Rocker T-Shirt Reconstruction

I absolutely LOVE doing t-shirt reconstructions! I'll never stop doing these, no matter how rich and famous I get, lol.  Here's my latest. 

I bought this t-shirt in Old Navy. I loved the words and guitar print combo, so cool! It wasn't particularly super big, it was just unflattering.

I decided to take it apart; the entire front, sleeves and all, from the entire back.

Then I cut it in this shape. I was intending to make a cowl neck line.

Here's the back shape. I used a self drafted pattern for this.

But then I thought "this is a rocker t-shirt, it needs a more dramatic transformation than just a cowl. I am a big fan of asymmetry so I looked in my leather stash and decided to add a patch on one side. I also folded the neckline into this asymmetrical shape and stitched it on the side.

Here's what it looks like from the back

My best air guitar! lol.

I really love the way it came out. Since I truly believe in the transformative power of clothes, it's a special piece that can be saved for times when I don't feel like a rock star. 

I'm always interested in knowing what you think and I read each and every comment.

Behind the Seams: My Sewing Space

Here's a little behind the scenes view of my crazy sewing space. Books on the shelf behind me vary; sewing, Puerto Rican history, art history, special needs mothering, and yes cookbooks. You know the cookbooks are my hubby's, not mine!   

Then you have my helmet hats on heads and bins of fabric and supplies, oh and I left my sewing lamp on for this picture, my bad. I wish it looked a little neater but it's controlled chaos, I know where everything is. 

By the way, I just finished this blue jumpsuit. I'll take pics soon and post about it. 

How is your sewing space looking these days? What's on your bookshelf?  

Sew and Tell: Colorblock Draped Dress #2

Color blocked Draped Dress

Two years ago, I started making these draped tank dresses and sold some of them in my shop. I decided to make another one but in a colorblock version. 

 I went through my stash and found these related colors; brown, grey, and striped light grey/rust. I thought they went well together. I sewed the three pieces together and cut the front of my self-drafted pattern on this. 

I decided to only color block the front and used the striped fabric for the back as you can see from the middle first photo on top. I also used the neck binding from t-shirts to bind the neck and arm holes. 

Stretching my super curly hair. It's getting really long, you just can't see the length when it's coiled up!  

I'm really happy with the way it came out and my older son's summer camp teacher's loved it so it's teacher approved! lol. 

Tell me what you think. Do you like draped styles? Colorblocking? What do you think of both combined? 

"Racial Profiling and Autism" -Autism Wonderland

I wasn't going to blog about the Trayvon  Martin case. I was too heart broken, I didn't have words. So many other people were blogging and turning to social media to vent, protest, have their voice heard and they were doing it so very eloquently, much more than I. One such person is Lisa Quinonez-Fontanez from Autism Wonderland. She wrote a blog post yesterday that expressed exactly what I felt and she related it to autism, something, frankly, I had not thought of. I have two kids on the spectrum and they are half Puerto Rican, so you can imagine my fears of raising them in this unpredictable world are a bit elevated right now. All I can do is trust in God. 

Anyway, I am a big believer that if someone else has expressed an idea wonderfully, there is no need for me to say the same thing. I am turning the mic over to her for this post, please click on over there, and comment.

Denim Dress Refashion

I am continuing with my denim theme here and showing you this denim dress refashion.

Our Aunt R gave me this denim dress to reconstruct. She knows I sew and that I like to remake stuff. I love it when family members think of me and throw clothes my way to see what I can do with them. It makes it a fun challenge and I always like to show them how I transformed their garment. 

Don't look at my knock knees! 

This is what I did with it: 1)cut off the sleeves and large part of the bottom, 2)cut it in half, and added a casing for elastic.

As you can see, I chopped it off too much and needed to add more fabric to the bottom later. I tend to be very impulsive when it comes to cutting. I need to do better. I don't measure, I just guesstimate, and then chop! And you saw my knobby knees, I can't afford to have my dresses too short!

It's still a little too short but I can definitely see myself wearing this on vacation, to run errands, or go to a casual dinner with hubby and the kids. Not to the park though, I tend to get on the monkey bars with my kids so it wouldn't be a pretty sight! lol.

Tutorial Tuesday: Denim Tote from Left Over Pockets

Hello and welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! I am continuing with my denim destashing and giving you this denim tote from random pockets I have been saving from hubby's worn out pants.

 Here are the pockets, four in total; two regular and two that have a fold-over flap.

I decided to attach the regular pockets to one of the fold-over flap pockets.

voila

I then opened up the other pant leg with the other fold-over flap pocket and sewed each side to the sides of the regular pockets. 

This forms a box with no top or bottom.

With extra denim lying around, I made a lining for the tote. I cut out two rectangles; one for the bottom and the other for the lining of the tote.  I sewed one all around the square-like form of the pockets.

Now, for the lining, in addition the rectangular bottom piece, I cut out the same shapes as the pockets from extra denim, sewed them together like I did the tote. It's like making another separate tote.

Then you attach the lining to the actual tote, right sides together. 

Make sure you leave a little extra space to turn inside out.

This is what it looks like turned inside out

How it looks when you put the lining inside. 

Now iron all around the top part of the tote. We'll start making the straps.

I used the leg of a pant for the straps about two inches wide. Fold each, the long way, stitch right sides together and then turn inside out. If your denim is too thick, I would just topstitch each strip with ends folded in.

This is what you get. Two strips for straps.

Determine placement and put the ends in between the lining and the tote.

Then topstitch all around.

This is what it looks like at this point. I wanted to add a little more interest though.

I still had the top part of some other pants I reconstructed earlier.

I cut two  bands from the tops of two different pants. I also cut the loops off.

This is what they looked like after I finished.

 I attached the bands together and sewed them to the top of the tote.

Voila again!

I love these shots! I had to take my "after" pictures with my kids in tow. Sumer camp had not yet started last week. 

Flexing my mommy muscle! lol. So glad my yard is enclosed and Dan can't run away while my oldest takes pics!

"yes, you can get your car from my tote!"

Thanks for reading!Tell me what you think.

Dashiki Refashion

Today I am collaborating with another amazing refashion blogger and sharing thoughts on this shirt reconstruction over at House of Estrela.  This blog has some amazing refashions so get on over there, explore,  and show some comment love.