Upcycled Grocery Sack Dispenser

There are a bunch of back-to-school sales going on right now in stores, and I've noticed that not only are the graphic tees super fun this year, but they're also fantastic prices.  So I thought this would be a great time to do another T-shirt upcycle pattern for you! This one is just as useful as it is cute: 

It's a grocery sack dispenser! So fun, right?! Plus the whole project only takes like 15-20 minutes max to complete. That's my kind of upcycle!  

You can use various sizes of T-shirts to make this. We used a children's size but you can try any of your favorite tees as well. 

You will need:

T-shirt 

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Thread

11" elastic (1/4" to 1/2" wide)

16" ribbon (1/4" to 1/2" wide)

Make an Adjustable Waist Using Buttonhole Elastic

One of the features I have always looked for on my kids' storebought jeans is the awesome adjustable elastic on the inside of the waistband that gives the perfect fit no matter what body type they are.  (My kids are all different!)  Plus, you'd never know by looking at the outside of the jeans that they have hidden elastic to help keep the pants up without a belt.  It's fabulous! 

I'm not here to sell you on that kind of jeans though. I'm here to tell you that you and I can build it into any of our kids' homemade clothes too!  In fact, I'll show you right now:

How to Make a Leotard Using a Store Bought Tee

I'm really excited about today's tutorial, both because I totally admire Tosha's work and also because I can't wait to follow her tutorial and make some of my own!

 Tosha is our dancewear designer and on the side she also makes these AMAZING upcycled leotards. 

Aren't they stunning?! I always love to see what new designs Tosha comes up with. She has a knack for finding awesome t-shirts and then turning them into even more better leos. Well, guess what. Now YOU can too! Tosha's going to show you everything you need to know.  Here's Tosha!

Upcycle a Button-Up to a Berkley's!

You have probably seen our adorable new top/dress named Berkley's.  Well, today we have a special treat for you!  Ashley Lintner is one of our fabulous testers and she is going to show you how to take an adult button-up shirt and upcycle it to make a brand new Berkley's! 

Isn't it amazing?!  We thought you'd love it too, so here's Ashley with her tutorial! 

-- My daughter loved her Berkley’s dress so much that I got to thinking, wouldn’t a man’s button up shirt look adorable as a Berkley’s top? Of course! My dad has tons of button ups from when he had to wear them to work so we went digging, the five-year-old didn’t find any she liked so we found some on clearance at a local department store. I bought an XL and XXL to make sure I could do the size 6 top with circle skirt. Since the front of Berkley is pleated, you will need to make sure that the width of the shirt will work according to the cutting chart. My plan was to use the buttons as the back of the shirt instead of using a zipper. I still had plenty left over too! 

Before cutting, I laid my shirt out to see if it would be big enough for the project. 

Day 6: Spooky Bag Upcycled from a T-Shirt

Are you ready for another week of Halloween freebies?! It's Day 6 and today we have Nikki here to teach us a project that is not only useful and fun, but also basically free to make! Here's Nikki! 

 Today we want to show you an awesome way to upcycle those old t-shirts we all have hanging in our closet into bags! These make perfect trick or treat bags, gym clothes bags, or even grocery bags! We like to wear our clothes until they look like they need to have been thrown away about 40 washes ago in our house. Haha! I’m sure some of you can relate to that. Anyway, I had to find a way to upcycle some of our favorite t-shirts so we could keep using them. My kids even use these to carry art supplies in for road trips. 

3-Piece Set Upcycled from a Onesie

Awhile back one of our sewing friends in the CKC patterns group, Mary Lockhart Shoemaker, shared a clever upcycle she does to turn a baby onesie into a 3-piece dress set. Check these out:

Aren't they gorgeous?!  The post was so popular that we've had multiple requests since then for a tutorial. Mary has been kind enough to let me go for it and share with you!  I got to make my first set today and I have to say, that not only did it turn out super cute but it was also really fun to make!

This tutorial will work for any size of onesie. Whatever size you choose is what the finished dress size will be. (That may seem obvious, but some upcycles end up shrinking sizes. This one stays true to size.)  I used a size 3-6m onesie for my tutorial steps. 

For supplies you will need a onesie, some fabric, and 1/4" wide elastic.  If you're using knit fabric, that's all you need. If you're using woven fabric for the skirt, you will also need 1/4" clear elastic to use on the skirt seam.

How to Upcycle a Store-bought Tee

There are lots of ways to upcycle a store-bought tee, and lots of different reasons why you would want to do it.  For today's tutorial I'm going to show how to take a tee that is too large for a child and make it into a hoodie that is just the right size for him/her. Fun! The same process works with any other top pattern you want to use. 

My tween son was excited when he saw this Minecraft shirt at the store but they didn't have it in his size. We bought the largest size available instead, with the promise that I could turn it into a Toby's hoodie for him. We took this t-shirt from an adult Medium size to a tween 11/12.  You could do the same thing with child sizes too. 

Before doing any cutting, you will want to lay the shirt out on a flat surface to make sure it is large enough for your project. 

Upcycling Belinda's: From a Men's Button-up to a Girls' Dress

Today's upcycle tutorial comes to us from one of our fabulous testers, Amber Grunke-Guevara. I absolutely adore how it turned out.  Here's Amber:

When I first saw the new Belinda's dress pattern, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I have been searching for a very long time for something that would be a perfect upcycle for a very special shirt. The shirt belonged to my Papa, my best friend, and had been hanging in my closet for 6 years. I had been making millions of excuses as to why I couldn't use it yet, but with Belinda's dress pattern my excuses were gone. It was a simple, elegant pattern, that would keep the classic lines and his signature pearl snaps intact. 

First you want to choose the perfect shirt and make sure it will work with the sizing you are needing. These upcycles typically work best with sizes up to about a 5T. Once you get larger than that, the shirt would have to be substantially larger to accommodate width. 

Turning a Boxy Tee into a Flutter Sleeve Top

Hi! It's Merav from Baby Hobbes Design, writing because of the overwhelming love from last weeks' post about how I upgraded my daughter's camp t-shirt.  

Since you asked for more details, I decided to write up a tutorial on how to turn an ordinary boxy kids' shirt into a curvy top with flutters. For this tutorial I am using a kid size Medium shirt along with the Tansy's Knit Pajamas dress pattern because I love the curved edges. If you don't already own it, get yourself a copy of Tansy's because this pattern is super duper versatile (top, short dress, long dress and shorts)! Otherwise, you can use any knit bodice pattern-just remember to extend it.

Upcycling Pants Fabric Using Pattern Pieces

There's a lot of talk in our patterns group about upcycling adults' clothing into kids' outfits. It can be a lot of fun to do and it makes those little creations extra special -- and of course it can save us money on fabric!  On the blog here we have made several tutorials for upcycling tees and woven tops. But for today's tutorial we're going to show you how to take a pair of adult pants and use them as the fabric for your pattern pieces!

Upcycle Old Jeans into Boutique Shorts

It's that time of year again.  It's hot outside, the kids need new shorts, and all their jeans are just sitting there mocking us with their worn knees. We have a few options: we can go shopping (fun), we can make shorts from scratch (even more fun), or we can cut off their jeans and call them shorts (functional but not as fun).

~ OR ~

We can make their old jeans into something new and fabulous! Shorts that aren't just okay, but super duper boutique-style cute! Like this ~

Upcycle a T-Shirt into Jasmine's Shorts or Pants

Hey everyone! I’m Nikki, head of the women/tween department here at CKC. I get a lot of requests to share how I make my upcycled Jasmine’s Bubble Pants, and I thought it may be best to share it in a blog. So I made three pair today to show you how! 

Upcycle a Women's Sock into Doll Tights

It's getting cold outside so don't forget to grab some tights and keep those little legs covered!  And I don't just mean the girls. How about their dolls too? I just love little doll accessories and they are even more fun when you make them yourself. 

Today I am going to teach you how to make tights for your doll in just minutes by upcycling! Maria, the head of our doll patterns, taught me this little trick and it's so fun and easy to do! 

For supplies, all we need is one women's sock!  I'm sure we all have a mis-matched sock hiding somewhere in the house. I chose to use this ladies' dress sock to get the look of black tights, but you can use any type of sock, stocking, or even a cut-off nylon.  If you have holiday socks or striped socks, that's even more fun!  You just need to make sure that whatever you choose will fit over your doll's legs:

Go ahead and put the sock onto the doll to make sure it will fit.  We want the sock to leave plenty of room at the waist. There's nothing worse than store-bought doll tights that are impossible to keep on!  I like them to be nice and roomy. This sock looks tight on her legs but it is really stretchy so it will be perfect.  So let's get started!

Step 1:  Turn the sock inside out and lay it on a flat surface. Put the doll on top of the sock, lining it up with her feet an inch or so above the bottom of the sock, to leave room for the foot curve. Then use fabric chalk or a marking pen to mark a 1/2" line at the top of the leg-gap, as shown in yellow above. 

Step 2:  Looking at the photo above for guidance, sew a straight line through both layers from the bottom of the sock up to the line you marked, sew across the line, then sew down again.  I used a stretch stitch to sew mine and the lines were 1.5" from the side of the sock, but that will depend on how wide your sock is and how much it stretches. If you want, you can draw the lines on before you begin. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of your sewing.

Use fabric scissors to cut a straight line up the sock, right between the lines we just sewed. Clip the corners. You may want to zigzag or serge the raw edges if it looks like it will fray.  I didn't serge mine. 

Turn the tights right side out, using a dowel if necessary. 

Try them on your model and hopefully you have a perfect fit!  They have always worked for me. I especially love how the reinforced ends fall on her toes. Super cute. 

 If the tights don't fit right at first you can turn them back out and adjust. Or it might be even faster to go search the house for a new sock. I won't tell anyone. 

That's all there is to it! Now all she needs is her perfect party dress! 

I can't wait to see all the tights you make for your dolls, so please share in our patterns group! Just think how cute they would be in stripes or polka dots. 

Let's Create! ~ Kristen 

Jeans to a Ruffled Skirt: Upcycle Tutorial

Today we have another great upcycle tutorial for you!  I will show you how I took a pair of my daughter's jeans that had holes in them and turned them into a super cute ruffled skirt!

 My daughter wanted three subtle "not too frilly" ruffles so that's what we did here.  She loves it!  I will show you steps for this exact skirt but keep in mind that there are hundreds of ways to make the skirt portion - more ruffles, less ruffles, longer, shorter, and any sort of embellishments. These skirts are a lot of fun to make!  First let's learn the basics. Here we go! 

Supplies:

A used pair of denim jeans/shorts that fit

Fabric for ruffles - I used 2/3 yard for size 8 as shown above

Optional embellishments

The first thing we need is a pair of jeans or shorts!  I especially like to use ones that are already embellished - these were some of my daughter's favorites until they got holes in them! 

Step 1:  Cut the legs off the jeans 3-4" down from the the crotch.  This is just an initial cut so don't be too picky about making it straight. 

Upcycle: From a Boys' Button-up to a Little Girl's Dress

Who's ready for another creative upcycle? You are going to LOVE this one! Today we have a guest tutorial from one of our fans, Lindsey Jones, who loves to sew for her little Chick. (That's her above!) Lindsey wowed us in our patterns group with this little dress she made for her daughter using her big brother's shirt. We asked Lindsey to share the steps with us today. You'll soon see that she did a fabulous job making it easy to follow! Here is Lindsey with today's tutorial:

Step 1: To start off with, the shirt I used is American Eagle men's extra small. It was a shirt that my older son outgrew. This was the perfect size shirt for me to make Journee's dress. She wears 2T on a regular basis. Obviously, a bigger shirt will be needed for a bigger size dress. 

Upcycled T-shirt Halter Top

When my daughter was a baby I heard about a local sewing contest where the category was "Something New From Something Old." I ran to my closet and found one of my husband's collared shirts that he didn't need any longer and I made it into a cute little dress for my daughter. This was pre-CKC and pre-Pinterest so I just kind of made up a dress using what I had from his shirt, even the buttons. It was less than perfect but soooo cute on her. Ever since then I have been intrigued with up-cycled outfits and I've been keeping a list of my favorites. A long list. 

My point? We're starting a new series on the blog that's all about re-fashioning, re-purposing, up-cycling -- or whatever you choose to call it! Some of our tutorials will use CKC patterns (such as the one we did earlier this week) and some of them won't need any pattern at all. And of course we will always put our CKC flair into them. Are we excited?  Good! Because we're jumping right into one today! 

Isn't this dinosaur halter tee adorable?! It's an up-cycle! And it pairs perfectly with Brenna's Bubble Shorts. If the super cute model looks a little familiar, it's because she was on our Monday blog as well! Tosha Smith from Sew Chic Children's Boutique has agreed to show us how she made this unique halter top using a purchased T-shirt. Using her step-by-step instructions we get to learn how to make some of our own! Here's Tosha:

Materials:  T-shirt, elastic thread, and a scrap of knit. 

Step 1: First we will lay out our T-shirt and cut one complete piece out of our shirt along the black Sharpie lines that are marked in the picture above and below. This will remove the sleeves, the front neckline, and straight across the back.  The back cut should line up with the lowest part of the sleeves (armhole curve) as shown below. 

After cutting, the back of the shirt should look like this: 

This leaves most of the shirt front and the bottom portion of the back. 

Step 2: Next we are going to measure the width of the shirt straps, right at the top edge. 

Step 3: Use that measurement to cut a piece of knit to go around the back of the neck. This piece will be the width we just measured. For the length of the piece we will use the following chart for our desired size: 

Step 4: Pin the two short edges of the neck piece to the two short edges of the straps, with right sides together. Sew the pinned edges. 

Step 5: We are now ready to shirr! There are two complete circles to shirr: one around the neck and one around the arms & back. The number of rows we shirr will depend on how big the shirt was to begin with and how small we want it to end up. For example, the minion shirt is my daughter's size so it fit pretty well to begin with and I only needed one row of shirring.  The dinosaur shirt, however, was one size too big so I did multiple rows of shirring. We can add as many rows as we'd like for more tightness! 

The edges will be gathered and stretchy like this when we're finished. If you have not shirred before, you may find our Shirring 101 Tutorial very helpful. We know you can do it and this is the perfect project to try it out on!

Are you ready to see the finished product?

How cute is this!?  The perfect halter tee.  I just love minions and there's no doubt that she's going to be comfy and stylish all summer long. And it was that easy to make!

Thank you, Tosha, for another great up-cycle tutorial! 

I hope you all love it as much as I do and that you're excited for our new series of up-cycles. There are so many fun ways that we can think outside the box with our sewing projects.

Let's Create! ~ Kristen 

Guest Tutorial: Upcycling Knit Tees for Woven Patterns

Upcycling is a pretty popular skill in sewing groups right now. We can take a used (or new!) t-shirt and use it to make something even more fabulous!  Generally we upcycle t-shirts only for knit patterns since the tees are made of knit, but today we have a special technique to share with you!  Tosha Smith from Sew Chic Children's Boutique is going to show us how she upcycles knit tees even on woven patterns! To demonstrate, she will use a store-bought character tee to make Poppy's Peekaboo Dress, one of our absolute favorite patterns.  Here is Tosha to show us how it's done: 

Materials Needed:

•  Wonder Under or a similar double sided fusible interfacing. I buy mine at Walmart for $1.66 per yard. 
• A T-shirt (I buy 2 sizes bigger if it’s a girls' shirt because they are usually fitted.)
• The CKC Poppy's Peekaboo Dress pattern. 

Step 1: To start off, I use two paper towels, folded on the perforated edge. Lay the bodice pattern piece on the fold and cut out the paper towel. Now we have a full bodice pattern piece that can be opened up. It is slightly see-through and we can line up the image on our t-shirt exactly where we want it!  (For my boutique, I cut one of each size on paper towels and label them with a pen as shown. That way I have them when I need them!)  

Step 2: Now we’re going to cut the bodice pieces out of our selected t-shirt. Keep the shirt whole so that once we cut our bodice out we will have two pieces (the bodice front and the bodice lining). Then we will cut one bodice piece out of our Wonder Under.

Step 3: Iron the rough side of the Wonder Under to the wrong side of the front bodice piece.  To do this, we will follow the instructions on the Wonder Under. 

Once it has cooled, peel off the Wonder Under backing. 

 Now the wrong side of our bodice front piece should have a shine to it!

 Step 4: Assemble the entire bodice following the Poppy's pattern instructions! To do this, I use my standard machine needle and settings. I don't do anything special for the knit. 

Step 5: When the bodice is complete, iron the layers together as shown in the picture above.  This will fuse the front bodice to the bodice lining, which is what gives our knit bodice the stability it needs! Note: A lot of these t-shirt images are vinyl and we do NOT want to iron directly on them!! Flip the bodice over and iron from the lining side!

  Step 6: Now we can assemble the rest of our dress following the Poppy's instructions as written. 

And we're done! I can't wait to see what you all create!  ~ Tosha

Thank you, Tosha, for the fabulous guest tutorial!  I love the results and it is seriously so easy to do once we know the tricks!  Here are some more upcycled Poppy dresses that Tosha has made for her boutique:

I love every one of them!  

Of course Poppy's isn't the only woven pattern that we can upcycle with. Tosha has made several others for her boutique that she wants to share with us today. Many of these can even be upcycled without needing the Wonder Under!  Dresses like Poppy's need the extra stability because of the heavy skirts. But below are some examples of upcycles that Tosha made that did not need added stability: 

As you can see, many woven patterns such as peasant dresses, pants, ruffles, and other light clothing should be just fine using upcycled knit tees.  But if you are ever concerned that a certain pattern will be too heavy and need extra stability, now you know how! And it only takes a few more steps to make something completely memorable. 

Thanks again to Tosha!  Please show her some love on her page Sew Chic Children's Boutique.  We would also love to see your new creations in the CKC Patterns Group. Please tag Tosha and I so we can see what you made. 

Let's Create! ~ Kristen