More winter crafts

Finally got back into the groove and made some more winter the hats over the past few days...started with an ivory one that I slapped a sparkly maroon bow onto, then a really soft yellow angora one, and then my favorite, a grey cashmere one with black leather bows, and fingerless gloves to match! Glad to be back in action, I think I'm going to use the rest of the yellow angora sweater to make a little cat sweater for Belle...I want to make one for Orion too, but I'll need a whole sweater, and a big one, so that may not happen until I make another trip to Restore.

Here are the hats I made this week...(the ivory one was really hard to photograph, so forgive the blurriness, and the brightness.)

I made the fingerless gloves using the same idea I used to make my last ones (which I ended up giving to my mom while she was here; she liked them and wanted them as driving gloves), but it was a lot less work this time because I used the end of the sleeves for the hand part, and just cut a little hole to sew in the thumb part (which I cut out of the bottom of the sweater), and also used the neck of the shirt (cut into two parts) for the wrist. They look a lot more professional, I think, and like I said, it was a lot easier. The bows are mostly to cover up stitching, but I really like them. :)

Today Josh and I spent some time outside working on clearing the two huge branches that fell next to our house. We made some pretty good progress, but it's slow going since we don't have a chainsaw (or even an axe - we were taking turns using a machete). I think we're going to go to Lowe's tomorrow and get an axe, before we tackle it again. Orion tried to help drag away branches as we cut them off at first, but then got bored and resorted to eating a pumpkin that I threw out.

I have plans to post a lot of words tomorrow, regarding the new year and reflections of this past year, but if I don't get around to it, everyone have a safe and happy end to 2012, and beginning of 2013!

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Birthday weekend

I think I need to write something today before we get to a 10 day lull. I've had a busy past few days...

My parents got here last Thursday evening. I'd spent the day getting ready, cleaning and fixin' up the guest room for them, and had chili cooking in the crockpot. Friday we went out for lunch, then came home and dropped off Josh and my dad, and my mom and I went out. We hit up TJ Maxx, Restore, and the mall. I found a few things at Restore, and also tried to teach my mom a little bit about thrifting - how you can't put things down, and how you have to learn to browse with one arm, while you hold all your other finds on the other arm. It was interesting, and we both found a few good things. She was pleasantly surprised at my ability to spot higher quality things in the midst of all the crap.

Find of the day was this:

Anyway, by the end of our shopping spree my mom started feeling bad, so instead of going all the way downtown for my birthday dinner, we ate at a local pizza place that's just up the road.

Saturday my brother (Paul) and almost sister-in-law (Marla) came up with her kids. They brought me birthday flowers, a cute owl pot holder/towel set, a new grill (!!!!), and presents for my animals. (A new bed for Belle, that she absolutely loves, and a pack of rawhides for Orion, which he ate in one day.) They also brought food, and Josh lit up the grill immediately and cooked up the fajitas my parents had brought from HEB, and we feasted. Then we all loaded up (well, except my dad) and went to Garvan Gardens to see the lights. There were so. many. people. Luckily we left at like 4:45 and got there right at 5:00 so we got in before it was too bad, but walking through was insane. Plus I had taken Orion and I think that at least 80% of the people we passed had to touch him. I can't even count how many times we got asked, "What kind of dog is that?!" or "What's his name?" At first he enjoyed it because he loves people and attention, but by the end he was tired (it's like a mile walk, maybe a bit more, and he's really not a high-energy type) and pulling me, and ready to get back to the car. Bella (Marla's younger girl) fell asleep in the car on the way back to our house so they loaded up and left. I passed out at 8 because I hadn't gotten too much sleep the past few days, and I think my poor tired, sick parents did too. It was a great day, though, overall.

 Sunday we lazed around the house all day. My parents had already said they would buy us either a new bed or a couch for Christmas, and since no one felt like going couch shopping, (and I refuse to buy one I haven't sat in) we ordered a bed online. It'll be here next Monday, so last night I started prepping the room by moving our current bed into the craft/guest room, and putting the air mattress on the floor in our bedroom. It'll be easier for me to clear out the area, and move the air mattress around and clean under it and stuff over the next couple of days...plus it's a queen size (as opposed to the full size we've been sleeping on for the past 6 years) and the new one is a king, so it's a little easier to estimate the size of the space I need to have cleared out and ready. (Also, in case you're wondering, the air mattress is still set up because after my parents left Josh got sick so he's been sleeping on the air mattress so that I don't get sick too.)

Ok, well, we're about to go eat lunch/dinner and have a few drinks since my entire birthday weekend was a booze-free affair. :) Ciao for now!    

Angel

I may not be the kind who holds onto things for their sentimental value, but I am cheap. I'm not going to shell out for something I already have, especially if all my current one needs is a little facelift. So when I pulled my 6 year old angel tree-topper out of the Christmas box this weekend, and her wings fell off, I figured I'd spruce her up a little, and fit her into my Christmas tree color scheme before I glued her wings back on.

I learned a few things in this process; first of all, sewing a Victorian style gown in size DOLL is a lot harder than I anticipated. Also, real (or at least soft/moveable) hair is far easier to work with than painted hair. (I would have preferred a higher neckline, but her hair prevented that.) And last but not least, when you leave feathers laying about, your cat will feign sweetness in order to sit in your lap and try to eat the feathers.

Anyway, let me show you a few before and afters of her (minus her wings, I'm trying to add some different colored feathers to them but am not too sure of how to proceed with that...) Also, I'm not too sure why she had a wand. As far as I know, angels don't typically have wands. So she's not getting it back.

I painted her face, darkened her hair, and brought her forward a few centuries, fashion-wise.

And for comparison purposes, a side-by-side.

I think she looks great. :) I love being able to take something I paid less than $10 for and make it uniquely mine.

(You like how I got completely distracted and haven't even touched the new/old table and chairs?)

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Drowning

Yesterday evening I had a slight relapse of sick, just enough to make me delirious enough to think that it was necessary to pull out and inventory all of my fabric. Less than 5 minutes later Josh heard me moaning and walked into my craft room and witnessed this state of affairs:

It was nearly enough to send me into an anxiety attack. So I walked out and haven't really gone in there today. BUT I do have a plan. The plan is to go through and start with all the super special fabric that I'm saving for as of yet unplanned projects. Those will go in the bottom of the bin. Then I'll put away stuff that I do have a (sort-of) plan for, or a summer-clothing related plan for. That should fill up one bin, which will subsequently be placed Out of Sight.

Once that's done, I should start to get back some of my sanity, and can then designate what I want to continue to use for projects I've already started, and what I want to use in the immediate future for other fall/winter related crafting projects.

In the meantime, I spent today not thinking about any of that, playing outside with my dog, spray painting a giant tree branch silver for a project that may or may not work out, and driving around in the cold taking pictures. Also, my newest sunglasses arrived, and they are very awesome. (I kind of have an addiction to Marc Jacobs sunglasses. Today's addition brings the grand total to six...for the time being.) I spent a little time reconfiguring my bedroom, too. I have this huge mirror that...really is more trouble than it's worth. At the moment it's sitting on the floor because I don't have a way to hang it (it's seriously huge, and wayy heavy), but if I leave it uncovered the cat will just sit in front of it and scratch at it (I don't know if she's trying to fight the 'other cat' or free her, but it's annoying.) Anyway, I moved the mirror from one side of the room to the other, and am still trying to work out how to make it so I can use it without having to hang it, and without Belle having a way to reach it. So far...I have nothing.

Tomorrow I will most definitely put The Plan into action, and will also work a little more on the branch related project (which I'm really hoping works out!). And by tomorrow I mean later today, for all you people with normal schedules and what not...

Christmas things

I kind of went crazy at the Dollar Tree today. I love cheap decorations! It's so easy to just grab one (or four!) of everything because it's only a dollar! I got some giant felt ornaments to go in the craft room and office windows, a pack of sparkly snowflakes, four pieces of silver and iridescent tinsel garland, a Santa hat for Orion, a stocking for Orion, a pack of dark silver glitter ornaments, and a big sparkly Christmas tree shaped ornament. I think that was all.

I also worked on the shirt for my mom some more last night, and made her a coaster. I always give her something tea or coffee related because she likes both, especially trying new kinds. So I figured I'd make her a special coaster mostly because I saw this idea on pinterest (it didn't lead to anything though, so I'm not going to post the inspiration photo because I couldn't source it.)

But, as you can (hopefully!) tell, it's supposed to be a coffee/tea cup! I thought it was super cute, and experimented with a few ways before settling on the one that worked; cutting out my pattern, sewing it right sides together around 3 sides, making sure the 'handle' was in there (totally left it out in one of my three failures), then turning it right side out, and putting a felt piece cut in the same shape inside (to absorb any liquid/make it thicker and more coaster-like). Then I folded in the last side that was left and top-stitched all the way around it. I think it's cute! I think you could also make one using leather and denim, and not have to double up the fabric. I wanted to use the polka dots, though, and it frayed too easily so I couldn't do anything that only used one layer of it.

As for the shirt, it's still not done, but I was extremely pleased with how well the tree came out so I'm going to post a progress picture. I drew the tree onto my heat-bond paper, bonded it to the burlap first, then cut around the edge of it. I think that helped keep the burlap from unraveling while I worked with it. Then I immediately bonded it to the shirt, and did a zig-zag stitch all the way around the edge of the tree. (Very time consuming, but also very worth it.) I think I may do a few pearl ornaments, and leave it at that; I'm kind of loving the rustic look it has right now. 

Pictures! First up, the teacup coaster (this could also work as a ornament for a tea/coffee lover!)

And here's the shirt.

And you can file this one under 'pictures that happen accidentally when you're messing with your camera settings and don't notice your dog walking towards you with an entire tree in his mouth'

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Skirt reveal!

Ok, so I know I mentioned that I had finished making this skirt, but what I didn't mention was that it is, truly, the best skirt I have ever made. Hands down. It took a few days, partially because I was sick and partially because I work better if I stretch things out, and take plenty of breaks. It was constructed from part of a skirt I bought at restore that was...odd, and part of a lace shirt. I say I made it because even though I used pieces from things that were already made, I actually deconstructed them completely, and started fresh using already cut pieces of fabric. I initially put the lace in to make the skirt a little longer, but it came out really nice (or so I think) and looks like a classy yet sexy skirt. I'm extremely pleased.

Close-up of the lace detail

Pretty good, eh? I'm insanely proud. Can't wait until I'm completely well and have a chance to wear it out!

Now I'm working on a shirt for my mom...no pictures yet because so far I've only done the alterations on the shirt itself (an XL I had bought for myself but never wore because it was too short)...my mom is tiny but pear shaped, so I took it in under the arms and at the top so it wouldn't hang off her shoulders, but left the bottom alone so it will be comfortable. Anyway, that's all I've done so far, but I'm going to put a (burlap) Christmas tree on it and then decorate it with ribbon and pearls. It'll be cute! Hopefully I'll get that done by the end of the week.

I've also been toying with the idea of making a night-gown for myself, based on one I already have and love, but can't figure out what kind of fabric I'd want to use. Hmm.

November musings

I think I need to set a goal for myself regarding November: make things using only materials I already have on hand! I mean, I have a few skirt ideas in mind that will obviously require me to buy elastic (I cannot install a zipper to save my life) but other than that, no more buying things from re-store! My fabric bins (yes, more than one) are overflowing, and my floor, desk, and coffee table are covered. As in you can barely see what color those things are through all the fabric that's spread out everywhere.

Belle doesn't complain though, she thinks that the craft room is her room and she is the Queen of the Fabric and gets to lay on whatever texture suits her mood at the moment.

I have so many materials already, so much fabric, and too-small or too-big items that need to be altered or just cut up and used as fabric, but I get distracted so easily. I think what I need to do is go through my 'Craft Ideas & Sewing Projects' board on pinterest, pick out some stuff, set up my laptop in the craft room with 5 or 6 project ideas open, and then cut off the wireless so I can't open up anything else!

I do have to make sure I put everything away for the week of Thanksgiving, though, because my in-laws will be here! So I guess minus the half week I've already wasted spent not doing much of anything (well except painting the Coolest Doll Ever) I've got three weeks to work with this month.

Anyway, here are a few pieces I'm wanting to wok on specifically this week:

Ivory/gold brocade skirt. It's a really nice skirt, but it's like one size too small, and I'm not sure whether I should hold out and hope I can fit into it soon, or just go ahead and make something out of it. If I do, I'm thinking a clutch.

This dress is also really nice, but it's an XS and I know I'll never be that tiny so it's destined for re-purposing. Just not too sure what it will turn into...

They're both gold (and sparkly!) which makes me think of winter and Christmas, which is kind of why I'm trying to work with them first.

I also have a black maxi that I grabbed at restore that I'm debating turning into asymmetrical hem skirt...I really don't know! I kind of want to just go ahead and do it because it's a $2 skirt so what's the harm? But at the same time nice flowy, not-faded-one-little-bit thrift store maxis are hard to come by!

Also this month: I'll be getting (and restoring!) a table and six chairs from my in-laws. That will definitely be a learning experience. I might even paint them. We'll see how it goes.

I'll probably also be baking and possibly sharing a few gluten-free ideas. I'm still getting used to this, and finding new things to eat can be hard. Partially because I'm picky, and partially because Josh doesn't have to eat gluten-free, so it can be difficult to find things for both of us to eat, and that still taste good to him. I'm still trying to not eat out the rest of this month, so hopefully embracing the eating at home thing will lead to us finding a balance.

And on a final note, I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS ALREADY NOVEMBER.

31 Days Series: Another hat.

Alright, I know, I've made a lot of hats already. BUT! This one is different. And by different I mostly just mean more complicated. Part of this stems from the fact that it was made from the arms, and didn't have a nice, snug, trim around the bottom like the other hats I've made so far did. (Told you I wasn't going to let a single piece of that sweater go to waste!) This meant I had to come up with a way for it to fit my head without flying off into the wind. Because I started this late last night with no real objective, and without really knowing if it was going to work, I didn't take pictures. I did, however, draw an amazingly accurate picture to show you how to start off if you want to recreate this. (Which I only recommend doing if you have random sweater arms laying around and no other way to use them. Otherwise, just cut your hat pattern from the bottom; it's much easier.)

Like I said, this is constructed from sleeves. Two of them. If you're using a shirt with short sleeves you may be able to skip the second half of this, but in my case I was using the top half of sweater sleeves, so I had to pick my brain and figure out how to finish it off. But we'll get to that in a sec.

Eh, you like that? ...ok, sorry. I tried. Follow the diagram, if you can. First you want to cut the sleeves off, and then open up the seam that closes the arm together. You'll have two pieces that are shaped like the third picture. Cut about an inch off the top (keep in mind; my sleeve pieces were about 8 inches long before I cut that off, so if yours are shorter you may need to cut less. If they're longer, cut some off the bottom too.) Put them right sides together and sew up both sides. Then finish off the top the same way we've done before.

Now you should be left with something like this:

Alright. Here's where it gets hairy.

We're going to add elastic! If you've ever made a skirt with an exposed elastic waistband, then you know where I'm going with this. If not, good luck! (Just kidding. It's not hard, but it's definitely going to test your patience if this is your first go at it.)

Start by cutting a piece of elastic that will fit comfortably around your head; tight enough to stay on, but loose enough to wear for long periods of time without getting a headache. Once you have the elastic cut, measure it, and mark the quarter, half, and three-quarter points on it. Then, sew those points to the corresponding points inside your hat. (Fold the edge over about ¼ inch, and just sew a zig-zag line across the width to keep the elastic in place; see the top picture.)

Now you finish it up by sewing the elastic all the way around the inside of the hat. Use a large zig-zag, and sew the ¼ inch piece of the hat that folded over to the edge of the elastic. It's a little easier if you work in fourths, going from one of the points you already sewed to the next, while keeping the elastic stretched all the way out. (This is the hardest part, and it may take some trial and error, so if you're not comfortable with the process, practice on some scrap fabric first.)

And now you are the proud owner of a scrap hat, that can be worn pulled down over your ears on cold days, and pushed back like a head band inside. :) Woo!

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31 Days Series: Angora sweater accessories

I finished my sweater accessories!! One $3 thrifted angora sweater turned out a hat, a set of leg-warmers, and a pair of gloves! Ready for the breakdown?

Hat.

Again, this is a fairly simple project, but if you need some guidance, Kirsten has an easy to follow step-by-step here.

I was also inspired by her post here to make a few other things and not let a single piece of this gorgeous sweater go to waste! But I did want to change it up a bit. Instead of simple hand warmers, I went all out on gloves. But first, I made leg-warmers! (Which are even easier than the hat!)

For these I simply cut the sleeves off from about half-way down and then sewed the tiniest of hems (about ¼ inch) since it won't be seen anyway. The bottom part will be tucked into boots. :)

And last but certainly not least, the gloves! I really wanted them to be comfortable and easy to wear, but also to look nice. I chose to use my alpaca gloves as a pattern. I half traced/half free-handed a simple two-piece pattern based on those gloves.

I cut the thumb part out from the bottom of the sweater (next to wear the hat came from) and the hand piece from the top to cut down on the amount of seams I would have to sew. (I didn't take a picture of how I cut the hand part, so I used my super-professional photo-shop skills to draw it out for you.)

To make the gloves you put the pieces together right sides in, and sew the side that will be on the outside of your hand closed. Then, you sew the thumb part to the other side, starting about an inch below the top edge. Sew half of the thumb piece to one side, and the other half to the other side. Then, sew the rest of the front and back together. (You should have approximately one inch on top, which will be between your pointer finger and thumb when you wear these, and two to three inches below the thumb part, depending on how long your gloves are going to be.)

Repeat for the other glove and you're done! Cute matching accessories, all from one cheap sweater!

Personally I still have a little bit of sweater left so I might make something else...just not too sure what yet. :)
And if you have any trouble understanding anything, let me know and I'll try to clear it up! I'm not the best at explaining things in detail. I would make a horrible teacher.

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