Made By Lex

Loungewear Revolution- Jersey Romper

 On of my favorite things to sleep in is this little jersey romper that I have.  Here’s a way to make your own!

Get two T’s.

Cut the first one off. This will be your top piece.

We’ll use the other one for the shirts part. Fold it in half and cut out a piece as shown. Sort of like oversized underwear.

Here’s what you will have.

Sew the crotch together. I don’t know how else to say that.

Fold the top over to create a pocket and put elastic through there, too. Also, I forgot to take a picture, but add some straps.

I added some lace around the shorts.

Here is the completed romper. Clearly, no modeling in this get up

Bold Leather Flower Belt Tutorial

I’ve been so inspired by these gorgeous belts I’ve seen this year.

marc jacobs

although this is a cuff, it was one of my inspirations

asos

So when I decided to do a belt as a tutorial, I posted it on FB and a reader suggested using recycled leather and I thought it was genius! So in my weekly trip to the thrift store I found this deep eggplant leather skirt.

My first step was taking the skirt apart. You can do it with scissors or a seam ripper.  Then make a template of the belt shape you want to cut out. I made mine as shown out of pattern paper. You can use regular paper, cloth, whatever you have.

Next, lie it out on your leather and trace it.

Cut it out. If you don’t have a sewing machine you can just stop here. This belt will look great even as one piece.

But if you want to do an extra step, you can cut out another piece.

Sew it together, inside out leaving a hold to pull it through. I don’t know if all machines will sew through leather well. Mine does it just fine. Definitely use a leather needle to make it easier.

After pulling the belt right side out, top stitch all the way around.

Now that the base of your belt is made we’ll work on the flower. Cut out a bunch of different petal shapes.

Begin piecing them together, a couple at a time. You can machine stitch them together, like I did. But if you don’ have a machine you can sew it by hand. Or if that intimidates you, there’s always glue

Just add more until you’re happy with the piece.

Then attach it to your belt.

Now, to cover where you stitched it on, get one more petal and sew it as shown.

Then you can flip it over and no stitched show.

For the closure, I added a heavy duty snap that I sewed on.

Here’s the finished result!

I love the way it looks on this simple maxi dress.

Hardware Store Necklace Tutorial

I was really inspired by a couple of these necklaces that I had seen on the runways this year.

After taking a closer look at them I knew I could make something similar.

Here’s what you’ll need from your local hardware store:

-varying sized washers

-bike chain

-gold metal wire

I also needed extra gold chain. You can use anything you have laying around or get some at the craft store. Also, some ribbon.

First, tie a ribbon to make your bike chain connect.

This will be the strong base of your necklace. Next, get your washers.

Spray them gold on both sides.

Now, attach a piece of your chain to the bike chain and begin stringing the washers by wrapping around them once. Do different spacings, different lengths, all the while attaching the chain back and forth with your gold wire. I just would basically tie it to the bike chain then trim off the excess. You can also use jewelry closures if you prefer.

Keep stringing them until you get the heaviness you want for your look.

Look how great the completed project looks!

(my sister, Francesca was here from Arizona so I got a fresh faced model!)

This entire project cost me about $7 and took me about 20 minutes. I think if I did another I would use a satin ribbon and make the tie a bow on the back so you could var the length of the necklace. I’ve already worn this twice because it’s so versatile.

Who knew bike chains and washers could be so chic?

This tutorial is also over at MODE Bay Area today along with some other great articles!

And, just a tip- the amazing Harts Fabric is having a home dec sale. Go check it out!

Embroidered Top Easter Dress Tutorial

This was one of my favorite kids dresses that I’ve ever made. It reminded me so  much of Odd Molly ‘s line. I started with this vintage shirt that I got for $1.00 at the thrift store. I saw lots of hidden potential in it.

To make the bodice top I cut a simple front piece and a back piece from the back of the shirt. Keep in mind where the embroidery lays so you can center it accordingly.

Cut the back piece down the middle and attach the two sides to the front.

Make a lining piece and do the exact same thing.

Attach the lining to the bodice top sewing all the way around the top of it.  Don’t sew the back closure part yet. After turning right side out and ironing, here’s what you’ll have:

Now slightly gather another piece of fabric, your desired length, and attach to the bodice.

One thing I did was sew in a piece of bias tape to give it a nice extra detail.

Then I sewed on an additional gathered piece along the bottom.

At this point, I added straps.

Then for the back, I added buttons and loops and closed the back seam.

Close the back seam up.

Hem the bottom and you’re good to go!

Now, we were having a little Easter melt down. I know this picture doesn’t scream. “Make me. I’m a fun dress!”. Quite the contrary. But what are you going to do? Candy bribes don’t work because they’ve already had so much candy to eat, hence the meltdown. You get it, don’t you?

But aren’t the colors just lovely? It has such a European flair to it.

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter!

Denim Skirt Refashion Tutorial

I was on the hunt for a great little denim skirt that I could show you how to make easily. I’ve been loving the denim trends this year.

I found this skirt on Polyvore and really like the effortless, style.

Here’s how to do your own. Get a large men’s denim shirt. I got mine at the thrift store for $1. Mens’ shirts are AWESOME to work with because the prints aren’t too loud and you can get a big one and have lots of material to work with.

So you can measure properly, cut the bottom off of the shirt. They tend to have that curved cut and we want our straight so it doesn’t look like you’re wearing a mean’s shirt.

Next from that bottom, measure the height that you want the skirt.

Cut it that height and make the width about 1.5 times your waist size. Take in to account that there will be a waistband, as well.

Next, sew the button strip down the center so it will stay closed.

If there is a pocket in the way, remove it with a seam ripper. You can also leave it or relocate it depending on what look you’re going for.

Pin your two pieces together on the sides and sew together.

Create a waistband by using the extra material from the sleeves. Fold it over and press.

Pin it to your skirt leaving an opening for the elastic.

Before I add the elastic, I like to do the hem so it remains straight without the pulling of the elastic. Fold under and press.

One of the things I think makes this look nicer is doing a thicker hem. It will look less like  a shirt that way.

Now you can run your elastic through and close the waistband.

An extra detail I did was did a top stitch at the top of them waistband. I wanted the top to have a slight paper bag waist.

Here’s what that stitch will do.

And here’s your $1 denim skirt!

I love it with a lovely blouse for Spring (this top is one of my  new designs, coming soon!)

I absolutely love how you see the pocket spot at the top. It’s my favorite part!

I hope you like this one! It’s a perfect style for Spring!!