A Royal Cardi...

 ok.. so really the broach is the only sort of royal thing about this cardi...

i made these for my girls Easter dresses and then changed my mind and they didn't wear them because the dresses i made ended up looking super overdone with the huge twirly skirt AND a ruffle-y cardi... even I know where to draw the line..

this is SUPER easy, hardly wastes any fabric and honestly, i think i need one in my size!

you will need a Super cheap long sleeved T shirt

{i am constantly hoarding cheap Tees for a rainy day}

 Fold your Tee in half and chop off the bottom about half way down

{for me that was about 8 inches}

it should look like this..

line up your side  and shoulder seams...

...so you can cut out the front of your cardi,

 {i curved the bottom edge but you don't have to}

it should look like this

 for the sleeves...

chop off the seams

crop the sleeves i half also

{again i chopped about 8 inches}

cut those in half again {4 inch sleeve pieces}

 and then snip out the side seams and open them up... you will now sandwich those together and stitch the 2 sides together {my sleeves tapered a bit so i made sure i lined them up to match}

next slip the new sleeve onto the old one upside down with right sides together...

 they will not fit but that is what you want, make sure you line up the side seams and then you just stretch the old sleeve to fit the new one..

after it is attached pull on it and it will sort of ruffle..

now for the neck ruffle!

take your 8 inch chunk from the bottom of your Tee and chop it into two 4 inch wide strips and stitch them together at the ends to make one L O N G 4 inch wide strip...

now Ruffle that sucker by setting your machine to the longest stitch length and running that stitch right down the center of your strip... then pulling gently on the bobbin thread to gather the fabric

pin it to the neck line of your cardi adjusting your gathers to fit and then stitch it on with a small zig-zag stitch... unpick your gathering stitch {or if your thread matches and no one will see it, don't!}

all done! super fancy!

 add a big cute button or a fancy broach and make it a Royal cardi!

~selina

ps... are you a Refashionista too? join the club over at Cotton and Curls!

OH, a little bit of Ditz for ya... my big oops

i meant to make a cute vest.. and ended up making scrap fabric instead

i was SUPPOSED to cut out the front of the Tee... not the front and back

DOOFUS.

braided jersey necklace...

i know i KNOW... more jersey.. 

i cant help myself guys... yet another thing i am for sure addicted to

we guest posted again on Dollarstorecrafts.com

Heather made us another cute youtube video too

{we love her!}

you can check it out HERE

we really REALLY love ourselves some jersey... it just has so much potential in any form... i NEVER buy it at the fabric store though, i go to the Dollar Store and pick up every irregular tee that they have in the hugest sizes {sometimes i get nearly a yard of fabric for just a dollar!} or you could just steal one right out of your husbands closet.... ;) thats free ya know!

take a 5-6 inch chunk out of a mens t-shirt side seam to side seam

cut skinny strips  and stretch them out {put one aside to tie off}

split your strips into 2 sections and lay one a little on top of the other making a little loop like this... 

pull the ends of one side through the loop you made...

pull..

..into a knot

split your side sections in 2 and braid each one curving as you braid just a pinch..

use your extra strip to tie off your braids leaving some length to wrap around the knot...

chop off your ends so they are nice and even...

wrap up your ends..

all done! super quick project and you still have the rest of that shirt to play with!...

{i used my leftovers to embellish the shoulders of a cute top for my sister Elise}

you could even make a couple necklaces for your friends!

selina {sis#1}

mens t-shirt transformation...3.. or 25 or whatever...

lets be honest, i lost track of how many mens tee's I've ripped up and put back together... its one of my favorite projects to do cause most of the time it only takes a minute and jersey is SO magical... 

{no fraying= no hemming!}

i basically just skinnied up the sleeves and curved it in at the chest letting it flare at the bottom

 pretty simple..

if you want an awesome tutorial go HERE 

super-long-skinny-armed-drapey-top... in under 10 mins!

top made be me, necklaces made by me and i can't remember, Urban Behavior houndstooth pants, BCBG shoes

i just hit up the Simplicity pattern sale yesterday... 99 cents at Joanns right now {only today and tomorrow!!!} i NEVER buy patterns unless its a sale like this and then i become a pattern hoarder... its to the point now where i am searching for the few patterns that i don't already own... its not like i make all my clothes from scratch and i need all these freaking patterns... i just see pretty patterns at  ridiculous prices and i go weak and i simply have to have them all... not to mention all the thrifted vintage patterns that i hoard... {how can you pass up 50 cent patterns!}

 i am a JUNKIE. 

please tell me i am not alone in my obsessive behavior... do you hoard when the price is right?

~selina

NEW white pencil skirt from an OLD white turtleneck

 i have this great little  charcoal stretch cotton pencil skirt from Forever21 (where else) its totally fabulous and i am constantly wearing it.. has no zippers or buttons... so i thought, maybe i could make my own little army of stretchy cotton pencil skirts in every color.. i think i NEED  at least the basic colors... so i started with white...

 i found a super ugly white men's turtleneck straight out of the early 90's.... 

perfect.

 the perfect part is that those old school turtle necks were made with super thick stretch fabric, the kind you can't see through...

 so i cut off the neck from shoulder to shoulder and slipped it on upside down.

then i safety pinned it to fit exactly ( i made mine slightly high waisted so i needed to taper the waist quite a bit)

carefully take it off and stitch up the sides

try it on and make sure its the perfect fit and take it in as needed( i had to do this twice)

do your hem last! (i learned this the hard way!)

TADA! 

Easiest skirt EVER {and possibly the cheapest!}

don't you need an army of these too?

~selina

fancy shoulders.... out of Dollar T's

we DIE for the dollar store! especially when they sell irregular tees!! i found these pretty green ones at my local Dollar Tree and just knew they were meant for greatness... well, fanciness at least.

i used the big light green one for my ruffles...  i cut straight across arm pit to arm pit..

then i straightened out the bottom edge...

and divided what was left into 3 equal pieces... ( i only use 2 of them)

the only change i made to the shirt was to trim or seam rip any finished edge because i like the raw edges best!

i then took my strips and ran a gathering stitch (the longest stitch on your machine) in the center of each loop... pull gently on the bobbin thread and ruffle your heart out... (this was an XL shirt so it made very ruffle-y circles)

pin your ruffle-y circles on the shoulders where you want them...

and stitch them down with a zig zag stitch

give your shirt some fancy shoulders and send us a pic!

~selina