Jersey flowers.

I got this striped shirt for 98 cents off of a clearance rack. I bought it with best intentions of cutting it up and using it for the fabric. I happened to have jersey in nearly the exact same blue and green colors. Instead of discarding the shirt, I used long strips of the blue and green fabric to create these flowers and add a little interest. I'd pay at least $1.50 for this shirt post-embellishment. hah.

Home.

I read one of my Grandma's poems at her funeral earlier this year. It ended with the line, "I'm on my way home." She's home now.

This is a necklace I made with a picture of her taken almost exactly 80 years ago (8 days off). I played with the photo a little bit and added the inscription "Home" along with little lock and key charms. It took all of five minutes, but it makes me smile.

Ruffles and Wrinkles

Disclaimer: This shirt was in a pile that was going to go to the thrift store - please excuse the resulting wrinkles. Since my last attempt to size down/redo a t-shirt seemed to go okay, I decided to rescue this shirt and see if I could bring it back to life. The shirt seemed very boxy to me, which I think was exacerbated by the cap sleeves.

First order of business: remove the cap sleeves. Second order of business: make it fit. Third order of business: add some interest. I hand ruffled the ruffles first, then pinned them on the shirt, then sewed. Simple enough!

Before - frumpy:


After - not so frumpy!:

Adventures with Boston Terriers

My fiancé and I saw a Boston Terrier pillow in a shop while on vacation last year. It was not cheap. Today I made a much less expensive and much more personalized Boston pillow that is nothing like what we saw. The pillow is an 18 x 18 form. We have a fair amount of burnt orange stuff in the house, so the background fabric was just what I wanted! I wanted Bob's head to be very off center and tilted. The angle of the photo doesn't exactly show it, but the head is very much in the upper left of the pillow. I also wanted to combine a lot of different small patterns on the fabric for Bob's head.

Bob the Boston pillow:


Bob the Boston's head:


Click here to see the "real" Bob as a comparison.

Shooting from the Hip

First, I decided I wanted to make a bag of some sort. Next, I decided I wanted to combine this houndstooth pattern with the fun bright red floral fabric. Finally, I decided there would be no waiting to find a pattern. I'm not sure I would attempt this again without a little more forethought, but I think it turned out reasonably well for my first totally pattern-free adventure. I used a slightly stiff plain fabric for the lining to help the bag maintain some semblance of a shape. It is a little slouchy, but that is okay.

Here it is:


And again (I topstitched the floral flap):


Inside of the bag (I made the lining a little bigger so I could fold it over to finish the edge of the houndstooth fabric):

Something new for something old

Green is one of my favorite colors. I love kelly green, but I also really like this particular shade of green. I don't know how to describe it - it is lighter than olive, and almost has more of a sage tone in person (the picture isn't 100% accurate). I'm always attracted to beads in that general color family, so I had to buy this stretch sateen material when I saw it. I knew I had plenty of accessories to pair with this not quite olive, not quite sage color.

I made a skirt out of that fabric today. I didn't take a photo of the whole thing because it is a basic pencil skirt - nothing too exciting to look at. I made the necklace about 6 months ago, but I've never worn it. It has the green beads, black lava beads, and beads that are a mix of grey, black, and green. I put the beads together with a bunch of wrapped loops and added a few little coordinating dangles. Anyway - it looks like I've got a match!

Second Chance T-Shirt

My fiance had a neat t-shirt made by the North Face. The dryer had its way with the shirt, which became too short and boxy for him to consider wearable. I inherited said t-shirt, but I couldn't bring myself to wear the boxy shirt outside of the house. Enter: the sewing machine and scissors. This project took just a few minutes (including winding the bobbin). It was supposed to be practice for a "real" shirt I wanted to take in, so I didn't take the time to make it neat. Little did I know I'd end up really liking the results. Three cheers for a new dog walking t-shirt!

Below is the inside of the arm. I was worried that the fit would be off due to sewing past the old sleeve seam, but it fits fine after notching out the corner:


Below is part of the print that stretches across the entire back of the shirt. Thankfully, I managed to save most of it.

Maybe I'm Biased...

This was my first crack at using bias tape. I bought black to play with, so I decided to use the cute owl print fabric I had been saving for just such an occasion. Folding over and hemming the curve in the inside of a skirt's waistband never goes smoothly for my novice self. I think that this will make my skirts look more finished (and easier to construct). I swear it isn't crooked, it is just a bad angle...


To continue my "firsts" theme: below is my first 100% solo zipper. I'm happy to report that it zips and is secure!

Scraps for a Scrapper

This polka dot fabric was leftover from a skirt I made. Poor Bob for having to put up with my antics!