Life other than sewing & revamping...

I've been kind of busy since Hubby & I took over as Vice-President & Secretary/Treasurer of the Central IL Fox & Coon Hunters Association. His grandparents & family ran it for years & after we had our wedding out there in June, we were moved to step up & carry on their legacy. We held our 97th Annual Redneck Fun & Games (The Fox & Coon Chase) this last weekend & had a GREAT turnout so we were super busy! Been hitting thrift stores quite a bit lately while I've been out running errands & such. I had to organize the piles of clothes that filled my sewing room/office before I was buried alive. It was really starting to look like an episode of Hoarders! Slowly getting back to sewing now that I can see the floor & actually get to my sewing machine... 

Boy's button up shirt to Janeya's new dress

Before... Boy's button up shirt

After - Janeya's dress...

Here's the link to the tutorial I used for this one... Sorry, I'm getting lazy on tutorials...

button shirt to toddler dress recon

Tank top to dress revamp

I got this tank top at Ozzfest & in my younger, pre-40's, pre-4th child days, I used to wear it all the time! As you can see it was short then & 10 years ago, I was ok with that...

Now, not so much...

But the heavy metal lovin', 80's teenager, cool, rocker chic at heart in me could never throw it out, so it's been hanging in my closet, unworn for 5-7 years... Ok, what can I do with it to make it wearable again??? I found this 2X shirt/jacket type thing at the Thrift Store, of course. I LOVE plaid, I LOVE black & white, yep, I'll find a use for it... Figured I'd turn it into the skirt of a dress...

 Seam ripped the sleeves off, cut the cuffs off the sleeves. It had some pleats in the front, so I tried to cut below them so it wouldn't poof out too much...

Sewed the button up front down, cause we can't have that opening up & exposing my business... 

Put my machine on the longest straight stitch & set the tension as high as it would go to gather it around the waist... 

Pinned the side seams of the tank to the side seams of the skirt, pinned the front & back center, 4 pins total... 

I wanted to keep the 2 rows of stitching at the bottom of the tank showing, so I sewed it right side out. Started at the left side seam, stretched the tank top to the next pin, which was center front, used the stitches at the top of the squares to line up the bottom of the tank with the skirt. When I got to center front, I stretched the tank to the right side seam pin & continued doing that all the way around... 

Hmm? Not bad, but I think it could be better... 

I didn't do a very good job keeping my stitches off the white stitching of the tank. And it looks a little sloppy, so I thought I'd make a belt... 

Took the cuffs of the sleeves & buttoned them together, tried it on & of course, it wouldn't go around my waist... 

Cut the collar off the yoke of the collar (I guess that's what it's called) & cut the yoke off the back of the shirt. Until I had just the (yoke) bottom part of the collar where the top button & buttonhole is... 

Buttoned it to the cuffs & it was WAY too long... I measured where I wanted it to be on me & I needed it to be 36". I hate sewing buttonholes, I don't have a foot for it, my mom picked my sewing machine up for me at an auction for $15, I have no attachments whatsoever for it & did I mention that I hate doing buttonholes? Anyway... I folded the middle of the yoke (bottom of the collar) in the center & pinned it until it measured 18" when all fastened together, 18" X 2 = 36"... 

YAY! I finally came up with something to use the sleeve cuffs & collar for that I'm all the time cutting off thinking I'll use for something & never do. Much better, I think I love it! 

And the back... Sorry, did the best I could... 

Here's what I have left, might do a bias binding out of it & decorate the straps sometime or use it for something else since I LOVE black & white plaid! Any ideas? I'd love to hear your thoughts & suggestions... 

Janeya's Hello Kitty dress

Not a revamp, I caught this material on clearance & Janeya loves Hello Kitty, so Mommy had to make her a new dress...