Personalized Sew-On Letters!

For the letters, I bought a cotton print and sturdy white background material from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

I found this crew neck at Walmart for pretty cheap and they have  lots of different colors to choose from! 

To start, print out the letters you want from your computer and cut them out. 

Flip the letters over and trace them onto the back side of your desired interior fabric (the fabric that will be on the inside of the letter) with a marker or washable fabric pen. Cut out the letters using fabric scissors. 

Take your cut out letters and put them right side up on the white material. Pin the letter to the material. 

The white material can be any sturdy, stiff fabric that you find at your local fabric store. It doesn't even have to be white, you can choose whatever outline color you like!

Cut around the letter leaving a white border as thick as you like. I eye-balled the width of my border, but you can use a ruler and trace it out to make it exact. 

Even though we are sewing the letter onto the sweatshirt, I wanted to make sure that the edges of the letters didn't fray at all. To prevent fraying, go around the edge of the letters with Fray Check, which can be bought at Jo-Anns. 

Using a zig-zag stitch, sew the interior fabric to the white base material.    

It should look like this after sewing it to the white.  

After you have completed sewing your interior fabric to the base material, pin the letters to the sweatshirt in the position that you like. I tried my sweatshirt on and pinned the letters to the sweatshirt while I had it on to make sure I liked the placement. 

Using the same zig-zag stitch, sew the letters to the sweatshirt.  

TA DA! Your personalized sweatshirt is complete! 

I have a feeling I will be making more of these...I'm thinking a FSU one would be super cute in garnet and gold fabric. ;)  

- Lauren 

Game Day Dresses!

These game day dresses are all made from t-shirts we bought that had our school logo. We cut the t-shirts and attached them to a jersey cotton blend from Jo-Ann Fabrics. The dresses can be made either halter top or tube top style. Our guest designer/model is Ashley!

-Devon & Lauren

Boat Neck Top

This low boat neck top is super easy to make. The shape is a square, with the neck cut out of the top and then instead of sewing the side seem all the way up, just sew it half the way up for the big sleeve effect. Works well with sheer fabric like the one I used from JoAnns. The total cost for the top was only $3.50 after using a 50% coupon! It looks great worn with a belt or left loose like shown on the dress form. Devon found the idea for this top from a Poketo top that is $29.

-Lauren

Simple Skirt!

Photo Credit: Jillian Debar

This skirt is made just like the bubble one I posted before, the only difference is that instead of tacking the skirt under to create a bubble effect you just cut and hem the bottom normally. I only used 1/2-3/4 a yard of fabric for this skirt and with a 50% off coupon from JoAnns the skirt only cost me around $3 for the fabric. The most expensive part is the elastic waistband. To figure out how much elastic to buy just measure around your waist where you would like the elastic to be and add an inch for when you sew it together. Pretty simple! :)

-Lauren

Striped Seersucker Dress

This dress was made from seersucker fabric I bought at Joann's . I started by making the skirt piece long enough to wrap around my waist twice then I ruffled it and attached it to a wide waistband which closed in the back with two buttons.  The top piece was a trapezoid shape. I ruffled the top and the bottom then I attached the bottom to the waist band and the top to the collar piece that tied in the back.  This was one of my more complicated dresses, but I love all of the gathering and the summery look it has!

-Devon

Photo Credit: Jillian Debar

 Here are some pics of mine in blue, its the same seersucker fabric as Devons except a different color. This fabric was pretty cheap to begin with and then with our 50% off coupon Devon and I paid around $5 for this dress! 

-Lauren

Bubble Skirt

Photo Credit: Jillian Debar

This skirt is super easy to make and doesn't take too much time! Use a heavy elastic for the waistband, they come in a few different colors at JoAnns. To make the skirt bubble on the bottom just fold under the fabric and tack it in strategic places. Tacking it will be enough to hold it in its place. This skirt is a great piece of clothing to make if you are a beginner! 

-Lauren

Festive Fourth of July Tops!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Devon and I both wore crop tops yesterday for the holiday. Devon made hers from a tank top she already had. By cutting it at the length she wanted and then hemming it she created a striped crop top in 2 easy steps! For my crop top, I got sheer star fabric from JoAnns and sewed together the 3 pieces; 1 for the front and 2 back pieces that fan over each other. Make sure that whenever you create a top from sheer fabric, or any fabric that doesn't stretch a lot, that you make it wide enough to get over your head! ;) (unless you use buttons, a zipper, or elastic of course) 

- Lauren 

No-Sew Scarf!

This scarf is super easy for anyone to make! You don't need a sewing machine at all. For this yellow scarf all we did was pick out a soft, flowy material. (100% Rayon works nicely) Have the person at JoAnns cut you anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8 a yard of the material and then tie it in a knot around your neck. Done! Simple as that. The material doesn't need to be hemmed because it will not fray. With a 50% off coupon the scarf only cost me around $1.50. Not too shabby, right? They can add a splash of color to any outfit :)

-Lauren

Strapless Ruffle Dress

Not all projects turn out as they were intended. This dress was originally supposed to be a one shoulder ruffle dress, but when you don't use a pattern (like Devon and I don't) then you have to work with your mistakes! This is how I arrived at the strapless version, which I think turned out pretty cute anyway. There is an elastic band around the waist, around the top of the bust line, and in the back below the rectangle of fabric that goes across. The material has no "give" to it which is the reason that either elastic, a zipper, or buttons had to be used. The fabric is from JoAnns, as usual ;)
-Lauren