My hubby's birthday was last weekend and we went camping to celebrate. He loves chess so I made him a chess set out of nuts and bolts that we took and played under the changing leaves. It was great.

I got the inspiration form a bunch of google images but out local hardware store didn't seem to have a lot in the way unique bolts and stuff. I had to get pretty creative and super glue helped. I'm not at all satisfied with the board. I will probably re do it but for now it works. I covered a regular board with this cool steam engine fabric i found using Modge Podge and taped and painted it with white paint then sprayed to seal. The board originally folded but then the paint and stuff stuck. Oh well.

I am posting how I made these because it is stupid simple, but I have to admit getting the idea from the book Sew Subversive.

I also want to mention that I was hesitant to try this because I had a bad run in with a pair of leg warmes I got from Target a few winters ago. All of the leg warmers were one size fits...well they didn't fit me. I guess I have freakishly fat calves (at least that's what it felt like) I was too embarrassed to even return them. But the sweater worked perfectly. There was even a comical moment when my hub came home from work to find me with my legs in the sleeves of the sweater and a giddy look on my face.

First I just cut the sleeves in a straight(ish) line from the armpit to the shoulder.


Then I drew hearts on the sleeves where I would be sewing for the reverse applique. Thank goodness black markers draw on black knit material. I lettuce edged the top/bottom/whatever in with contrasting thread. All I did was a tight zig-zag on the edge and stretched the fabric as it went under the foot. I think I love lettuce edging.


I pinned the fabric underneath the hearts I drew, right side up, and sewed a "messy" outline around them. This is what it looked like before I clipped the threads.



Next I turned it inside out and trimmed the fabric (but not too close). Then I turned it right side out again and clipped away the inside of the the hearts. And Voilà!

The only thing I did to the shape of the sweater was to cut it up the middle.
Then I made a sort of bias tape with fabric I had in my stash and bound the cut, the collar and the sleeves. I had enough left over to make a ruffled bottom.

The ugly before sweater:


Here is a close-up of the cute fabric I used. I found it for $3 a yard at a new fabric shop in town ages ago.


My favorite part of this project is the button. I took a vintage clip earring and cut off the back piece and glued the earring to the back of a do-it-yourself fabric button. (If that didn't make any sense message me and I will explain better)

Earring before:


Back of new button:



Ugly button hole (button holes on sweater fabric is super hard and I’m not good at them on regular fabric):


I wore my "new" sweater to dance class last night ans someone asked if I got it at Anthropology

Here is the skirt before. It was a pretty simple black jersey skirt with a pretty crocheted border on the hem. I got it at Goodwill years ago. It was comfy but just not flattering. Oh and that's my new kitty Ringo..."He's so fluffy!"


Super simple idea. Here it is cut. What I learned from the first attempt was to measure the sleeves. my arm is 12" around and i measured just that knowing the jersey would stretch. Also be sure to put the skirt on like a poncho first to mark where you want the sleeves to start.

Then just sew up the sides and down the sleeve.

Here is the finished product. It came out pretty cute and it is so comfy. The perfect thing to wear snuggled up on the couch with a good book.

What am I pointing at? Don't know just wanted to show the sleeves.

At first I was unimpressed…but it’s growing on me. What do you think?

My skeptical face


Here is the shirt before.


First I cut off the collar and sleeves then I covered the edges with bias tape. Easy peasy.


From there I just shirred under the bust to give it some shape
I don’t know. I go from hating it to liking it to loving it. I really like the way the bias tape makes the collar stiff and open. And something about the shape has a vintage feel, not sure why. But seriously, any ideas about this one would be greatly appreciated.

*I hope this is the right place to post this*

I got a "new" vintage bike and since I live like a mile and a half form work I have biked to work everyday this week. About day two I realized I needed a better method of carrying my stuff; work shoes lunch books etc. I looked online but saddle bags are crazy expensive (and kind of ugly) so I made one of my own. It's by no means perfect but I like it and it is working great.

I used a jute tote bag and got the buckle straps form an old coat. (note: my sewing machine hates jute)

At first i made a velcro system to attach it to my bike but that failed miserably. So after some consideration I decided to just sew it to the back rack with thick embroidery thread. So far so good. The only drawback is that I cant take it off, but I don't really need to so it's all good.

inside

outside

I decided to give new life to some old pants. These were some Wal-Mart jeans I bought…well I’m not sure why I bought them. They don’t fit great and the denim is super thin. I figured I could try to embellish them and if it didn’t work out, no tears.

Have you played with a Clorox bleach pen? It’s pretty awesome. The bleach is a gel so it doesn’t run. Basically you just draw with the pen. It doesn’t get the finest detail (I find big bold patterns work best). Then you let it dry and rinse off.

Don’t forget to put newspaper under your design or the bleach will bleed through and don’t wear anything that you don’t mind getting bleach stains on.

I was worried that it wasn’t working so I kept testing. That’s why the bottom of the big design isn’t as dark (ironic right?). I let the rest dry completely (we went to a movie) and it bleached just fine. Lesson: Patience

Oh and I am playing with my camera so that’s what’s up with the artsy pics.

Look a basset hound!


I am just tickled at how this one turned out. And elastic bobbins rock my world. There were some touch and go moments and for a minute I thought I had ruined it.

I got this dress on clearance at Target probably because I love jersey dresses (can you tell?). But nothing about this dress was flattering.
Before


The waist was the easiest part. I wound a spiral under the original shirring with a bobbin of elastic thread until the bobbin ran out. In the picture the white is the shirring I did. See the crooked lines? It doesn't matter. Ha I love this stuff.


Anyway I am Cheshire Cat over this dress. The square neck and high waist puts me in mind of Jane Austin (if Jane Austin was half black) I wore it to work today and I feel so pretty. And the dress is comfy.

Shirring is easy as easy can be. Trust me I am not a seamstress. If I can do it, it's idiot proof.

My good friend Consuelo Marie got back from vacation and announced that she and her (long time) fiancé eloped in California!

I am so happy for her and I wanted to do something special. She and her husband (he he) are going to Ecuador for a year soon, so I didn’t want to get them something big or heavy that they would have to store (like a kitchenaid mixer).

I decided on a bowl of blessings. I found the pattern here http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/2009/03/tutorial-quilted-bowl.html and I modified it to make the panels look more like flower petals. The white fabric is repurposed from a coat I don’t wear (because it’s white) and I had the pink linen for the hearts already. There is dried lavender inside the hearts.

I am quite pleased with how it came out. I think she will like it too.

I know I am posting a lot of tutorials lately but I started a new blog and I am trying to get practice making instructions. So feedback is much appreciated.


Another super easy project. This one literally took me 15 minutes. Well it took like 40, but if you aren’t stopping to take and re-take pictures of yourself it should only take 15 minutes.

Here is the shirt before. Just a plain shirt that I had cut a shallow boat neck on. The back looks just like the front (in fact since I cut the label off I couldn’t tell the front from the back)


First I pinned the doily to the RIGHT side of the back of the shirt.


Then I sewed the border careful not to gather the shirt anywhere or the shape of the shirt would have changed. Then I turned the shirt inside out and cut the shirt away (think reverse applique).


I got so many compliments that I cant wait to do this again. I just need to find another doily. I think next time I will put it on the side.