Made By Lex

Once again I fell in love with another J. Crew shirt.

So here’s my tutorial on how to create the look yourself. I got this T shirt for 99cents at Old Navy. I got a taupe colored silk and cut it the width of the trim. I fray checked the ends so it wouldn’t fray too much. Then I pinned it in place, folding over some pleats for more color depth. I kept it random and not too symmetrical.

Stitch it on on both sides of the fabric.

Now to make some flowers. This part is very much about experimenting, adding, taking away, moving, etc…. So I’ll show you how I went about it but you might have to make your own changes.
I got this cream crepe-material and cut four small pieces in random shapes.

Lay them on top of eachoter.

I then pinned it on to the shirt, off center, and gave it a few quick stitches in place. I held the shirt up after I pinned it because I wanted it to fall over on itself, and yet still hide the neckline.

I then cut out three random circles from a cream colored silk.

Place them on top of one another.
Then grab them by the backside center and mold them to the shape you like them. Then I hand stitched this together then attached it to the shirt.

I got another strip of fabric, ruffled it and made this flower and attached it.
It’s about getting slightly different textures, putting together flowers in slightly different ways that make it look multi-layered. Adding three of the same flower wouldn’t nearly have the same effect. I also added a couple stands of silk ribbon.

Here’s my sister showing it off for me.

Here’s a detail of the flower piece.
I love it with this outfit. The leather jacket makes it a mix of soft and hard and wearing it with skinny black pants and flats makes the shirt pop even more.
I hope you’re inspired to create your own version!

J. Crew- You’re killing me. I can’t keep up with all your fun shirts.

I fell in love with this shirt from J. Crew. I love the colors and I like the randomness of the layers.

So here’s my imitation tutorial. Grab a t shirt. I scored with some great T’s from Forever 21 for under $5.

I got this peachy pink fabric and cut a strip double the length of the neckline and about 2 inches wide.

Fray check the sides.

Beginning at the end of the collar make tucks and pin in place. We’re not going for an exact look here, so make it random.

Tuck in and out, around, up and down(however you want) around the entire colar, pinning in place as you go.

Here’s an up close of how mine looks.

Then you just need to stitch it in place. What I did is stitched it twice, one row about 1/4 of an inch from the ends, and the other row of stitches 1/4 of an inch from the other end.

An up close…

There’s ONE more thing I did that I didn’t photograph. It’s an optional step. It wasn’t looking quite right to me so I got another piece of the same fabric and I put it in the center for a double layer. I only did that piece about 1/2 an inch. I did the same random gathering, just with a small piece. It just made it look more complete.

Here’s my sister wearing it for me.

Isn’t it lovely?

Got more J. Crew inspirations coming this week!!!!

I taught a sewing class last weekend at the Crafters Studio in Santa Cruz. We were looking through a catalog and found this great shirt from J. Crew.

One of the girls there, Becky, made one similar to this. I came home and tried my own version of it and I would love to share it with you!

I grabbed this Splendid shirt that I have that has a stain on the front. Then I took another shirt that I had that was a very light material. I cut up strips that would fit all the way around my collar. Take that measurement and add 5 extra inches. The strips I cut were about 2 inches wide. Now get a matching color tulle and cut the same amout of that.

We need to sew the strips together. Get your fabric and put the tulle on top. Sew another strip on top of it. (It will be fabric, tulle, tulle, fabric)

Now you’ll have one long strip of your fabric/tulle. We are going to begin in the back of the shirt where your tag may be. Find the center of the strip and center it in the back of the shirt. We need to pin them about every 2.5 to 3 inches. Leave a little slack in between the pins. Think of it as a curtain swag. That’s the look we’re going for.

Pin it all around the collar, back to front.

Stitch it in place where you pinned it. Try to keep it narrow and then let it slightly flare between the stitchs so it will ‘swag’.

Here’s a more detailed view.

What I did was add a second row around the front collar. I wanted a more full look. When you are finished connect them in the center.

Here’s the final product!

Up close.

I love how you can’t really see the tulle unless you look up close.

It looks so airy and light.

I think this shirt is so feminine and elegant. It’s a lovely way to add elegance to a plain shirt. I’d love to try it in a grey/black combo.
Enjoy!

I was inspired for this by a shirt I saw in J. Crew. Funny that I’ve never gotten a J. Crew catalog until yesterday. What have I been thinking??! They have some GREAT ideas.

Here is a way to refashion a shirt, again. You can cut off the bottom of the hem to do the flower so that way it is already finished. I cut off this pink one.
And this blue knit one that I got in my fabric exchange packet. (thanks rebecca!!)

Cut them about 16- 20 inches and about 2 inches wide. But vary them slightly so they look nicer and not so cookie-cutter.

I chose this palette because these are muted colors, and are almost all a neutral. I think when you thrown bolds in there or prints, that’s when things start to look crafty and home-made. I think this color palette looks like something you would buy in a store.

Now to ruffle your fabric. You can do it by hand, but you all know how I do it by now: set your length to the longest stitch and tighten your tension to the highest number. Just run it right through and it will automatically ruffle. Here’s what I’ve got.

Now to flower the ruffles. Since I’m not going to be washing this, I’m not going to sew it. I’m going to use my best friend, hot glue. Just wind the flowers up gluing as you go. Mold them to the way you like them. Here are all my flowers done.

Now we’re going to glue them onto the fabric. Just start with one in the center and glue it well.

Get a couple more, gluing as you go. Also glue around the sides of the flower so they are sticking together at the bottom and on the sides. Smash them up together nice and close so it looks full.

Here’s how they all look together. You can trim some if they look to high.

Now turn it over and trim the fabric backing. Make sure the flowers slightly overlap so the fabric won’t show from the top side.

Glue on two pins for extra security.

Here it is, in all it’s flowering loveliness…

Voila! Here are a couple styling ideas. I love it on this plain grey T.

Here it is on one of my favorite jackets.

It also looks nice in the center of a garmet, like this sweater.

I like it on a pin because you can move it around. If you sewed it on a shirt, it’s not going anywhere. But this way, the possibilites are endless. Some other ideas I had are on a purse or hanging on a chain necklace. Also, you could throw some vintage jewelry on the flowers, too.

Add any ideas to the Flickr pool. Enjoy!

Is everyone sick of these yet?

Here’s another tank that I just added some pretty fabric to for a simple updo.
I added another piece on the back collar.

I really like this one! I took small strips of fabric and bunched them then stitched over them three times.

It will continue to fray a little more as it washes. I love this deconstructed look.

I did it all the way around the back, too.

I took this lilac shirt and added some color and a lot of texture to it.

I took this golden linen and placed it on the edges.

Then I stitched over it randlomly a few times.

I think the texture makes it look so neat.

I did a similar texture addition here.

I pleated an pinned this raw edge cream cotton.Then I stitched over it.

It adds a lot of interest to the neckline.

I really like this one. I can’t wait to try this technique on something else, too.