School Sewing Projects

Well....let's see...my little girl is not so little anymore! <pout!> And as school is coming up soon (10 days at last count)....I have been trying to get my VERY hard to fit child some clothes put together for the school year.

At the beginning of the summer I expected this problem to arise...so I started hunting for tee shirts and material that could be used or repurposed for my daughter. I also began looking for ideas that I could use or adapt with my gathered materials.

What I have come up with is a combination of Twirly Dresses, Tunics and decorated Tee shirts. All using basically the same methods in different manners.

We call this one our Lady Bug shirt! I was only able to get 1 yard of this material...and really wasn't satisfied with any other fabrics...they just didn't coordinate like I wanted them too! So I ended up just making one gathered layer and cutting the teir of material a little longer. It ended up being a really cute tunic length shirt. I embellished the front with a reverse appliqued lady bug...and yes I know it looks like a watermelon...I just haven't found a good head for it yet!

Now this is a recycled pair of my husbands jeans!!! I have had a HUGE box full of jeans in the back of my husbands closet for the last 6 or 7 years....all too small for him...but he is gonna get back in them...at some point in the future. (Yeah right!) Anyways during a cleaning spree I come across this box and decide to repurpose some of these jeans for crafts! And much to my surprise they just nearly fit my little girl around her tummy! So me in my craftiness, cut off the legs, sewed a piece of elastic along the back waistline and added a nice little gathered strip of material...and you have a super cute skirt!

This is one of my favorites. Just an embellished tee shirt. I used the reverse Applique method with two layers of fabric, turquoise is an scrap of tee shirt material and pink is just cotton. I sewed my desired shape onto the tee shirt and then cut out the layers that I wanted to show the material underneath! Then I embellished with a little sparkle...gems glued all the way around the cross and "Grace" written with glitter paint!

This is called a handkerchief shirt if I am not mistaken! So simple really. You take two large squares of material (the pattern I found recommended 16"....I used 24" so that shirt would be a little longer). Cut you squares in half creating 4 large triangles. Hem the short sides and sew the long side around the base of your cropped tee shirt. Because I made mine bigger than I was supposed to it made a really neat looking layered effect in the back of the shirt. If I make another one like this I will put that layering towards the front of the shirt. I also embellished the front with small pieces of the bottom material with the reverse applique technique.

This is just one of my Twirly Girly dresses....I was gonna embellish the front of this tee shirt...but Tool Man likes things plain and asked me to make this "without all that stuff on her chest!" So I made her another shirt with all the stuff he didn't like!

A little bit of ruffles down the front of this tee with the leftover material from above dress and you have yourself a super cute shirt!

Now this is the last I have a picture of....I have another reverse applique tee shirt and another dress in a different style....but can't seem to find the pictures at this time! The black shirt turned out to be my favorite! I really wanted it to be a dress but didn't have enough material....black print is actually an Women's Plus size border skirt that I found at Goodwill for 99 cents! And I cut it up to make the tiers of this skirt.

I found the pics....and happend to find pics on reverse applique so that I can do a tutorial! Yeah me!

My version of the popular maxi dresses.

Butterfly reverse applique..torturial coming later today!

Just so you know...none of these outfits or tops cost more than a few dollars a piece. So of the material was given to me...the rest I picked up at garage sales and Goodwill over the course of 2 or 3 months. All of the tees were picked up at garage sales for a quarter a piece.

As to the rest of her wardrobe....we have lots of basic colored shorts and leggings. I did get her a new pair of shoes...and had budgeted in the cost of a new pair....however luck found me a pair of brand new Nike's at a garage sale for $3. The only things that I have actually had to go buy are her bras, panties and socks!

Now I am looking for Juniors Size 13/14 Jeans and Capri...because I found out by accident that size fits her in the waist and she will have pants to wear this winter! And the search goes on!

How do you save money on your kids clothes for school???

God Bless
Mama D