Sweater Pillow {Tutorial}

Do you have a pile of sweaters that you love, but just don't wear anymore? Or maybe they have a small hole in an arm, or are getting too fuzzy...

Make them into pillow covers!

This tutorial is super fast, and let's you get a little more mileage out of those soft and beloved sweaters.

Materials:

Pillow or Pillow form

Sweater

Sewing Things

Lay your pillow on your sweater to make sure it will fit. You don't want the sweater to be too stretched over the top or it will get distorted.

Cut off the neck and sleeves. Then sew across the top, and down the sides to close the armholes. (I trimmed mine to a rectangle after taking this photo)

Insert your pillow and slip stitch the bottom closed, or use your sewing machine. If you want it to be more washable, you could even install a zipper or buttons, but I wasn't in the mood for that!

Soft, fuzzy, and beautiful.

{Tutorial} Workout Tank from Oversized Shirt

Does anyone else think it's unfair to get all psyched up for a good race, go to pick up your race packet, and find an unflattering, oversized shirt in your bag? Sure, they look great on the guys, and if they're just t-shirts, they fit okay. But a lot of races are going to tech shirts (yay!) and they are unisex fit. Translation.... good work out shirt that you can't wear because you're a small-framed girl and it fits like a potato sack.

 

Here's what these shirts usually look like on me...

(Yes...it's my tiniest human, so it's a little exaggerated. But you get the point.)

                                                

 

So I took it upon myself to turn this unwearable reminder of my super-fun race into something I COULD wear!

 

The phrase "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" doesn't mean much if you never wear the shirt. So I'm adding to my workout wardrobe with my race shirts... and making them fit.

 

 

 

Materials:

-Basic sewing skills

-Oversized t-shirt

-Racerback tank top for measurement

 

To begin, lay your good tank top over your shirt to see just how much you'll be removing. Yikes.

 

Using scissors, cut the arms off the shirt. No need to use a seam ripper, just cut them off.

 

Carefully cut, angling the armholes towards the neck. This will make a narrower shoulder.

 

Flip the shirt over to the back. Cut a semicircle from the shoulder to the bottom of the armhole. This will give you a racerback cut to your shirt. Try to preserve the sponsors if you can. It makes the shirt look like it came that way!

 

Turn your shirt inside out and pin down the sides, marking how much you should be taking off the width. If you like a loose fitting shirt you can skip this, but I like mine fitted.

 

Sew a seam up the line of your pins to take the shirt in. Try the shirt on before cutting off excess fabric.

 

To finish the armholes, simply roll the raw edge under and sew it down. These tech fabrics don't usually fray, so you can skip doing a complete rolled hem.

 

Throw on your NEW, nicely fitting workout shirt and hit the road!

 

I can finally show off my half-marathon shirt. It was an accomplishment...I want to wear it!

Skirt Re-Do

This skirt is old. I mean OOOOOOld. I've had it forever. It's been a good skirt, but it's tired, and stained, and I've outgrown it.

It was in my "toss" pile, but I decided to try and give it new life, at least for this summer.

So I made a skirt for Grayson!! I cut a few inches off the top, keeping the layers together, and leaving the bottom untouched so I didn't have to hem it.

I made a casing for 1" elastic by rolling the top down 1/4", then 1 1/4" and sewing across the top.

This redo took all of 10 minutes. The eyelet pattern is so cute.

And I was able to keep a lot of the pretty eyelet detail around the top as well.

One quick wash in some bleach...and we have a beautiful WHITE skirt!

No more dingy yellow-ish skirt.

She loves the freedom of skirts.

And she didn't care too much that it was white...dirt is fun whether you're wearing white or not.

Love Love Love this skirt on her. And it's extra special since it was mine too.