My Tee Shirt into Her Leggings

Last week a friend of mine posted on facebook a tutuorial on how to turn old adult size shirts into baby leggings.  The tutorial was by Made by Rae.  I had just cleaned out my closet of clothes I no longer wore.  The timing was perfect.  

Even though baby tights would not fit P who is now a 3T I thought I could make footless leggings for her instead.  In fact, during the summer I have a hard time finding shorter leggings that can be worn under dresses.  I'm rather paranoid about P running around sandy playgrounds with just undies.  I don't want sand up her "nunu" (as we call her private female part) and mostly I don't want strangers getting even the slightest glimpse of her "undercarriage".  The timing of this tutorial was just perfect all around.  

After reading the Made by Rae instructions I went back and thought about how to make these for a larger child.  First I took a pair of her current leggings and traced them.  Then I pulled out one of my favorite Splendid tees that's seen better days on me and had a bleach stain.  I plotted where the best placement for each half would be.  

In the Rae tutorial she has a fold on the outside of the leg but for a larger size that's not possible.  A seam was going to have to be present on both the interior and exterior of the legs.  I was also going to have to make the leggings 2-3" shorter than the leggings I used to draw my pattern/mold.  That was ok since I wanted shorter leggings anyway.  In fact, I used the bottom hem of the shirt as the bottom hem of the leggings so I wouldn't have to sew a clean edge. I actually loved the stitching used on the tee so it was even better as the bottom folded over hem of the leggings. 

Once I cut out the fabric pieces I sewed the exterior seam.  Then I sewed the middle and interior seams like Rae showed how.  The waist was next.  P's waist is 19" wide, so I cut the elastic band at 19.5" and then sewed it together with 1/2" overlap (just like Rae shows).  The problem is that according to my pattern I had 22" of fabric at the waist.  Instead of following the Rae instructions where I sewed the fabric right onto the band I decided to fold the fabric over an 1/8" and then fold again completely over the elastic band.  I sewed the fabric to itself with the band loosely inside.  This way the fabric wasn't going to be permanently bunched up in specific places and I'm not talented enough to gather it properly and evenly all around.   It worked and looked great.  

Finally, just for a little added detail I took two buttons from the shirt and sewed them on each leg.  I wanted 3 buttons on each side but P insisted that she only wanted one.  My "client" won out.  

 I can do details but I can't manage to line up seams!

This was such a great project. I didn't have to say good bye to my favorite tee. I got to turn it into leggings for P which makes them even cooler in a way. Thank you to Rachel and Rae for making this cool tutorial and for passing it on!!!

Vidia Costume

P has been asking me to make her a fairy costume for a while now.  I've never made any kind of tutus or this kind of costume so I was a little gun shy to try.   But since we had the long weekend I thought I'd go for it.  When we were in the fabric store I asked her who she wanted and she said Vidia.  Of course, one of the hardest ones. I used this picture as reference. And so the fairy adventure began.

My initial thought was to find flowy, sparkly, fabrics but Vidia's skirt is actually feathers so I got purple canvas instead.  I bought 1 yard, which turned out to be too much.  For a 3.5 year old with a 19" waist half a yard is plenty.  I probably could have had one or two more feathers to her costume but the seven I made were fine.  I also bought wide elastic waist band, 2 different tones of purple acrylic paint for porous surfaces (one lighter than the fabric and one darker), one puffy purple fabric paint, and purple thread to match.  I eventually bought 1/4 yard of a silky-type purple fabric to cover the waist band as well. My initial thought was to cover the entire waist band with the feathers. It started to look too cluttered with so many feathers so I needed to cover the white band with purple fabric.  

I started by drawing out my own feather pattern.  I measured one of P's ballet skirts and it was 19" long so I used the same length to make her feathers.  

After cutting them all out, I used the puffy paint to make a "vein" down the middle. That took 4 hours to dry so I came back to the project the following morning. 

 

The following morning I noticed that when the puffy paint dried it turned clear and sparkly.  I would have liked it to stay the same color in the bottle, but oh well. 

Next, I drew the wispies of two varying colors on all the feathers.  P helped but then got frustrated. She wanted to paint other kinds of patterns and I kept telling her she wasn't going to look like Vidia.  We did have fun for a while though and she did feel like she was part of the process so that was great.

Me sporting a great morning look.

I bought the least expensive acrylic paint. It was the JoAnn Fabric brand for 52 cents.  I did have to put on 2-3 coats (I did not wait the recommended 1 hr before reapplying) and it finally started showing up instead of vanashing when dry.  Overall the cheap stuff worked great.  

When the paint dried. I frayed the edges and cut small slits up each side of the feather to give them a more realistic feel.  The feathers, the hard part, was finished.  Next the waist band. 

This next step reminded me of when I use to make scrunchies in the late 80's. P's waist is 19" so I cut a piece of elastic waist band to 19.5".  Then I cut a piece of purple silky fabric wide enough to cover the elastic waist band plus some for folding over on each end to make a clean hem.  I sewed the two ends together making a hollow "hose" with the fabric to then insert the elastic band.  I made the mistake of initially cutting the silky fabric to 19", the same length of the elastic.  The silk has to be 2 times longer than the band so that when you stretch the band there's enough material to stretch with it. 

I sewed the two ends of the band together then sewed the purple silk fabric together, overlapping it and then sewing right through with the band.  

Finally I got to place the feathers on. I pinned them first for placement, then I sewed one straight line horizontally across the top of each feather. I sewed "with the grain" of the elastic band.  I was afraid that if I sewed too much on each feather the elastic would not stretch. 

So, the skirt is done. I could try to make her a vest like the one Vidia wears but instead I think I'll just get her a purple body suit.  She has leggings that will work but of course got them wet right before I finished sewing the feathers all on.  

Definitely not as hard as I expected.  Plus it was a lot of fun to do and P is over the moon that she looks like a fairy!!!! Yea!!!!

Halloween 2010

Another great Halloween!  I never liked this holiday until I had a child. The theme this year: bees. P was a bee, D was a bee keeper and I was a beehive.  D's and my costumes were from the Martha Stewart website.  P's costume was a take on the chicken she did last year. 

We started the day with belgian waffles and oranges, followed by a 3 hour hike/walk, long naps in the late afternoon then the neighborhood parade and at last trick or treating.  P traded in all her candy, but 8 pieces, for a remote controlled Pluto dog.  I thank my friend K every year for this brilliant idea!


Dave had a brilliant idea to this year!  He had me cut out a spiral in the stinger of P's costume so that he could could make it light up with flashing lights from within.  I groaned that it would be too much work but caved in when I saw the look of disappointment on his face.  He wanted to contribute to P's costume. How could I stand in the way?  I'm glad he suggested the idea because it turned out to be spectacular. It was literally brilliant as we walked around at night!  

These memories are just amazing to me.  It brings me such joy to sew P's costume every year. It's my childhood dream come true! 

A year ago....

This was P's costume last year. She loved that little cat she's holding.  It was the first toy she actually went after in a store.  She wouldn't let it go, so I had to buy it.  I figured if I made her look like her favorite cat she would want to wear her costume and I was right.  She LOVED it!  Ironically, someone stole her cat that night.

I started sewing when I was round 11.  Since then I've dreamt of making my children's costumes.    I was in tears sewing P's first costume.  I was so happy, as I was again this year.  These are the things that make me extremely happy.

Happy Halloween 2009

P is a chicken this year and hubby and I are cheeeken faaamers.  She's still in love with chickens after chicken sitting the neighbor's over the summer.  


I did a Martha Stewart costume. It turned out great. She loved it and wanted to wear it all the time. I was blown away by her coordination when walking in her "chicken feet".  They were hand-washing gloves stuffed and stretched over her shoes.  My God the girl amazes me with her coordination constantly.


Tonight she ate candy. I don't like her to eat it but I'm also not such a nut that I wouldn't allow her to have any on this given night.  She had about 6 pieces.  Enough to give her a sugar rush that had her jumping over and onto the couch for a good hour.  


I am in love with my child.  Making her costume myself makes me feel so good and it's the realization of a dream I've had since I was a child.