a day in the life

Hearts Aflutter

Our final DIY design project of the week in collaboration with Flaire Kids...yesterday's t-shirt is today's dress!  Today we have taken a short sleeved size 8/9 tee and turned it into a size 2/3 cap sleeve shift dress.  Taking a cue from the recent collections from Valentino, Gucci and St. Laurent we've also added a neck tie detail.  If you sew these projects are rather easy, after all, knit fabric is rather forgiving.  We've used a new tee here but this is also a great way to update a hand me down or put a new spin on a trip to a second hand shop.  A tee is typically less expensive than a dress so if you get the hang of it there is money to be saved and, guaranteed, no one else will be wearing anything like it!  We get dressed everyday, why shouldn't it be a bit of fun and an opportunity to be creative?

The DIY deets:

  • Carefully cut the sleeves off along armhole seam.  Cut on the sleeve side leaving the seam and seam allowance attached to the bodice of the dress...if you cut carefully along the seam the seam will likely naturally fold into the interior of the garment and will not be visible.
  • Try the garment on your child and use safety pins to determine how much you want to take the garment in on each side under the armhole. 
  • Measure how far you have pinned in from the edge of the garment on each side, if the measurements are the same, great, if not, average them to determine where you will place your new side seams (for instance if one side you've pinned in 1" from the side seam and on the other you have pinned at 1 1/4" you will use 1 1/8" as your measurement for the new side seam placement).  To complete the side seam mark this measurement at the armhole and just below and then mark a straight line to the existing side seam where it meets the hem stitching so that as you sew your new side seam, once you reach the hem you are no longer reducing the width of the garment.  This will give the new garment a slight a-line shape.
  • To sew the new side seam a serger will yield the quickest results but if using a sewing machine use a small zig zag stitch to sew your side seam...this stitch has natural give that will stretch a bit with the knit fabric.  To finish the seam we just repeat this zig zag stitch 1/4" into the seam allowance from the side seam.  Trim the excess fabric along this finishing stitch.
  •   Use a thin layer of stretchable fabric glue to now go back and secure the seam allowance along the new armholes/sleeve openings to the interior of the garment.

for the Littles:

  • Être Petite Tee (8/9 Tee turned into a 2/3 Dress)
  • similar DL1961 Denim Jacket
  • similar Sons + Daughters Matte Frost Sunglasses
  • Vintage 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon made into a Bow (our loops are approx 3 1/2" and our tails are approx 13", 1 1/2 yards needed for this length with some left over, to finish the ends cut at an angle and immediately apply a small bead of fabric glue along the edge, dry over night), similar Vintage Stripe Grosgrain Ribbon
  • Adidas Originals Campus 2 Sneaker

for the Girls:

for the rest of Us:

 

 

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