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Friday, July 10, 2020

Can you sew your old shorts and sarongs into dresses? Paint them? (Seahorses)

Have you ever found your clothes were too small? Or found a large towel had a hole or a stain?

Caftan from Cotton Fabric
I started my sewing simply. I made a large caftan, which is basically two lines of sewing up and down the sides, with three holes, for the neck and arms.

Towel With A Hole
The next easy garment was a towelling beach wrap. A large towel had a hole. I cut out the hole and made it into a neck for a towelling poncho to wear to the beach or swimming pool. Then I found a small stain. I covered it with a patch made from a piece cut around the hole.

Shorts Into a Skirt
This year I looked at an outfit comprising a long pianted tee-shirt and matching shorts.  Can I cut the tight waistband off and sew the short onto the hem of the tee-shirt? Yes, I can.

Should I leave it as a onesie? No. I cut the crotch.That left a v-shape gap at the front and the back. Like a kick pleat.

Here is yesterday's outfit with seahorses.

I bought it not only because of the vibrant colour, but because it was hand painted with a jolly design. The seahorses are edged in gold paint.


The fabric is thick. The painted design is what I like most. The old tight waist band is now a necklace.

If you have ever bought a sarong, you can go online to find the many ways of tying a sarong to make a dress. I have lots of items in my cupboard which have not been worn for years. Time to get them out.

The trouble with most draped dresses, and dresses held by two ends of the dress tied in a knot is:
1 They are not as elegant as fitted dresses.
2 The knots untie and your dress falls at your feet.

What else can you do? Paint an old tee-shirt. Set the paint with an iron. You can buy paints for fabrics from Amazon.com. Acrilic paint will dry out and crack. Not so bad on a pinating or a cushion which gets no wear, but not for clothes which are worn a lot and washed a lot. You can mix ordinary acrylic paint, I have read, with fabric medium, which softens the paint so that it becomes flexible. I have yet to try this.

I find painted fabric stiff to wear. I would prefer to design a watercolour and have it printed on a tee-shirt.

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