Underwear Complete!

Here is my underwear. I had some problems attaching the elastic. I think I need to get some woolly elastic to help with the stretch. Other than the elastic it fits quite well. Not perfect but definitely a good first attempt.

Cuttin' up some Underwear

I realized that the shirt was a little too small for my back piece. I realize that the T-shirt is a size Small and there is nothing about me that is small. After some deliberation, I decided to cut the back piece so that it over laps the side seam of the shirt. I'm not sure if this will change the stretch of the fabric thus rendering this test piece null and void. I don't want to use a different T-shirt since this T-shirt has the most similar stretch resiliency compared with my original piece.

I apologize for the bad picture, but when have any of my pictures been any good?

I have 4 pieces: Front, Back, Crotch, Crotch Lining



After cutting my pieces I realized that the red and white stripe pattern remind me of pirates. Does this mean I'm making pirate underwear?

Thinking about some Underwear

I've been really on a recycling kick and have been converting t-shirts in to grocery bags. But then there are some t-shirts that are just to stretchy to be a great grocery bag. They're nice to hold light things but for milk and watermelons they're out of the question. So now the quandary is what to do with all these t-shirts that I don't want to give to Good Will since they still have so much potential and they're basically free material.

And then I remembered coming across this site that was talking about making t-shirts into underwear. At the time I was thinking about up-cycling some t-shirts and of course trolling the Internet for ideas. I'm not sure if I wanted to make underwear at that time, but now is my time to make t-shirt underwear!!! MAWHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

I traced out a copy of my favorite pair of underwear. The elastic was coming off, but I really like the fit.

Here is the shirt I'm going to cut up to make underwear. It's not big enough to fit my butt, so I'll have to piece my underwear a little.

I hope everything turns out OK. I'm really excited!!

T-shirt Grocery Bags

I've convinced most of my friends to give me their unwanted clothes before it goes to Good Will. They say, "one man's trash, is another ones' treasure." My goal is to find free usable material to make other projects with. Anything I don't use will be back to it's original destination, Good Will.

What's nice is that there is always an endless supply of T-shirts. I've yet to do any T-shirt surgery and make them into cute tops. What I have been doing is making them into Grocery Bags. I've made quite a few at this point and have been giving them away.


This is my first T-shirt conversion. I got this shirt a few years ago and who can say no to Pokémon ???

Here's a T-shirt that I've cut the armholes and collar off. I just need to sew the bottom and create a gusset to finish this bag.

It makes me a little sad that a few months ago I donate a whole bunch of fun T-shirts to Good Will. I want them now!!!!

Another Apron

This apron ended up as a Birthday present to a close friend.


You might recognize the fabric from another apron I had sewn in May. This fabric was originally old curtains from my aunt. It's heavy and thick, great as an apron. Fun, easy, and quick. I might make this again.

Caring Gloves

Ever since Grip N' Flip started university, she's been too busy too visit or chat. But being an awesome cousin I decided to have a fun care package sent to her. I found some old sleeves and converted them into gloves for her. Even in our high tech, fast paced lives it's always fun to get snail mail.
I had one more pair but somehow I must have forgotten to take pictures.

Apron on the Fly

I had sewn an apron for Sailor Mercury's Bachelorette Party, as one of the prizes, back in May. I tried to do this on the fly with no pattern and just gut instincts. Well it seems that my gut instincts made the bust area too loose. I didn't want to fix it at first but with some comments from a few of my aunts they convinced me that laziness was not an option.



I'm pretty happy on how it turned out. With the new adjustments EVERYONE can look good in this apron even boys!! Thank you Fork for modeling this from me. I do have actual pictures of Fork in this apron but somehow I haven't gotten a hold of them. When I do I will definitely post it. And use it to ruin his manly reputation!!! Mahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahah

Stray Socks, I have so many

Recently these books were pointed out to me and I can't stop obsessing about them.

Stray Sock Sewing: Making one of a Kind Creatures from Socks
Stray Sock Sewing Too: More Super-Cute Sock Softies to Make & Love

It combines two of my interests making plushies and RRR (recycle, reduce, reuse). I've already flipped through the books and think I have an idea on how to approach. I'm not sure if I need to own these books, yet. I'm going to try to do one of the projects and if I think I need more guidance, as opposed to a general idea on approach, then I might consider purchasing the books.

Some people have said that they would buy new socks for these projects. In a sense, I understand where they're coming from. You're cuddling a plushie that used to be someones smelly sock. But on the other hand, that defeats the whole stray sock concept, right? Then again, my socks usually don't match, so do I really own any stray socks?

African Prints

Sailor Venus was in Togo and brought back this shirt. It's not flattering or stylish, but she loves the bold colors and fun print. I have on in blue/green. I look like . . . . I'll show you if you see me but it's not flattering.

She asked me what I could to make it less of potato sack on her body. At first I was going to add some darts or maybe pleating to make it flattering on her body. But the more I played with the shirt, the more I realized that a few darts would not really make a difference. I spent random moments just staring at this shirt trying to find its true potential. And in a fit of inspiration I decided to hack it up to make a cute top.




Can you puzzle the pieces of this shirt back to it's original form?

Spirograph Belt

A few months ago I had found a belt in the trash. Of course I took it home. I tried several different looks but this the one I finally settled on.


I'm really happy with the outcome.

Nerdy Art

I'm a pack rat. I have a hard time throwing things away. I always see potential in an object, I just need the proper time, motivation, or inspiration to follow through. I'm pretty sure all pack rats say that same line. But it also falls under waste. I don't want to feel like I'm wasting or creating excess trash for a landfill. So that is the excuse I have for rescuing this out of the rubbish bin at work last week.

It's a little roughed up in the center. Looks like something decorative used to be attached. I thought it would be fun to do something decorative to distract from the slight blemish. I wanted try string art in the center. It's simple and full of math type fun. I saw some fun and intricate patterns, but I thought I should keep it simple on my first attempt.

It's a rough draft of what I'm planning. I might take it all out and change the string color. I was thinking of adding black to the mix. I haven't really decided what I like best.

By the way, I apologize for the bad fuzzy pictures. I took it on my camera phone.

Tako Shirt

Even in the midst of all my draping I still have time for some fun projects. Here is a quick project that wasn't planned at all. I've been trying to convince Grip N Flip about the greatness of screen printing with freezer paper.

It was hard to find freezer paper in my area but finally the Wal-Mart (I know it's evil but I have my reasons for shopping there) closest to my house stocked it.

Up until recently Grip N Flip and I were screen printing with nylons & glue. Which is also a good method, but for a quick and dirty screen print method for a more impetuous crafting moments this is great.

I found this picture on deviantART by Vieje of a cute Tako (that's japanese for octopus). It had the clean lines and cute features I was looking for.



I had an old t-shirt that I wasn't using anymore. After screen printing the shirt we decided to cut it up to make it more Tako worthy.



Here's Grip N Flip wearing the Tako Shirt. And the black/white glove was something I made her randomly months ago. I think this was a great break from my draping projects. It's nice to not have to sit and think so hard on a project once in a while. Fun and random!!

Bill Skirt Finale . . Finally

So most of you might have already forgotten about the Bill Skirt. And so did I, until I found this picture of Grip N Flip in the Bill outfit in it's entirety.


There is the skirt you've seen several times already, I also made the long gloves. They came from an old shirt that my stepmom didn't want (recycle reduce reuse!!!). The short gloves came from Hot Topic. And the piece de resistance is the shirt she screen printed herself of Bill's Face. I have some links of the tutorials we used on the right.

Strangely enough since she made this shirt Bill's band Tokio Hotel has gotten air play on MTV. I was very surreal to see them there when months before most people, me included, had never even heard of this German Band.

Apparently the main vocalist Bill and lead guitarist Tom are twins. At first I thought fraternal twins . . but no IDENTICAL. But Bill is so pretty how can they be identical twins you ask?? After careful consideration and observation the answer to that question is: dreadlocks are disgusting and dirty.

Miyavi Concert Outfit COMPLETED

IT'S FINISHED!!!!!
This is the whole outfit. That's a Miyavi Poster in the background.


The star cut outs were a pain but turned out pretty well. The sarong skirt is my favorite piece for this outfit. I lost love the fact that I was able to keep the pockets from the jacket intact. For accessories we used a glove I made for her Bill Skirt Outfit and a hot pink bracelet I found in Thailand. I bought one of the chains from Home Depot and the other one from Walmart in the craft accessory section.

Miyavi Concert Outfit

Miyavi is coming!! I'm so excited. And with Miyavi coming for a concert it means that Grip N Flip needs an outfit. This outfit is all her own design. I violently and vehemently rejected her first design thusly making complaints on her second design null and void. We're not even going to discuss why the first one that she designed was so reprehensible, it just offended all of my sensibilities.

There are three parts to her outfit. The first part is inspired by this sarong skirt by Refuse To Be Usual (I was afraid to post the picture in case there are some copyright infringement permission line the would be crossed). We made it a little shorter and not ALL the details are the same but that's why it's an inspiration. I actually took apart an old jacket that I didn't wear the make this. I was able to keep the pockets from the jacket. It took apart an old bag for the buckles and belt.














The skirt is mostly completed. I think the biggest challenge wasn't recreating the skirt but figuring out how much fabric I had available from the jacket. And living in fear that if I messed up I wouldn't have any fabric to replace the pieces. It made the process a lot more time consuming and premeditated cutting was necessary, as opposed to my "cut first, figure out later" methodology. I turned out better than I expected. I have it wrapped around a pillow for lack of a model.
















I still need to add a chain, but other than that this skirt is 98% complete.

I still have two more pieces to go. Lets hope that they won't be a pain in the bum.