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!  :)

Trendy Tops-Cheapskate Style

Have you heard of Trendy Tops?  Have you seen the infomercials?  Are you tempted to buy them?

Don’t waste your money.  They’re so easy to make yourself!

Check out this tutorial for Belly Bands and make a few Trendy Tops of your own.

Just be sure you use a tight tee shirt or take the sides in on a bigger shirt.  If you make your Trendy Top shorter than the Belly Band, you should be able to get two tops from a tee shirt.  Just stitch the side seams together and hem the bottom.

Now your muffin top and backside are covered, AND it didn’t cost a thing!  Way to go!

Refashion Show

A long, long, long time ago, I organized a “Refashion Show” at my church.  I should have blogged about it before now…

…hanging my head in shame…

But, I’ll share what we did now and you can forgive me later!  :)

I picked up a bunch of stuff at a local thrift store, and I handed it to several ladies in my neighborhood. 

Here are the fun ways they refashioned them:

This was refashioned into a cute vest and a headband with a flower.  I do not know where the picture of the finished product went.  Sadness…

This awesome “grandma nightgown” still had the original tags on it:

I refashioned it into this fun skirt:

It’s cute AND comfy!  The tutorial will come later…

This silky “grandma-shirt” was refashioned into a cute skirt-purse!

…complete with pockets!

This GIGANTIC dress was refashioned into a “Mom and Me” dress set.

So, so cute!

This little boy’s dress shirt was refashioned into a toddler girl’s dress.

It looks lots cuter with a pink belt and white leggings….  I did this one, too.  I’ll post a tutorial on it later.

I don’t know where the before picture went for this one, but what started out as a pair of fuzzy, brown, toddler-sized pants ended up as a monster pillow!

Seriously.  How cute is that?!

A BIG THANK YOU to all the awesome ladies who participated in the challenge!  You have fabulous imaginations!

Clip-on Tie Repair

I have five boys and a lot of ties.

Zipper ties are great, but not durable.

Clip on ties hurt their chests. (we fixed that here, though!)

Real ties don't stay tied when you play with them.

My boys get bored in Church and play with their ties.

We have a lot of broken ties.

The solution?
Reshape them into a tie--sew them into place and loop them through the top with elastic!

They won't hurt their chest and last longer than a zipper tie.

If the elastic breaks, just replace it.  Easy peasy.

 

It looks just as good, especially if you can pull a face like this one. He was not happy to be wearing his Church clothes on a Tuesday. Poor guy!

WIWW

Okay today I don’t have an outfit so much to show you, but more accessories. I heart accessories. A girl can never have too many, right? Once upon a time, I got lots of crazy jewelry from my aunt. She found it at a yard sale. Bags and bags of clip on earrings, brooches, necklaces, you name it.

Well, I looked through that stash the other day, and found some stuff I thought was awesome, but not as is.

Look at those yellow earrings. Aren’t they fantastic? I decided to take them off their clip on back and put them on “real” earrings. Done. New piece of jewelry. See the pearl cluster and the purple leaf-y thing? Those were earrings. Missing their mates. They’re huge too, so that seems a little weird on someone’s ears. So the pearls became a ring glued onto a ring blank,  and the purple leaf thing became a brooch with a brooch pin glued on the back. Easy peasy. By the way, for some jewelry, I’ll use my hot glue gun. For others, I’ll use E-6000 glue. See that turquoise rectangle? It was a cuff link. I  don’t need those, and my husband doesn’t have any cuff shirts, so I broke off the cuff part and glued it onto a ring blank. (which was actually an old, flat ring that I got ears ago in the 25 cent machine). Finally, the arrow necklace was on a piece of black wire type stuff, which was all bent out of shape, so I took it off that and put it on a chain.

There you can see the backs of the rings. I love getting new jewelry, for free!! Oh, and the brooches that I’ve found, you can pin those onto a few necklaces and get a look like this:

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or pin them onto a scarf and make your own infinity scarf. Nice!

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Yay! Downton Abbey!! Hopefully I’ll finish the season finale today!! Maybe while refashioning some more jewelry… Have a good one!