Gifts for the Bride

A friend of mine is getting married next weekend in Cabo San Lucas!

I'm not attending the wedding, but her bridal party asked if I would put together a few gifts for the bride, Michele.

I bought a plain boyfriend tee at Tar-jay and some fabric paint & went to work. I just printed the words out on paper and since the fabric was sheer enough, was able to trace the letters.

 For the hat, I couldn't trace the letters and I don't have the patience to make a stencil, so I just free-handed the letters.

 I also added the wedding date and a little heart on the back.

 The bag is my favorite part! I made a reversible tote in cream-colored cotton.

On one side it says "bride to-be"...

 ...and when you turn it inside-out it says "just married"!

All of the gifts turned out better than I had imagined. I will definitely use these Tulip fabric paints again!

I know the happy couple is going to have a blast in Cabo!

Have a wonderful weekend, and please follow my blog!

I have a giveaway planned when I reach 50 followers, so tell your friends :)

Look What I Made... Wanna Win It?

Hi there. I'm so so SO excited to share my most recent project with you! I've been admiring these little leather cross body bags. Here are some I really like:

Anthro

Fossil

I thought since I have been working with vinyl a lot lately that I could manage something like this. So I went to work last night on a black faux leather crossbody purse.

...And I did it!

It is the perfect size to hold all of my essential items. But it's small enought that it doesn't allow me to collect junk (which I tend to do when I have the capacity of a large bag).

The inside pattern is a geometric Amy Butler Home Dec fabric... which I've had forever but hadn't got around to actually using. I think it works well here.

Here's my outfit for the day:

Top: Ragdolls

Jeans: Seven for all mankind (ebay!)

Shoes: BC footwear (Nordstrom Rack)

Necklace: Mandipidy

Purse: made by me!

Ok, wanna win the purse?

I'd like to announce my first reader appreciation giveaway! When My blog reaches 50 follwers, I'll have a giveaway and this will be the prize! As of right now, I'm at 42 follwers. So tell your friends about my blog, my shop, or just about this great purse and we'll have a giveaway!

I'm looking forward to meeting new friends :)

Click "follow" on the left ---->

What I Wore Wednesday #6 Nerd Alert!

This began as a regular men's t-shirt... and today I'm showing you how to make it into a dress!

A friend of ours gave Brendan some old shirts to use for work. He is always getting covered in grease and filth, and he ruins clothes pretty frequently. I found a few treasures in the bag of shirts as well, including this Rubik's cube shirt, which I thought would make a cute dress.

I started with a men's XL t-shirt. It isn't quite long enough to be a dress, so I paired it with some leggings for a fun little tunic.

Here are the basic steps to follow:

1. Begin by cutting off the sleeves and collar. Follow just inside the seam lines. Set the sleeves aside.

2. Turn the shirt inside out and put it on. Then place safety pins along each side. This is where you can determine the fit... place pins closer to your body for a tighter fit, and further for a more loose fit.

3. Take off the shirt and lay it out flat. Use chalk or a disappearing ink marker to mark along the pins.

4. Sew along the chalk line, removing the pins as you go. If your machine has a stretch stitch, use it here. If not, use a long thin zigzag stitch. After you've sewn along the lines, cut the excess fabric about 1/4" from the seam.

Now for the sleeves...



5. I trimmed down the original sleeves even more, making a basic tank top cut. Grab the sleeves you set aside earlier.

6. Turn the sleeve inside out, and place it in the arm hole, right sides together. Beginning at the bottom, start pinning around the circle.

7.The sleeves will have a wider circumfrence than your open arm holes, so make a large pleat at the top of the sleeves and pin. This will create that ruffled/flared sleeve.

8. Sew around the outside with a 1/4" stretch seam or zigzag.

9. Trim the sleeves to your desired length by marking the top and bottom with chalk and cutting from one mark to the other.

Now your dress should be ready to wear!

I love this because it is customize-able to the fit of your choice. You can choose any type of sleeve or no sleeve at all!

I hope some of you try this! I'm going to make a few more... that bag was packed full of quirky t-shirts that I'd like to customize.

I hope you are enjoying your week!

DON'T FORGET Craft Couture is hosting a giveaway for my shop! Head over to enter!

Giveaway closes tonight at 11:59 pm :)

June Cleaver Skirt Tutorial (easy!)

I’m naming this the June Cleaver skirt because this was the scene on the day I made it:

(Boyfriend walks in the door & is ambushed by my excitement)

Me (twirling): Look what I made!

Brendan: Neat.

Me: Neat?

Brendan: It looks kinda… housewifey?

I thought it looked sort of like an apron as well. So I decided I would pay a little homage to the OG Housewife. Here goes... 

You will need:

Elastic at least 2” wide
1-2 yards of fabric

Sewing machine & thread

Scissors or rotary cutter

First measure your waist where you would like the waistband to be, and cut the elastic to that measurement. Do not allow for seam allowance because you want it to be slightly stretched while you are wearing it.

Now sew a zig-zag or serging stitch to the edges of the elastic.

Next measure from your waist to where on your leg you would like your skirt to fall. Include 1” for the bottom hem.

If you are attaching the elastic to the selvage edge like I did, then you do not need to add any extra. If you aren’t using the selvage edge of your fabric, you will need to hem all the raw edges, so add another 1” to this measurement.

If you would like your finished skirt to be more narrow/pencil skirty like mine, multiply your waist measurement by 1.5. If you would like it to be wider and more gathered and billowy, multiply by 2.

My waist measurement was 29” so I multiplied by 1.5 to get 43.5, which I rounded up to 44”.

So my fabric panel will be 44” by 18” (my desired length plus 1”).

Hem the long edge by folding fabric over ½” from the edge and pressing, then folding over another ½” then pressing again. Stitch about 5/8” from the edge.

Repeat these hemming steps on the short edges, and the top edge if you are not using the selvage.

Now we will be attaching the elastic waistband to the body of the skirt.

Align the top edge of the elastic to the top edge of the body fabric (right side facing up). Place a pin at each end, flush with the shorter edges. Now pull the elastic tight until the body fabric is flush with the elastic, and place a pin in the middle. You may need an extra pair of hands for this.

Now stretch from one end to the middle, then from the middle to the other end, so you have five pins which are approximately the same distance apart.

Now we are going to sew along the long edge attaching the elastic. Use a 3/8” seam allowance. Begin sewing where you placed your first pin, making sure to backstitch. As you sew, grip the top edge of elastic with your right hand, and with your left hand pull firmly from where your next pin is located. The elastic should stretch so that it lays evenly with the fabric.

Continue all the way along this seam, firmly stretching the fabric as you go.

When you are finished, you should have your waistband and skirt body attached.

The finishing step is easy. Fold your project in half, right sides together, and sew a seam right along the short edge on the inside of the hem lines. Remember to backstitch at the top and bottom.

Now turn it inside out and wear it!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I'd love to see if you make one!

Let me know if you need some clarification, or if there are any questions.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend :)



Throw Pillow Knock-Off

Pottery Barn has beautiful stuff. I would love to live in one of their catalogues, but I can't even imagine what that would cost.

These pillows are lovely, and I wanted (at least) one.

From PB Website

So I put my skills to work and exercized the sincerest form of flattery.

It's just a basic "evelope-style" pillow with a big ole button and a little fabric loop.

So Now I want one in every color!

I'm linking up at all these awesome places this week:





Spring Luggage

Remember this duffle bag pattern that I bought awhile back?

I've made a little progress at a time, and she's finally done!!!

Just in time for spring break.

Actually my spring break isn't until next week, but we are going to Pismo Beach this weekend, and it's roomy enough for all my travel stuff. I also have a trip to Texas planned pretty soon and I can't wait to show off my duffle on the airplane!

So, I'm really happy with how the bag turned out. But I'm not gonna lie... it was really complicated. The pattern had great instructions, but it seemd like every step was a long and tedious process. I'd like to make these for my sisters (birthdays are coming up!), but it is going to take a lot of motivation. They are lucky I love them.

I've been doing a lot of yellow projects lately. I swear I make stuff in other colors too.

Have a nice weekend. I'll post Pismo pictures when I get home :)

Bolster Pillow Tutorial

Today I'm going to show you how to make a bolster pillow AKA lumbar pillow, AKA long roundish pillow.

This was pretty easy.The most difficult part was the math, but I've taken care of that for you.

So first, gather your materials. You'll need:

1 piece of fabric 18" x 25 5/8"

2 fabric circles 8" in diameter

1 bag of poly-fil (12 oz.)

sewing machine

scissors

iron

To make the circles, grab a bowl, dish or something round that has an 8" diameter. If you have a compass, that would work too. If you don't have an 8" bowl or a compass, you can try this technique by holding your thumb 4" from the point of the pencil, you will end up with an 8" circle.

I traced an 8" bowl and cut it out.

Take the large rectangle and fold it so that the shorter ends meet, right sides together.

Sew along the short end with a 1/4" seam.

Press the seam open

Center the seam and mark the other side of the fabric directly across from it.

Fold one circle in half and mark both ends.

Line up the marks on the circle with the marks on the rectangle, and pin in both places. Make sure the right sides are facing each other.

The top and bottom of the circle will be anchored, and now you can easily pin all the way around.

Repeat with the other circle.

Now sew around the edges of each circle with a 1/4" seam. Sewing curves is pretty tricky, but just go slow and guide the circle through the machine.

This is what you should have now:

After the circles are sewn, notch around the corners, being careful not to clip the stitches you just made.

I forgot to take pictures of this step, so I drew it for you in Paint.

The triangles indicate where to cut.

Now take your seam ripper, and open up the seam down the middle, making a gap just big enough for your hand to fit through.

 Turn the whole thing inside out through the hole you just made.

Start stuffing the pillow with the poly-fil. I used an entire 12 oz. bag. Work it around so it all feels evenly distributed.

Once the pillow is stuffed, sew up the gap with a whip stitch.

And now you're finished!

Optional: Add piping around the edges of the circles! I think I'll try that next time.

Now add your lovely new bolster pillow to your collection!

A note about the fabric: These are repurposed tablecloths and dinner napkins from the Dwell Studios collection for Target. They were on clearance!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY project. Let me know if you have any questions!

I'm linking to Blogger's Pillow Party!