Monthly Makes - August 2026

Rather than being a month of making, August, was a month of making alterations to items of clothing  that were in my wardrobe and that I wasn't quite happy with. The first item I altered was this 100% linen tunic top that I bought at the car boot for £1. Whilst I really liked the neckline, sleeves and looseness of it, it was just way too long and lagenlook for me, so I decided to cut some fabric off the bottom, re-hem it and make it shorter and more me. Here's a before:

(Please excuse the creases)

It didn't take long to just re-hem it and I have to say, I'm very happy with the result and I can now see me reaching for this a lot, as it is very comfortable to wear in hot weather. 

Here's an after picture:

The second item I altered, was one that I had altered previously. This top was originally a short dress. I think it is 100% cotton, although I can't read the label, but it feels like cotton lawn, which is great for summer. The problem was, that every time I reached for it, I just didn't like it on. I then had a bit of a lightbulb moment, that altering the sleeves might help. They were originally 3/4 length and elasticated and it's not my favourite length of sleeve, so I shoved the elastic up to the top of my arm to give an idea of how it would look with short sleeves and I much prefered it. 

It was a simple enough job to shorten and re-hem the sleeves. I didn't re-insert elastic, as the less tightness around any part of the body when it's hot the better. I'm very happy with the results. I can see me wearing this top a lot more now. Here's what it looks like now:

I liked it that much, that I decided to wear it for the rest of the day.

Another item that I altered involved hand sewing some new straps to a jumpsuit. It didn't change the look of the item at all, but just made it fit better, so I haven't posted a picture here. It was good to get this small job done though, as it meant that I could wear said jumpsuit, which I bought a month ago.

I also did a bit more work on my second Suffolk puff project, making a few more puffs. I'm pinning them to the lampshade as I make them. Here's where I'm at currently:

A long way to go, but I'm hoping that I've got enough fabric to complete it.

I did a couple more alterations this month. The first was to my favourite sweatshirt, that I've had for years, and which is really useful for taking on holiday for cool nights/days. It had a ring mark stain on the front and despite my efforts, I've not been able to shift it. I didn't want to throw it away as I like it, and I had some patches in my stash, so I ironed them on over the stain, so that I can continue to wear it. Here's a picture of what it now looks like:

A much better solution than recycling it for rags. I'm just hoping the patches stay on when it's washed and worn, otherwise it will be a bigger job to stitch them into place.

The final small alteration job I did this month was to cut a dress down to a skirt. I bought the dress from the charity shop for £5. I'm afraid I didn't take a before photo of it, but it had a sheered top with puff sleeves. The only problem was that it was way too low cut at the front and back for my liking, so I cut it down to a skirt. I've already worn this several times and it's very comfortable. It's made of cotton broiderie anglaise, but it did have a polyester lining, which I removed, as I don't want any synthetics against my skin in hot weather. Here's a picture of the resulting skirt:

Just small alteration projects for the main part this month. I didn't get around to making any trousers on account of the wedding and other distractions, but hopefully I'll get around to them another month. I was, however, happy with the results of the things I did alter, as it has made several things much more wearable.