Make, Do, Mend

I recently came across the phrase "Make, Do, Mend" in Amanda Soule's "Creative Family". Apparently, this was a mantra of women during WW II when provisions were hard to come by. I find it just as applicable to today. Although, I think I'd personalize it a bit to read "Make-do and Mend". :)

I've been inspired by many blogs recently: the cute little summer dress Jess sewed, Catherine's talk about making a girl's jumper from a man's shirt (I can't seem to find the exact link to that page), the photos on Soule Mama, Rebecca's beautiful sewing, and various other artsy blogs I read.

Rachel is in need of summer dresses. She's at that size that is hard to find -- she's too big for all the adorable toddler and 5-yr old dresses that are so easily found at garage sales, thrift stores, and regular stores in general. I decided I might try to make some from some of my old clothes that were still in good condition. Then, I was at Goodwill one Saturday and just happened to walk by the pajama rack (which I don't usually look through). There were some lovely pieces of fabric calling my name and I did not resist.

Thus, we turned a pair of XXL pajama pants:
into a jumper for Rachel!
It did help that JoanEtc.'s had a $1 pattern sale, which made this very economical. Plus, I plan to use the pattern to turn my old clothes into more jumpers.

I also bought a brand new ladies pajama dress which looked cute and it is waiting to be turned into another jumper. It is not always possible for me to sew, but I think I might just have some time this spring/summer, so I'm going to try to do it while I can!