Friday, March 2, 2012

The Project is well under way...

We (and I do mean a very hearty WE, as my kids are totally getting in on the action) are having a BLAST with Project Free Wardrobe!!! I have a pile of partially finished projects (because really...who wants to change the sewing machine thread more than you have to?), and a few finished ones, and a whole lotta "to be something else" clothes sitting here.

First of all, I did this sweater the other day and successfully wore it in public (the dentist's office and grocery store didn't know what hit them, let me tell you).  Unfortunately, a bunch of my latest projects have no "before" pictures to go with them. I'm ashamed to admit that my daughter had to HIDE HER CAMERA from me while she went to school, since mine is broken and I kept stealing hers. Pitiful, I know. You'll just have to imagine the transformation that took place here.

This sweater started its life as a giant 3XLT men's henley sweater - it was even too big for my husband, who is a big guy. So, I sewed new seams, cutting out all the excess, along the sides and sleeves. I cut out the henley part and serged the new neckline. then I cut off the bottom couple inches, made a band to fit my hips, and sewed it back on.  The sweater:
It's totally not perfect, but it is very, very me - I'm a neutral kinda girl, what can I say?

This is what Project Free Wardrobe has done to my kitchen table:

Whoops. Sorry, family.

Remember how I said "WE" are getting excited about this project? Well, today my second oldest, age 8, decided to try her hand at a little sewing (Santa brought her a REAL sewing machine for Christmas this year). I seriously could not be more proud - her shirt turned out DARLING!!


 Cute little "pillowcase" shirt - she even added some lace to the bottom. Didn't that turn out cute??
Of course, now that we're trying to be a little less frumpy around here, we had to accessorize her. She tried out my first attempt at an infinity scarf (free fabric from my stash):

(P.S. - my 10 year old daughter took that photo - isn't that cute? She's already had some pretty successful shots using depth of field - mama is so proud).

We HAD to do a little refashioning, too, of course, so we picked out a giant shirt from the PILE on the table - this one was so big, it may have qualified as a tent in some countries - so I just sewed up the two sides, cutting off the sleeves and taking out about 1/2 the bulk - to make a cute skirt to go with it. 5 minute project - can't beat that.

The final product:

SO CUTE, right??! And so, so free!!

Stay tuned...there are lots more projects to show you soon!!