Kitchen Towels Refashioned into Aprons

I picked up a couple of darling kitchen towels at World Market recently.

 

 

Naturally, I was compelled to refashion them into Retro Revival aprons!

 

 

Cherries and rick rack

 

 

And you all know about my obsession with flatware!  So how could I resist towels printed like this?!

 

 

 

 

If you peeked into our kitchen towel drawer, all you'd see is a stash of plain, white towels.  I use all of the cute ones I find for apron-making!

Men's Shirt Refashion Tutorial {Dress Sewn for $6}

I made this dress in a couple of hours for just $6.

 

Talk about a lucky score!  I found a stash of enormous men's dress shirts at the Salvation Army for $2 a piece.  I grabbed four of them in this pretty, robin's egg blue color, and another four in a soft, buttery yellow.

I normally repurpose men's shirts into aprons like these (click here for details in a prior blog post):

 

 

...But decided to give dress-making a go this time.

I started by taking one shirt and narrowed the sleeves and bodice:

I picked the pocket off of a second shirt...

...Then cut it in half, just below the arms:

I baste stitched along the cut line then pulled the threads to gather it:

Then stitched closed the button placket:

I pinned the gathered shirt to the first shirt and sewed them together.

 

I topped stitched the waist, where the bodice meets the skirt:

 

 

The dress was complete.  Until I tried it on and realized it was way too short (at 5' 10" this is a very common problem for me!).  So, I took a third shirt and cut several inches off the bottom...

...And pinned it underneath the hem of the dress.  Following the hemline of the dress, I top stitched the pieces together and stitched down the button placket of the third shirt.

Dog walking on a sunny spring day was the perfect excuse for donning my new dress.  Notice Twyla's collar corsage?  Click here for the blog post on how I made it.

 

Oh, and why wear just one pearl necklace when you can pile on 7?!

 

I love it when I can elicit a big eye roll from Captain Project!

Vintage Burlap Feedsack Pillow Covers

 

I found these vintage, burlap potato sacks a few years ago while thrifting in Florida and finally decided to turn them into Retro Revival pillow covers.

 

I used a vintage picnic tablecloth for the backs.

 

The printing is so vibrant.

 

 

And who doesn't love roses?!

 

 

I've listed them in my Etsy shop, hoping they'll make someone smile!

A Special Gift

I put together a little something special for my friend Diane's birthday.

 

 

I found this sweet little planter at the flea market.  It's very old, I'm guessing from the 1950's or 1960's.

 

I placed a white flocked bottle brush tree into the back side, tucked some glittery tulle at the base of the tree, and then loaded the tree with all sorts of bejeweled goodies.

 

See the porcelain birthday cake in her right hand?  Her thumb was broken off of her left hand so I remedied that by adding a gift charm to it.

 

 

On the very top of the tree, I glued a pearl-seeded earring; it's concave on the backside and molded to the tip of the tree perfectly.

Sprinkled all over the tree are little birthday-themed bits.

 

 And because Diane is a police officer, I added this...

...And Saint Michael.

 

She has the most darling face!

 

 

I got a real kick putting this together!  Don't you just love it when you can repurpose something old and broken into something new and special?!

Sew a Vintage Tablecloth Skirt

Have a vintage tablecloth laying dormant in a closet?  Do like I did and repurpose it into a summer skirt!

 

I trimmed off the edges of the tablecloth:

 

 

Then rounded the two corners of what would be the hem line:

 

 

Gathered the top, then using an old hospital sheet (Did you know you can find these at thrift shops for about a buck?!  They're great for sewing projects like this), I made a waist band and sandwiched it over the gathered top before sewing it together.

 

Then I sewed coordinating bias tape along the bottom edge, and walah!

 

Probably the prettiest skirt in my closet!