Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

Let’s talk capes. No, not the Renaissance fair kind, but the stylish every day kind. Capes are just one of those things you either find really attractive/elegant or silly. I’m of the former group. I find them simple and beautiful (when done right). I’m going to walk you through a tutorial for making a really easy cape out of flannel. But before I do I want you to know, you can simplify this way down if you are looking for a fast project. You don’t need the pockets or collar if you don’t want them. I tend to go crazy if I don’t have pockets, so I had to add them. You also don’t need to line it. I wanted something that would be useful in DC’s weather, so I opted for a warm liner so I could get some use out of it.

Materials:

1.75 yards flannel

1.75 yards liner (I choose thick velvet-ish fabric)

Buttons

Some scrap vinyl

Tassels

1. Fold fabric in half, then half again

2. Cut circle with 29” radius

3. Cut circle with a 3” radius out of the middle for the neck hole

4. Open up the circle, cut a straight line, opening up the cape

5. Now we are going to make the pleats where the pockets go. If you don’t want pockets (or pleats, skip to step 11)

-Measure 20” in at the bottom edge, mark

-Measure 3” past the first mark, mark this spot

-Tuck the 3” portion back on the underside so it points towards the opening

-Pin pleat along edge

6. Now we are going to cut the pleat open on the back side, about 13” in length. Roll this edge back once and stitch to finish.

8. Using the scraps from around your larger circle, cut the pockets by tracing your hand.

9. Sew each pocket right in to your pleats. You’ll sew along the top edge of each side first, and then sew the pocket itself together.

10. Top stitch the pleat as follows:

11. Lay out your cape, cut a copy out of the lining fabric.

12. Using the rest of the scraps from your big circle, cut a collar. I just used as much as I could, I didn’t measure or anything.  Sew pieces together, leaving bottom arc open. Then turn right-side-out, press and top stitch

13. Sew collar to right side of cape (1/4” seam). Then sew lining to the cap (1/2”), leaving an opening on the front straight part so you can turn it right side out.

14. Turn cape, press, finish opening. Now you can top stitch.

15. Now mark and add buttons to the front. I chose to have the buttons face inward so you wouldn’t see them

16. Put on the cap, mark where you want you “arm” to be defined. Stitch multiple times here, about ½” up.

17. Add tassels.

Done!!

Let’s talk a minute about the boyfriend, Vlad. He’s tall, handsome and has excellent taste in clothing both in regards to quality and style. Needless to say, he’s a catch. And so is his wardrobe, or should I say his old wardrobe. Thankfully he has kept most of his old clothes that don’t fit him at his parents house (not to far from where we live). So on a recent trip over to grab so yummy yummy Haitian food, we raided his “childhood” closet. I grabbed the awesome Polo pants with a great brown herringbone pattern. They were to short and small for him anymore, but they fit my (natural) waist perfectly. So I thought, why not a pencil skirt?!

So here’s the tutorial for turning men’s slacks into a pencil skirt:

1. Disassemble.

1a. For this, I took out the pant leg seams, both inside and out. On the inseam, take out the stitch up until the seam is straight vertically (in the butt and crotch areas)

1b. I took out the front seam at the waist band (because front pleats to not look good on high waist skirts.

1c. I took out the side pockets completely. Men’s pockets are huge! This is great for them, but seems to visually pack on pounds on women.

2. Fix the Center seam

2a. You are going to fix the center seam on the front and back the same. So, what you do is pick a leg, we’ll say the right side. Continue the vertical seam from step 1a until you reach the inseam. Add seam allowance (0.5”) and trim excess.

2b. Repeat for left leg. Then stitch together

2c. I surged the seams, but if you don’t have a surger, finish how ever you’d like.

3. While the skirt is inside-out, pin the front and back together. Use chalk to mark out your new side seams. Mark 3” from the bottom

4. Before you sew the sides together, mark and cut your hemline, leaving enough room for a 1” fold

5. On the side seam, mark 3” from bottom hem

6. Sew sides down till 3” mark. Back stitch here

7. Tuck top raw edge into waist band

8. Top stitch (very close to the edge) your waist band shut

9. Like I said before, I use a surger, if you don’t you are going to need to finish this off another way. What I did was finish all the inner seams and the bottom with the surger.

10. Then I folded the opening at the bottom like so, and stitched:

11. Fold bottom up 1” and hem.

Done!

Obviously I love my accessories. So much so I’ve made displays for them. But what to do with my scarves and belts? Bingo! A basket.

But there’s a hitch…. Wicker baskets like this, although lovely, tend to snag delicate scarves. And we can’t have that. So here’s a super fast no sew/no glue tutorial for a basket make over.

You’ll need:

-Basket

-Pillow Case

-Safety Pins

-Ribbon (I used the kind that comes around blankets from the store. I like it because it has velcro)

1. Cut open the pillow case along the bottom edge.

2.Put the pillow case inside your basket, leaving equal amount of excess on either side

3. Tuck and pin the corners so the final edge is about 2″ below the rim

4. Wrap your ribbon around the basket to cover up any safety pins. Pin together in the back

Done! So fast. And your scarves will thank you

The Brightest necklace ever! Also, an amazing scrap-buster!

So this is very similar to my white jersey/t-shirt necklace. But I made it out of quilter’s fabric instead. I wanted something really bright and fun for summer, but that I could also wear through out the fall. I still had left over strips of fabric from making Kellie’s quilt years ago, so I pulled out all the oranges and yellows. I ended up with about 10 different fabrics. Here’s how I did it:

1. Cut 12 strips 2” by 30”. If you don’t have a continuous 30”, you can piece together strips like I did. You won’t be able to see the seams when you’re done. I used 6 different fabrics for this step and cut 2 strips of each.
2. Separate your strips into groups of 2. I recommend not having the same fabric for both pieces in a group. It makes it more whimsical looking if different fabrics are matched up.
3. Sew your pairs together along the long edges using 1/4” seam allowance. This will create fabric tubes
4. Turn the tubes right-side out



5. You should have 6 tubes now. Pair them up again so you have 3 sets. Sew the pairs together at one end.
6. Twist the pairs. To do this, I usually put a safety pin in the end that is sewn together, and pin it to my ironing board. Then I can twist them together more easily.
7. Sew the other end of each pair together to prevent the twist from falling out.



8. Cut out 2 oval-ish shapes. ****I actually started with an oval and didn’t like it so I made 1 side straight.****
9. Sew the ovals together, leaving an opening about 1-1.5” wide.
10. Turn rightside out. Turn the edges at the opening in, so there is a finished edge.
11. Put the 3 twisted pairs into one end of the oval, and sew to secure.
12. Put the other ends of the twisted pairs into the other end of the oval, sew to secure.
13. Making flowers
    
    1. For “ruffle flowers”
    2. Cut strips 2” wide by 15” long. You can make them narrower if you want shorter flowers. And cut the fabric shorter (less length) if you want less full flower.
    3. Fold the short end over about ½”, wrong sides together

    

    4. Fold the strip in half long ways, wrong sides together

    

    5. Make loose stitches down the whole length of the strip.

    

    6. Cinch the strip to create a ruffle

    

    7. Tie off the thread
    8. Wrap the ruffle around itself keeping the bottom (raw edge) even.

    

    9. Sew the bottom edge until you think it is secure.
    10. All Done!!

    

14. Secure the flowers to the oval portion of the necklace







I even made a red and orange one for my mom. Firey!