Sunday stuff

Well, I promised pictures of the outfit I bought yesterday, so here they are!

The colors are so great! I think I may do shorts out of the skirt (because how awesomely 80s would high-waisted, pleated floral shorts be?!!), and then cut the top apart and use the bottom half of it to make a tank dress. Sort of like this:

But with buttons down the front, and shorter, since I'll be using shirt remnants. And a black shirt. Anyway, you get the idea.

And this is a sneak peek of the other project I'm hoping to get done this week! It's something Josh asked me to make for him. I'll elaborate more once it's done. (In other words, I'm not 100% sure of how I'm going to pull it off, but I'm determined.)

and just for good measure, here's a picture of Belle making a crazy face. She gets ridiculous when I have a camera. Such a vain little cat.

Anyway, not much else to report. Today we stayed home, did our kettle bell workout outside, then came in and watched the Super Bowl. Oh we did make a midnight (or 2 am, whatever) run to walmart. I had some money left on my gift card, and I needed chap stick...so of course I also got new eyeliner and mascara. I had to use up all the money! I got a really awesome three eyeliner pack from Physicians Formula - black, dark grey, and silver. They're sparkly and awesome.The end.

Lucky inspired

Yesterday I was sitting in my craft room, flipping through my newest issue of Lucky, when I saw a skirt that really got my attention - not necessarily because it is an awesome skirt (although it is) and not even because I have a Marc Jacobs weakness; what initially crossed my mind when I saw it was, "Hey, I have that in shirt form!"

Of course upon closer inspection it isn't an exact match, but it is close enough that it inspired me to dig the shirt out of the back of my closet and start thinking about doing something different with it for spring. I actually found it in a thrift store a few years ago, and due to a complete inability to pass up anything that looks like it came out of the 80s unscathed, I bought it. I wore it a few times, but it's too big and really unflattering. So it has been sitting in my closet just waiting for an opportunity like this to come along.

I might make it into a skirt, or I might do something else with it, and it will definitely be a few weeks before I actually do anything, but I'm really just glad to have something to focus on other than hats and sweaters! Hopefully I'll figure something out by the time it starts to warm up around here.

(The shirt actually comes across a bit more pink in real life than it does in the picture, but you should still be able to figure out why they reminded me of each other.)

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'

Joining:

31 Days Series: Sugar skull shirt

Well, I went all out on this first project. Don't get spoiled and expect this level of awesome every day, you will be sorely disappointed.

I made a shirt. Out of scraps. But...I think it came out great!

First I found a picture of a sugar skull I liked - black and white, since I really just needed the most basic of outlines. I got Josh to set up the projector and traced the outline onto a large sheet of paper I had taped up on the wall.

Then I started gathering supplies; lace, ribbon, anything with sequins was fair game. (Don't judge my tracing skills, or lack thereof I should say.)

Once I had a basic plan, I taped a larger piece of black lace over the skull, ironed it just slightly to straighten out both the lace and the paper, and cut that out.

Then came the real hard part. Figuring out how to best make the 'face' (if a skull can really have a face...) I played around with a bunch of different pieces, different materials, trying to figure out what I liked best. I cut teeth and the nasal cavity opening out of this silver sateen-like fabric I had laying around, a rose out of some fabric I bought to make pajama pants out of a few years ago, and then the other pieces from a really thick, beautiful lace & sequin trim. Once I had everything cut, and arranged how I like it, I used heat bond to attach it to the skull form.

Finally, I heat-bonded the whole skull to the t-shirt, and then went over the whole thing with a zig-zag stitch to ensure it stays together. (I put way too much work into this for it to lose teeth in the wash or something!)
And here's the finished product!

I'm pretty proud of this. It took about 4 - 5 hours overall, but I spread it out (I actually started this at 2 am last night, which should explain the crappy quality of the first few pictures, and just finished less than 30 minutes ago) and managed to finish in less than 24 hours. I hope you enjoy! Leave a comment if you make one!

(See a list of the other 30 days in this series here.)

Fall dye time

Let me just preface this by saying that I have a lot of clothes. Not like shop-a-holic level of a lot, just...above average. Probably. I don't really go around measuring other peoples wardrobes for comparison or anything. But, because of that, I have a lot of clothes that last from year to year; favorites that I'm careful with, or just pieces that sometimes get forgotten or not worn as much because I have so many choices. (And because I spend most of my days at home in pajamas so my 'nice' clothes get a lot less wear & tear than my 'home' clothes.)

Sometimes, though, even though they're still in good condition, things fade. And no one wants to wear faded clothes! So twice a year, right around the time that I switch my spring/summer and fall/winter wardrobes around, I dye things. Usually it's just the blacks, because those are the most prone to fading, and the most obvious (and because I wear a lot of black) but I have been known to do grey or blue as well. It's a simple way to keep clothes from last year (or the year before, even) looking sharp, and a lot cheaper than replacing staples (like leggings, turtlenecks, tanks to wear other stuff, etc.) that don't really change styles from year to year. I mean, I don't know about you, but I prefer to spend my money buying new boots rather than replacing the leggings I'm going to wear them over!

So today I dyed three pieces:

A turtleneck that I've actually had for...3 years this winter, a tee that I got in February of this year, and one pair of leggings. (The other pair has a hole, so they are getting replaced.)

Here's a close-up so you can see the difference in the amounts of fade:

See how even though the turtleneck is the oldest it's also the blackest? And I think, honestly, this will be the first time I've dyed that! It's one of those things that I take really good care of because I really love it. It's got just the slightest bit of ruching down the neck, sides, on the wrists, and around the arms, making it almost puffy sleeves. The tee is just a cheap one from Sears, but it's thin enough that it's great for layering, and other than a bit of fading, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. And since it's less than a year old, I'm giving it a face-lift to get it through at least one more season before I let it go.

Another tip for keeping blacks black (and any clothes from fading, really) is to hang them to dry instead of tossing them in the dryer (I actually plaster mine all over the bedroom and leave the fan on high while they're drying) or, if you must put them in the dryer, use a lower setting. (Delicate, low heat, whatever it may be on your dryer.)

Anyway. Just thought I'd share this, in case anyone needed some ideas on how to breathe new life into a favorite outfit that has begun to lose it's luster! Other than this, I'm still working on getting the house in tip-top shape. I've gotten both bathrooms sparkling clean, and organized the craft room, for the most part. Just need to go over it once more with the vacuum and clear off my desk. I'm waiting to do the kitchen last because it's the easiest to dirty up again. We have a huge counter that easily becomes a catch-all for pretty much everything. Ok. Time to get back to it! Hope everyone has a great week!