Stripes and Flowers shirt refashion

A while ago I got this great Banana Republic striped shirt from Goodwill. It had a scooped back and was great the way it was, but it was pretty plain. So I went to my fabric bins and started digging around. I found this amazing doily that my mom had scored at the Goodwill Outlet. I cut off the fabric it was sewn to, then hand-sewed it to the back of the shirt, and voila!

Simple as that!


I love my "new" shirt! It's perfect for the fall weather. And I can wear so many different kinds of accessories with it.



What's your favorite kind of outfit to wear in the fall?

I heart Animals!

This refashion was from way back in 2010! I'll probably be doing a lot of flashbacks this month because we'll be having a visitor with us and I will be kept very busy for the most part. :)

Here's what I started off with:

The raglan was thrifted and the "I love Animals" shirt was from Hot Topic.

Maybe you can't tell, but that tee in the background was way too big on me.
Let me give you the whole picture...

See? And the Animals tee was too small, so somewhere in-between both of these shirts would be perfect. 

All I did was resize the raglan by the pinch-and-pin method, cut out the animals design in a rectangle, and applique it to the front with a zig-zag stitch! So easy, and it's still one of my favorite refashions. (Probably because that animal print is just so darn cute!)

Thanks for stopping by ♥

Rainbow Polka Dot skirt- a refashion with tutorial (sort-of)

I love polka dots, and I love my new skirt!

 A little back story:
Sometimes I am struck with inspiration when I see something on TV. Case in point: I was watching New Girl a couple of years ago and Zoey was wearing this:

Sorry, I don't know where I found this :( It's been on my computer for 2 years, so...

 Of course, when I was watching it looked more like polka dots and less like partially bitten cookies but I didn't care! (Also I'm pretty sure hers were shorts too... weird.) There was my inspiration and it stuck with me for a long time. That's when I went thrift-shopping with one of my good friends and I found this:

Women's large rainbow polka-dot button-up for all of $3?! Score!

Was this a match made in heaven? Was the universe trying to give me a sign that I need to make this skirt?

Well, yes, but for some reason I was too chicken to try and start it right then and there.
And you know what?
I'm glad I waited!
Because it never would have turned out as well back then.

For semi-tutorial, keep reading!

Some Adorable Amigurumis I've made

Unless you are friends with me on Ravelry, or follow me on Flickr, you wouldn't know just how many little amigurumis (Crochet or knitted stuffed toys that my spelling corrector would rather have me call "fumigators") I've made over the past few years. Many I haven't shared on here and I thought it was time to change that since I'm really proud of them.

First we have: Brain Slug

Pattern on Hooks and Needles

This guy is my favorite! I have been watching Futurama from the beginning and it's still one of my favorite shows. The marine and I quote it on a daily basis "for no raisin"! (10 points to you if you know what I'm talking about!)


Next up: Cthulhu
 

Pattern on Instructables

AKA the Elder God. I don't know that much more about him, but one of my friends does! Funny thing is sometimes I make presents like this for my friends on a whim. I ended up giving this to her on my birthday three years ago.


Same goes for this little panda ball that I gave to another friend before I moved to NC for the first time, for possibly no reason.

Pattern on Lion Brand

Or maybe because it was her birthday... hmm
Either way, cute!


Then there's this penguin that I had promised to my friend (who loves penguins) for years and finally gave to her:

...Without taking a picture myself! Can you believe that? That almost never happens. You might not be able to tell but he is full of adorableness. Except that the fun fur yarn from Lion Brand is a PAIN IN MY ASS. I love him because he's so cute, but have bad memories of NOT KNOWING WHERE MY STITCHES WERE. Crocheters, you know what I'm talking about.

But for some reason I decided to take it up again and used the leftovers to make this furry rock!

I mean Tribble!
You can read about her here.
No accounts of multiplying... yet. Life form is possibly deceased. 


I know it might not seem like that many, but amigurumis are little feats of engineering that I'm still astonished I was able to create with just a hook and yarn. It boggles my mind.


BONUS: Lolrus! 

 It has a buhket. :3 Don't know what a lolrus is? I've done the searching for you, enjoy.
This guy I sewed by hand out of craft felt and made up the pattern entirely out of my own head. I was really proud! Too bad he died a horrible death at the hands of my friend's cat :P haha.
R.I.P. stuffed Lolrus, you will be missed. 


Have you ever tried your hand at making a stuffed animal/toy? (Crochet or not.) Let me know how it turned out!

Thanks for reading ♥

Halloween flashback

I love Halloween! I have always loved dressing up (mostly as princesses) and to me it's just a bunch of fun. I know I haven't been posting much lately, but I wanted to show you guys what I made as my  costume last year.

Do you know what it's from? :)

I think this video will explain it all, but just in case, here's a picture for your viewing pleasure:

I was the Katy Perry girl scout from her video for "California Gurls"! I have lots of detail and in-progress shots in my original post on Craftster if you'd like to check that out. But basically I made/re-made everything except for the shirt/stockings/shoes! All those badges I free-handed with a sharpie, painted, and then glittered :) The skirt was a floor-length high-waisted skirt (yuck!) and the hat was originally a tan colored shirt and craft felt. And I got most of it at Goodwill. I don't really remember how long it took me to make, but I'm sure it was more than a week, lol.

Some more shots:

I didn't get much use out of the thing last halloween. I wore it to answer the door, but we only had two trick-or-treaters. (Kinda lame.) I was thinking about wearing it this year, but that song isn't exactly top news right now. Maybe I could pull off being a "sweets scout" instead?

Hopefully this will give some of you inspiration to go out there and make your own costumes instead of buying pre-made ones. I once spent over $40 for a costume and I will never EVER do that again!

Ooh, another idea:

I wonder if I can wear this to work? :D 

Michael's is having a big Halloween party in the store after all... hmm...

p.s.

I REALLY love my job! :)

Thanks for reading ♥

Lists & Goals

I have a tendency to stay up late, especially when I find sites that give me lots of inspiration to do things with things that I already have. Well, tonight as I was browsing Burdastyle (this really awesome site for posting sewing projects and sharing patterns... oh and free patterns!) I got this great idea to start writing down all of the ideas for sewing projects I've had and that I want to accomplish by the end of the year. I've pretty much almost filled up an entire page. The thing about this list is that all of these things I can make right now if I wanted to because I have most of the supplies. I just need some kind of spark to get me going on any project. Lately I've been very lack-luster in the spark department for anything. This deployment sure has gotten to me. We're almost at the half-way point! Hurray! (cheering crowd in the background). Okay, okay, settle down. To me it's not that great, but somehow I suppose I'll slump through it. No, I know that's not the proper way of looking at it, but after a while it's hard to be peppy about another 5-7 month's separation.

Anyway, along with writing out this huge list of DIY sewing goals, I'll soon write up a list of crochet/knitting goals to accomplish because I gots me some Christmas presents to make! (with stuff I already have, of course). And in my head I've also made goals that I WILL do (thanks to help from another blogger, Jillian over at Iron & Sunshine who re-introduced me to the idea of affirming goals). I will do things to get myself closer to getting a job. I will make plans for my future.
I've been scared up until lately (though I am still scared), but I need to put myself out there and frankly "grow up". It's gonna be hard with a practically empty resume, but I am going to do my best! (I say practically because I have my AA degree which apparently means nothing if you don't have experience in anything. Who knew? hah....)

And I am going to finish these projects! Maybe a goal should be to finish 1 a week (if not more). We shall see.

In other news, the weight loss is still going well, and so is the anti-nail-biting. So I guess I deserve some kind of pat on the back for that, lol.:)

Thanks for reading

Hope everything is well with you guys ♥
p.s. New readers, welcome! :D

A lovely set for a knitter/crocheter

Now that the recipient has gotten her package, I can finally show you what I've been working on lately! I made this nice little matching set for one of my relatives to help keep her organized with her knitting and crocheting. She picked out the fabric and sent it to me. All of this was made with 5 fat quarters! And there's still a bit left over. I'm very proud with what I've accomplished, and I think that I might have to upgrade my own needle roll! Quick note: the size of the first two roll-ups on the left is not accurate. They are folded down and I took the picture before sending it off.
So, on to the specifics (from left to right).

Knitting needle roll:

 I used lupinbunny: knitting needle roll tutorial. as the basis for my idea, but I changed a lot. Firstly, I rotated the fabric so that it was wider than it was tall. (If that makes sense?) I didn't line any of the pockets or do interfacing or anything. It's just a simple design and I used the picture in the tutorial and the dimensions included as my inspiration.
There are three levels. The top is for straight needles (as pictured) They fit up to size 13/14 in one pocket. Hers are mostly the size of the smaller needles pictured, so that flap on the top will be hanging over much more than it does with mine. The middle row is for double-pointed needles, or whatever else she can fit in there. Then finally the bottom row is for circular needles, etc. They are the size of two of the top pockets.

Crochet hook roll:

I used the tutorial from PlanetJune: Roll-up Crochet hook case tutorial. The only thing I didn't do was the piping and the interfacing. It will fit lots of hooks and have a flap to cover them usually. As seen in the first picture, this roll has the same outer fabric as the needle roll.

Tapestry needle case:

This is actually of my own design!  It's really nice and very convenient. I definitely want to make one for myself :)

Boxy Bag:

Tutorial from Projectsbyjane: Lined zippered boxy pouch tutorial. I've never done anything like this before, and yes it was kinda challenging, but totally worth it! :)

Drawstring project tote:

This is another thing I created off the top off my head. I kinda used the tutorial from Kootoyoo: how to make a project tote for yarny types, but only as the basic shape for the bag. It's not lined or weighted like the one in that tutorial. I figured if she ever needs to have it weighted it wouldn't be hard to just put a beanbag or rock in the bottom of it, lol.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I'd appreciate any C&C you have to offer :) 

Please stay tuned for the tutorial which will be posted soon!

The Great Northwest Dress- Men's shirt refashion

Here is the finished dress! :) You may remember me mentioning it from my previous post here.
Before we go any further, this is what I started with:

Yes, that's really how 12 yr old me left it

Here's the back story: My dad gave me this shirt 10 or more years ago. And I jumped right in to try
and reconstruct it into a duster. Do you remember those? Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen wore them... lol. ANYWAY, I didn't do a very good job, and I gave up right after doing this to it (see first before picture). Wow it looked bad!

But I came across it in my stash a few days ago thinking it had some potential. (I know right? How on Earth have I kept something in my stash for that long! I have a couple pairs of pants in there too, surprisingly.) Thanks to the new skills I learned from making Lil A's princess dress I was able to transform this pile of scrap into something functional, comfortable, warm, and freaking awesome! :D This dress will be perfect for fall here in Oregon.

I even added a few special touches to the finished product :)

Everything is from the original shirt except for the tag, that's from an old Tee and sharpie. The belt was from Fred Meyers. The heart was cut from fabric that I had cut off from what I'm assuming is the sleeves. I have no idea what 12 year old me was thinking! It's actually covering up a very obvious flaw that couldn't be avoided which is that the pleat originally in the middle of the shirt is about an inch off from where it should be. But it's still my favorite part :) My mom says it should be my "signature" from now on, haha.

I am so proud of what I've accomplished :) Hoping I will make many more shirt reconstructions in the near future :)

Thanks for reading! ♥  

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P.s.
Crafting does in fact help time go by faster :) 3 days went by without hearing from my Marine and I didn't even notice! Still haven't gotten that package though :(

~*Mermaid~Princess*~

It's finally finished! And now I can share it with all of you :)

The gorgeous button detail

This is the mermaid dress that my boyfriend's mother commissioned for me to make for his daughter, Lil' A. It's the first thing I've sewn from a pattern in years (and none were ever as complicated as this!). But my mom was there to help. {Thanks mom!} It has been a few months in the making, and I am so happy that it's finished.

The pattern I used is McCall's M5498 (as you can see in the pictures). The dress itself was inspired by one Lil' A saw when she went to Disneyland and LOVED, but it was too expensive. So Grandma came to me to make an alternative :)

This week I'm also linking up with Night Owl Crafting for Hoo's Got talent and also Show & Tell Saturdays at Be Different Act Normal. So for those of you stopping by from the link-up, howdy! Thanks for Looking :)




Oh and, just a side note:
My mom has made me lots of princess dresses. When I was younger she made me Belle, Snow White, Queen of Hearts, Pocahontas, Jasmine, and Esmeralda dresses but I have never had an Ariel dress. So I feel really special being able to pass on this little tradition that my mom and I have on to Alex's daughter :)