sewing

DIY: sun bathing suit

Published on August 11, 2018August 11, 2018 by bellademuth

I am calling this a sun bathing suit because technically that is what it is. I don’t go in the water at the beach or the pool so I wanted to make a cute bathing suit to tan in!

Materials:

Polyester fabric
100% Polyester thread
Bathing suits or bralette that you own to use as a pattern

I couldn’t decide on the style of top I wanted so I decided to make two different styles.

Top Style #1

The first thing I did was stretch my fabric in both directions to see which side was stretchier. With the stretchier side, fold it in half so that when you pull the bathing suit on, it would stretch. (If that makes sense?)

Next, I laid out a Calvin Klein bra to be the pattern for top #1. I then traced it out on the fabric. At this point, the fabric is folded in half so when cut the pattern out, you will have two tops. This is correct. But then do it again, so you have four in total.

You will put the two sides together, right sides touching each other. Then sew along the edges, keeping a small section unsewed so you can flip the top outside in.

Do this again with the other two sets. Once you know have two tops, sew them together, right sides touching to make your complete top!

Top Style #2

For this style, I grabbed a bralette that I already owned and used the width to create the pattern.

Instead of creating two of each side, I created the pattern closed to the folded side. As you can see in the photo below, the top is folded over and the bottom will be sewn.

After sewing the bottoms of the top, I sewed the two tops together with the sides, having right sides facing each other.

After that, I took leftover fabric and created straps. I kind of cheated on the straps because I do not like making straps; so I took the left over fabric and just pulled it until they looked like straps, as you can see in the photo below. Once I finished that, I sewed the straps on.

Bottoms

I’m really into the high-leg bottoms right now so that is what I wanted to create! I have a one piece suit that has a high leg so I used that as the pattern to create my bottoms.

I made the bottoms similar to the first top. I created two patterns for the front, and two for the back. I sewed the two front together, leaving a little space to flip outside in. then did the same for the back. Once finished, I sewed the sides and bottom together, right sides touching.

And taaa-daaa, here is the finished product!

Disclaimer: I am self-taught. I look at pieces and get ideas on things to create then I basically create from how I think it should be done. So I am sure there are much easier or different ways to sew and do what I do, but this is how I do it 🙂

DIY: downsize/alter jean waist

Published on January 4, 2018May 29, 2018 by bellademuthLeave a comment

So I do this thing where I like something and its not even close to my size, but I buy it anyway because I like it and I think I can do something about the size, and I usually succeed, except for in the case of shoes, I just let myself suffer there.

Normally with pants, I just safety pin them because thats the easiest way to make them work BUT! today I decided to finally teach myself how to alter my jeans because its getting to the point of where most of my jeans are too big and I am losing safety pins.

So I am going to show you how I turned a pair of big & baggy jeans into a pair of fitting mom style jean (lazy style)!

Materials:

Jeans
Sewing machine
Sewing tools: scissors, thread, safety pins, pins.. ya know, the usual

Step 1:

Put the jeans on, gather the fabric to the point of how tight you want the jeans to be, then measure that with your tape measure. With that measurement, divide it by two because you are going to create two darts on the back of the jeans above the pockets. First I safety pinned the sections like so:

Step 2:

Then I flipped the jeans inside out and on each side, I moved the pin section to the side and create a dart then sewed along that line. I don’t know how to explain it so I’ll insert a pic:

Step 3:

Then I flipped them inside out again and put them on and voilà, they fit!

*Make sure that you are not altering them too much because then its gets to the point where the back will look weird & bunched up*

Step 4:

I didn’t stop there… I put the jeans on inside out and gathered how much fabric I wanted to take off to make them more fitting.

Step 5:

From there, I placed them inside out again and started lining pins along the inside based on the new fit I wanted.

Step 6:

I then used a straight stitch to sew along the pins… I did that twice because the jeans were pretty thick. Then cut off the excess so you don’t have fabric all bunched on the inside and there you have it!

I am currently trying to decide if I want to cut a hole/rip and if I decide to, be on the look out for a blog post! Until then, here are the jeans & enjoy!

DIY: ruffle crop top

Published on November 22, 2017May 30, 2018 by bellademuthLeave a comment

Here is how to make the ruffled trimmed crop top that everyone has been loving!

All you need is a WIFE BEATER, SCISSORS, and a SEWING MACHINE.

So take your wife beater tank top, and cut from the middle of the top how long you want the shirt to be. With the rest of the fabric, cut how long you want the arms to be.

Then take one of the pieces, and do a zig zag stitch along the top and the bottom. Then repeat for the other piece, then sew the arms on the top and there you have it!

As you can see, I made another one without the arms so you can make many different kinds and many different sizes!

DIY: pleated skirt & circle skirt

Published on November 22, 2017May 30, 2018 by bellademuthLeave a comment

Pleated Skirt

So my original plan was to create this skirt for a Velma costume, but I loved it so much, I made a part of my wardrobe.

Materials:

2 yards of fabric (to be safe)
Zipper
Tape measure
Fabric scissors

Step 1: Measure your waist then multiply by 3. Then add 2 extra inches for the seam allowance. Example: 26 (my waist) x 3 = 78 + 2 = 80. Measure out 80 inches of the fabric.

Step 2: Lay out the whole length of fabric, and take your tape measure and make a mark every 3 inches. 1,2,3,1,2,3. Pinch the fabric at every one and fold it over to the three, then pin it there.

Step 3: Sew down the top of the skirt. IF you want, you can sew a few inches of each pleat to keep the pleats in line.

Step 4: Create a waistband. Fold the fabric in half and sew close to the edge. Then sew the waist band to the pleated end of the skirt – place the fabrics, color/print side touching.

Step 5: Sew the raw edges of the bottom of the fabric, then sew the zipper on, then sew the rest of the ends together and you have a pleated skirt!

Circle Skirt

Okay so this skirt is unbelievably easy. (Its the same concept as the two piece skirt)

Materials:

1 yard of fabric
Zipper
Tape measure
Fabric scissors

Step 1: Measure your waist, or where you want the skirt to sit.

Step 2: Take the measurement, and divide it by two. Because you are going to fold the fabric in half. One half is the front and one half is the back. (26/2 = 13in)

Step 3: Eyeball where the middle is and measure half of your waist size, then make a mark where that is. So I would put my tape measure in the middle, measure 1-13 and make the mark.

Step 4: Then fold it over again so the two marks are touching then cut the shape of the skirt (diagonal). Once you have the skirt shape, touch the two printed sides to each other, then sew along the two diagonal cuts.

Step 5. Then sew the raw edges on the bottom to create a hem. Also, create a waistband (same as above). Then flip the skirt inside out, so print side is showing.

Step 6: Once that is done, cut a slit in the back center for the zipper and sew it on!

How I sew on a basic zipper:

So once I have cut a slit down the center of the back, or if Im using the edges on the side.. I open the zipper all the way, fold a nice clean edge of the fabric and simply pin the fabric to the zipper. Once I get towards the end of the zipper, I zip it up some so the zipper does not get in the way. Then I repeat for the other side. Super simple!

DIY: tie crop top

Published on November 15, 2017May 30, 2018 by bellademuth2 Comments

Ok so this is the easiest DIY EVER. I literally bought one yard of fabric, cut it in half (hamburger style) then I took that fabric and wrapped it around my chest and volià, you have a tie crop top! But okay after I did that I went back and modified it.

Imagine you have the strip of fabric laying down… fold it in half then kind of take your scissors and cut diagonally… I don’t have a photo of the fabric but here it is drawn up so you have an idea.

After I did that, I sewed the top and bottom raw edges. Then I just tied the top back on! Seriously so simple.

(Also, I made that skirt^ so be on the lookout for a post on the skirt :))

DIY: 2 piece skirt and top

Published on November 15, 2017May 30, 2018 by bellademuthLeave a comment

So I’m not a professional or anything like that. I am a normal girl who knows how to work a sewing machine and wants to make her own clothes. I don’t know how to make patterns (yet)(well, I’ve never tried) and I don’t know all the fundamentals of sewing. I see something that I like, I inspect the piece, I go buy some fabric and I attempt to make it. I make mistakes and I am sure there are probably much easier ways to make things but eh, I do it my way. So by doing it my way, I am going to show you how I made this two piece skirt and top!

Materials needed:

2 yards of fabric
Zipper
Tape measure
Fabric scissors
Thread
Pins

Steps:

1. Measure your waist. This is the smaller part of your stomach, above your hips. Or measure where you want the skirt to sit.
2. Fold the fabric in half, with the print side touching. With the folded side facing up, make a guess of where the center is and lay your tape measure along it. Measure from 1 inch to half of what your waist size is. (example: waist size: 27 so use 13.5 inches. I also gave myself some slack to work with so I would do that and you can always fold it over when you are putting the zipper on). Make a mark on where that is then fold it in half again but to the side, not up and down. The point of this is to create a front and back of the skirt. Once you have folded it. Cut the shape of the skirt so when you unfold it, it looks like a skirt. Here are some pics to help it make sense.

After I created my shape, I cut the waist part so there was an opening. Then I pined the two sides and did a straight stitch to create the skirt. Remember to do this with BOTH print sides touching each other so when you flip it inside, the stitches are the inside!
I then placed the skirt fabric and the, what will be the band fabric, facing each other and sewed to create a band!
Once I did that, I lined the zipper up to the back of the skirt to see how long it was and I cut a straight line down the back of the skirt. With the skirt being inside out, I folded the raw edges and sewed the zipper on.
From there, I was able to put the skirt on and I measured how long I wanted it to be. Then I took it off, cut it and sewed the raw edges and the skirt was finished!

My friend, Maggie asked me what the shirt was going to look like, and I didn’t even think about making a top! So I gathered some left over pieces and created this top. How I made this top is very similar to how I made my gingham top – which I will make a blog post on next. The only difference is that I added straps to this one. To make the straps, I cut two pieces of fabric then folded them in half – print sides touching then sewed close to the edge so I had room to flip the fabric inside out. I measure the length of the strap then sewed them on normally!

Again, I am not a professional. I am just learning and having fun with it so thanks for reading 🙂