A couple weeks ago I visited my best friend Annie down in LA, and she brought me to this magical land called the Melrose Flea Market in West Hollywood. There were tents and tents filled with amazing thrift store finds, cute tiny gold jewelry and even plush flair pins. (I picked up one of Drake’s head. It’s amazing.) We walked into this one tent filled with jumpers and I was in heaven. The maker told me how she finds thrift store maxi skirts and turns them into jumpers by adding fun fabric to the top. I immediately thought of you B+C fans out there and knew I needed to create a post showing you how to turn a maxi skirt into a summertime romper. For all you LA folks, go show love and support for this jumper genius; all the rest of you, scour your closets for maxi skirts and repurpose them into jumpers ASAP.
Materials + Tools:
— maxi skirt
— sewing pins
— measuring tape
— fabric scissors
— fabric chalk
— sewing machine
— iron
Instructions:
1. Try on your skirt and create a mark at the length you want to make your jumper. Measure out on a table and trim off the extra fabric.
2. Create a 13 x 8-inch template out of paper and pin onto the excess fabric from the bottom of your skirt. Cut out four 13 x 8-inch panels.
3. Pin two rectangles to each other and sew down the 13-inch side to create a new rectangle measuring 13 x 16 inches.
4. Pin the two 13 x 16-inch rectangles together and sew around three sides.
5. Turn the large rectangle right side out, pin and sew to the waistband of the skirt.
6. Cut two long rectangles that measure about 28 x 4 inches for your straps. Fold in half and sew.
7. Turn them right side out and pin to the top edge of the rectangle top and the back of the skirt waistband. Sew in place.
Try on your new thrift store purchase and decide the length of your new jumper. Try to trim at least eight inches off of the bottom to follow this tutorial, but if that isn’t possible, I will give you tips and tricks to make it work ;)
My #1 tip for trimming clothing is always cut below the line you first measured. You can always cut off more but you can never add more back on. In this case, I cut about one inch underneath my marked line.
Our skirt was made from a cinched fabric, so I ran an iron over it to smooth it out so that I would be able to cut rectangles the correct size. Measure out a piece of paper that is 13 x 8 inches and then pin to the fabric. Cut out four 13 x 8-inch rectangles.
Pin two rectangles together and sew along the 13-inch side. This will create a 16 x 13-inch rectangle. Pin the two large rectangles together (good sides facing inward) and sew around three sides. (Sew the two 16-inch sides and one 13-inch side.) Pro tip: If you have enough skirt material to create a 16 x 13-inch rectangle, skip ahead to this step — there is no need to tile the two pieces together. On the other hand, if you don’t have enough fabric to cut out four 13 x 8-rectangles try cutting out 3 x 4-inch squares and sewing four together to create a large tile for the top rectangle of your jumper.
Turn the rectangle right side out, fold over the raw edge and pin to the waistband of the skirt.
Pin and sew to create the new top of your thrift store jumper!
Cut two straps from the remaining skirt fabric. Ours measured 28 x 4 inches, but we suggest using measuring tape to figure out the appropriate length for your strap. Pin good sides facing inward, sew and then turn right side out.
Fold the raw edge under and pin one edge of the strap to the top of the rectangle. Criss cross the straps and pin the other edge to the waistband of the skirt.
Voilà ! But let’s put it on — you totally can’t tell how cute it is from this hanger picture ;)
It is safe to say that I am 100% in love with this summer-style hack. San Francisco residents — if you happen to be thrifting for maxi skirts, my apologies if they are all gone. I may or may not have cleaned out the racks to make myself 20 new jumpers.
Throw on a cute bandeau or a bathing suit top to rock underneath your new repurposed jumper.
Show us your project by tagging us on Instagram + using the hashtag #iamcreative!
DIY Production and Styling: Kelly Bryden
Photography: Chris Andre
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures