Easy Elastic Waistband Darts

I have tall, skinny boys.  They’re built just like The Hubsters.  I can’t tell you how many busy Church/School mornings I have run downstairs to the sewing machine to hurry and take in a pair of pants.

Let me show you how fast and easy it can be. 

Keep in mind that this method can also be used on a regular waistband.

Crocky brought me these pants one morning and the waist was WAY too wide.  I was going to take them in using the method I used here, but I had pink thread on my serger.  That wasn’t going to work.

I made two darts in the waistband instead.  Find the center seam in the back of the pants.  Find the sides of the waistband.  You’re going to put your darts right in between the center seam and the side seam.  Like this:

See where the waistband puckers?  That’s where I sewed the darts.  Now do this to the other side, too.  You want them to match!  What is a dart?  Oh, silly me!  This is a dart:

See how I gradually sewed from the waistband to where the pockets would be?  Except these pants don’t have back pockets…

One dart…

…two darts!

…and this is what it should look like on the outside:

You can barely see those darts, and now your kid can keep his pants up!  That alteration took less than five minutes.  Awesome!

No Sew Loopy Scarf

This scarf is fun, fast, and easy to make!  What more could a girl ask for?

It’s cute, too!  :)

Start off with a tee shirt, scissors and some ribbon.

Cut off the hem, and cut the shirt (starting under the armpits) into one inch strips.

Give all those loops a good stretch, and you’re done!  (Oh, I made a red one, too…)

Layer them and embellish the scarf however you want.

With ribbon…

With a stretched strip of tee shirt tied in a bow…

Or with a fun fabric flower.

The possibilities are endless!  :)

Save That Sewing Table!!

I don’t have fandibulous tutorial for you today, but I do have an awesome tip!

Does your sewing table look like this from your scissors?

Obviously, mine does, but most of that isn’t from me.  I inherited this table from my Grandma, so those are her marks.  I {heart} those marks, but don’t want to add more.

So, to save the table, I use a mouse pad to protect it:

Oh, yes, I am a geek.  I love The Lord of the Rings!  :)

Anyway, there’s a fun tip for you today!

WIW

Sweet!! Get a cute new beach bag from Pick Your Plum for only 6.99!! I bought 2!

Since I haven’t posted anything for the past month, I decided to round up the few times I remember to snap a picture. These were the favorites. I did get dressed everyday, don’t worry…

Purple lace top from Gordman’s, white shirt from DownEast, Gray skirt from American Eagle, Brown purse from Target, I think, purple fishnet tights from Target, and brown boots from Totsy. Earrings that you can’t really see are from Pick Your Plum.

Mint Cardigan from Pick Your Plum, White lace top I made, white undershirt DownEast, Mustard pants gift from my SIL and sis. Zebra shoes from Target, lace footie socks from Pick Your Plum.

Pink tank top from Target, White shirt from somewhere? Maybe Walmart? Bead necklace can’t remember, Owl necklace from Amazon, funky turquoise necklace from Target, skinny pants from my SIL, and brown boots from Totsy (I love them!)

Pink scarf made like I showed you here, black shirt from Kohl’s, pink under shirt made, Straight leg jeans from Aeropostale, Teva flip flops from Amazon for my birthday. I love them!!

So there are some favorites.We’ll see if I do any better in April?

DIY Lap Swim/Triathlon Suit

Okay.  If I give you this tutorial, you have to promise not to judge me.  I know I am a cheapskate.  I also know that I am a clothing snob.  If it doesn’t fit the way I like it, then I tweak it to my liking. 

I guess if we’re still friends after the toddler underwear tutorial, then I’m probably pretty safe, eh?

Okay.  So, why would I make a lap swim/triathlon suit?  Because I can.  A friend and I are going to compete in our first triathlon this Summer.  We’re training hard and super excited.

But, really?  I know we’re exercising and no one is looking, but WHY do lap swim suits and triathlon suits have to be so unflattering?!

Lap swim suit:

Not unflattering if you have a figure like a Supermodel.  But me?  No way!  I also hate that it has no…ahem…bra in it.  Yes, I KNOW I’m just exercising, but still…

Next up, the triathlon suit:

Oh my.  No way; on so many levels.  Even if I had a Supermodel’s figure…no way!

Bathing suits are cute and can be flattering, but they just don’t hold up.  Not only that, but they don’t stay put, either.  There’s too much movement in lap swimming.

So, what is a girl to do?  Well, I don’t know what anyone else would do, but THIS fashion snob took matters into her own hands!

First off, I bought these outfits off the clearance rack at JCPenney:

In case you’re wondering; yes, that is what I look like when I’m wearing them!  :)  Ha ha ha!  I sure wish!

Anyway, I checked the fabric content, and both of these outfits had the same polyester/spandex ratio as a lap swim suit.

I first started with the tops.  They only had shelf bras in them, so I added cups!

Much better.  I just cut them off of a couple of bras I had that I never wore.  The shoulder straps didn’t fit right.  You could also use these:

For the bottoms, I cut them off into shorts.

I pinned them the length I wanted them, which was 14.5 inches up from the hem.

When you’re cutting shorts, it’s important to measure up from the hem.  The pants or capris have more fabric in the back to adequately cover your booty.  Moving on…

Measure…

…cut…

Check out this Self Healing Cutting Mat the Hubsters gave me for Christmas!Love it!  Love him!  Moving on…

Shorts cut?!

Fabulous!  Next, serge or zig-zag stitch the raw edges.

Hem the shorts and you’re done!

I know these shorts look super short, but really, they hit me mid-thigh.  Oh, and no.  I will not be modeling this suit for you! 

Not bad, eh?!

I did the same things to the yellow and black outfit.  I got all four pieces for $10.00 a piece.  That’s less than a lot of lap swim suits and way less than triathlon suits.  Not only did I get TWO for less than the price of the other suits, but they fit perfectly, they hold up great in all the chlorine, and they’re more flattering!  Score!

…you know…if Spandex can possibly be flattering…  ;)

Hopefully someone out there (other than me) will find this tutorial helpful!  :)

Birthdays!

Yep, I’ve been MIA for the last month. And it was nice. We had 4 close family member birthdays, Easter, several dinner parties (1 that I hosted), teaching preschool for a week, and a birthday party. It’s been a bit hectic. My little princes had a birthday, and wanted to do a Barbie butterfly popstar party, with purple, pink, and sparkly for the colors. Plus, she’s been really wanting a wedding dress for her and her Barbies. So, I’ve had a few projects in the works.

This dress is still a work in progress, but you can see her Barbie had a pretty dress too. I’ll figure out what to do and show you later.

So I got the main ideas for these dresses online. Belle was here, Ken jacket was here, wedding dress with train was here, wedding veil here, and the ball gown here. Poor ballerina, with only 1 foot.

Barbie even has a bouquet she can hold. Don’t worry, Ken is barefoot. I think he came with flip flops that have since been lost?

To prep for the party, I used a Cricut, with a brand new blade, to cut out bunches of purple & pink butterflies, and yellow stars. The dang thing ruined half of them! Argh, I get so frustrated with those machines! I hung those all up with fishing line and sticky tack on the ceiling.

We made flower balloons to hang up, but used push pins to get those to stay in the ceiling.

I used streamers from the dollar store, and cut out some big stars and spray painted them with metallic paint for the other wall.

We bought dollar store fairy wings for all the girls, and the 2 boy cousins got SWAT helmets. Tricky planning with boys!

For party games, I printed a Barbie butterfly picture at Staples, and had them do an engineering print. I only did 18”x24”. Then we colored it.

I picked up some jewel stickers and some foam butterfly stickers while waiting for it to print at Staples, and they were blindfolded and had to stick a jewel on the wings.

We decorated these cardboard butterflies I got at Michaels, and some microphones. If there were more reading kids, we would’ve done some Karaoke.

My cute husband was the star. He painted all the kiddos faces when they came in. Butterflies and Star Wars (for the boys).

He also made the Barbie butterfly cake. Let’s pretend I have a nice pretty tray for it, mkay?

All in all, she had lots of fun! She got even more Barbies too. Maybe I’ll post more now? We’ll see….