Owl Extension

 As par of the re-starting I got in some good old-fashioned wardrobe refashioning! But this time for my niece, Ilaria. When I'd been visiting, my sister-in-law, Carolyn passed me this knit shirt I'd gotten for Ilaria a few years ago. She'd outgrown it and still wanted to wear it. She still loves owls (and this embroidered/embellished design was too cute to just pass away.)

Challenge accepted...

I found a similarly colored t-shirt dress in her newer big-girl size. It was hard to find the exact shade of pinks but it's close enough I think.

  

I wanted to keep the ruffle at first, but I didn't think it went well enough with the style of the new garment.

I cut the main design and some extra background out of the original garment in a rough oval and then evened it up. I didn't want too much of the background pink.

I stitched it on with a lightweight stabilizer on the back with one of the overcast knit stitches on my machine. I even remembered to change my needle to a knit and then back again before trying to sew woven cotton.
I think it turned out pretty well and I hope she enjoys wearing the owl for a little longer.

October Cornucopia

I made only a very few attempts at sewing in October besides the six-word memoir quiltlets.  First of all, I made this Halloween House quilt block for my Halloween Houses quilt-in-progress.  Yes, it is definitely supposed to wonky.  No I didn't measure or use a pattern.  I like this fabric combination a whole lot.  I've found there are two distinct colorways in my personal Halloween fabric collection.  The slightly dusky, muted, yet still bright  and then the just plain obnoxious, almost too bright.  Turns out they are hard to combine.  Going forward on this project I may have to rethink using them all together.  Or maybe one side of the quilt can be bright, and the other side can be dusky.

That makes 8 total house made now.  This Halloween Houses quilt is really taking a while to come together.  I know, I know, I write about it every year.  Some year (hopefully soon) I'll make a big effort and actually finish it.  (Hey, I have almost a year to get it done, right?!)  

 I especially still want to make houses with pictures of my boys in the costumes I've made them over the years in the doorways and windows.  Until then, it makes a nice, colorful, seasonal decoration in the studio when there isn't much else up on the design wall. 

Speaking of costumes I was only asked to make two this year for my son Alex and his friend CJ.  Alex found me the pattern online and we made these so he and his buddy could go as Finn the Human and Jake the Dog from their favorite cartoon show Adventure Time.  Have you ever seen this show? It is deeply strange, and very funny.  I can see why they like it!

 I had to do something with my favorite orange t-shirt, the collar was frayed all of a sudden.  The rest of it still looked fine.  This was one I overdyed a while ago, I think it used to be bright yellow and got very faded, very quickly, but the fabric was still in very good shape .

I just turned over the t-shirt neckline and stitched it down.  Mostly straight. ahem, don't look too closely please.  I'm pleased that it extends the use of one of my favorite shirts for a little bit longer.

Friendly Ambulance Company

This scene was on my ironing board the other day. Curious, since I hadn't been involved in the use of the scissors or seam ripper so I asked the most likely suspect, my older teenager. He just decided he didn't want labels showing on his clothing anymore. That it was bothering him that people (especially at his high school) care so much about what particular brand one is wearing. That he thought people should care about people and not what they wear. And he also didn't want to give free advertising to big corporations who don't need extra advertising.

I completely understood what he was talking about, and was kind of tickled by the last part about advertising since that is something I've tried to get my boys to be conscious of being manipulated by companies' advertising... In most cases he had successfully removed the labels without damaging the clothing underneath. I helped him repair the small holes in a few things.But then left behind are shadowy areas of different colored fabric, one of which is on the front of a jacket so we wanted to cover it up somehow.

He'd found this patch at Goodwill a while back, it originally said "FEDERAL AMBULANCE CO." We were worried that this might be Federal as in Federal Government and that he shouldn't wear it, sometimes there are laws about impersonating federal employees, etc. I looked at the word and said "how about I change it to read Friendly Ambulance Co. instead?" Well, that cracked him up big time, and after he was done laughing about he asked me to change it. So I did. After some removal of stitching and figuring out how to switch letters around this is how it ended up. No before picture, but I'm sure you can imagine it. This is going on one of his jackets, and he'll definitely be dressed as the unique person he is.

Polka Dots On The Go

Something had to be done about my car seat cover. It was ripped and shredded, uncomfortably lumpy and just depressing looking instead of cheery and fun like it used to be. But the stretchy part that holds it on the seat was just fine, I had to come up with a plan...

Hooray for free FabMo fabrics. I sewed together 4 colors of this polka-dotted upholstery fabric and cut it to the right shape, turned under the edge and stitched it down with some new cushy quilt batting underneath. Easy peasy, eco-friendly, reusing, remaking, refashioning all that good stuff in one project. Plus it makes me smile every time I get in the car.

Freebie Bag Makeover

My dear husband bought some books the last time he was at the airport, and they packaged them in this really nice freebie promo bag. I really liked the brown color and this was a seriously well-made bag (especially for a free one), but I just didn't like all the adverts all glommed all over it.

Except I did like the quote which is I suppose from a character named Enzo, in the book being advertised The Art of Racing in The Rain. I know nothing about the book, but I am intrigued by the title.

I thought the best thing to do would be to add some pockets as that was what this bag was lacking. So I measured the area I wanted to cover up, cut out and ironed two fabrics right sides together. One is going to end up as the lining. I decided to make a curvy shaped pocket, just to be different, and I guess I was inspired by the swirly spirals of the fabric.

After sewing the two pieces together, (leaving an unsewed area to turn the pocket right side out), I clipped the curves so that the edge will be curvy and not lumpy when turned.

After turning right sides out, I ironed the pocket, turning in the edges of the turning unsewn area. Then it was all about positioning the pocket to cover up the advertising and pinning it in place to sew it on.
But before I sewed it down I added two more contrasting pockets, sewing them together in order so that they'll be functional. All of the pockets are lined for extra strength.

An action shot of sewing around the edge of the pocket. I had to sew slowly as the bag fabric was a heavy canvas with a waterproofing coating on the inside.

And here is how it looks! Instead of one weirdly shaped pocket, why not three?

On the other bag side with the quote I just underlined it with some pieced together fabrics matching the ones on the other side.

A close up of the top of one of the pockets, it says CONNECTION, which I honestly can't remember why I chose that word (and I made this yesterday. hmmm, CRS really has set in). And you'll notice that I used the selvedge edge of the fabric without turning it over. I thought it look really cool and added a little bit of interest and texture without looking terribly selvedge-y.

Now to figure out what to put in those pockets!

Monkey Shirt Made

I did finally get around to working on the shirt that I got screen-printed at the Maker Faire. First, I did some machine embroidery stitching around the pocket in black rayon thread. The rest is all the stretchy,elasticy, black cording that I snagged at the Maker Faire. I just couched it down around the sleeves and on the front and back of the shirt.

I may still change the buttons to black ones.

I didn't mark anything, just thought about the design I wanted to end up with.

It was pretty easy to do, but in retrospect I wish I'd used something else instead of this elastic-y stuff. It kind of screws up the shirt from ever lying flat (or is that laying?!...), especially along the button placket in the front. I ironed it and starched the hell out of it and that helped a bit. I'm tempted to take it all off and try something else, but I know I probably won't.

But, the first day that I wore it I got several comments from people asking me where I'd gotten my shirt, and how they wanted one just like it. So, I'm on the right track, just need to work on the execution and materials choices a bit more.

Wardrobe Refashion, Beginning Again

I've been participating in this Wardrobe Refashion challenge kind of haphazardly for more than a year now. But I thought I'd give it six more months to give it another try, and follow-through on completing some of the refashioning projects I have started, planned, dreamed about, or not thought up yet.

• There are several t-shirts that have been over-dyed, but didn't turn out too well, and will be re-re-re-dyed at least once more.




• A few shirts will be stamped with some of my hand-carved stamps.




• One of said t-shirts I'll be using potato starch resist on, to see if I can get a similar look to one of my favorite pieces of fabric I've ever dyed.




• There are several skirts that I'm modifying, to make them wearable once again.




• And some shirts that I'm rehabbing or transforming with additions or substractions (oooh mysterious eh?)

I'll admit it. I'm just too stubborn to throw out this pile of stuff. I just know that it is worth spending not tooooo much time on to get something unique and cool out of the whole deal.

A New Fall Skirt

I recently found these two fabrics on the sale table at my local fabric store. They were marked down to $3 a yard. I thought they'd make a nice new skirt for fall having the brownish plum colors that I like to wear so much.I thought I'd try a different pattern that I'd never used, one with pockets this time around. The Park Bench pattern is quite simple, but when I tried it on the first time, ooh, it was just a little bit too tight. The pattern is mostly recommended for knits, it probably would have fit if I'd done it up in a knit. So I undid one of the side seams and added an insert of the contrast fabric. I think I like how it turned out. I missed having pockets on the other skirts I've made recently.

Over-dyeing Shirts

I practically live in t-shirts, so I am always sad when one of my faves needs to be retired due to stains, or bleached-out spots which is otherwise in good shape. Thanks to the reminder of Wardrobe Refashion, I now try to over-dye them before giving up and sending the to the ragbag. If I like the result it is like getting a new shirt practically for free since I'm simultaneously dyeing fabric for quilting anyways.
This Ants! shirt was from an exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences and it is kind of styled to look like one of those cool 50's mutant monster movie posters. I love the baseball jersey 3/4 sleeves too. It was originally white with some red print in the logo design, so I threw it in the red dye box, and this is how it turned out. The black sleeves which were somewhat faded are now darker, but not exactly black which is a cool effect. I love how different the logo looks now with the red overdye. Plus it turned out good and mottled which is how I prefer my over-dyed clothes to turn out. A "subtle tie-dye", if there is such a thing!
This was one of my favorite t-shirts, was the right stretchiness without being baggy, and just a basic light grey which went with everything, but then it got bleach spotted, right in front (of course). So now it has some blue and green on top of the grey. I love how subtle the color changes are, and the contrasting stitching that remained undyed looks nice too.

Sunday Cornucopia

It is the end of a week, and there are always leftovers. Before I go off to niece's 3rd birthday party, I'll leave you with these goodies:

Kale Chips, an amazingly good snack. I made one bunch of kale into these chips and they were gone in two seconds, I barely got a picture of the remains of one as Alex was about to eat the last bit. Super easy and really really good for you. I'm destemming the leaves next time though, a little bitter for me on that part. But honestly, usually the kale ends up in my green smoothie as no one around here likes it cooked or stir fried. So chips it is!
Recipe from Camp Joy was as follows:


Kale Chips

• 1 Bunch Kale



• 1/4 C Olive Oil (I used spray olive oil)



• Salt & Pepper to taste
  

1. wash & pat dry kale



2. spray or paint on a thin layer of oil covering both sides of kale



3. lay kale on cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt & pepper



4. place under broiler for 2-3 minutes



5. flip kale over & broil 2-3 minutes or until crispy, yum!

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I don't know if I missed the window for signups or not, time will tell. Anyways, even if I'm not an official participant in the Wardrobe Refashion blog, I'm still playing along at home. Have a few projects I've done recently that I need to take pictures of to share with you. Just overdyeing, but they turned out really cool.


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I'm attempting NaBloPoMo this month, where the subject is Food, so be ready for lots of food content in addition to the usual High Fiber Content. If you've posted every day already this month, then you can probably still sign up.
Visit NaBloPoMo

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And I didn't tell you yet about getting my very first ever pedicure while in Sedona. My sister-in-law Carolyn suggested it for the girls (Mom, Carolyn and I) and got these spa finder gift certificates at Costco, so it wasn't too spendy. It was really fun, and not all icky and horrible to have someone working on my feet. I don't why I was so worked up about it, but it was relaxing and my feet stil feel good a couple of weeks later. Plus I learned a few tricks to keep my toes looking better for the summer, we shall see if that works, right?!Believe me you don't want to see the "before" picture!

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Lastly, and truly most importantly, have you been paying attention to the FISA/Warrant-less Wiretapping/Telecom Company Pardoning/Law-breaking excusing debacle in the Congress? I've been writing letters and emails and calling my senators on the issue.
Go read up and decide what (pdf link) you think. We're about to become a monarchy....and even the future President Obama has completely reversed on his promises, yes flip-flopped even, and is voting on the side of getting himself some kingly powers.

Skirting the Issue

Oh hahaha right? Onto the next skirt project. One that has also been staring at me accusingly for a year from the Fabric I'm Not Putting Away Yet Because Then I'll Forget Why The Heck I Bought It Pile. Don't you have one of those fabric piles? No? Uhmm. Just me then I guess. Anyways.
I have this idea for a hem treatment on the next skirt. Should the measuring tape fabric be used vertically?
Or horizontally? Please note that it is NOT used as a waistband treatment (hardyharhar).

Here is a detail of what I ended up doing. Please note the ass-kicking job I did on adding some red piping. Oh yes I did, I not only did a hemline treatment innovation on this very simple skirt, but I stuck some piping in there. And it did not kill me. And it didn't take as long as I thought. Or turn out in a manner that makes me embarrassed to be wearing the skirt. I'm really pleased with it. So pleased that I'm going on and on about it here to you. Because no one I know around here could really give two cans of beans about the topic!
And here is the very smugly satisfied sewist wearing her new creation. As long as I stand there by the red roses and green tree background, it is almost a chamelon camo effect..
I can't find the measuring tape fabric, but equilter has a slightly different one available.

A Skirt Per Week

I'm embarking on a new quest, to actually sew the skirts I've bought fabric and patterns for. What a concept eh?
I'm getting tired of all the room this stuff is taking up in my studio as well as on my mental to-do/shame/regret list. I also am still not buying new clothing as part of my wardrobe refashion pledge. I want a bunch of lightweight, easy-care, comfortable skirts that I can wear this summer instead of all my very worn-out shorts.
Because of the progression of my disease/condition I can't tolerate a lot of binding tight stuff around my middle. So I don't think that I can make anything that is really structured with a constructed waistband. Maybe if it is set low enough I can. But I'm not sure how flattering that would be, since I do still just barely have a defined waist, I ought to emphasize it, right?

I used fabric that I blogged about just over a year ago. One of my long-term half-baked plans was finally ready, hooray! This vintage fabric was found in Goodwill for a couple of bucks. I really like all the browns in it with a bit of contrasting blue, and the allover patterning is great for hiding wrinkles. And I have a shirt that goes with it, even better, right? One less thing to have to make...
So this elastic-waistbanded skirt was made with a pattern I drew myself from the fun, clearly written, beginner book Sew What Skirts. I've never sewn anything for myself to wear without using a store-bought pattern, so this was kind of thrilling in a small personal way. Instead of taking a pattern and altering it to fit me, I made a pattern from my measurements (what a thought, right!). And lo, and behold it fits, hey I can follow directions sometimes. The skirt is perfect, not too tight, not too loose, waistband just right, and I like the length. Now I can't get too cocky because this is not like sewing pants or something, but I'm still pretty chuffed about it all.
Now to choose the next one to work on for the upcoming week. I think it will be the embroidered purple cotton gauze using the Park Bench Patterns swirly circle skirt Griffith Park.

A Shirt Re-fashioned

Finally getting around to some Wardrobe Refashioning. This is an old trade-show uniform shirt from my husband. Luckily I have about the same shoulder width as him, so it fits really nicely. BUT, it was a kind of icky dirty looking off-white, so I overydyed it. Now to make it wearable for me, I needed to cover up the defunct company names embroidered on either side of the front! My first thought was to just add some patches from my ever-growing, hardly-ever-used collection. But none of them struck my fancy or were the right color combo or size.

Then my eyes landed upon an open box of fabric, with the perfect solution sitting right on top. You can buy it here Las Caritas: over sized crazyvibrant mexican paper mache' mask faces. The background of the fabric was a great blending-in blue color too, which was a nice bonus. So after some fussy cutting, I steam-a-seamed (an iron-on fusible)these little faces on the front and the back of the shirt. I haven't stitched around the edges and am going to test out how well the steam-a-seam works as far as washability goes..Hope they stay on and don't fray at the edge.
And a pig face on my hip just to state the obvious!

Refashioned Shirt

What I'm wearing is something I made for myself out of a ruined t-shirt in one of my favorite colors. I made the mistake of actually washing up the kitchen while wearing this and some of the cleaner made some unrecoverable bleachy type of spots.

I started out this refashioning project by adding to the bleach spots that ruined this cool green tee. A few bleach spots is yuck. A lot it turns out is yum. This was accomplished by propping up the shirt on a cardboard box in the backyard and flinging bleach undiluted via old toothbrush at the shirt. I know that would have been a good picture, but I was too busy flinging bleach around. Then I soaked it in anti-chlor (to stop the bleaching which continues until your fabric disappears), washed it, and took it to the sewing lair. bwaahahaaa.The first sewing was turning out the hems of the neckline, sleeves and bottom. All I did here was to turn the hems outwards folding them back onto the shirt. This shortened the sleeves and bottom a bit, and changed the neckline to something a bit more comfortable. The stitch I used looks like a zigzag, but it is a mending zig zag, each zig is comprised of a bunch of teeny tiny stitches. Oh, and I remembered to us a knit jersey needle (yeah me!), which works so much better when sewing t-shirts. Sewing slowly and using a lot of pins on these hems resulted in no puckers gathers or lumps.Now it was time to pin on the patches I bought from leethal. I decided to give them a little more oomph by giving them some other fabric to perch upon and relate to. One piece has upholstery fabric (this one by the coffee), one has cotton-poly, and the last has silk. All of these are recycled fabric scraps.Before stitching I made sure to try on the shirt to ensure no obvious placement problems had arisen. Those of you with breasts know what I'm talking about here.I used the same mending zig zag that isn't a zigzag stitch as I did on the hems.
I realized I didn't like how light the bleach spots were, so I obsessively colored them all in with a sharpie pen. Now I like it better with this color.



So here is how the shirt looks on the floor.
And here is how it looks on me. I have no idea what that expression on my face is meant to convey. I think I was very near to actually smiling, but who knows. The result, very comfy, unique and me.