DIY: The IKEA Eyeball Dress

Happy Post-Christmas, y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is recovering nicely. Santa was super good to me this year (thanks, hubs!) and I got a ton of fun gifties. My favorite present was the insulated Starbucks cup that, as I was unwrapping it, I was told was a freebee from the work lounge. Um...thanks? My man is so silly, y'all don't even know. 

Speaking of prezies, I used one of 'em to film this wee gem that my entire neighborhood (and now all of the internet) was at privilege to witness...

I can only imagine what my poor neighbors think of the Hot Mess Express that lives next door to them. 

So if you've been following me here and here, first off all, bless your heart and secondly, thank you for suffering along with me as I figure out this thing I call The Eyeball Dress. After creating my last Ikea fabric dress with the giant cat motif, I decided that big bold prints are my new favorite thing. You can see another Ikea print dress here and here. When I stumbled upon this Ikea print on ebay, I scooped up all the yardage that was available. Unfortunately, there were only 3 yards...which normally is plenty for a dress in this style. However, because of the placement of the eyes on the fabric, it made for some tricky pattern cutting. 

So I had to do some thinking. Which really isn't my jam so I posed the question to y'all: what to do about that bodice. Initially I created the top right but the fact that the eyes didn't match up just about drove me bananaz. So I toyed with the idea of a solid bodice which got the most positive feedback from y'all. However, I've been power watching Schitt's Creek lately and if it's one thing I've learned, it's to let your crazily-dressed-freak-flag-fly...

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This scene is reenacted multiple times a day at my house. My poor hubs. If only this were his reaction:

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He's too brutally honest to ever fib about how I look. I've learned it's best not to ask. 

Every since I scored this fabric, I knew I wanted it to be all eyes, all the way. I mean, otherwise, it's just a crazy skirt with a top stitched to it. So even though it took some unfun pattern play, I opted to do the eyes right down the middle which then continued on down to the skirt. But if I'm being totes honest, I mostly put the eyes on top so I could say stupid stuff like, "Hey, buddy! My eyes are up here! No, wait...that's not entirely true." I know, I missed my calling as a stand up comedian. I get told that ALL.THE.TIME. (well, this one time. But I think the person was drunk.)

On Christmas eve, I was just about done with this thing when my dear ole faithful sewing machine decided to flake out. I'm all NOW IS NOT THE TIME! I was determined to finish the thing...so determined that we braved The Twilight Zone, aka Walmart on Christmas eve... 

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I returned home with just a few minor bruises and scratches and a brand new Janome sewing machine. Just in time to finish this bad boy. 

By the way, the ENTIRE time I've worked on this dress, I've had that Twilight Zone eyeball on my mind.

I thought taking photos outside would be fun as it is currently a crazy 70 degrees here in Nashville. C'mon winter, man up!

Of course it is super windy outside, which explains the peepshow I gave all y'all and my 'hood. I was going for something a wee more graceful, like this.

Of course, Roger (the monster in the Playhouse) also kept popping into my head. Although, I'll admit, I have thoughts of Pee-wee's Playhouse on the daily. 

I managed to not stitch a single dress for the holiday season. Which is super unusual for me...but I actually didn't have enough days in the month of December to wear all of my Christmas garb, #tackytroubles.

Mike Wazowski, much?

 My favorite part of this dress: the eyeballs on the back. Now I can channel my inner Roz...

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Speaking of windy, I leave you with photos from the end of my camera roll. I'd apologize but I'm just keeping it real, kids.

 Real...

Crazy, that is. Thanks for all the advice on the dress, I so appreciated it! And, of course, thank you for dropping by. Xo!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #107 and Back to Schoolin'

Vintage Monday: Some of my fave vintage duds rarely see the light of day so this week I made a point to bust 'em out. This dress was one of my first vintage purchases that I dyed hot pink a coupla years back to hide some stains. Now that I think about it, Tuesday's dress is a dye-job too! dress: vintage; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; sandals: gift from a friend

Hello, kids! I hope that this sunshiny week has treated you swimmingly. Mine entailed feeble attempts at working in my art room (I can only manage about 3 hours a day before I start to whine "but it's summerrrrrr, I'm not supposed to be at schoooooooll!") and weak pursuits of stitching up some Back-to-School duds (I keep starting one dress and then another and then another. I really need meds for my self-diagonsed ADHD because self-medicating with coffee and chocolate only lead to a worse case of "look, SQUIRREL!"-itis). On top of that, I've been reading up on our Artsy Book Club choices and dreaming up ideas for an Apron Sew-a-Long (deets below, y'all). And to think that this week was supposed to be the calm before the Back-to-Schoolin' storm, pshaw!

I still cannot believe I start back to school in a matter of days. In fact, I know it's not sunk in as the Back-to-School nightmares have yet to begin (anyone else have these? Over-crowded art class, rowdy kids, paint everywhere, ticked off classroom teacher waiting outside the door with her kids in tow, me screaming for some semblance of control...oh, what am I talking about, that's no nightmare, that's my daily life!). To top it off, hubs and I headed out of town on Friday to spend our last vacation in California. When we return, I'll be hittin' the teachin' ground running. It's gonna be an interesting Back-to-Schoolin', I can already tell.

With returning to school in mind, I thought I'd share with you some of my Back-to-School projects and purchases. This is the kinda stuff that really gets me excited about returning to see my lil artist friends. Whuh about you, non-teachers and teacher-buds? What is/was your fave part about returning to school? Aside from huffing that brand new pack of Sharpies, as that's just a given. Whatever it may be, I hope it helps make the transition from easy-summer-days to kid-filled-artsy-craze a good one. Until next time, y'all!

Y'all recall that SmART! Craft Supply place I mentioned a coupla blog posts back? Well, they have a crazy assortment of sewing patterns (most being from the late 70's an 80's which is not my fave fashion era) and I scored this gem. I usually begin my sewing projects with a quick and crappy sketch just to wrap my head around where I'm going. I've decided to use a different pattern for the skirt portion (I didn't love the maxi vs. mini options. In fact, I hate maxis in the art room because every time I squat down, I ALWAYS step on my hem, attempt to stand up, get caught on stepped-on-hem and fall over. It's quite classy to see in action, I gotta tell ya). Here's hoping those angel-wing-sleeve-thingies don't look too angel-wing-y. Though pretty sure I'll be fine as I've never been confused for anything close to angelic. I'll keep ya's posted.

True Detective Tuesday: Since hubs has been home this week, we've spent some time hiking, reading and catching up on shows we've heard so much about. We decided to give True Detective a go this week. Have y'all watched this show? It's good...but unsettling. I find that I'm totally absorbed when watching it but feeling pretty funky afterwards. How bout y'all? dress: vintage, dyed purple by moi; shoes: Crocs, thrifted

What does Back-to-School Shopping mean to you? For me, it means FABRIC! And it's a wee bit outta control, as you can see. By the way, I recently threw the idea out there on Facebook (you can follow me here if you wanna) of hosting an Apron-Sew-Along on this here blog and got a great response. If you aren't familiar with a sew-along, it's where a blogger presents and teaches a sewing project over the course of several weeks and those that are interested, well, sew along. In the end, all projects are presented in a blog post and shared with the interwebbin' world. If you are interested...please let me know in the comments or on my Facebook page. I plan to share the details sometime next week. 

In the meantime, I've go some sewing to do! I've currently got three dresses in varying stages of completion and I need to get my behind in gear. I'm really hoping to have that one on the right ready by the first day of school. It's the one I'm using the angel-wing-sleeve-thingie dress pattern on. Wish me luck.

Butt Ugly But I Like It Wednesday: Seriously. When I found this get up at the thrift store a while back, I was so stoked. The hubs, well, not so much. two-piece crop top and cropped pants: vintage; bakelite bangles: gifts; shoes: Crocs

Back-to-School Shopping also entails scouring the interwebs for vintage clothing that reflects the culture I plan to teach. I found this super amazing skirt from this super amazing etsy seller Sassy Señorita Vintage. Y'all, this here awesome seller is why I love shopping on etsy. Not only is her shop fab but the shipping was fast. And when I sent her an email telling her I was an art teacher she threw in an extra goodie and packed it all in the most colorful of tissue paper that you know I'll be reusing in the art room. Thank you, Sassy Señorita!

The amount of work that went into the skirt is amazing. I've been studying the embroidery and the appliqué technique...thinking of trying my hand at this happy and colorful process.

Thursday Goodness: I ran errands like a crazy person Thursday in preparation to head outta town.  Isn't it funny how crazy things are before vacay? And then, when you get home, you need a vacay from the vacay! Which I totally won't get as we return home at midnight on Wednesday and start back to school bright and early Thursday, yikes! We'll see what state I'm in come next week. dress, bangles, brooch: vintage; rope sandals: Nomadic State of Mind

What else does Back-to-School Shopping mean? Bargains, 'course. Fact: I do have a shopping problemo. Howevers: I counter that buy only shopping used or cheap. For zample, I found these bad boys at Michael's Craft Joint for half off of $8 with the letters being a coupla bucks each. Add that 25% off coupon from my phone and BAM! I've got some happiness for the art room. Now, what to do with em...I'll keep you posted. 

Flyin Out Friday: My apologies for not only the goofball pose but the grainy photo. One of these days I'll quit this outfit photo biznatch and put you all out of your misery, ha! sweater: vintage; bike dress: Anthropologie; necklaces: made by me, DIY here

Don't let the sign fool you, we're actually in Anaheim, California at Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth. Hubs and I spent Saturday night at both California Adventure and Disneyland with plans to head back this evening. I'll share that adventure with you in an upcoming post if I recover from this vacay, heading back to school and getting all those dresses stitched up!

Until then, y'all enjoy your summer days! May they be slllooooooow and super happy!

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