Upcycled Sweater Dress Tutorial

Alright. So, I didn't take a before picture of this sweater. I know! So so so not cool. I cruised around the internet trying to find something comparable.

This is similar...

Source: Bonanza

Although you can see that the one above has a row of buttons on the front. And no hoodie. And, well, of course....it's brown.  Ok. This is as good as I could fine.  Moving on...

When I spotted it on the thrift store rack, it was love. I decided to make it into a dress for my wee girl. But I wasn't sure what to do about the big neckline which swamped her little shoulders.

Well, I started by taking it in on the sides and the sleeves all in one go. And also putting in a new seam along the shoulders from the neck to sleeve.  (First I turned it inside out and then pinned it where I wanted the new seams....and... let's hope I first tried it on her to see where I wanted the new seams to go....but I can't really remember.... I actually made this last year and when I finished it, it was too big on her and looked funny. I chalked it up to a Craft Fail. But then Zoe found it a few days ago, slipped it on and I realized it fit and looked good! Yay!)

So, I serged it from the sleeves to the hem and also from the neck to sleeves (is this making any sense?) and tried it on her. (I probably had to take it in a bit more on the sides....)

And then I pondered about that neckline. What to do...what to do?

Hmmmm, what about some darts? Yes. darts. I put one in each side. The Nordic design disguises them rather nicely, I think.

This looks a bit like the outline of a body at a murder scene. Poor sweater....

Can you see the new seam line and dart?

No clue what a dart is? Or maybe you're picturing some yellow foam Nerf darts and wondering how I put those into the sweater dress?  Well, let me help you out. Go check out this Dart Tutorial for more info.

This is a another pic of the new seam and dart, but from the inside.

And there you go. Ridiculously easy. 

A woman's sweater to little girl's sweater dress.  

Comfy.

Cozy.

And super cute. 

Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas...

...with a literary twist.

A Book Fairy
Ack! Could there be a cuter costume?
I think not.

 Awesome Giant Bookworm

Zombie Librarian  

More Zombie Librarian Fun

That is one clever chickadee.
Twilight Novel Costume

Another Twilight Novel Costume 

How about being a Ghost Writer?

Giant Pencil of Awesomeness

Alright. There you go. You don't have an excuse. Go on and get your costume together!

50 Cent Shirt Re-do

That's right. This shirt cost me a whoppin' 50 cents.

I bought it at one of my favorite stores, The Catholic Thrift Shoppe.  On the last weekend of the month they put all their clothes on sale for 50 cents.  Yes! It's Thrifty Heaven.  And originally I bought this shirt for fabric. I thought I could make some fun hair flowers with it.

But after I pulled it from my Massive Mountain of Thrifty Finds (someone should really stick a flag in that thing and claim it for their country.  Yeah, it's that big.) I got looking at it and decided I kind of liked it (I say kind of because usually I'm a boring solid colored shirt kind of girl).

Although it was much too big. But recently I'd read this chickadee's blog, Grosgrain Fabulous and she talked about her thrifty upcycled adventures. Wow. She does some amazing things.

So, I put the shirt on inside out and pinned it where I wanted it taken in on the side*.

Then I sewed up the sides and tried it on and then took the sides in some more and then repeated a few more times and...

Voila! A new shirt. For 50 cents.

I don't usually peruse the too-big-for-me aisles at the stores for good deals, but now I will. This opens up a whole new thrifty door for my wardrobe!

Hmmmm, it was fun trying to get a good picture of me in this shirt. I asked my sweet friend, Kathy, to snap some pics. And apparently I have a hard time appearing natural. And I don't know where to put my arms. And I kept talking or laughing as she snapped away. Oops.

Here we see my Wonder Woman pose...

And I think this is my "Hey. What's up, dude?" look....

And then lastly we have the "Woah there, buddy!" face which I'm directing at Kathy's cute boy as he rode a little car toward me.  Maybe he'd decided he could improve the picture by simply running me over.  

You know, he might have been right...

*Note to self: Use safety pins instead of regular pins next time. You will have a much easier time taking the shirt off. Yeah, nutso, maybe you should try to avoid making yourself bleed. Just a thought.