Maternity Shirt to Fitted Tee Restyle

There are days when I'm sad that I'm done having babies, especially since the choice was made for me rather than really coming to it on my own. On the other hand I'm not horribly sad to be done with maternity clothes. Over the course I've my 5 pregnancies I've collected several tubs of maternity clothes and try as I might the past 18 months I haven't been able to sell them. Problem one is I have clothes I don't need.

Now I have found myself considerably thinner than when I got pregnant this last time, though not as skinny as I've been at previous points in my life, but this means most of the clothes in my closet do not fit. Enter problem two. Now I may have "99 problems", but a lack of ingenuity isn't one. This means we make like a hundred other pinterest users and turn to a t-shirt restyle. Heck, if they can turn a giant men's shirt into a cute top then I can do the same with a maternity tee. Right?

Obligatory before picture:

The goofier the before picture, the more impressive the after one.

I almost feel guilty adding to the t-shirt restyles out there. It's such a crazy simple process. Take in sides then embellished with scrap bits. Any craft monkey could do that. Yet, somehow seeing people actually go through the process is so interesting. Prepare to be impressed.

Layout shirt to be altered and lay a shirt that you like the cut of over it. 

Do as I say and not as I do; properly smooth everything out before cutting.

I hacked up both sides and continued along the arms even though my "pattern" shirt was cut a little differently in the sleeves.  Be sure to leave extra on the sides for a seam allowance. If you lay it down inside out you can cut and sew up the edges without having to flip it inside out to sew.

I took the scraps from the side and cut them with pinking shears to "ruffle" the edges. I cut the seam out and cut the hem and sleeve portion off and then sewed pairs of the strips together making two long strips. And then zigzagged one starting at the shoulder seam and running along the neckline.

See it really is a Large Old Navy maternity tee

I sewed a line up the middle of my "ruffle". When you hold the shirt up the ruffles fall forward so I did a second layer above it; repeating the process.

And tada:

See far more impressive after that before picture!

I love that it has such a nice length to it. I don't have to worry about the rear end flash when I stoop down. I'm now excited at the prospect of a "new" wardrobe and I'll be restyling a bunch more of my maternity clothes

How to Tuesday - Pony Bead Sun Catchers

I've finally had enough and turned on the air conditioning. The melting Alaskan girl has overpowered the cheapo girl. Since the air was running anyway I decided a little oven action couldn't hurt. I had recently heard that you can make crafts by melting pony beads in the oven. Sounds fun right?

We took out our little cake pans and loaded up our beads. I put them in the oven on 400° and cooked them for about 25 minutes, checking periodically. After melting I've decided I like the results when you place the beads on their sides rather then hole facing up. They melt smoother.

Toddler child's turned out better than mine becuase of the way most of his beads were on their sides.

They made a cracking sound as they cooled and they popped right out. My pans live to see another day! The edges were a little sharp in places, so I had to file them down a bit in those spots to smooth them out. I used the drill to make holes and ran some fishing line through.

Cool huh?

Toddler child wouldn't let me have his to take hanging pictures and insisted on sleeping with it.

I could see doing certain colors for holidays or using smaller pans to make a mobile or chime. I bet you might even be able to free form them on a cookie sheet.