Inspiration: Dip Dye

here / here / here 

I'm seeing dip dyed shirts/sweaters/dresses, etc everywhere these days, and I think it's such a fun trend for summer.  There's something so casual and relaxed about the look that I love.  Although I have little to no experience using dye I figure this might be a fun diy for the future.

DIY Sew: Removing a Pocket from a Shirt

My boyfriend recently did some spring cleaning, and he had a pile of old work shirts he was planning on giving away; but, as I had seen a million and one tutorials online on how to transform a man's work shirt into a cute woman's top I immediately stopped him and snatched the shirt up for myself.

When thinking about how to refashion one of the work shirts, I came across the issue of the pocket.  I've been seeing many great tutorials, but most include the original pocket, and when resizing, the pocket makes the refashioned shirt look very homemade, and in most cases awkward; it's either on the back of the shirt or awkwardly halfway under your armpit.  To fix this little conundrum I realized that I would have to figure out exactly how to remove the pocket from the shirt.

So, here goes...

you will need:

seam ripper

Shirt with pocket

Step 1: Use the seam ripper to gently pull out the thread surrounding the pocket, take one stitch at a time

Step 2: wipe away any excess thread still on the shirt
Tip: If tiny holes are visible wash the shirt a few times, and then it should be good as new!

Now, you're ready to resize and refashion to your hearts content, no awkward pocket!

DIY Sew: Rectangle Top Modified

A few months ago I posted a tutorial on how to make a rectangle top, it was one of the easiest sewing projects I've done, and the shirt itself turned out to be extremely comfy.  Since I was, at that time, and still am a "novice" seamstress there were a few things about the shirt I realized I could have done better.  So, here's a revised version of the rectangle top

Materials:

1 yard of knit fabric

Sewing Machine

Thread

Scissors

Measuring Tape

Step 1: Lay out fabric with right sides touching, and cut to the below measurements

Your Fabric should look like the below: 

Step 2: Cut a semi circle on the bottom of the fabric

Step 3: Following the black squiggly lines below sew up the arms and sides using a zigzag stitch

Step 4: Lastly, fold fabric around neck back 1/2'' and use a zigzag stitch to sew

around in a circle