Some Sewing

I sewed today. I have not touched my sewing machine or serger for at least 5 months so to me, it was a big deal. I finally decided to get back to it after the past few weeks of being unable to find tops for Claire at thrift stores and then going to Old Navy and being disappointed in either their selection or prices. I knew that I had quite a few knit tops that have been just waiting to be refashioned.

I took my favorite Old Navy shirt of Claire's (she is wearing it in the main blog picture above - that was last year on her birthday) and used it as a pattern. I didn't have to cut it up luckily, just looked at it and layed it out to cut around.It still fits her but is getting a tad short. It is a really simple design but in order to pull it off, I need to learn how to do a rolled hem on my serger. I was super mad at myself when I found that I had everything I needed and it only took about 30 minutes to read through the manual and learn to set the machine for the rolled hem. Why did I not do it sooner!

I practiced on this weird, I don't know, puffin? knit fabric that I got from somewhere. That way I wouldn't waste my good fabric if it didn't turn out. It came out beautifully - just a tad short and once it was on her I decided the print wasn't too bad so I am keeping it.

Next, I tried it on my good fabric. A friend at church dug this aeropostale shirt out of the clothing mounds at the church rummage sale and knew I would like it for sewing (thanks Anita!)Well, that's what is left of it. I basically just cut off the bottom section. I made my pattern a little longer than the first time and voila! a new shirt for Claire. I must admit I am pretty proud of this one.
Not wanting to have too many shirts in the exact same pattern I went to the Old Navy website to see what other styles are out there right now and found this one. I then knew that this shirt had a new future. I bought it about 2 years ago for $1.I reused the ties for the shoulder straps and just used the fabric from the bottom portion like I did with the green striped shirt. I am very happy with this one too!

I still have a few more knits to transform. Shirt crisis averted!