Written on March 31, 2006 7:41 PM
By Nancy Flynn
Something about spring makes me want to shop. Maybe it’s a desire to emulate the little blossoms with all new springy petals. Sometimes shopping just isn’t in the cards, or the bank balance, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do some springtime re-invention of your wardrobe with a few crafty tricks.
Sash Your Dresses and Shirts
With fabric and a ribbon you can make a fancy sash to doll up plain dresses, long, billowy shirts and even tank tops.
1. Measure around your waist where you’d like the sash to sit and add an inch to this measurement. I use a .5 inch seam allowance, so adjust your measurement accordingly if you prefer .25. Cut two rectangular strips of fabric this length, and however wide you’d like—I cut mine 4.5” wide so that the finished sash would be 3.5” wide after sewing.
2. Cut a piece of ribbon that is long enough to wrap around your waist and tie a big bow, then cut this in half so you have two lengths of ribbon.
3. Pin the fabric pieces right sides together and make into a tube by sewing the long edges, leaving both short ends open.
4. Turn right side out and iron flat
5. I wanted my sash to have a bit of structure, so I cut a piece of felt the size of the finished tube, and fed it inside like you would a drawstring or elastic waistband.
6. Turn raw ends of one short edge inside the tube, insert one ribbon end into it about half an inch, and sew across.
Repeat on other open short end with second piece of ribbon, and voila, you’ve got a sash.
Re-new Your Shoes:
I honestly don’t know why they fell out of favor, because shoe clips are genius, and slowly making their way back to the fashion mainstream. Not only that, but they are very easy to make with a few simple supplies. You can totally revamp a pair of shoes with some alligator clips and artificial flowers, or a pair of inexpensive sparkly clip earrings or brooches.
Go from this:
to this:
I made a kind of sad-looking (but pink!) fabric flower for mine. I wish I had found this amazing fabric flower tutorial from Wisecraft before I got started, because I would have made one of those instead! At any rate, simple steps.
1. Get your fabric flower and your alligator clip together:
2. Secure the flower (or button, pom pom etc) to the clip by sewing or with some good glue:
Then just make another and clip 'em to your shoes!
Beautify Your Buttons:
Fabric-covered buttons can bring new life to a tired trench, or an old cardigan. Button-covering kits are relatively inexpensive, and you can choose any fabric you like in your favorite spring colors to bring your old jacket back into the pink of fashion.
In my experience, it is best to use thinner, non-stretchy fabrics like cottons, linens and silks. I’ve seen some gorgeous kimono-fabric covered buttons on Etsy as well. Only one caveat—make sure you get coverable buttons that are the same size, or even slightly smaller than the ones you’re replacing. You want to make sure they aren’t too big to fit through the buttonholes, and they do tend to be a bit fatter than the average flat plastic button. If all else fails, remove just one button from the jacket, cover a single button, sew it on to make sure it fits comfortably through the buttonhole.
I’ve used the Dritz “Cover Button Kit”—it is pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you want to see how it works before you try it, the steps are as follows:
The Pieces:
1. Using the pattern cut from the back of the package, cut a circle of fabric
2. Place fabric in white rubbery piece and push rounded button front into white piece
3. Tuck in the fabric as best as you can, and cover with the button back, matching up the slit in the button back with the loop on the button front
4. Using the blue plastic piece, push hard on the button back until you hear it all click into place
And you've got pretty buttons!
Jazz Up Your Tanks:
There are so many clever and crafty things to do with t-shirts and tanks. First of all, check out the great things Maitreya of Craftlog does with t-shirts, including cool appliqué and sewn-on sash hems. A few other ideas:
Embroidery: I’m sure I won’t be telling you anything you haven’t heard before when I say that the patterns at Sublime Stitching totally rock. I’ve bought super-cheap tanks and t-shirts, or pulled a boring old one out of the drawer, ironed on one of Jenny’s patterns and had the cutest top on the block a few stitches later. I just stick my shirt on a hoop and go, but if you’re an embroidering newby, it is a good idea to iron some stabilizer to the back of the area you’re working to keep it from being too stretchy and difficult to sew. In case you don’t find what you’re looking for at Sublime Stitching, Clover also sells embroidery pattern transfers, and I’ve made my own by tracing over a line drawing with Aunt Martha’s transfer pencil and paper. If you have other favorite embroidery pattern sources, please share them in the comments!
Fabric Paint: Did you go to puffy-paint parties as a tween? While recent retro-80s fashion trends indicate that those oversize sweatshirts with day-glo green, orange and pink swirls and flowers may actually come back in, fabric paint can be used more subtly too. I’m not much of an artist, so I like to use stencils when embellishing t-shirts with fabric paint. Make sure to wash and dry your shirt, then put some newspaper or a magazine inside (to keep paint from bleeding through both layers), and tape your stencil on with masking tape. Squirt your fabric paint onto a paper plate as a “palette” and using a wedge-shaped cosmetic sponge, blot paint carefully into portions of the design, changing colors as you like. Heat set the paint according to the directions.
Ribbons: Ribbons liven up just about anything with minimal effort—tie them in bows at the top of your straps, sew or glue one to a shirt just below the bust line for a sweet empire look, or use them instead of cuff links on a French cuff shirt.
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to livening up a wardrobe without spending a fortune. I’d love to hear the crafty ways you all bring a little spring to your closet, so please share any other tips, tricks and sources in the comments section!
Nancy Flynn is a dilettante crafter who lives in San Francisco with her fiancé. Her favorite colors for spring are pink, yellow and navy blue.
