Customised t-shirt #1: Crop top overlay

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Sadie Goode

If you have spare boring t-shirts, be unique and customise them! I have made this crop top overlay from spare fabric and trim. It was relatively easy and quick to do and it makes your boring old t-shirts much prettier and different.

What you will need:

Grey t-shirt
1m slightly stretchy, but stiff fabric
Bias binding
Trim
Matching threads

To start, cut off the sleeves of the grey t-shirt, really close to the seam. Cut the sleeve’s side seam to open it up. These are now your pattern pieces for your sleeves.

Fold your 1m of fabric in half, and place the t-shirt on to the fabric, half way up as this is how long you want the crop top overlay to be. Cut around the t-shirt, about 2inches wider all the way round. This gives you two identical shapes. Take one of these pieces and cut the top to the same shape as the round neck of the t-shirt. This will be your front piece. You then cut the other piece to match the neck of the back of the t-shirt. Using the sleeves of the grey t-shirt that you just cut out, lay one on the folded fabric and cut around it, also cutting 2inches bigger all the way round. Discard the grey sleeves as you now have two sleeve shapes in the overlay’s fabric.

Do a straight stitch on both shoulders, with the right sides together. Then, using a longer stitch, match up the arm holes of the grey t-shirt and the fabric and sew them together. On the front, put two darts just below the bust. This will make it sit nicely on you body. Fold over the hem of the overlay and sew it down to finish it. Fold over the raw edges of the sides of the fabric and sew them directly to the side seams of the grey t-shirt. The crop top is now fully attached to the grey t-shirt.

When inserting the sleeves, first sew the side seam on the sleeve then turn it the right way out. Turn the whole t-shirt inside out and insert the sleeve inside the t-shirt so that both side seams line up. Sew the two pieces together.

For the neckline, cut notches around the overlay’s neck. Fold these notches over and sew the crop top’s neckline down just inline with the seam of the t-shirt’s neckline, exposing the grey t-shirt neck.

Line up the edge of the trim to the edge of the crop top and sew it down. As you have attached the sides of the overlay to the t-shirt, you will have to sew the trim on in two pieces. To finish the t-shirt, use bias binding on the sleeves for neat edges.

Because the fabric is slightly stretchy, you do not need any sort of zip, or fastener; it should just stretch with your t-shirt to allow you to put it on.

Thank you for reading!

Pressed Flower Phone Case

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Sadie Goode

I wanted something to do with the flowers that I had pressed a few weeks ago, so I decided to put them in a phone case. All of the methods that I have seen use resin and glue, and look too complicated and time consuming for me. I have made my own version that, to me is much simpler.

What you need:

Pressed flowers
Clear plastic phone case (I bought one that comes with a screen protector that I used as a template for the plastic)
Clear sticky back plastic

Clear phone cases are really cheap. I bought mine from Amazon which only cost around £2 and with this I got 2 screen protectors and a wipe. As the screen protector is a little bit smaller than the screen it is the perfect size to fit in the case. On the paper side of the sticky back plastic, I drew around the screen protecter and cut it out. I cut out the corner so that the camera and flash wouldn’t be covered.

On the original screen protector I began to arrange the flowers. I didn’t want to stick them straight onto the plastic then change my mind later, so I practised until I liked the layout. Remember not to completely cover the plastic with flowers as there needs to be some clear for it to stick to the case. Peel off the paper on the sticky back plastic and stick your flowers on to it. Rub your finger over the flowers to stick them down securely.

This is the fiddly part. Start at one corner of the inside of the phone case and stick down the sticky back plastic, lining the corners to make it central. Stick a little bit down at a time, rubbing to push out any air bubbles.

When you have got to the end, you are done! Just snap the case onto your phone and you have a unique phone case.

Camera Strap

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Sadie Goode

I have a Nikon D2500 and have been meaning to make a camera strap for a long time since I hate the black Nikon strap that comes with it. This strap is pretty, sturdy and really easy.

What you will need:

Your choice of coloured cotton
Thick lace trim
1/2 m of thick calico
2 woven bag handles
12″ of ribbon
Matching threads

To start, remove your original camera strap from your camera and lay it out flat. Cut 2 strips of your thick calico using the wide part of your camera strap as a guide for width and length. Sew these two together. There’s no need to finish the edges.

Cut a strip of cotton that is the same length as the strip of calico, only a little bit over double the length. Fold the cotton over the calico, lining up the edges of cotton. Then, secure the calico inside the cotton with a line of stitch next to it. To finish the edges fold the raw edge over twice then sew it down next to the fold and next to the edge of the strip. To make it even stronger and secure, do two more stitch lines on the opposite edge.

Change your thread to match your lace and sew it on.

On your original camera strap, there are sections of leather that secure the wide strap to the thin fabric that secures the strap to the camera. To replicate these, I have used a thick calico and cut it into 4 shapes that are a little bigger and wider than the ones on the original strap.

To sew them on, fold the raw edges underneath and sew the top edge down on both sides of the strap. Then, fold the sides and sew them down. Before sewing the bottom edge, insert the end of the old bag handle into the bottom and sew down well. Repeat on the other side.

Next, measure how long you want your camera strap to be and cut the ends of the old bag handles accordingly. As the handles were too thick to get through the gaps in the camera for the camera strap, I used a ribbon that could fit through easily. Again, cut two pieces of ribbon to double the length that you want your camera strap to be. Place one end of the ribbon on one end of the camera strap and do lots and lots of machine stitches to secure it. Pull the ribbon through the camera and sew the end to the camera strap, securing well. Repeat on the other side.