Race Tee Refashion

Yesterday I ran a road race.  I don't run a lot of races, but enough to end up with a drawer full of cotton race tees that I almost never wear.  They are usually too big and boxy for my taste.  As we're driving back from the race my husband says "I bet you could fix up your shirt".  Huh, why didn't I ever think of that before?

I'll apologize in advance, these photos were an afterthought, so they're not my best.

So I sat down and experimented.  First, I deconstructed my shirt. 

 Then I used a pattern I traced from a favorite tee I have, and re-cut the shirt.

 I reassembled the shirt with a new trim around the neck and sleeves.  Now I have a tee I'll actually wear! I did the yellow one first and had some technical difficulties.  I had to redo the neck a few times and ended up cutting into the printed part.

I also learned you should not iron over the print.  It will melt and stick to your iron and make a big mess.

 

I dug out one of my older race shirts and this time, took my time, rather than racing through it, so to speak.  Much better the second time.

 Often times my sewing, like my running is less than perfect.  But, I find if I take my time and try not focus so much on the finish line, I end up with a result I'm happy with.

Here's to being less than perfect, but perfectly happy nonetheless. 

A New Button For Printing

If you look closely, you might notice a new little button at the bottom of my posts.

I've had some readers asking about putting up tutorials in PDF format, which prompted me to find this cool little widget. It will let you save any post as a PDF for easier printing.  You can use it just for printing, non-PDF style as well. 

Try it out.  Let me know what you think.

The Ools

This is probably one of my more random posts.  But, these guys came out so cute, I had to share.

My daughter was at the dentist the other day and we discovered that she has her first wiggly tooth.  Of all the things to get emotional about, this was it for me.  I vividly remember waiting on those teeth, blaming her fussiness on those teeth. And now they're going to fall out!  I'm simultaneously excited and heartbroken.  
In any case, there's lots of talk of lost teeth and the Tooth Fairy around my house.  I decided to get ahead of the game and make some kind of tooth fairy pillow. 
I found this tutorial for a sweet Love Bird.  It has a nice pocket in the front, perfect for a tooth and a little gift.  I didn't follow the instructions really, but used it more as inspiration. 

 I made one for both kids, even though the younger one has a few years to go before any visits from the Tooth Fairy.  He named these guys Ool, which is his silly word for owl.  

And, I think I've been bit by the softie bug, because right after I made these Ools, I made this guy.  You may recognize him as Otto from Gideon and Otto.  Tutorial coming up soon, maybe even this week.  


What's your favorite softie?