bag. oooo fun!

oooh and i just found my new earrings i bought with my friend madison. must put on now. :) have a great day everyone!!! what’s in your bag????

peace and love
xox