Sewing and Thrifting

While I haven't done any sewing in a while, due to my participation in a fundraiser production of "Guys and Dolls", I do have a back up of pictures of the stuff I have in progress!

My making and refashioning of clothes has continued.  Here we have Roberta modeling my pink summer dress.  I started this dress a few years ago but it got stuffed away in a corner as my costuming for MLHS and quilting became more important.  I have to put in the dreaded zipper and hem it up.  I know it sounds silly for a Crazy Crafting Cat Lady, such as myself, to actually have a crafting kryptonite, but I do.  I'm forcing myself to do more with it and I have a pair of pants to make, complete with zipper, once I finish all the sewing jobs others have comissioned me to do.

Mine and Big D's soon to be sister in law, K-Ruf as we affectionatly call her, is the one that donated all her old clothes to me.  (That's where the black skirt with the ruffled kick pleat and the purple shirt came from.)  She gave me this lovely dress that someone brought back for her from Venezuela I believe.  It needed no alterations and has beautiful hand embroidery.  I thrifted the belt for $3 and the shoes for $12.  I am so in love with this outfit!!!!

(Not the best picture, but I cropped it from a bigger one of Roberta wearing the outfit)

I thought the shoes I thrifted were a good deal until I found these beauties on a trip to Walmart with Big D.  They were on clearance for $9 but rang through at only $3!!  You can see Kokanee eyeing them up in the background giving her approval for my deal of a find!!

Now its off to the theatre for a night of "Guys and Dolls".  It's opening night and runs until Sunday.  For those of you in the Winnipeg area, it's at PTE and starts at 8:00pm!!  Come out and see what a bunch of dentists can do!

Quilting and Refashioning

I'm not going to type a whole lot because its getting late and tomorrow is my first day at my new job.  This have been getting quite slow at MTS, so I picked up a second job at Bison, where Big D is working!  Tomorrow is my first day and I want to be bright and fresh.  That being said, I made some new items for my wardrobe.  I took a rather plain black skirt, shortened it and added a ruffle over the kick pleat.  I also used some left over red wool melton from one of my costumes to make a new scarf.  Not all of my sewing has been clothing related.  I finally finished the nine patch quilt and it has been gifted to my friends who treated Big D and I to a lovely dinner on Saturday night!!

I'll leave you with pictures to enjoy, but not before sharing the inspiration for the scarf here and here, and the skirt ruffles here.  Yes, of course, all of these inspirations were pulled from Pinterest.  Would you not have figured that out by now?

Before.  You can see the pins where I had to close up the front slit.

Re-sized and shortened.

A close up of the ruffle over the kick pleat.

The red felt rose scarf.  I am in love with how it turned out!!

The finished product!

I used packaged binding because I hate making it myself!

The back of the quilt. I love how it turned out!!

Spring Wardrobe Refashion: Part 1

The reduction in hours at work has resulted in an increase in crafting and sewing at our place.  I managed to almost get two shirt refashions done and a quilt top while I was off for three days.  The second shirt refashion is nearly complete; requiring some binding around the arm holes and it’s done.  For now, I will show you just the simple tank top refashion with a step by step on how I accomplished it.

One of Big D’s soon to be sister-in-law’s has become a pretty good friend of mine.  (Both of his brothers are engaged at the moment). We spent a day at the fabric store a couple weeks ago getting fabric so I can make her and her mom some dresses.  After we got back to her place, we ended up going through some of her old clothes she wasn’t going to wear anymore.  I ended up with two bags of things to alter and refashion for my spring wardrobe.  This is the first of many from that group of clothes she gave me.  Have I mentioned that I L.O.V.E hand-me-downs?

So here’s the initial tank top with a cute little over shirt in matching fabric.  While I love the idea of layers, as you can see, this one is quite dated.  I decided this was the best option to try the flower technique that is ALL over Pinterest.  I did cut a small piece of fabric off the over shirt to make sure the fabric wouldn’t fray.  I only used one half of the front of the shirt, so I have lots of purple fabric for another DIY clothing project.

I cut random flower shapes and sizes, as tracing on this fabric was more time consuming than it was worth.  I also found that it wasn’t really necessary once you started assembling the flowers on the top.

 

I folded the flower twice and put a couple loops through the middle point by hand to pull the center of the flower a bit.  I then picked a random spot on the top and started sewing.  I repeated this step for all the flowers until I felt like I had enough detail.  I kept trying it on periodically to make sure everything was where I wanted it to be.

 

This is a simple hand sewing project that any beginner could do.  It sure was one of my more simple refashions, but really added a little something extra to the top.

 

I will be unveiling the finished product of the second top in the upcoming week, once I finish the arm holes.  For now, here’s a sneak peek of some of the lace detail on the shirt!!

 

 FUR BABY UPDATE:  Meeko and Monte pretty much get along, and have been known to sleep about a foot from the other on the bed when we aren't looking.  We think they will be buddies soon.  Kokanee still thinks he is the scariest thing ever and avoids him at all costs.  On the other hand, she was attempting to get him to play or something as she was half stalking him and jumping around.  The main part is everyone is sharing food/water dishes and the liter box, the rest will come with time!