I've found a great new way to use my Big Shot and dies - to alter clothing!
My friend, Emily Falconbridge, shared on her blog last week that she had altered some sweat pants for her girls (apparently, they call them "trakky daks" in Australia?). I thought it was such a cute idea, especially because Emily had used some felt and she hand stitched the details and I'm all about felt and hand stitching.
I got to thinking about the blue pair of sweat pants that were sitting in my daughter's dresser drawer and how she'd only worn them once. My daughter used to be all about sweat pants and how comfy they felt, but this past school year, she's been all about wearing leggings and jeans so those blue sweat pants sat in the drawer, unworn. I've tried to get her to wear them but she refused. When I saw Emily's alter job, I knew that the only way I'd get Girly to wear the blue sweat pants was to alter them. So, I took out my Big Shot die cutting machine, some of my dies and beads and got to work.
I already had some fabric flowers cut out from the Flower Folds die that hadn't been used when I was making fabric flower pins last year, so I took those out of my stash and put them to use on blue felt that I cut with the Scallop Circle die.
I cut a couple of pink felt flowers using the mid-sized flower from the Baskets & Blooms die. I used contrasting colors for my stitching to add to the whimsical feel. I used the whip-stitch applique stitch for the bottom flower, a running stitch for the middle flower and the top flower and a back stitch for the swirl in the center of the pink flower.
I used decorative X stitches around the edge of the blue felt scalloped circles (and on the petals of the two bottom flowers) to secure the finished pieces to the knees of the sweat pants.
For the bottom of the pant legs, I cut blue felt using the Tasteful Trim die. Instead of cutting them in two pieces to go around the width of the legs, I folded the felt in half and put it up against the end of the die so that it would cut one long piece.
I used a running stitch to add glass beads and also to secure the trim to the bottom of the pants.
Something I hadn't thought about until after I finished the pants is that the felt circles that I put on the knees will double as protection for the pants. My kids tend to wear out the knees on their pants so fast! Hopefully these fun "patches" will help the pants last longer than they usually do with all the wear and tear my daughter usually puts her clothes through.
And here's the girl-child herself, ready for school this morning with her altered sweat pants on. And....we found the sweat shirt she has on in the coat closet....another item she hasn't been too keen to wear since I bought it for her a couple months ago due to her aversion to wearing sweat pants/shirts. She put her clothes on and said how comfy they were and how well they went together. I think this is MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
