Break time!

Not a long one but I have a few projects going that are multi-step and therefore more time-consuming. I'm also finishing up the last book in my Emerald Seer series so I've been mighty busy. In the interim, look back over my projects, check out my etsy store and Pinterest boards, or comment on things you'd like to see me do!

Men's dress shirts to Steampunk-inspired skirt!

This is my favorite piece and I am not even 100% done with it! I wanted to put it up for Men's Dress Shirt Week, but I have a lot of embellishing left to do. This is just the bare bones of the skirt but I have only used men's dress shirts so far so I felt it was the perfect ending to this week.

Just a few of the details:


I added grommets to the back so the closure will lacing like this.

I also did a lot of tucking and gathering to give off the layered/bustled look.

I am going to add a lot more by way of embellishing but the base was made from three men's dress shirts (one is the green/white stripe and then I used two plain white ones.

Men's dress shirt to Children's apron

My kids love to bake with me.  It's something we do together often, actually.  That means we have several aprons in our house and I am always looking for cheap ways to make new ones since the kids are so rough on them.  So, when I started out on this Men's dress shirt upcycle I found a way to get two aprons out of the sleeves.  Smashing!  Of course, I had to raid some scraps for the waistband and I pulled pockets off the men's shirts and I am seriously thinking of embroidering or adding appliques to these to dress them up a bit, but the basic is just the sleeve of a men's dress shirt.

Men's dress shirt to Little Girl's Tutu

I've seen a lot of versions of little girl's tutus and I really think they are fun so here is one version though I hope to do more out of different fabrics in the coming months!

I started with the scraps from two white dress shirts and the checkered shirt I used yesterday.  I cut the scraps into strips and used part of one of the collars for the waistband.  It was really easy from there.  Since the collar already had a button and buttonhole it was perfect.  All I had to do was stitch the strips, one layer at a time, onto the collar.  It took less than fifteen minutes!

Men's Dress Shirt to Women's Dress

Day 3 of the Men's Dress Shirt Re-purpose Week here at Kharmic Chaos and I opted for a Women's dress.  Now, there are A LOT of options for this, but with the cute little checker pattern I just kept seeing a western inspired dress.  So that's what I did!

This is the shirt I started with and the initial cut I made.  I used most of this shirt for the dress so there are just a few scraps left to use for another project (maybe a bag to go with it?)  Anyway, I created this so that the buttons are in the back and gathered the entire "lower waist."  Then I attached a band of my trusty eyelet scrap (because I love it!!).  I apologize for not taking more pictures but this went so fast I sort of forgot!

So, once I had the lower waist and the waistband together (I didn't gather the eyelet at all), I added a button and button hole to the eyelet band so nothing would be amiss in the back.  Then, on to the top.  Since this shirt was pretty big on me, I lopped the arms and collar off leaving a boatneck styled neckline.  I enhanced this even more by doing a small gather at the shoulders.  Then, I attached the "bodice" to the waistline.  This dress does have an empire waist as a result.

Next, I added the sleeves.  To do this, I cut the sleeves at the half-way point to use the lower half of the sleeves only.  This made super cute short sleeves as you will see.  I still had to gather the upper portion of each sleeve to fit the armholes but the effect is really cute.  And, with the natural cuff now being the end of the sleeve it can be worn two ways, either down and button closed for a snug fit or unbuttoned and flipped up.  

Finally, I added a little eyelet pocket and finished the neckline.  It is SUPER cute all together:

And, here it is on:

This dress is for sale in my Etsy store!

Wine cozies & more from Men's Dress Shirt

These were easy and FUN.  There is no end to how I can make these up and I already have a ton of ideas so I am sure you will be seen more as the weeks wear on.  Anyway, I started with this shirt:

Since I have had a few questions about the shirt I used, this particular one is a Men's XL from Express but I got it from the thrift store for around $3.  It did have some damage around the collar as I noted before but other than that, pretty much a steal.  So, as noted before, I made these cuts:

For the wine cozies I just used the lower half of each sleeve (to make two cozies).  I stitched the bottom part closed leaving the cuff for the top of the cozy as you will see on the finished projects.   That's it.  I just stitched the bottom and then dressed them up.  Easy peasy.

I love the neck tie personally.....I have an old one from my Dad and used the end of it for this one.

This is one cozy done with ribbon in two different styles.  I think it could be cute with just the ribbon but again, I really like the neck tie.

Incidentally, there were some decent sized pieces left from the sleeves so I opted to throw a little something extra together using some more scraps of white eyelet and white ribbon....

I stitched closed one end of each sleeve section.  Wrong sides together, I stitched the two sections together, one inside the other and finished it off with white eyelet and white ribbon.  Then I added in a square on each side to hold magnets for the closure.  The last thing I tacked on was the white ribbon handle.  Voila!  Super cute little bag!

Girls' Sundress from Mens Dress Shirt

My daughter is VERY upset that I am selling this one on Etsy, but she really doesn't need anymore clothes, least of all more dresses.  *sigh*  I do intend to make more of these as this one turned out really cute!

I started out with this:

I made these cuts:

The sleeves I set aside for other projects.  The collar actually had a few tears and stains (I don't want to know where they came from, vampire?) so I discarded that portion.  I turned under a portion of the top (front and back) to make a casing for the elastic pieces I used:

Then I added the elastic and stitched it in place at both ends:

I raided my scrap fabrics for some white eyelet and created two cute straps and a small rosette.

It was that easy!  I did take in both sides a teeny bit under the arm so that it would fit a bit better but here is the finished product:

Mens Dress Shirt Week on Kharmic Chaos!

Starting tomorrow, I am posting several projects I have done using mens dress shirts.  

From wine sleeves to girls' sundresses to womens' skirts, there are tons of options when working with a mens dress shirt.  I collected a few from the local thrift store and settled down to upcycle/recycle/repurpose them.  Make sure you stop by over the next few days to see what I did!

Upcycle: Baggy old sweater to girls' skirt!

Remember this sweater project?

As I said then, I had two sweaters of the same style.  This one became this skirt:

And the other was a plain black sweater that was SUPER easy to turn into an adorable skirt for my daughter.  I made cuts in the same way as the argyle sweater above but I had to take hers in a bit on one of the side seams.  I kept the general cut in place but created a new side seam.  Then, I made a casing (as I did above) for the elastic, threaded it through, added a couple appliques as embellishments and voila!  

My daughter is super excited and looks just darling in this A-line skirt.  She picked the appliques so that helps but with a pair of leggings and a cute tee she is ready to roll for school tomorrow!  

Best part?  There are still sleeves and the very top left for me to work with!!

Crap I have to bake something delicious at the last minute cookies

I'm a baker.  I may have mentioned it before.  I've done elaborate cakes for people from a Risk board cookie cake to a SpongeBob Squarepants cake for my daughter.  I used to make football cookies for each of the NFL teams at least twice per year.  You get the idea.  I love to bake.  However, it has happened on occasion that I have been surprised with the need to bake something delicious at the last minute.  That's where these cookies come from.  Not only are they inexpensive to make, they are insanely easy and quick.  Here's what you need:

1 box cake mix (easy, right?)
2 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter

I'm NOT kidding.  It is that easy.  You can even get fancy and embellish if you like - chocolate chips, sprinkles, glaze - whatever strikes your fancy.

Directions - doesn't get much easier than this - mix all ingredients together in a bowl, drop by spoonful on a prepped cookie sheet (I use parchment paper to be exceptionally fast an easy) and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let them cool and you are good to go.  Here are some red velvet ones I whipped up tonight - don't ask why.

My son is not a cookie guy but he kept asking for more of these!

Button tree artwork

The kids saw some of the button pieces on Pinterest when we were seeking art project inspirations so I helped them make this:

They were rather easy and inexpensive to make actually.  I had a good number of buttons already in my collection but we filled in with deals in the bargain bins and a few splurges for the glitter buttons.  We used cheap canvases that we got on clearance - three 8X10s to be exact and covered them with scrapbook paper (I did that part with modge podge).

Using some cheap paints, I outlined the trees and helped the kids fill in the trunks and branches showing them some techniques I learned over the years.  We let them dry over night before attaching the buttons with wood glue.  The kids went to town with the buttons, placing them as they saw fit.  I added the quotes and we are still waiting for the picture of us to put on the middle canvas.  All in all, I am pretty pleased with how they came out and the kids absolutely love them.  They want to make more!

Broadening my horizons - crochet

I am loathe to admit it but I never learned to knit or crochet.  Yes, I am afraid it is true.   My mother knits some gorgeous scarves and I admit I have several of hers but I never took the time to learn myself.  Now that I am on Pinterest however, I keep seeing the most amazing crochet pieces.  But when I saw these, I realized I could not put it off any longer, I MUST learn to crochet:

Crochet Yoda, Crochet Moose Hat, and Crochet Game of Thrones Characters

That's what brought me to the yarn wall of my local craft store.  My awesome Mom had two random crochet hooks (sizes J & K) so she sent them to me along with an old "learn to crochet" booklet.   The book advised me to selected a medium 4 which I did - in a deep purple naturally.  My intent was to learn the basic stitches starting with the chain and slip stitches.  Between a youtube video (Naztazia - free video ) and my trusty booklet I learned the basic chain stitch and whipped up this:

I intend to make it into a wine cozy or mug warmer with a cute button and some embellishments.  I think I can whip up several of these and use them with complimentary fabrics to make some adorable - and handy - decorative pieces for gifts.  

I am on to new stitches and more complex options and I'll update as I go.  I'm hoping to teach myself a new stitch or trick each week or two and I will update as I go.

In the meantime, here are some handy little info pieces I found to be quite helpful.

Info on yarn weights

Crochet hook sizes

UPDATE!

Finished it up, perfect little wine cozy!!

Men's dress shirt to girls' Alice in Wonderland Dress

My daughter and I decided that we are going to an Alice in Wonderland tea this Saturday.  While I can easily slip into my Steampunk Mad Hatter outfit for the event, my daughter had nothing to wear. My kiddo decided she would like to be Alice so I had a few hours to whip up a dress for her.  No problem, right?  Well, it is admittedly not my best work but given my time constraints and the limited amount of time she will be wearing it the finished product is functional enough.

What I used:
1 men's dress shirt
Scraps of white eyelet from other projects


The shirt (a $3 find at the thrift store) started out looking like this:

It took me approximately 4 hours from the first snip to the finished product:

Again, it is not the best work have done, but with the time constraints it works.  There are dozens of ways to make over a dress shirt and I picked up a few cheap ones at the thrift store so over the coming weeks I will post some more options!

T-shirt Upcycle

I've seen this done a lot and really wanted to try it so here goes!

I used four t-shirts - one long-sleeved shirt and three short-sleeved shirts that are now too small for daughter.

One served as the base of the skirt by chopping off the very top (sleeves and collar) to make a tube.  I cut the screen-printed fronts off of the green shirts and put them aside for a quilt I intend to make later. The remainder I cut into strips - no ruler, no measuring, nothing but my scissors and my eyeballs!  Now, the fun part!  I stitched the first layer on in three parts like this:

It doesn't have to be perfect, that's the beauty of it.  Next, the second layer in a different color:

And another layer:

I added a few more layers until there was just enough room at the top to turn it over and create a casing for the elastic.  My daughter tried it on, twirled a time or two, jumped to make an imaginary basketball shot, and ran across the room.  Here it is: