DIY: A Scribble-Scrabble Back to Art Teacherin' Dress and a Contest!

So, what does one do when her art room isn't ready and her lessons aren't planned (um, I have a vague notion of what will go down that first day. It starts with something like, the kids will come to art...and that's pretty much all I got)? MAKE A BACK TO ART TEACHERIN' DRESS, OF COURSE. Yes, I'm shouting. Because, like, duuuuh. 

I decided a dress was in order because 1. I always make a Back to Art Teacherin' Dress (see exhibit A and B), it's tradition and 2. Cuz I was kinda feeling like this about the whole notion of heading back...

Staying up entirely too late and sleeping in til high noon, I will miss yooooooou!

But now that I've got a snappy outfit to wear on that very first day (which starts tomorrow with four daze, er, days of professional developementishness. But I don't really count that. The true blue first day is when the wee ones show up which is this Friday, eek!) I'm feeling much better about Back to Art Teacherin' land. In fact, I'm now feelin' a lil more like this...

I...Can....Do...It! 

By the way, I recently downloaded the giphy app and have henceforth been solely communicating with friends via gifs. It's like a super fun game for me tho I'm not quite sure they feel the same. 

WHUT, CHUCK NORRIS?!

But whateves, y'all. Forget about my gif obsession and let's talk CONTEST, shall we? 

HEEEEY, say what?! I just spent entirely too long making this fugly -n- difficult to read image. So lemme reiterate what that thar thingie says in all sorts of bulletpoints, words and sentences. 

* Snap a photo of your Back to Art Teacherin' style and share it on instagram tagging moi @cassiestephenz. If you wanna throw in a hashtag to boot, I quite fancy #whattheartteacherwore.

* No instagram? No problem! Email me your photo at cassieart75@gmail.com. 

* I'll share your amazing art teacherin' looks right here in a Back to School Fashion post! 

* You can enter more than once...and every time you do, I'll enter you to win a giveaway! (Yes, I know I'm currently doing ANOTHER giveaway. No, I've not announced the winner yet, stay tuned this week). I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M GIVING AWAY but I'm sure it will be something swell!

Oh, I so hope all y'all share with me your stylish ways! I can't wait to see what you be wearing! Now, on to that dress at hand...

Saturday, el hubbo and I decided to play tourist in our own town and hit the local antique and thrift shops. I was coming up pretty empty handed until I stopped in SMART: Scrap Made Art Supplies. It's a pretty magical place in the Berry Hill area of Nashville. It's completely stocked with just about every crafty making supply known to man for cheap. I stocked up on vintage patterns (a whooping 18 for $2) and this gem happened to be one of them. Bows on shoulders?! YES, PLEASE!

I used the pattern for the bodice only and just winged it for the skirt portion. I was having a fabric shortage (I scored this Lisette fabric from the sale bin at Joann's many moons ago) and managed to eek out this dress with a few scraps to spare. I love this print so much what with the wiggly marker-esque lines and the primary colors with a touch o' pink. It just screamed "Art Teacher" when I saw it. 

But those squiggles, y'all. Trying to match up those squiggles just about put me over the edge. At least the back skirt is matched up. The rest of it, meh. Not so much.

 The only thing left this dress needs: A Marker Hat! 

 Could I get it over that hair, tho? 

And there you have it, what Ima wearing to head back to school! Looking forward to seein' what all y'all are wearing. Til then!

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DIY: Artsy Sew Along, Stitching // Gathering and a Winner!

Whut-whut?! Guess who finally decided to come back to her own sew-along party? Das right, kiddies! My bottom-of-the-heartest apologies for the delay. I always forget that July is pretty stinkin' busy in Cassie-town, what with laying on the couch, taking a shower (occasionally) and deciding whether or not to get dressed to get the mail or just shock the neighbors again and do it in a bathrobe with the backside accidentally tucked into my grannie panties (like that visual image? Yer welcome!). I know, right?! It's amazing I've even managed to find the time to put together these two short clippies for you! Here's what I'll be yappin' about today:

1. You've already got your pockets in, riiiiiight? And it was super simple, yeeeeeessss? If you've not done that yet, no worries! Just hop over here and come back in an hour.  Now we are ready to stitch the front of the skirt to the back two panels!

2. From there, I'll show you how to add your gathering stitches. 

And that's it for this post. Short and simple. My plan is to be bacattcha soon buuuuut we'll see how I feel after a couple more days of couch rollin' around and Mad Men power-watching. It's a rough life, summer livin', I tell ya.

OH!! The giveaway! Thank you so much to all y'all that entered to win the goods to make your own Palette Purse! I recently carried my purse to an art event and got so many stinkin' compliments, if I do say so (and I just did. So there.) My fave comment is always, "Oh! Where did you get that?!" which is way better than "ooOOoooooh, that's...cute. Did you make that?!" like I'm some five year old wearing a moldy macaroni necklace. All y'all crafters know what I'm talkin' about. Anyway! The winner is...Andie Anders! Congrats, buddy! And thanks all y'all for playing. I seem to give away stuffs pretty frequently around here so if you don't come here for my good looks and charm (whuuuuuut?!) then pop back by for the free shizz. 

Now, let's stitch!

Please ignore that crazy nonsense about entering to win the contest! We already have a winner, duh, me.

I dunno what you do when you need a sewing break but I fabric shop. It's most def a bad idea that I don't recommend. I mean, lookie what's currently in my slacker-shopping cart: kitties! 

Bananas! 

And back to werk. 

Next time, we'll work on that waistband and the zip. Hemming should be a snap and we're done! Yay! If you are stitching, please be sure to share on the Artsy Sew Along page and on instragramz with the #artsysewalong. Thanks, kids!

 I leave you with more eye candy from one of my fave fabric brands Cotton and Steel. Til next times!

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DIY: Artsy Sew Along 1, Pattern Cutting/Pocket Making

 

Super cute sewing fabric from fabric.com.

Hey, my stitches! I hope all y'all are doing swell and, if you are stateside, having a lovely holiday weekend! It's been a rainy one here so I doubt there will be much of a fireworks-y celebration in my neck o' the woods. To that I say, c'est la vie and pass me my cuttin' scissors. I've got a skirt to stitch!

The pattern we're using: Simplicity #2226.

If y'all have joined the Artsy Sew Along, hurray! I'd love to see the fabric you are stitching with. Please post away on that page or share on Instagram #artsysewalong. Since many of you have mentioned that you are new to garment sewing, I thought some videos might be of some help to y'all. Granted, these are my videos, so take my tips and tricks with a big ole grain of salt. In fact, invest in a salt lick, ermkay? 

Sewing machine fabric and cute buttony fabric. 

 In this post, I'll chat with y'all about:

* How to prepare your fabric and your pattern pieces for cutting.

* Just how to go about cutting your fabric properly and making sure to get all of your markings correct.

* How to stitch those super cute pockets onto the skirt!

If all goes well, this post should help you get this far! You'll notice I opted for a contrasting fabric for the pockets...y'all know me, I'm totes tacky and love to play with patterns. By the way, I'll also be throwing in some of my fave sewing fabrics with links for some sewing-inspo in this here post! 

This clip is all about preparing your fabric and your pattern. It's super important to read through all the pre-stitching notes in your pattern as they are chuck full of sound advice. Don't just listen to this clip featuring my lovely voice. Which, by the way, sounds like angels singing. While chewing on broken glass.

Just incase you missed my clip about finding your correct size according to the pattern envelope, here you go!

I love the colors in these prints. Rulers and spools. 

 

If you're new to sewing then I know how overwhelming those pattern pieces can be. Lemme help ya navigate that territory, kay?

Scissors and spools. 

 I really enjoyed this beginning process of skirt making. I love when a project is simple and gives immediate results: yay, pockets! If you have any probs at all, please drop me a line in the comments, on the Artsy Sew Along page or on my Instagram (where I've been annoyingly popping up photos of the skirt progress).

Now, I will say, that I've been reading what some other sewists have said about this pattern and I'm a lil concerned. Many have mentioned that the waistband is too big. What I plan to do is create a muslin of the waistband (this is practice sewing, following the same pattern, but with inexpensive fabrics). This way I can do a little trouble shooting for y'all. I hope to be back with the second portion of stitching -- adding that waistband -- soon. 

Until then, be sure to share what you're up to and drop me a line about your progress, y'all! 

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DIY: The Color Wheel Grainline Studio Scout Tee

Despite my cheery outer appearance, I am currently in mourning. Please, let's hold hands, take uno momento, and bid ado to that most perfect, carefree month of the entire year: JUNE. I know she's not past yet, but the end is nigh and it's moments like these that I like to channel my inner Shakespeare and fancify my vocabulary. Won't thou take heed and join me, kind lord -n- lady? Gracias. (That'd be Mexican Shakespeare, FYI). 

I know some of you non-teacherin' type out there might be all, whut are even complainin' about, you got a whole nuther month of?!  Ah, you are correct. However, July marks the Beginning of the End and is the sad predecessor to The Return. The month starts innocently enough...until you walk into any retail store and are slapped in the face with Back to School stuffs. Binders. Notebooks. Glue bottles. Markers. And the smell of No. 2 pencils and crayons permeate the air. It's seriously enough to make me avoid Target for a whole month (which does wonders for the pocket book, y'all. Not gonna lie). It's seriously depressing! I always end up complaining to whoever is nearby that will listen, which usually is some stay-at-home mama with a cart full of snotty -n- screaming children. I'm all, "I have another month, they can't take me yet!" like it's some sort of Back to School Rapture. Picture it: teachers lounging at the beach, gone; savoring that trashy paperback poolside, vanished; taking sewing classes with buddies way past their bedtime (I swear I am gonna get to this here blog post at hand sooner or later), taken. I'm tellin' ya. Come August, non-teacherin folk, you just watch: Back to School Rapture. It's a fur realz thang.

Meanwhile, that stay-at-home mama is not giving me any love. Frazzled and at her wit's end, reminding me of myself at the end of the school year, July is the longest of her life. And what about those teacher mamas?! There is no mercy for the likes of them. Saints, I tell ya. Those are the saints among us.

Speaking of saints...that'd be the ladies who taught me how to sew my Grainline Studio Scout Tee at Craft South! (Did you see what I did there? A weak attempt to bring my wee rant full circle and back to the post at hand.) Sweet Devon Iott of Miss Make lead the first couple of sessions and was such great teacher. The owner of Craft South, fab fabric designer Anna Maria Horner, lead our final class which was super fun. This was a beginner course with a simple tee project. And, while I've made plenty of clothing (okay, dresses. And the occasional skirt) I knew I'd get a lot outta the class cuz 1. I'm self-taught. Which isn't bragging as I don't actually think that's a good thing. With sewing, you need to do it right otherwise you're just another crazy art teacher with a stapled hem (cough). and 2. Because I've never made a shirt! How cray is that?! And this tee is one that will lend itself to lots of replications cuz it's so stinkin' versatile. 

Now that I've made one and seen how simple it is, I do believe I'll be adding several more to my closet. Ya know, because I practically have nothing to wear. By the way, if you are interested in the class selection at Craft South, check here. I so wanted to take Devon's next class but, alas, I've a conflict. So take advantage, scoop up a spot and make something super cute! 

For my top, I went with this sweet fabric I'd picked up a while back. Which was good because that meant I used something from my stash! Woo-hoo, me! I did have to be super careful when pinning and cutting this fabric because of the flower placement. I didn't want those sweet flowers to become giant booby flowers if you know what I mean. 

Using quilter's cotton does give this top a big of a scrub shirt vibe which means you nurses out there could totally rock this shirt and pattern! 

To remove that scrub shirt vibe, I tucked in top into a skirt that my sewing buddy gave me. I love that the fabric matched to a tee, if you'll pardon the pun. 

And, of course, as a Treat Yo'Self reward for my hard work, I just had to scoop up this precious necklace from Craft South. Isn't it presh?

My next scout tee is gonna have to match this made-from-a-kids-shower-curtain circle skirt Ima bout to embark on. Isn't that curtain the greatest? I alllllmoooooost can't wait to wear it upon The Return to that one place where I art edumacate chillrens. Almost.

Ah! I will say my scout tee ensemble brought me good luck at the Nashville Flea Market this morning! A buddy and I loaded up on pancakes before hitting the flea and taking it by storm. I've started collecting Enid Collin's wooden box purses so I was thrilled to score these lovelies on the cheap.

So, what are y'all up to? Teacherin' friends, time's flying, soak it all up whilst you can!

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DIY: A(nother) Monet Dress

If y'all follow me here, then you've seen the snaps of this Monet dress in progress. It's my second tribute to ole Monet (that was more of my spring line and what you see here is from my summer collection [I'm hoping you read that in your most uppity voice as that's how I typed it]) and it seemed just the thing to stitch up on these 90 degree/boiling-inferno/hotter-than-the-underarm-of-a-construction-worker days we've been having here in lovely Tennessee. 

By the way, someone once asked me why I'm so smiley in my DIY photos. It's not so much a smile of happiness as it is surprise. Like, "Holy crap, y'all! Can you believe I made this?! Like, with a sewing machine and not a hot glue gun although, at times, I think that mightah been easier!" Therefore, I smile. 

I used my trusty vintage McCall's 6221 (which is available on etsy, y'all! It's a simple dress and so cute. Git yerself here and scoop it up!). This is my third time sewing with this pattern. You can see my other attempts here (OMG, I totes forgot about those cat shoes!) and here (that time I almost burned the house down with...banana bread. Sigh). I even lined this dress because, hey, I was feeling fancy. And the pattern makes it so simple and-and, I feel like a grown up sewer when the flip side of my dress looks as snazzy as the outside. The fabric, sigh, isn't it presh? I picked it up from Joann's a while back. I was just there the other day and they still had some. It's out on their website but I bet if you called their stores they could help ya out.   

I did a full 30 seconds of googling in an attempt to find what Monet painting the print was inspired by. The palette is closer to that Cliffs at Amont, 1885 painting on the left although the theme looks more like that dealio on the right. Maybe I should find out zactly before I wear this to school and introduce Monet to los kiddos.

 SooooOOOooo, in true Cassie-fashion, I got ALMOST done with this dress and was all, meh. I don't need no stinkin' bows. But I forced myself kicking and screaming to add them. I'm so "almost to the finish line, think I'll break for a Twinkie", it's kinda pathetic. But not this time! And I'm happy I did because, BOWS ARE ADORBS. 

Except these bows have this bad habit of tickling the back of my upper arm. They are in a weird place and I'm constantly swatting at myself. Which doesn't warrant weird looks from strangers AT.ALL.

Yeah, pretty much. 

I shared with Asha today my new dress as she's my only company. This was the reaction I got. And I wasn't even swatting at myself! Such a harsh critic. 

Meanwhile, in Asha-land, here's how she pictures herself in a Monet...

Reality is, that crotch-licker would prolly look more like this in a Monet (by the way, if you've not seen 17 Classic Works Improved by a Fat Ginger Cat THEN YOU'VE NOT LIVED, FRIEND). 

In other news...I starting filming some short clips for our Skirt Sew Along (you can join here for minute-by-minute updates [I kid. Try weekly.])! I'll be back later this week on how to read your pattern package in order to determine you size and what you need to purchase. I'm so excited about sewing with y'all! Until then!

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