Gearing up to say "Goodbye"...

Ruffie.

My shadow.
My little hero.

I've been in denial about the fact that my little mix-breed mutt is nearing the end of his days. He will be 15 years old in a few months. What is that in dog years? A billion?

Ruffian found me (or did I find him?) when he was a mere 6 weeks old and I was a broke college student. Broke or not, I scrounged up the $35 to make him mine. He stuck with me through college, multiple roommates and moves, broken relationships, growing up, marriage, an addition of an annoying puppy to follow him around, dark days of infertility and loss, becoming second place when babies finally entered the picture, and everything in between. Me becoming a mom probably rocked Ruffian's little world, as I've simply not had much time or patience to lend to my constant shadow. My parents have often commented that this dog has saved them thousands of dollars in therapy bills for me as I battled through the rough waters of early adulthood. He's been dubbed "The Hero". They are right.

Age has taken its toll though. I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that my friend's quality of life is declining. Unfortunately during the last year, that decline has sped up and manifested itself greatly. He's basically falling apart.

Ruffie, about 7 years ago...(around age 7 yrs)

...and today...at 15 years old.

Saying "goodbye" sucks. I'm not ready to do it and I will probably wait for awhile, but I can tell my dog is pretty ready. I need to get there too for his sake. In the years that will follow my goodbye, I know that I will miss the ticking of his toenails as he pads after my every move through the house. I'll miss knowing he's sleeping less than a foot from me, right beside my bed. I may even miss the horrid stink that follows him around (he really is the smelliest dog ever).

How does this relate to crafting, you ask? Well, I'm not the only one getting re-purposed shirts around here to wear! In an effort to keep my old dog warmer (in addition top of his heated bed warmer, that is!), and also to keep him from biting at his hot spots, I discovered an infant's 18 month sized long sleeve T-shirt works perfectly! The bulky dog sweaters we have don't cover his front legs, which he has taken to licking until his ankles are nearly bald. A toddler's T with elastic sewn in a casing around the bottom hem, and wha-la! A new fashion statement and the easiest craft ever.
Oh Ruff, I wish you could live forever...

Haven't lost my mo-jo yet.

I'm still feeling inspired! Yippee for me! Yippee for you too because that means you get to see what I've been up to.

I'm into recycling lately. Or rather, re-purposing. I'm a gal that was born tall with a long torso. This might seem great to those that are on the shorter side, but for me, it has actually been quite frustrating throughout my life. You see, normal clothes don't fit. I have to buy "tall" sizes. This a pain in the rear when I walk into a store, spy something to-die-for cute, only to discover it doesn't come in "tall". I do a lot of online clothing shopping because of this, which results in too-high shipping charges. Don't get me started on that soapbox...

Anywho, since showing the mid-drift went out of style with the passing of the 90's, this has been a problem for me with shirts.

Hence...the re-purposing. I decided to see what I could do to remedy some of my too-short shirts.

Here is my first victim. I like ruffles. I even decided to model for you. Like my pose? Think I could make it into a fashion mag? I think not because it is the only pose I have.




I think I may add some more shirring to the bottom, as it isn't quite ruffled enough yet. But it is a good start.

For those of you that I have running to your closets, wondering what you could re-purpose of your own, this is how I did it. It is easy peasy.

I've learned I'm really bad at taking "before" pictures before I start cutting. This was a "regular" cap-sleeve Walmart cheapie t-shirt to start with.

I cut off the arms and bottom hem. Made the arm hole a bit bigger so it didn't hug the pit so much. What can I say, it makes me sweat when that happens. Glamorous, yes?


I cut out some pieces that I thought would work to make into cap-sleeves. I ended up making a second bottom piece that was wider for the waistline, as this one turned out to be too narrow to fit the hips once shirred. It's no secret that they aren't as narrow as they used to be!


Then, just sew them on the ends, not worrying about finishing the hidden edges since jersey won't unravel. Un-hemmed jersey edges seem to be the new thing anyway.
Add a few rows of shirring around the arms and waist...

And wha-la! I have myself a new shirt. Very cute if I do say so myself.

For a little bit of anticipation, keep tuning into see what I do with this pile of old cedar wood. That is, once it stops raining here. If it EVER stops raining here. This is gonna be a fun one!