DIY Spiderman Dress!!!

DIY SpiderMan Dress from T-shirt.

Make a Spiderman Dress from an old T-shirt!

I've done a lot of these t-shirt dresses before. In fact, my mother made them for me as a child. Maybe you have some old t-shirts. Maybe you can't find a cute dress for your kid. Maybe there aren't a bunch of cute dresses that feature Spiderman. There are many reasons to sew a dress.

So, grab your t-shirt.

Use a piece of clothing, a shirt or dress
that fits the kiddo. Use pins, or draw outline
where you want to take in. Leave some room
for seam allowance.

Sew the side seams to the correct measurements.
(according to the markings you made
from the fitted piece)

 Use a ballpoint needle, and either a zig zag  stitch (or a stitch for knits) or a serger for these side seams and for most of the stitching. A straight stitch wont stretch and it will rip some seams.

Add some sparkles!!! Or not, whatever
you or your kiddo likes.

Use the other piece (skirt, or shorts)
to measure where you want the skirt to fall.

 I measured the skirt on the original dress. It was a bit larger than the hem of the shirt due to some gathers to add fullness to the skirt. If you need a real measurement, then use the hem measurement of the (cut and sewn) shirt, and add another 1" for the seam allowance. Or you can add more if you want some gathers. I used the same measurement of the shirt hem because I was planning on adding three gathered ruffles sewn to the underskirt.

Cut out your base fabric. I used a stiff double
knit as my base skirt. I sewed the ruffles onto
it. The ruffled fabric was too transparent
to go without a liner. Plus, I wanted
three layers of ruffles, not just one.

Now, I forgot to take a picture of my layout, and the making of the ruffled pieces. But, I cut about three times the length of the skirt, for the ruffled fabric. Then I gathered the ruffles to fit the measurement of the underskirt. I like to use an elastic thread in my bobbin (you have to hand wind it not use the bobbin winder on your machine) Then I have a long zig zag with a looser tension. Then, I pull the elastic thread by hand to fit the measurements. The fabric I had used (a very thin almost pantyhose like knit) wouldn't work well with my gathering foot. Then, I pinned my ruffle on to the skirt, and sewed it on (carefully). I also finished the ends of the ruffle pieces with my serger. I hadn't test washed this fabric so I wasn't sure it would hold up without a hem. 

Make sure to use the correct ballpoint needles, and the right stitch (either zig zag or serger) to make sure you have stretch in the finished garment. 

I used my serger to attach the
skirt to the shirt. But then I also added a
sparkly elastic over the seam. 

There's the goose, cute as can be in her Spiderman dress. As she tells me often,

"Spiderman is Peter Parker, and Peter Parker is a GOOD GUY."

Couldn't have said it better Kiddo.

, Rudy

Sewing up-cycling

I find a lot of my clothing off the rack just doesn't fit very well. Or after they get holes or stains or shrink I still try to work around the issues by "up-cycling" them into some thing new. Here are some of my repairs and re-workings.

This went from a nice pair of jeans, 

into a ripped up pair of jeans,

into a patched knees pair of jeans, 

into a pair of Bermuda shorts, 

and then into a pair of cut offs. 

Above shows the idea of using some old 

t-shirts and making some binding

 around the hem and the 

patch pockets.

I don't usually like the frayed edges on my jeans.

It becomes necessary to find a solution. Binding!!!

It fit in the store. But then I washed it.
This shirt sleeves were too short, and it was too short
as they always are on my long torso.
I usually figure they shrink after my first
wash, so I look for the larger size. However,
I couldn't find the larger size,
but figured, I could suffer with short
sleeves. Well, I couldn't. 

I opened up the faux henley button placket
and added two inches of ribbed knit from an
old tank top, to the sleeves and the hem. I added
a little insert to the neckline
to cover my bust. I re-attached
the sleeve tabs and sewed on white contrast buttons
to flank the insert at the neckline.

Same issues as before. The sleeves were too short
the shirt was too short after washing.
I didn't have any fabric or old
t-shirts that would have worked with this shirt.
So I went and found some very cute
printed jersey.

I love my dress-form. It's always nice to work on
a dress-form. Good old Sea-wolf.
I got one that was as close to my
actual measurements as possible
so I could sew for myself. 

Super cute printed jersey that matched
the color.

In progress

Draped on my dress form.

I changed out the body fabric to the
new print. Added the extra fabric on the hem.

And changed the short cap sleeves
to a flutter sleeve. 

So much stretching while
I was sewing. (I"m such a naughty girl)
Again, use a ball point needle.
Use the correct stitches for knits.
Or use a serger. 

Knit stay tape (water soluble) is a great thing.
On this project I couldn't make a longer sleeve
work. So I just make a flutter sleeve. It's not tight
on my bicep, or deltoid muscle, which is nice.
But even tho the sleeve is still short,
I don't mind it as much since
it's not so tight on my upper arm.

$3 shirt from Walmart Clearance.
Again, too tight on upper arms and too short.
I know, just buy a larger size Ruth!!!And yes, I usually do!!
However, they didn't have a larger size
available. And I loved the stripes.
$3 was ok with me.

Of course, even tho
I buy the large, they are too large in the
waist. I usually buy the large,
and then if it's too big in
waist (even tho it fits my bust and arms)
I'll just do a quick stitch down the sides
about 3/4" to take in.

So, I lengthened the sleeves
by unstitching the hem. And
added a small godet to the
side seams.

I hemmed the sleeves and hem
at only 1/4" instead of the 3/4"
that it came with. Lengthened it
a 1/2". I found a cute printed
fabric that matched the colors
perfectly. The stripes don't match up
on the right side, but they did on the
left!!! So, half success. 

Inside of shirt.
This shirt was pulling uncomfortably
in the bust.
So the side godet added a bit of room for
me to feel more comfortable.
It also loosened
the sleeve since they are usually too
tight on my arm. 

Inside of godet. 

Cute tank, with adorable embellishment.
However, I never wear tanks without
a cardigan since I burn so badly in the
sun. You never saw the hummingbird
when I did that! 

Just a comfy green t-shirt that matched
the hummingbird.

I thought I could re-use the embellishment
on a shirt I would wear more often.

I cut my t-shirt 1/2" below the arm.

When sewn, I noticed the embellishment
was at an add spot on the bust. 

Too low on the the bust. But since I didn't
want to change the armhole I decided to raise
the shirt by the shoulder seam.
And change the neckline.

New Neckline.

Tried to use old hem as neckline.

I used an elastic for the neck after all.
I made it a petal sleeve.

I like it!!!

Anyway, Cheers!!

Ruth

butterfly swim bandana for Goose

DIY UPF swim bandana, to cover those scalps from sunburn.

We spent most of our summer swimming.  My little Goose has blonde hair, and due to a few funny cowlicks, she has a little spot on her head that you see her scalp. During the summer I was over-worried that my kids would get sunburned. My son seems to tan, and not burn much. Granted, I make him wear a UPF sun-shirt, and sunscreen. Well as much as I can slather on him while he whines and flails. The same with Goose. She will sit still longer to let me put on sunscreen. While I will spray the sunscreen in Jed.I's hair, his hair is thick enough to shield his scalp.  Goose on the other hand I was worried about after I saw her scalp get pink. You may wonder why I'm so uptight about sunburns well this is why:

1. I have burned badly in the past. As a child, as a teen and as an adult. I don't tan. I have once tried to, and got a darker shade of pale. That's it. It was boring, the burns hurt, and I didn't see much difference. I burn, I peel, then I go back to being very pale. I gave up trying to look tan. And just went with protecting myself from burns (painful) and protecting myself from the sun. I have had family members with skin cancer. I have had certain growths removed. We'll see if they grow back. (here's hoping they are just basal cell carninoma and not anything worse) While I did start taking care of my skin earlier than many, (around 18 or so) I still go in the sun everyday, here in Texas, even with sunscreen I'll get damage. If my kids inherited my skin, I need to be careful

2. Sunburns hurt. Do you know what it's like to stay up all night with your sick child? Well, when kids get sunburned they get feverish, and are in pain. You'll stay up all night trying to console and heal your child, and there's nothing you can do but give them tylenol for the pain and rub aloe on them.  I'm trying to avoid a situation where they are in pain, I'm in pain, and everyone suffers. Same reason why I make them brush their teeth. I don't want them to endure the pain of toothaches, tooth abscesses, or root canal's at 5 years old. Yes, those things do happen to children, sometimes even with good dental care. They happened to me as a child. 

So, in order to avoid all those horrible things, while still enjoying the wonderful sun we have here in Texas. I made Goose a swim bandana. Now, any old bandana might have worked. But they usually fall off her head, and I wanted something that would stay on and keep her from getting burned. 

My sister-in-law had some swim headbands for her daughter with white blonde hair that was getting her scalp burned often. But since I couldn't find one available that I liked online, and the swim hats my daughter wore just came off instantly, I decided to make one.

Here were some I found online. (Nice, but not quite what I wanted to my Goose)

UPF Scalp Cover

Nammu Swim Hat

My daughter had borrowed a very cute swim headband from my sister-in-law that was pink with purple butterflies. Just so you know, Goose tells everyone that "Pink and purple are my favorite colors!!"  I had to make a sparkly purple one with butterflies she demanded. I went to Joanns, and they had bunches of swim fabric and she picked out the sparkliest.

Mystique Perfomance Knit in Eggplant at Joann

She even picked out some butterfly appliqués. 

Butterfly Appliqué's

Next came the arduous process of figuring out how to sew on super stretch knits.

Tips for super stretch knits.

1. Use a ballpoint needle

2. Use either tissue paper, or a tear away stabilizer to sandwich stretch knit between otherwise the sewing machine will somehow manage to eat the fabric getting it horribly stuck in the strike plate

3. If you can, use a serger! I finally (really after all these years????) looked in my serger manual and learned how to do a beautiful rolled edge (that stretched beautifully) with a three threads on my serger. It looks like a baby-lok edge and it's gorgeous! 

4. Try it out on sample fabric a lot!!!

In this case, I didn't iron on the butterfly appliqué's since it would have melted off the metallic foil finish ruining the fabric and my iron. So I sewed them on. I tried by hand and those are some stiff suckers, so I used my machine to do a tack stitch. Not the serger of course, but I sandwiched the butterfly and the fabric between some tissue paper and it worked pretty well. There was some knotting of the bobbin thread, but it was to be expected occasionally.

Here is my Goose modeling it for me:

This was my first draft. I didn't think I wanted a basic swim bandana in a triangle shape. But after seeing the little cowlick of scalp that wasn't covered by the one above. I made another in a basic triangle shape. It covered more of her scalp and still stays on pretty well.

Rolled hem from my serger.

On some knits an edge seam isn't as necessary. However, since this was a very stretchy knit, and was going to be stretched a lot on the head. A finished seam is very necessary, or it will start getting runs in them just like a pair of hose. Plus, the edges wont roll which you don't want in this project. Otherwise, it would just roll off the head. :(

Till next time,

Rudy