Pillows

A while ago I made some pillows as graduation presents for my dear friends, that night I told them I was planning on putting them on the blog and a year and a half later here it is!

Birthday present!

Happy birthday my dear sweet Daeleen! We've been friends for a long time and I only plan on being friends even longer. Since I know you already opened up your present 5 days early I know I'm not spoiling anything by posting this.  (I'm just glad it shipped to you so fast!)

 

This is the easy clutch I made with some awesome wool I got for REALLY cheap at Goodwill lined with some muslin I had on hand. I love this project and it took hardly any time at all (unless you are Daeleen then I slaved over this for days).

STEP ONE

Cut out one large rectangle of the wool or other thick shell fabric. You can guess on size by folding it into thirds. Cut out a slightly smaller piece of stiff muslin, about .5 an inch wider on both sides and 1 inch longer on both ends. 

STEP TWO

Bind one end of the muslin, this will be the inside edge of the clutch.

STEP THREE

Fold the pocket of the clutch face side to face side (wool to wool) making the pocket and the flap the desired size you want and stitch along the sides, making sure to sew all layers together. Then trim the excess off leaving just enough for a small seam.

OPTIONAL: Before you do this add a small inside pocket and or tag as I did.

STEP FOUR

Bind the final edges. Finish the end by snipping and folding where need be and sewing it down. For a cleaner look sew another row close to the finished edge. Sorry I didn't iron this so it looks really sloppy!

STEP FIVE

Sew in your button and add your button hole! 

I love the way this turned out and am excited to make something for myself out of this beautiful wool!

Art on a Budget

 My walls have been looking a little bare lately so I dusted off some old books and transformed them in to wall art. I'm always looking for books that have colorful illustrations or beautiful text at thrift stores & garage sales. Remember this?

I can't bring myself to cut in to an atlas I found last summer at a garage sale. Read this coupon I found in it's pages that expired in 1940. 

Maps made easy art especially in matted frames.

My favorite places to get frames on a budget:

*Thrift stores (sometimes if the picture already in the frame is particularly hideous you can get a great deal)*

*Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshalls*

*Craft stores like Michales or Joann Fabrics (But only with a coupon!)*

My favorite book is all about flowers paired with watercolor illustrations of them.

Here I just cut out a rose and glued it over a dictionary page. 

 Ta-da! My hallway is now dressed for spring.

After.

It's clean!!! I used the door, every wall and the ceiling for storage to organize my new and improved craft closet.

Before.

I have been putting it off long enough. Judging by this picture you would guess that I have been putting it off for years. It is time to clean my disgusting black hole of a closet. It is time to purge and organize. I am posting this picture and proclamation in hopes that it will motivate me to pick my hiney up off the couch and get to business cleaning that darn closet THIS weekend.

Please don't judge me.

Wedding

(I would properly cite this image but I truly can't remember where I got it)

I have a dear friend that is getting married very soon and Kendra and I are both honored to be part of her big day as bridesmaids. We have a get together planning party tomorrow and are excited to help her decorate. I've found that the DIY pompoms and flowers are very popular and in my opinion beautiful choices for weddings. I will be suggesting and sharing these images with her tomorrow and hopes they will fit in with her vision.

Groovy Tie Dye

Happy almost Friday!!!!!!!!!!
We are going to tie dye, dip dye and all around just go nuts with dye tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. I thought I would share with you some of my inspiration to get my tie dye on.

We will be sure to show you the finished product as long as it isn't too terrible, I'm crossing my fingers. Have a great weekend!

Images via Pintrest

Once Apron a Dream

The other day I was sewing the curtain Sharayah bought me fabric to make and found myself distracted. Leftover was the perfect size rectangle to make her a surprise. I had an adorable "pattern" for a half apron (I use the term "pattern" loosely because I never even got the pattern my friend made out and just went from memory). I knew Penelope, the resident wire dress form in Shae's kitchen would look fabulous in it.
This apron is incredibly easy to make and takes barely any time at all. It is easily adjusted to fit any style and size. Here is my handy work on paint, an unproportional pattern to get you an idea.
1. The skirt: Hem right, left, and bottom of A. Run a gathering stitch on the top.
Get creative: add Rick-Rack, pockets, lace, bias tape, ribbon, buttons, and personalize the apron.
2. The ties: Hem bottom, left, and top of B and add a gathering stitch on the right.
Get creative: I add Rick-Rack and ribbon to the ends of the ties to add personality.
3. The waistband: Iron in the raw edges and iron in half, so you have a long rectangle that you can't see and raw edges and see the right side of the the fabric only.
4. Gather the skirt so that it is just skinnier than the waistband is. Gather the Sides of the ties so they are skinnier than the sides of the waistband.
5. Pin the left tie on the waistband, then the skirt, then the right waistband sandwiched in the waistband so you hide the unfinished edges. Sew along those three sides and you have yourself a brand new apron.

Play with the fabric combinations, make the ties different, piece together the skirt from a bunch of different patterns, add lace tiers. This pattern is so not picky which makes it a fun, practical project.

For the Love of Lamps

For living in such a small apartment I have collected an impressive amount of lamps. They are all over the place, even one in the bathroom. For my latest project I took it upon myself to create a new lampshade for my living room. I found a sturdy lampshade at a garage sale (I fell in love with the scalloped edges on this one) and stripped it of it's very out dated fabric. To give this old lamp a fun new look all it took was some pretty fabric, a hot glue gun and voila!

And here is how it turned out

Circle Scarf

This is basically the easiest and prettiest knitting project ever. I used super bulky, Houston cream, Lion Brand Yarn (from the hometown USA collection) and some size 13 knitting needles and went to town just doing rows of knit. Made the length and width to my liking then sewed the two ends together. I am really excited for the fall when it is actually appropriate to wear it. All in all I think it turned out to be pretty shnazzy.

Infinity

Around the time my sister Sharayah moved out of our home I decided I loved to sew. When she needed curtains hemmed, I dug out May-Ruth, my Grandma's sewing machine we borrowed over 5 years before to make pajama pants with my mom (I might add we never made) and I shortened her curtains, made her several other sets and pillows and cushions and more to decorate her little apartment. Soon enough I made a couple shirts, a dress, aprons, more pillows and the story continues.

Recently a friend bought what is called an infinity dress, I had seen them before, in fact Sharayah owns one. Its essentially a skirt with a waistband and two really long pieces of fabric that can be wrapped and re-wrapped into and infinite number of dresses.

I had some stretch jersey that I bought a while before and knew I could do it fairly easy. The other morning I drew out a pattern of 3 pieces (in the picture on the top right; left to right: skirt cutout 7 times, waistband on fold double layer, and strap 2 yards) and sewed it together with unfinished edges to allow the straps to stretch the way they want to.

The dressed turned out so well my sister Kendra begged and bribed me (a whole $2!) to make her one. It took just under 3 hours with the pattern already drawn up and I'm sure if I make one again it will be even faster. (Pictures of dress 2 up soon)