Clothes – Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Happy Friday!

As part of the discussion on sewing for your style, I wanted to share this little t-shirt I finished a few months back. It’s neutral, it’s comfy, and the little sleeve buttons make it a little bit exciting. It fits all my “wearable” criteria, and I wear it all the time.

The pattern was simple: I had a t-shirt that I loved, a simple 3/4-sleeve tee with little button tabs at the end of each sleeve. It had seen years of constant wear and was on its way out of my wardrobe. But since it was such a favorite, it skipped the Goodwill pile, and I chopped it apart to create a new pattern.

I love using an existing article of clothing as my pattern, because I know that, if I sew it correctly, it will fit. And this little tee was no exception.

You can see here the best proof of its wearability: I packed it on my trip to San Francisco! Any handmade shirt that makes it into a suitcase is a winner, for sure.

The buttons… can you guess? They came from my stash of Aunt Jeanie’s buttons. That little green Stride Rite box is my go-to, and it sure didn’t fail me this time: I love these buttons. They’re thicker than a standard button, with a gold edge and an opalescent center. They’re perfect for classing up this plain gray tee.

And do you see that cover stitch around the neck? My serger is my favorite thing in the whole world.

The pattern’s all ready for my next attempt, and I think I’m going to strive for something closer to the original: stripes!

Have a great weekend!

July 31, 2009

fashion friday

rain falls, clouds open,
sun dries the earth, whispering,
“time for something new.”

black stripe shirt Lately I’ve been in a peculiarly fashion-conscious mood. While I like to think most of my outfits are fairly cute, they typically consist of jeans and either a Threadless tee or one of my handmade shirts. I think it’s an annual feeling that I share with the rest of the world: we’re going back to school! we want to look cute and slightly different from last year!

heart print t-shirt I’ve been digging through the fabric bins, finally bringing a few of my visions to life. I’ve lost the long sleeve to my favorite and vastly edited t-shirt pattern, which has slowed me down considerably. I plan on hacking through my thermals that I got on Jo-Ann’s clearance to make a few cute and cozy things for Cleveland winters, and I have some fuchsia jersey knit that I’m playing with… I’m hoping it will turn into a cute jumper-esque top.

These pictures are of shirts that I made during my spring break shirt-making frenzy, and hadn’t photographed until now. My wonderful brother has been taking loads of pictures, enough for me to decide which I look least goofy in (he typically gets me to make lots of faces, from big laughs to pure exasperation), and I can finally share them with you!

The first shirt was a recon, originally a large, overstretched, unflattering turtleneck… a 25-cent find at my favorite annual flea market. This is the before picture, although I had already severed the sleeves:

black stripe shirt before

I always cut the sleeves off as the first step in my reconstructed shirts, because as much as I dislike installing set-in sleeves, it makes the fitting process much easier. I sliced and trimmed and fixed the neck, tightened and shortened the sleeves, and made it fit. I love recons because you can re-use the bottom hem! My one regret is that I did not think to match the stripes of the sleeves with the body. They match with themselves, but not all the way across. (sigh)

The second shirt was made from scratch, and the pattern was built by tracing one of my favorite shirts that features a scoopneck and a raglan cap-sleeve. I used baby heart fabric (i always fall for baby/juvenile prints) and super-stretchy turquoise rib knit to make this cute, summery top.

Yesterday I reconstructed a men’s wool sweater to fit me wonderfully; I think it might be the coolest article of clothing I’ve made so far, and you can’t beat the $4 price tag for real wool! I’ll get pictures as soon as I can stand to wear it for more than a minute in this heat.

Another teaser – I’ve been doing lots of hair-thinking lately, and I’m debating whether or not I should get bangs… but along with this decision making came a brilliant idea for a super easy and wearable ribbon headband! (i’ve never been able to stand the pain of wearing a headband for more than a few minutes.) I’ll post the tutorial tomorrow.

have a wonderful weekend!