I've been watching what my daughter has been wearing to school the past week and realized that she has grown out of many of her school clothes. The weather has finally warmed up and the clothes she wore at the beginning of the school certainly don't fit now! I found one skirt and a couple of shirts on clearance today while out shopping and then came home to see what else I could do. We only have 5 more weeks of school, so I only want to fill in the gaps in her wardrobe, not make an entire wardrobe she'll grow out of before the end of summer!
I found this unlikely group of things:
From the left we have a white mock turtleneck my husband wasn't interested in anymore but that I kept for the knit fabric, the old valances that I made for my daughter's room when it was blue, that is a lot of nice quilting cotton so I kept those too. On the right, there is a jumper which I found in my daughter's closet. The top is too small for her to wear, but the bottom portion still fits. Here's what we have so far, after less than 3 hours of sewing:
The white top was made from the white mock turtleneck. I cut apart the turtleneck and used the fabric to make Simplicity 9362 (out of print), view H. 
This was also a good excuse to try out the new coverstitch machine! I only used it for the hems, which are not perfect, but it was still fun to experiment a bit with it.
The jumper was cut off at the middle and remaining bottom half was made into a simple elastic waist skirt. The jumper has seen better days anyway, so I think it will survive in this form for the remainder of the school year. I also included a ribbon tag at the back. I do this for all ambiguous elastic waist items - it makes figuring out the front from the back much easier. 
Parting Shot: The Blue Valances. So what of the blue valances? Well, here they are, having the hems and curtain rod channels ripped out so they can be cut into wide strips for a tiered skirt. Since the skirt is for my daughter, I thought she could help. She's having so much fun, can't you tell?
14 comments:
Brilliant! Yea, she's looks thrilled. :)
You're a genious!
So ingenious, Summerset. No wonder your daughter is excited :) Sounds like you too have been having fun over this!
The ultimate recycling - well done!
Summerset .- an interesting approach ..... uhmmm. ahh! very nice also mounting quilt. thanks. best wishes. Paco
I love the new polo. How creative! Can't wait to see the skirt from curtains - does she know about Scarlett? g
I love the new pieces from the old...I did quite a bit of that when my kids were younger too! Can't wait to see the new tiered skirt!
Ah yes, put her to work on the deconstruction while you do the construction!
My DD never picked up the sewing bug from me, but she's good at de-constructing, too!
Happy Mother's Day Summerset!
A really cool blog :)
I speak spanish, so I've been trying to figure out some words
hehehe
take care:)
I'll continue rwading you ^^
Sofi:)
tofi_14@hotmail.com
Clever fix! Looks like DD is having fun. Enjoy your mother's day with the family :)
The ribbon tag is very clever! A lot cheaper than those tags that say "Made by Mom" or the custom-made tags that have your name on them.
I'm impressed by your speed - 3 hours! I'm a very slow sewist. I think it would take me an hour just to figure out how to lay out the shirt pieces on that turtleneck.
Wow what a great job!!
great ideas!
BTW, have you ever considered selling your sequin buttons (keychains)? I'd love one, but have no time to make one.
Vivian, California
Great idea! This sewing activity served many purposes, not only making a new set of garments in no time! It recycled old garments, it provided the occasion for trying out your new coverstitch machine and everybody had lots of fun!
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