Grace Kelly « Charity Shop Chic This is another skirt-to-dress remake with a bit of slapdash pattern cutting thrown in. This skirt, which is UK size 16, I bought so I could ‘harvest’ the navy material. It is 100% polyester, medium weight, and has a permanent slightly crinkled look all the way through. It came from the Save the Children shop in Whitby and cost £4.49. But what does this have to do with Grace Kelly? The V&A had an exhibition back in 2010 called ‘Grace Kelly – Style Icon‘ and published a book alongside the exhibition called ‘Grace Kelly Style‘. First thought on seeing this dress was that it would make a really interesting pattern drafting project. I also spotted this version over at Modcloth.com, sadly it’s now sold out: Modcloth’s version is cute, but the arc sections are not the same depth, and if you ask me, the top segment should be a bit wider. I’m going to give an explanation of how I drafted and fitted this, but if you just want to see the finished dress, go ahead and scroll down to the bottom.
my DIY DIY Spirit Fingers | Sequin & Beaded Rings inspired by Ralph Rucci Spring RTW 2014 After seeing these AMAZING bedazzled fingers created by Max Kibardin for the Ralph Rucci RTW Spring 2014 runway collection, I just had to recreate… DIY Dolce & Gabbana Bejeweled Gold Headband {Crown} I am LOVING everything Dolce & Gabbana is doing right now. DIY Leather Cat Ears Headband | A Lil’ Cute & A Lil’ Meow I know, I know, everyone and their mother has done a DIY cat ears project and tutorial, but none like this {maybe?} My InstaLife Recap | Week 8/25–9/1 in Photos Follow me on Instagram to see these in real time. DIY Leather Butterfly Pins Inspired by Lanvin Fall RTW 2013 Flipping through my September issue of Bazaar from back to front, the way I always read magazines, I quickly spotted this gorgeous deep teal… New Acquisitions | B-day Gifts & Summer Goodies My birthday came and went this year without much fuss, which is mostly how I like it. Thoughts & Things | Loves & Links | Birthday Edition
Flip-Flop Refashion: Part 1 (Braided Straps Summer is great. And warm. And full of outdoor activities and trips to the pool and random walks around the neighborhood. I love it. And my shoe of choice for these warmer months?? So, I saw a tutorial for this flip-flop makeover (great work Mother Huddle), floating around the web…….and the wheels started turning. I decided to just string all of the ideas together and create a whole series. First up? A quick and easy flip flop…….made with some braided knit fabric scraps, using the 5 strand braiding technique, shown here. These soft braided straps streeeeeetch the perfect amount, right around the back of my heel……..keeping the flip-flop snug and in place. I added little loops of fabric to the sides, to keep the braided straps in place. These little sandals are so light, they’re soft and stretchy, and my favorite part……..they’re inexpensive. ($2.50 to be exact) These flip-flops make me think of the beach……and make me miss GA. I guess I better find a sandy spot at the lake. And that’s it. Enjoy.
circle skirt variations tutorials – pixie skirt and more! If you don’t know how to make a circle skirt yet, check out the Circle Skirt tutorial first, because all of these skirts build on the basic premise of a circle skirt. dress by SmarmyClothes.com Difficulty: Variation 1 – double full circle skirt Instead of cutting 1 donut with a center cirumference of 36″ (the number we used in our examples), cut 2 donuts with a center circumference that is half your desired waistband measurement. Cut the donuts open (red line). Variation 1 Lay the donuts Right Sides Together, with the cuts lined up. Variation 2 – handkerchief hem or pixie skirt Cut the center “waist” hole out of your fabric, but leave the edges square. This is a good one if you’re in a hurry, because it’s one less step. You can cut several of these squares out and layer them around the hem for a different look. Variation 2 Variation 3 – double full pixie skirt This is a combination of variations 1 and 2, and it might be my favorite circle skirt variation. Variation 3 Variation 4
DIY Découpage Floral Bag When H&M asked us to DIY a boho-inspired item for their summer issue, découpage was the first thing that came to mind. Honestly, does it get any better than customizing a simple handbag with a brilliant floral print? However you create it, it’ll be satisfying to know that you’ve designed yourself a one of a kind bag! You’ll need:a handbagcotton fabric with a large floral patternpainter’s tapeMod Podgecraft paint2 small plastic dishes2 brushesscissors Start by taping off the edges and hardware of the handbag. Squeeze a dollop of colored craft paint into a small disposable container. Allow the first layer to dry completely. While the paint dries, carefully cut out a handful of flowers from the fabric. Arrange them onto the painted section of the bag. Remove the painter’s tape when the Mod Podge has dried clear and your floral handbag is complete! (all images by HonestlyWTF)
Green...Easy Knit Produce Bag Green…can mean more than one thing. There is green the color. And green, as in environmentally friendly. Today I am combining those two meanings into one with the: I made my reusable produce bag out of an old knit T-shirt. And then I went crazy! It is really easy and requires very little sewing. So let’s get started shall we? 1.)You just take an old T-shirt and turn it inside out. I made some small, some large. Some using the existing T-shirt hem and some not. 2.)Sew with a straight stitch or a narrow zig zag all the way around. Or you can finish the edge with: A French seam. A zig-zag stitch or serged edge - my favorite way. Make the seam allowance much smaller - like 1/8 of an inch. Or fold the seam allowance over to one side and stitch all the way around. 3. )You can do this next part 2 ways: Option 1: Draw lines to help guide you when you cut slits. and snip, snip, snip…with the tips of your scissors. You want to stagger the cuts like so… Option 2: Using your rotary cutter… 4.) 5.) That’s it!
circle skirt tutorial – new and improved! The moment you’ve all been waiting for: a circle skirt tutorial that has the math already done for you! Download my FREE circle skirt template, and you’re ready to go! For detailed instructions, watch my video tutorial here: I tried to address all the questions you guys have asked about circle skirts over the years: how to hem a circle skirt, how to avoid hemming (heh), how to determine how much fabric you need, what to do if your fabric isn’t wide enough to cut the skirt in one piece, and so on. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel! This tutorial was filmed using a Creative Labs Vado HD Digital Video Camera, a Canon Rebel (for still shots), and edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio. ARCHIVED TUTORIAL BELOW – The following is my original circle skirt tutorial, which includes the steps that show you how to do the math. This tutorial is for a classic circle skirt (think 50′s style poodle skirt). Difficulty: Step 1 Cut a waistband out of stretchy fabric or stretch lace. Step 1 Step 2 Step 2
guitar-shaped bag for my boyfriend's PSP (WITH TUTORIAL. and so many pics!!) my boyfriend saw a guitar-shaped sling bag and he got crazy over it. so i offered to make him one. however, he said that it should be small, just perfect for his PSP slim. well.you've probably seen bigger and leather versions of this. what i made was veddy small. just a bit bigger than a paperback. that would be a fender stratocaster . screws are handsewn with gold threads. knobs are buttons. there are so many things that i would change about this bag. i will make a gibson les paul for me and it will be better. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Topstitch the top part. 11. 12. And here is mine, back from a trip to the mall. FYI, I know nothing about guitars, I had to google the parts as my boyfriend is not around to tell me. Happy sewing.
Ten minute no-sew recycled t-shirt bag! Tutorial time! I got a gig teaching a recycled t-shirt project at the library a few months ago, with a request for a recycled tee bag – the only bags I’d made from tees in the past had required sturdy sewing, and I didn’t want hand-sewing to be the only thing holding the bottom closed in a class version of the bags, so I started brainstorming about some kind of hand-sewing-friendly or no-sew bag idea…. and here’s what I came up with! The simplest version of these bags is great for smaller tees, or the more light-weight kind of girl-tees – just turn the bottom of the shirt into a drawstring and tie it closed! As you can see, even with a not huge tee, this will still leave a significant hole in the bottom of your bag, but for purposes like grocery shopping, this size hole shouldn’t really matter… But to make smaller holes, just make more than one of them! And now for the actual tutorial – for this one, with the step-by-step, I will be making the bottom with 3 holes. My finished Sonic bag!
Nesting: Freshly Picked Baby Hats Today I’m going to share a project that I wasn’t really expecting to make in the first place. I was sewing, I think my 7th pair of leggings – I want to get a few pairs done for each size through 9 months – when this idea struck me. It’s kind of quirky, off the beaten path, but lots of fun. It renewed my motivation to sew, which was waning with my legging sewing marathon. I call them… They are heavily inspired by some of my favorite fruits. Now…this was a “let me take pictures as I go and see what happens” kind of project. So I don’t have a pattern, but I’ll share what I did and some things I might do differently next time. First, let’s make the apple hat. I grabbed some old T-shirts…I seriously have two bins full of just old knit T-shirts stored under our bed. Then I made up this hat pattern using a Gerber baby beanie. Make sure you cut a triangular notch at the top about an inch or so down and just 1/8-1/4 inch at the widest part. I also put cut two on there…no no, cut four! And you’re done!
DIY As a bit of a novice photographer, I'm always searching the internets for new ways to improve my photo-taking abilities, especially when it comes to creating light. While I've been staying at my parents house, it's become especially difficult, as their decorating scheme generally consists of what I like to refer to as "50 Shades of Brown." (They're rocking a very outdoorsy log cabin style, which is beautiful, but lends to some seriously yellow photos.) With the upcoming opening of my new shop, I've know that I wanted to create something that would both address my lighting issues as well as serve as a very generic backdrop for product and blog photos. With natural light normally being out of the question, and the DIY girl (a.k.a. tightwad,) that I am, I just knew that I could whip something up to suit my needs. With the help of a couple of redneck men and their power tools, I've got a great looking backdrop for my photos that is functional and portable for all of my bloggy needs! rag
A Femme’s Guide to Improvement: Make a Blouse! So I got an email from Jane last week, linking to this top: “The one I tried on was shorter and not sheer. Can you show us how to make it? It looks SO beautiful on and it's a fucking square with a hole in it, that's it. A square folded in half, a neck hole cut out, and two short seams on the sides to hold it in place. Does that make sense? UGH! It is three hundred dollars because they say it is! Dolce and Gabbana probably charged even more when they did this a decade ago for their S/S 2002 collection, which was when, as a freshman in college, I saw it and decided I had to have it. You’ll need: A yard and a halfish of standard 45" wide fabric with nice drape. So, how much fabric to buy? Machine or hand-sew the two folded edges on both pieces of fabric before proceeding, as close to the inner folds as possible. Headhole: 13” Scye: 9.5” Very loose hip: 39” Place your rectangles together, right sides facing each other, and use two pins to mark your headhole opening. You’re done!
Melly Sews: ReInventions - Tone on Tone Hearts Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe via email so you don't miss a post. The last ReInvention of the series! I’m all for holiday attire, but I like mine to be subtle, so I can wear it for more than one day (this does not apply to my kids, though. I started with this t-shirt, which I got new for $3 on clearance. I also had part of a t-shirt left over from the Poinsettia T-Shirt that was almost the same color. So I reverse appliqued the hearts. A few pointers – it’s tricky to get the paper and the new fabric sandwiched onto the t-shirt. Anyways, if you’re not cutting seams, you need to put cardboard inside to help with pinning, so you don’t pin through the shirt. I left more of an edge than you typically would when I cut the t-shirt, just because I liked the way it looked. And there you go!