January Refashion Month Post

Today I'm sharing some of my hard earned refashion wisdom over to House of Estrela.
So head on over to read my post, Refashioning For Beginners!
 And while you are there, have a look around at the rest of the
wonderful posts being shared through this month's refashion series!

DIY Crochet Hook Clutch

I crochet.
Didn't know that?
Well, I haven't showcased many of my projects yet on this blog,
but I have been crocheting since about 10 years of age,
and have crafted a myriad of projects.

I have my mother to thank for teaching me the craft,
and this Christmas I wanted to give something back to her,
which is why I decided to sew her a clutch case for her various crochet hooks!
This was one of the projects I was really excited about making,
but couldn't share with you back in November.

Through, where else, but Pinterest,
I found this wonderful tutorial from  Little Birdie Secrets.
All the measurements are there for you,
even a breakdown of pocket spacing for each hook size.

My Changes:
-I did make my pocket size for G and H a mite smaller,
going just under 1/2 inch.

-I made my clutch a tri-fold.
 I liked the size better and felt it helped to cocoon the hooks in more securely.
This does affect the placement of the button,
so bear that in mind when considering which version you want to make.


I used leftovers fabric from this project and a multi-colored striped shirt in my refashion pile
to craft my version of this hook case.

See those lovely colors?

I knew this would partner well with the coral and robin's -egg- blue of this gorgeous floral print.

It lends a bit of whimsicality, don't you think?

The stripped fabric became the sheaths for the hooks.

Following along with the instructions,

it came together very nicely.

You can see here that my button placement is different than the original.

Just fold your case over as many times as you would like, in this 'case' (sorry), 

I folded mine over twice, then the rounded part folds downward. 

How you fold it will determine where the button and closure fall.

Doesn't this button match perfectly?!

Would you believe it was the original button from the huge coral blazer I refashioned?

It is hard to tell in this picture,

but it just so happened that many of the lines I stitched to create

the hook pockets correlated with the pattern stripes!

At any rate, they made excellent guides for a straight stitch.

Here it is all finished!

The biggest problem I had?

Sewing this darling up without mom knowing!

My sewing area is in the middle of the house, a high traffic area,

so there is no hiding what you are making...unless..yes...that was it!

I would make it in one morning while mom was away at Bible study!!

It was perfect...she would never know...I'd clean up every trace of evidence...

there wouldn't be a single thread on the floor...the perfect crime surprise...mwahaha!!!

No joke. 

That's just how I felt.

Like some mad scientist whipping up an end of the world concoction in his lab,

I was giddy with delight that I pulled it off, a complete and utter surprise!

"I've done it!! I've created a masterpiece!"

It still gives me thrills just thinking about it.

And she was...

completely surprised.

DIY Disney Silhoutte Wallhangings

I'm sure you've seen the Disney silhouette cutouts on Pinterest and around the web, right?

Just in case you haven't,

here are a couple examples...

 

 Apparently,
you could take the easy route and order these from Etsy,
they are all over the place in various shops,
but I decided to make my own as a Christmas present to my little sister!


I made a few design changes to mine, however
Wanna see?

When selecting my cutout images, 

I kept in mind what posters and pictures my little sister didn't have,

and tried to fill in the gaps.

 No princess room is complete without a castle!

I decided to cut mine from a patterned scrapbook piece,

 and I love the way it turned out!

For this silhouette, 

I simply printed the image on the back of patterned scrapbook card stock

 (cut down to fit in the printer) then cut the shape out.

My next set of cutouts were done differently.

What I Did:

-First I found an image in one of our various coloring books

-Second, I laid a piece of scrapbook paper, printed side down,

underneath the page with my chosen picture.

-Next, using a pointed instrument, like a pencil without the led tip,

a chopstick etc. (just so long as you aren't actually writing on the surface)

I traced around the outline of the image, being sure to apply a decent amount of pressure.

This resulted in the outline being pressed into the scrapbook paper underneath,

and, if the coloring page on the reverse side had any crayon on it,

that color was also transferred into the indented outline.

-Now cut along the traced lines, and you have your silhouette!

Using a glue stick, secure it to a blank sheet of your choosing, and frame.

.

As an added element,

I chose phrases from the movie of my characters

and wrote them in easy, flowing calligraphy on a blank sheet, 

which became the backdrop.

I love the detail it adds!

Ariel's background phrases were written straight across,

but for the cutout of Rapunzel and Flynn,

I chose to slant the words starting in the corner,

and start them mid phrase of mid word so it looked as if it continued off the page.

I discovered afterwords that I misspelled Flynn's name, but oh well!
These received lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the little princess!

The frames were purchased at a dollar store for a total of $6
while the rest of the supplies were already on hand,
making this a very inexpensive gift!
Combined with the approval of my sister, that makes this project a big success!

DIY Basic Boy's Wallet

Remember when I shared with you

a list of projects I intended I make as Christmas gifts?

Well, today I will share with you my version of the 

Basic Boy's Wallet.

As soon as I stumbled upon this clear, easy to replicate tutorial from Noodlehead, 

I knew I needed to create my own version as a gift for my baby brother.

For my wallet,

 I used a scrap piece of denim from a refashion project,

and cut the remaining pieces from a plaid shirt.

 Ahh, look at those lines, all matching...*sigh*...it does my OCD good.

Oh, um, moving on...

Using the basic tutorial instructions,

I folded and pinned the card pockets.

Before sewing these up, 

I inserted a card, testing the depth of each pocket,

to insure I had them right.

In place of leather accents, as used in the tutorial,

I opted for a simpler version.

Snipping a blue 'J' out of a piece of felt really personalized this wallet, 

perfect for the six-year old stage of life where ownership is key.

Not to mention blue is my little brother's favorite color.

Stitching around the outside edges,

I had my initial secured lickety-split.

The rest was fairly simple,

I sewed up the edges, turned the whole thing inside out

and finished with some top stitching!

I will admit though, the edges of all my pieces weren't perfectly aligned, 

which caused some frustrations...

but nothing some trimming and increased seam allowances didn't fix.

And just like that I had created a cute little wallet.

Throw a couple of $1 bills in there, and it was a hit with the little man!

If I were to change to a few things,

I would certainly have used a webbing on the plaid pieces inside,

the material is very soft and thus a bit floppy.

Alas, I didn't have any on hand and needed to get this finished.

Also,as an afterthought, 

it dawned on me that a six year old really hasn't much use

for the card pockets but would much more have benefited

from sort of zippered or pocketed compartment for change!

Oh well, he loved it, and that is all that matters in the end!

Top 5 of 2013 Hits

 Hello my dear faithful-even-when-I-don't-post-for-a-month followers!

I don't know about you, but this past month was so busy

 that blog posts were the last thing I was worried about. 

I'll admit, I did worry about it a wee bit, but hey, the reality is I have a life, you have a life, 

and that life won't end if I don't post anything on my little blog.

Aside from being busy completing a large order of my mermaid crochet dolls, 

making some (though sadly not all) of these DIY Christmas gifts,

 I also dealt with an illness immediately following Thanksgiving 

that could have landed me in the hospital. 

I still have a few issues that I need to deal with, 

but I was able to get my body back up to relative health.

Anyway...
As things have settled down a bit,
I have been doing some catching up on my blog reading, another thing that didn't happen over the holidays, and I have been seeing the Top 5 of 2013 posts at several blogs I frequent.
It sounds like a fun idea, so I thought I would hop on the last passing wagon!

Here is my list for...

 Top 5 of 2013: Hits

 

5. Minty Teal Shirt Refashion



This was a pretty easy refashion, more of a fitting job, really, than an overhaul.
But with a few little fitting tweaks and by taking off the collar,
I completely changed the fit and style of this shirt.
It quickly became one of my favorite wardrobe pieces!

4. Bubble Hem Denim Maxi Skirt Refashion



Again,
this was a pretty simple refashion.
By combining a too-small pair of jeans and a hardly-worn skirt,
I created a fun maxi skirt that I absolutely fell in love with.
All of the extra width of the skirt was gathered at the front by using a box pleat,
and this created a flowing, draped effect at the front of the skirt.
This was in strong rotation during the warmer months of summer,
and I can't wait to pull it out next season!


3. Peplum Jacket Refashion



Those of you who followed me
during the Refashion Runway challenges will remember this jacket.
 I am super proud of how it turned out, and I love all of the little details...
lightly puffed sleeves, pin tucked seams in front and back, extra buttons
and lovely metallic and burgundy thread stitching detail.
Plus, as a budding seamstress, this held many firsts, including drafting
my own peplum pattern.

2. Medieval Costume



My first real refashion challenge this past year
came when one my younger brothers needed a medieval costume
as part of his camp counselor outfit for their weekly medieval banquet.
After a thrifting trip, we came up with just the right pieces
and I was able to make a shirt, vest, cape, hat, leg wraps,
 and even the cape clasp from thrifted items!
His outfit was a hit and I was more than thrilled with the final results.

And now, for my most favorite refashion and sewing project from this year...
I give you ...

1. The Jane Costume 



Also another project from the Refashion Runway Season 2,
this is for certain my crowning achievement of 2013!
In the midst of this project, I was under pressure and a bit stressed,
but looking back, I had lots of fun putting together the details and seeing things take shape.
The best part of course was seeing the finished costume and dressing up for a fun photo shoot.


And there you have it,
my top five hits from this past year!

When I take into account that I haven't yet been sewing for a complete year,
I am so excited and pleased to look back and track my progress.
I can't wait to see what this coming year has in store!

I would like to thank Gillian over at Crafting a Rainbow
for coming up this great year end review idea!

It's Coming, It's Coming!

Hello, friends!

I'm sorry things have been so quiet around here since the end of RR,

but I just have one thing to say to that.

Christmas is coming!!!

 

Do you know what this means?!

 

This means I have less than 34 days to make all my gifts,

AND fill an order for eight of my crocheted mermaid dolls!

On top of that, I've returned to serving as my dad's carpenter assistant,

so that makes for long days, which means even less time to make everything!

 

But don't worry,

I'm a chronic procrastinator (for evidence there is this post, and this post, AND this post).

but if there is one thing I've learned, it is that I work best with the panic of an impending deadline!

 

That means things will be kind of slow here on the blog for a season,

but I know you all have your own busy holidays to tackle,

so maybe one less post to read will be good for your schedule as well.

 

I would love to share with you my finished products,

but there are several people who read my blog that I will making things for,

so those will just have to wait until after Christmas.

 

Here are a few projects I intend to tackle that I can show you!

Isn't this darling?!

I have a little brother who needs one of these.

Whenever he wants to go out and spend his hard earned chore money,

he brings his entire, jangling money tin.

I think the little man needs a wallet of his own.

This great tutorial can be found here.

Little sister. Pink princess cutouts, framed.

Need I say more?

Here is another project I'm considering recreating for my little sister.

There are no directions with this Pinterest link, but I think with some tinkering I can figure it out.

 

 

Homemade Lemon Salt Scrub.

All natural, easy to throw together, and a great pampering gift!

I plan to make several jars of these.

Along the same lines,

I found this pin on making your own lip gloss.

This would be a great stocking stuffer or part of a spa gift package for the ladies.

 

 

That's all I can share with you for now,

which is sad, because the projects I'm most excited about making I can't show you yet!

 

Isn't it wonderful that Christmas gives you an excuse to actually make

some of those amazing pins you been stockpiling?

 

Are you making your own gifts this season?

Where do get your inspiration and ideas?

I'd love to know!

From One Beginner to Another: Sewing with Leather

After completing my first leather project,

and after lots of research and personal trial and error,

I decided to write down what worked for me when it came to machine sewing leather.

 

Must Haves and Tips



 

Leather needles

These are a must!

They have a cutting edge that helps pierce the leather.
If/when that edge/tip gets broken, you will know!
The needle will have a difficult time piercing the leather,
and mine made clanking and puncturing sounds while sewing.

 

Nylon thread

There are actually other recommended types of thread you can use,

but 100% nylon was the easiest for me to find and worked really well.

As long as you can't break the thread when you pull it hard
 (like I do with cotton thread when I can't find the scissors)
then it should withstand sewing the leather.
Plus, the nylon thread had a glossy feel/finish, which I think worked similar
to waxed thread, which I read in various places was recommended for leather sewing.

 

Corn starch/baby powder

Ok, this is actually a trick I found while searching the web.

Ideally, you should use a Teflon or walker foot for your machine.

I didn't have one, so I used corn starch (because I didn't have baby powder)

to dust the working surface of my machine, the bottom of my foot,
and the surface of the leather I was working with.

This reduced the drag and helped feed it through more evenly,
reducing the amount of teeny tiny bunched up stitches.
It does make a mess though.

 I would recommend getting the special foot, but in a pinch, this trick will help.

 

Thread tension

On some scrap pieces, I experimented with tensions

and found that it worked best between 1.5 and 2.
Whatever your numbering system is, you just want to reduce the tension.

 

Feed dogs

Leather has bulk and sticks,

 so lower the feed dogs a lot so it will feed through more easily and not bunch up.
Some posts I read, the seamstress completely lowered the food dogs
and fed the leather through manually.

 

Bobbin tension

I used a nylon thread for my project,

and when I inserted the bobbin into the case, I realized it was very tight.

Depending on the thread you use, make sure to adjust the tension.

I follow this little method to test and set my bobbin tension.

 I just use my finger nail instead of a screw driver.

It works all the time and it is so easy.

 

Thread length

You don't want teeny tiny stitches, so adjust your length to a longer stitch,

I had mine set at about 3.5- 4.
(4 is the longest stitch setting on my machine).
 

 

Don't back stitch!

When leather is pierced, the holes remain.
So why make more holes and put your machine through the extra strain of back stitching?
Instead, pull your thread through to the backside and tie your ends.
Use this method to tie your string and finish your ends,

it is the same method I used to do the detail top stitching for this peplum blazer.


Trim Edges
To reduce the layers and bulk when sewing over edges/seems,
trim them down...this will make it much easier on you and your machine.


Fold Once
Leather doesn't fray, so you don't need to roll or double fold your hems.
In fact. DON'T. It is way too much work to sew through.


Go Slow
This may be a no brainer, but take is easy and go slow so stave off broken needles and mistakes.
 

 

These methods worked for me, so I wanted to pass along what I learned.
I am in no way an expert, I have in fact to date only sewn on leather once!
But if you are a beginner, you might find this helpful.
If you are more experienced, I welcome your comments and suggestions!
Good luck!

Tea Dying

Tea dying.
What a novel idea.

Have you seen the Pins too?
I didn't know this was possible, but it makes perfect sense.

So I decided to give it a go.

 

 

 

 

Instead of using the usual brown tea, I found the most vibrant tea in our cupboard!

This beautiful, deep red tea was perfect for what I had in mind!

 

I started with a slightly larger than cereal bowl sized bowl,

boiled some water, then added two bags of

Celestial Seasoning's Raspberry Zinger tea (one of our favorites).

 

For this experiment, I wanted to dye two doilies I had recently finished.

After dunking the tea bags in the water for a bit, I took them out.

I placed one doily in the tea, put a tea bag on top of it,

put in the second doily, and the other tea bag on top of that.

A little sandwich, if you will, of doily and tea bags.

My reasoning was that this might help distribute the color evenly between the two doilies.

 





 

 

And then I forgot about them....for most of the day.

I stirred and squished them around every now and then

when I came through the kitchen.

 

At the end of the day, I took them out, rinsed them lightly,

then laid them out neatly to dry.

 

 



 

 

This is how they turned out!

I have laid them next to un-dyed doilies for comparison.

 

 



 

 

This was actually the hue I was hoping for!

I was pleased.

 

A little note, the color does fade more after they sit for several days,

which was a little disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

 

All in all, I think this is a fun, economical way to throw in some color!

What do you think?

Have you done tea dying before?



Fix It: Too Low Neckline

It's a common problem.

You find an adorable shirt or dress,

but the neckline is too low.

Sometimes you can slip a cami on underneath, or add a modesty panel.

But there is a quick little fix I've found that works well with pieces that have

straps...like tank tops or strappy sun dresses.

All I did was measure the amount of strap that I wanted to take up,

folded it over itself in the back, close to where the strap connects to the dress, then sew over it.

 

 See what I mean? You pinch together the excess strap, right sides together, then sew across it.

Now next snip off that extra little loop of a strap, and your are done.

 

This is what the back (wrong side) of the strap looks like after I cut off the excess.

I did this with two dresses and one tank top...

 

....it worked great for me!

Be sure to try on your top with the straps pinned up before you sew it.

Sometimes, the straps are long enough that you can do this without tampering how the rest of the garment fits, but with some shirts it will pull the arm holes up too far and make them too tight and uncomfortable. 
Be sure this isn't the case with your piece!

Simple, but a good, quick little fix.

Sew Pretty Sewing Room Part III: Sewing Silhouettes

Yesterday I shared my 'Sew on and Sew Forth' wall hanging.
I loved it, and it looked beautiful on the wall, but there remained some empty wall space
 and my creative juices were still flowing.

So, I continued on with the theme of sewing silhouettes.

 

With some old thrifted frames,

 

 

...some pretty scrap book paper....

 

 



...some black printed silhouettes, scissors and glue...

 

...you get....





 

 

....

 

 

 

These lovely little art pieces!

I have to say...the scissors silhouette is one of my favorites.

 

This was a pretty easy project.

The only challenging aspect was cutting out the paper in the tiny spaces, like between the scissor handles and between the chair legs and arms of the seamstress.

 

It is hard to see the scale here, but these are mini pictures,

making them that much more adorable.

That concludes my sewing room projects.
Tomorrow, we'll bring it all together as I reveal my new little sewing space! 

Sew Pretty Sewing Room Part II: Sew On and Sew Forth Art

 Part II of my sewing room project....what to do with that empty wall?

Honestly, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

My inspiration came from, where else, Pinterest.

Have you seen this on Pinterest?

An adorable use of fabric and an embroider hoop.

A much cheaper, homier feel than expensive framed wall art.

Not to mention it is completely personalize-able.

Next, my main inspiration came from this fun digital poster.

You can find it over at  Compulsive Craftiness.

Her hubby designed it for her sewing room,

and she gladly shared it with the blogging world so you could do the same.

While this poster is so much fun, I just wasn't feeling the chevron.

I know, I know, it is so 'in' right now, but I've never been one to swim with the tide.

So I decided to blend the elements from these two inspirations and make my own version.

First step, I went to my local thrift shop in search of embroider hoops.

There were none in the craft section to my dismay, but when I wandered through

the home decor section, I saw these sad, outdated pieces. 





They were 25 cents each, you can't beat that!

I just stripped off the fabric pictures and lace...easy.

After searching the web, I found a sewing machine image that suited my fancy.

I printed it out, then traced it onto a clear plastic folder sleeve.

Then I used our projector to illuminate the outline onto my piece of fabric.

I laid my fabric on top of the sleeve so the image shone through, then traced over it.

I traced the design backwards so that when I flipped it over, the marked up side wasn't showing.
 







Then I cut my machine out.

Setting that aside, I went to cut out the fabric for my hoop.



Isn't this print just gorgeous?!

We found it at our local, old style dry goods store.

They have a beautiful, albeit, little spendy collection of fabrics.

We splurged and bought a yard of this print.

I followed the same method of tracing and cutting out the circle of fabric

as used when I cut out the paper for my tins.

After searching through all our computer fonts and coming up less than satisfied,

I decided to trace the font used on the poster.

That scrolling 'and' was key to the flow of the design, so there was no way around it.

I accomplished this by blowing up the poster image, and actually tracing the text onto my clear sleeve by holding it up to the computer screen.

Unconventional, yes. But, hey, it worked!

The poster text was actually solid, filled in letters.

I just traced the outlines and decided I liked the look.

I used my projector again to lightly trace these letters in pencil onto my fabric.

But I wasn't done yet...
 

  Using brown craft paint, I traced over the pencil lines.
 



After sewing on the machine silhouette (I used a straight stitch on my sewing machine),

I was able to trace the 'and' over it and paint it as well.

I painted the 'and' in a shade of pink that complemented the fabric and would stand out against the solid brown sewing machine. Once the pink was dried, I outlined it in brown.



And this is how it turned out!

Don't look too close now, or you will notice that my letters are a bit crooked.

At first it really bothered me, but I liked the overall result so much, that I was pretty forgiving.

While I had the fabric out and the machine warm, I whipped up a matching pin cushion.

This adorable little tin was thrifted for 10 cents.
I secured the cushion into the tin with hot glue.

And there you have it!
Well on my way to getting my sewing space all set up.
Check in Thursday to see what else I made!