Overwhelmed? Start small.

I have been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of projects I want to get done. This is all brought upon myself- I have ambitious ideas but get easily distracted by new projects and leave things half finished. I also get fixated on one thing and leave other ideas to gather dust. 

Today I want to be 'productive' whatever that means these days and I knew I had to start small to get myself going. 

So I present to you the tiniest de-cluttering project: the pincushion revamp. 

I've had my classic tomato pincushion since I was little and I am fairly certain my pins are also the first ones I ever had. 

I have been so frustrated with my hodge podge of bent pins that I finally bought some new ones! I went a bit longer and splurged on the pretty pearl ones. 

The top row consists of still usable pins. 

Check out that sad, janky bottom row! Every time I went to grab a pin I felt like I grabbed one of the wonky ones. 

Ahhh... So much better! I kept the good pins, moved all the needles to one section, and added a bunch of these new beauties. 

Was this a five minute project? Yes. Does it make me feel wayyyyy better? YES. Sometimes it's the little things. Now I've already crossed something off my to do list AND written a post about it. Now I feel motivated to get other stuff done so I can do some sewing! 

Happy crafting! 

Make do and mend

Just a little Sunday mending. I admit to the bad habit of buying 'super cheap clothes' but I just love the target clearance rack! To make up for this I try to make them last as long as possible. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the mending pile so today I grabbed 3 quick fixes, two broken straps and a popped seam. A little hand sewing later and I'm done! 

I hope everyone else is having a lovely Sunday. I don't often get a weekend day off of work so I savor them all the more. 

Bit of mending, laundry and letter writing so far. Now to scrounge up some lunch and get outside! 

Wardrobe Refashion: Summer Skirt

Once again I have delved into my own closet to spruce up my wardrobe. Today it is a dress I've had for years and seldom wear. 

It's super cute but halter and me don't get along. Whenever I wore this dress I wore it with a thin tshirt underneath (so I could wear a real bra!)  I figured I'd get more use out of it as a skirt.

I took off the halter top and re-hemmed the edge. I took the halter straps and added them to each side seam so I get a bow in the back. It's high waisted, a bit retro and super wearable! I've already worn it more than I ever did as a dress. 

*my dress form is quite a bit smaller than me so it looks a bit gappy from the back.

I've pulled a few other items from my closet that are going to get a refresher. In particular I  looking to make some travel friendly pieces for my big trip to Vanuatu in a couple months. I've got loads of travel craft ideas saved so whether you are traveling abroad or road tripping to Grandma's I'll have some projects coming up that might float your boat! 

Wardrobe refashion: seam ripper edition

I have really been trying to buy less stuff, it's not really working but I am trying. I have also started a bit of wardrobe refashion to spruce up my closet. I have a bad habit of buying dresses on clearance, usually at target. Sometimes when they are a great deal I buy all the colors of one dress.  Enter this pair of floral dresses I am in love with.

Super cute right? Well as you can see on the gray dress I have already altered it into a skirt. As cute as the dress is on my carpet, I have a few more curves and the top of this dress always ended up boxy and unflattering. I have been lusting after all the cute skirts on Pinterest and with only a seam ripper I have converted these dresses into cute ultra-wearable skirts. These were the dresses I would try on and then take off to put on something different. Now the skirt can be a bit longer (the dress was pretty short) and I am already picturing pairing this with my go-to hoodie. Mmmmhmmm.

My roommate suggested that I now also have a crop top. Haha. NO. But maybe I can come up with some way to use the fabric. 

Skirts! Love. 

I worked on this project while watching 'heroes of cosplay' on syfy. Anyone watch it? I'm kind of hooked. 

I Heart: Pattern Sales!!!!

Another pattern sale! How can I resist? Patterns that are $17.95 on sale for 99 cents!!!! Be still my heart. Now though I really do need to get a box for all of my patterns because I am beginning to forget which ones I already have. I think that means I need to start sewing! This time it was all costume patterns. They are my favorites and I was shopping with other people who didn't want to spend another hour at the store as I pour over the pattern books!

And yes- that pattern on top is CLEARLY a 'Snow White and the Huntsman' pattern. That is a movie I did not like AT ALL which was disappointing because I love Snow White stories. Anyways the outfit is so darn cute that I couldn't resist getting the pattern. I also just sort of love the patterns that come out for the movies that were released this year. Maybe I can use it for the Oscar party next year.

Now for the good part: Drumroll Please!!!!!

Cost: $102.70
On sale for:  $6.38!!!!!
Savings of: $96.32

Boom. Happy Haunting! (And sewing!)

You get the picture

Well I haven't been quilting as much as I like but I have been finishing up quite a few small sewing projects around the house. This project was inspired by my surroundings. I love having a lot of pictures up on my walls but I don't like putting holes in my walls. I have used 3m strips/ hooks for years but they fall down a lot and can get quite spendy. I have this shelf going around the top of my wall already I thought if I could figure out a way to attach the pictures to the shelf then I wouldn't have them falling down all the time and I could put more pictures up and make more space on my shelf for all of my other cool stuff.

 Here is the before. I have about 12 pictures on the wall (plus a bare hook and some other random stuff).

 I sewed two strips of fabric together. One was to tie around the shelf and the other one was to attach the picture frames to. I sewed lengths of scrap fabric and ribbon to the 'picture strips' to attach the pictures- making them easy to change out.

Finished! Now I have 21 pictures on my wall that are not going to fall down. If I were to do this project again (or tweak the one I have) I would have made the picture strips come down a bit farther to meet up with the dresser more. But I was just using scraps from my bin- a quick no cost project that serves a great purpose! Win!

Now on to those other projects I have started...

Currently Obsessed With: Quilting

As busy as things are I always find time to daydream about more stuff I could be doing. And quite honestly if I spent a little less time daydreaming about it and more time DOING stuff then maybe it would happen.

My current sewing project is another t-shirt quilt for my friend. She gave me all the shirts MONTHS ago and I have only made significant progress on it in the last week or so. (Pictures to come when completed). Partially I have problems organizing my craft time but then I also feel like I shouldn't start new projects when I have some in the works.

Thankfully my latest craft obsession is quilting and I hope that this will motivate me to get this quilt done and to start some new fun projects at the same time.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I visited my Grandmother Marilyn. Her town was hosting it's little 'festival days' and one of the events was a quilt show and 'bed turning'. I had been to the quilt show years ago and decided it was time that I went again. My Grandma, Aunt, Mom, and I piled into the car and drove the mile or so into town. The quilt show was probably small by most standards but the wide variety of quilts was quite stunning.

The bed turning was the coolest part. They had a bed layered with 30 or so quilts on top and then at certain times during the day you could grab a seat and one at a time the ladies would hold up a quilt and tell the story behind it. They had quilts from all eras and it was great to see the history of the area sewn with love into these quilts. My Grandma Marilyn had actually worked on several of the quilts there. The biggest surprise was a community quilt that was about 50 years old.

Each square was hand embroidered by a member of the group and then it was all stitched together. Some of the ladies who worked on the quilt were in the audience.

One square caught our family's eye.

This square was made by my Great-Grandma Anna Dempster! Anna is my middle name (named for her of course!) and it was such a lovely way to witness crafting through the generations.

After this trip I have become obsessed with quilting. I went to the library and got a lot of books on the subject (when in doubt-go to the library) and I have been pouring over new found quilt blogs and posts all over the internet. I found Wild Olive's post to hit really close to home (and she includes some excellent links) and I also loved the Etsy's Blog post on the Aids Quilt. So inspiring! I have a hundred ideas for projects running through my head now but hopefully I will now have the motivation to finish that quilt I have started and then to start sharing some of my zany ideas.

Happy Stitching!

Derby Gear Bag

I was so excited to make myself a bag that I rushed it a bit. Has that ever happened in your crafting? I get that itch and I just go to town. I had some upholstery fabric on hand that I liked so I decided to make a bag out of that. I ended up just making a HUGE tote bag with tons of pockets on the inside and out. I like it but I would like something with some more structure.

 This is what my floor looked like the other day. I just started cutting and sewing.

 Finished bag! I still need to add a button or something to the front pocket so it just doesn't flop open.

 Plus side: It is big enough for ALL of my gear and extra workout clothes, etc.

 Can't really see but lots of big pockets on the inside for pads, mouth guard, socks. I think in the future I will make a new bag and hopefully it will be out of something more canvas like so I has some more structure to it. But for now I love having just one bag of stuff to lug around and not 2 or 3 like I did before. And since I already had the fabric I am calling this 'free' which is nice.

We also got a present at practice last night! Bracelets! Skate Fast + Med City Mafia + Hit Hard. We will be selling them at our upcoming fundraiser. Practice last night was brutal. I have some good bruises to prove it.

T Shirt Quilt

I made one for myself a couple of years ago but it was more of a 'blanket' since I didn't put any batting in it.

This one is the real deal. Not perfect but pretty cool. My friend was going through his clothes and he was making a pile of t-shirts that he either no longer wore or didn't like the way they fit anymore and I mentioned that I could make him a quilt. He was immediately like "YES! I have always wanted one of those!" He was so enthusiastic in fact that I had to ask if he was being serious. After assuring me that he was in fact excited I took the bag of t-shirts away with me. Got some batting on sale and bought a clearance priced jersey sheet set to use for the back.

Happy 11.11.11 ! I hope this day is filled with good things for you all.

Harry Potter Crafts

Trying to do a bit of cleanup today around the house...no I haven't moved yet and it looks as though the snow is going to beat me. Oh well, it will get figured out! I wanted to share a few 'before' shots for you today with the Harry Potter crafts I did for the party the other day.

Also this is all evidence that you can do some really cool things with little to no money. Work with what you have, be creative and have fun with it!

 First up: Wands! The party was supposed to be BYOW (Bring your own wand) but being the nerd that I am I decided to make some after finding a super cool tutorial online. Sticks from the yard plus hot glue and paint that I already had= the most awesome Harry Potter wands ever! They seriously rivaled the one 'real wand' from Harry Potter World.  Cost: $0

While google-ing  'Harry Potter Parties' I found lots of kids parties. Go figure. But an idea I did really like was the platform 9 3/4 bit. So I went to a fabric store and found this in the remnant bin.

Tip- don't try to paint straight lines on grass! Dumb idea...I moved to some concrete to get the job done. I had to bust out one of those little knee saver pads to work on this project but it was worth it.

 I used a board in my garage to make the horizontal lines. I poured out a TON of paint...you actually don't need very much at all. To make the 'bricks' I found a smaller board about the right size and just staggered the bricks.

At the party it was taped right to the door so when guests entered the party they had to 'go through it'. Project cost: $3

 Of course I needed a sign for platform 9 3/4 ! Some people would say I am a hoarder..but I say I am useful. I rummaged around the garage again and found these old cabinet doors from when our kitchen was redone years ago. These have come in handy in many a craft project! I busted out a drill and put two small holes in the 'upper' corners to hang it from.

Then I busted out some red spray paint I already had and gave it a coat front and back. I traced a plate to get the circle and free handed the lettering and numbers (sketched it out a bit in pencil first). All the paint I already had and then We just used some cord I had to string it up. It looked pretty cool lit by the outdoor light as guests arrived. Project cost: $0

 For my Bellatrix costume I had this black costume-y 'basic' shift in my costume closet. I first cut the sleeves off and then 'sewed' them back on with a thick black cord. It was a bit skinny towards the  bottom so I slit up the sides to the hips, layered it over a black poofy prom dress and then used my mock black corset I made for the cemetery walk and layered that on top. I also added some gold paint swirls to the shift around the neckline and on the sleeves.  I don't have a good 'after' shot but for no money it was a pretty sweet costume. Costume cost: $0

 The day of we were still crafting, decorating, and cooking like mad. The birthday girl was going as Hermione and wanted a time turner. She is holding it in this picture. The hourglass is two mini bottles filled with a bit of salt and hot glued shut. Then we found two craft frames (the little plastic kind for needlework) so I hot glued those back to back and then built up some hot glue to put the hourglass. Once it set up I painted the glue with a bit of gold paint so it gave it a little shimmer and didn't look so much like glue! Found an old vintage chain in my jewelry making box and done! Might be my favorite craft of the day because it came together really randomly just grabbing things from around my craft room. Cost: $0!

Bustle and flow: Cemetery Walk Costume

The first official costume of the season has been completed! I volunteer at the local history center and I was asked to help out with the annual 'Cemetery Walk' that they do. It is a pretty cool guided history tour with actors at some spots. Both the actors and guides dressed up. This year's theme was 'crimes and crimefighters' and it was really interesting. It turned out to be a gorgeous day as well and as weird as it sounds the cemetery was really beautiful. But then again I am the weird girl who actually really likes cemeteries.

Problem was I needed a costume and fast. After some research I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to to. A recent problem I have been having is going out too soon and buying a bunch of supplies before I look and see what I already have. Being a pack rat/border line hoarder I had MORE than enough stuff for this project (with just a few bought fill in supplies) and it was a good de-stash project. We have so many clothes and dresses at our house that we are sure we are going to find that 'perfect' project for. Well I found it this weekend and had a blast making a brand new costume that will hopefully serve me many times over (as opposed to say my care bear costume...don't know how I am going to squeeze some more use out of that one!).

On to the costume....

Pretty much ALL of my ideas for this came from two old Threadbanger videos. This one is all Steampunk outfits but the layering idea was super inspiring.  The other is a 'Sweeney Todd' episode that I have watched a ton of times, it begins with a great interview of Colleen Atwood (LOVE HER!) and ends with an inspired outfit.


This costume was made in 3 days with an $8 total cost. Yay for being creative!

This is the first dress. Too tiny but cool fabric. Skirt will be used for bustle.

 It already has some cool shaping to the back that I am just going to use.

 Second dress from stash. Long jersey type. This is going to be pretty much my top layer.

 Some pinning and sewing and we have a top! No cutting involved, if I needed too I could take out the stitches and it would be exactly where it started from.

 The only supplies I bought.

 Stash dress #3. Another too tiny dress that no one actually ever wore. Took out the zipper from the back, detached the bodice from the skirt, saved the frothy layer for another project and used the satiny underskirt for my ruched layered skirt.

 Old wedding petticoat from the costume stash. Used a ton of times. These things are like costume gold.

 Hat I made from felt, the feather I bought and random scraps from the sewing room. No sewing here only hot glue!

 Putting it all together:

Step 1: Put on (now gray) petticoat

 Step 2: Layer overskirt. This was also dyed gray in the same dye batch as the petticoat. Added a drawstring waist and ruching all the way around.

 OMG I LOVE GRAY!  This was my first diy dye job ever and I am in love with the results. Love love love.

 Step 3: Layer on bustle. This is a skirt that I sewed to a black ribbon to tie in the front. Added just a couple of rows of ruching to give the front some shape and then I added all the 'poofy stuff' from the original dress under the back to make the bustle. Historically accurate? Not so much but cheap yes!

 Ba-donk-a-donk shot for ya. Also I do not recommend driving in a bustle.

 Step 4: Layer on the jersey tank dress from earlier.

 Step 5: Wiggle into 'corset'. Made from the bodice top of the black and white dress. I was too lazy/time crunched to make it a lace up corset in the back to I just added a few rows of black elastic.

 And done! I added a black shrug that I made about a year ago since it was chilly out. I pinned on my hat and wore some fingerless black crochet gloves and was pretty adorable. I was going for 'victorian mourning wear' but everyone thought I looked more like a saloon girl. Whatever. The costume was a big hit either way!

I think my favorite thing about it is that since it is all separate pieces and each piece is either drawstring and or stretchy that this costume can be mixed and matched with different pieces to make a whole new look that will fit a variety of different sizes. I loved the dyeing process and sort of want to dye everything now! It was a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be.

Vintage Pink

So I was 'hired' to make a Jackie O style pink outfit and hat. Well as most people say at some point in their lives "if it ain't broke don't fix it!" Yes that's right I found the perfect outfit at Goldrush this weekend. I am just crossing all my fingers and hoping it fits the actress!

 It was only $12! WIN!

This picture shows my crazy side and my making of not one but three different hats. One is a vintage hat that I covered in pink fabric. The other two were made from felt and fabric using a tutorial I found on  youtube. I liked the felt version better but thought it was too small so then I made a slightly larger one. I hope one of them will work. I sent all three hats and the outfit in a big box out to Wisconsin yesterday and now it is just a waiting game to find out how much I have to kick it into panic mode when it doesn't fit.