DIY: Ikea Fabric Broccoli Dress

 If you've been following my IG stories, then you've seen a little bit of the behind the scenes making of this here Broccoli Dress. Or, as I've decided to call it, my Frock-coli. See what I did there? Frock and Broc, y'all. It's what you're wearin' fer dinner. 

I picked up the fabric last fall while at Ikea. I'm in love with their fabric because I love all things big and bold (and cheap. Y'all, soooo cheap!). Whenever I see a print that I like, I always wish it were 10 times bigger. So when I spotted this giant broccoli print (and, like, who looks at broccoli and says, "that would make a great textile!" Someone with a brilliant mind, that's who.), I knew I had to have it...and make a dress from it!

via GIPHY

I decided to take the ole Frock-coli out for a spin to the bookstore this afternoon. The baristas were diggin' it...but one couple I walked by literally stopped mid-convo, went silent and whispered, "What.Was.That." Apparently the Frock-coli is ahead of it's time. 

Am I the only one who thinks this dress needs some melted cheese? I gotta hankerin' for some steamed broc and queso. 

 When it comes to sewing, y'all know know I'm a creature of habit. I've been sewing dresses for myself for some time now...and I feel this fit and flair is the most flattering on me. I've tried slightly different styles (heavy on the slightly. What can I say, that 50's silhouette is my fave) and I always come back to the following: fitted bodice, big ole waistband (or big ole belt. I have one student who is fascinated by my big plastic belts...I think he watches a lot of WWE and associates them with prize fighting belts. Which, after some days of teaching art, I feel like I've earned one!) and a giant circle skirt. 

When I tell you I have a ton of vintage patterns, believe me, I have a ton. And I almost aways use some sort of combo like this. In other news, how cute is that bird applique?! 

Before I picked the broc fabric to stitch, I had these other contenders on my cutting table. I get a lotta questions on where I get my fabric. Aside from Ikea, I LOVE fabric.com. They have a search bar where I look up things like "primary colors", "art supplies", "art teacher" and all sorts of fun motifs pop up. I also love shopping at Craft South as they have the most unique and hip prints. 

But back to the dress. I thought the black waistband all by itself was a little stark...so I balanced it out with the black bows at the shoulder. 

 My new favorite thing to do while sewing is listen to podcasts. I just finished S-Town from the creators of Serial. I enjoyed it but it was a sad and complex story. I am currently listening to Missing Richard Simmons and LOVING it. I grew up watching Simmons on television, on his infomercials and on Letterman, just thinking he was this loud and crazy dude. But there is this other side to him: he is a carrying, loving and giving individual...with a lot of pain and sadness in his life. I highly recommend it. 

 I don't know what is happening with that face but here is the side-ish view of my dress. 

 So, first week of summer vacay dress, done! I've got a lot more on my To Do list...and currently I am accomplishing very little of it. I'm allowing myself a temporary reprieve because - it's summer! - but after today, I really gotta start whittling away at my summer agenda. 

But first, broccoli! 

Read more »

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...

via GIPHY

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

via GIPHY

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... 

via GIPHY

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...

via GIPHY

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!

Read more »

DIY: A Coloring Book Dress

Factiod: I'm a super awesome starter of stuff. I'm a super miserable finisher of said stuff. 

Don't believe me? Just ask my mama. Every time I chat with her, she'll begin every other sentence with, "Hey, did you ever finish...?", "Whatever happened to that one thingie you started?", "When are you gonna get that whatchamacallit done?!" 

On those rare occasions when I do FINALLY finish a UFO (UnidentiFied Object), to the rest of the world, it looks like I just pulled a project outta thin air. Many folks have asked me how I manage to "get so much accomplished" and have commented that I "must have more hours in the day." Y'all. I'm seriously one of the most slacker-tastic peoples you'll ever know. I just happen to start many a-thing and, randomly, when the wind blows sideways outta my butt, I finish them. 

Case in point: This Coloring Book Dress!

I picked up this fab fabric from IKEA back in October (for $7.99 a yard, foolz!). This is my second dress made from heavy IKEA fabric (check out the first) and I gotta say, I'm totes hooked. Not only are the designs great and the prices right but the fabric...THE FABRIC...is simply perf for making a circle skirt. 

But I'm ahead of myself, as usual. Let's back track to the coloring of the fabric:

This year, more than any other, it seems I have kids that finish at different rates. Some that work FOR-EVERNESS on any and everything and others that zip right along. As a slow worker, I always allow those kids who need it all the time in the world (to a fault, perhaps). As for the Zippies, as they're known, if their quality is up to snuff, then I allow them to do some early-finisher activities: blocks, dry erase boards, games, books, painting the occasional mural. Or, in this case, coloring on a giant piece of fabric with fabric markers!

Here are my kindergarten friends deep in conversation and coloring. When I came over to snap a pic, the wee one on the right was explaining to the dude in the middle: "Mrs. Stephens can sew clothes. She's making this into a dress." When this was met with a Nuh-uh! we chatted a pinch about how clothing is made. I showed the kids dress patterns and even took some votes on which pattern I should follow. In the end, I did a mash-up of several patterns, as is my nature. 

By the way, these are the makers we used. They seemed to do well on the coarse fabric and held their color after one good washing. Since the kids had walked all over the fabric, it was in need of a cleaning.

When I got the fabric home and washed it, I sat on it for some time, trying to decide which pattern to use. Like I said, in the end, I decided upon a mashup. Now that I have a plethora of dresses under my sewing belt, I know what I really like to wear: a circle skirt, a cinched waist and BOWS! Anything with bows!

Having just finished my circle skirt at Anna Maria's very own shop Craft South, I felt comfortable using this pattern for the skirt. 

For the bodice, I opted to go the Butterick-route (despite my occasional HATRED for Butterick patterns, ahem) only because, you guessed it, BOWZ. 

If that there pattern looks kinda-sorta familiar, it's because I made this lil number from it last summer (ooooooh, that reminds me. SUMMER is almost here! I am so looking forward to endless days spent in PJ's and sewing projects). 

And, y'all. That cinched waist I mentioned? I've used this trusty vintage Simplicity 8087 more times than I can count!

The rest of the patterns I could toss but I do love that bold waistband. I'm not in love with the skirt or the 1960's fit of the bodice. For this dress, I did shorten that band about an inch because I didn't want to lose the cute castle design. 

I am pretty pleased with this mashup. I even went so far as to line the bodice with that sweet dotted fabric I used at the waist and the bows. I didn't want the coarse IKEA fabric against my delicately soft porcelain doll like skin, y'all. 

I can't wait to wear it to school this week! It's most definitely a twirling number. And y'all better believe I'll be hitting up IKEA for more fabric soon. Until then!

Read more »

DIY: The IKEA Fabric Portrait Dress

Greetings, all y'all! Me and my boots-made-fer-walkin' are happy to introduce you to my made-in-a-day-whilst-procrastinatin'-bunches-of-other-stuff IKEA Fabric Portrait Dress! Which, by the way, is the longest title for a dress everz. But, let's FACE it: this dress is a PEOPLE-pleaser (see what I did there? There's a lotta faces of people on the dress. I'm being puny. Or maybe that's the wine talking.) 

Hey, Nancy, what say you?

You know that girl. She's all about the boots made for walkin'. 

Whenever I'm stitching up mayhem, er, clothing I'm always styling the ensem in my head: how should I style my hairs (big -n- close to heaven)? what shoes would look best (silver go-go's, DUH)? should I wear this creepy-a## hat? 

Answer: Um, no. That hat and face is the stuff of nightmares. REMOVE. IMMEDIATELY-ISH. 

My apologies for that former photo resulting in nightmares. Let's go back to dress-talking, shall we? 

So a while back I found myself at IKEA and I saw this fabric and, foolishly, I did not purchase it. Because, as stated, I'm foolish. Here's a sampling of the heaven that I let pass me by:

I know. I'm an idiot. Now stop drooling cuz I ain't cleaning that mess up. Not long after, a sweet blog reader sent me some photos of her art room FEATURING THIS FABRIC and I lamented my foolish ways. Super kindly, she sent me her scraps in the mail which were just enough for me to whip up this lil number!

Using a dress pattern that I've busted out exactly One Thousand Times (evidence heres, heres and herezzz), I turned those small scarp-ies into something fabulous. IF I do say so. AND I do.

Check out the many faces of Cassie. I got so many dif personalities I'm kinda feelin' Sybil-ized in this dress (Again, do you even appreciate what I did there? I went all un-PC and took multiple-personalities Sybil, paired it with civil and came up with this hilarity. Do you even know how hard it is to be this un-funny?!)  

 Me thinks not. 

Hey, Nan, what you got to say 'bout all this? 

Uh-huh. I see. Well then. Shake what yer mama gave ya, sistah. 

Since all my wee art students are creating selfies right now, I can't wait to wear this to art teacherin' land. Boots and all. But sans hat, y'all. I just can't deal with the parent phone calls about the nightmare-enducing head-topper. Again. Toodles, y'all!

Oh, snap! Check out this hilarity that my famous art teacherin' friend Tricia Fuglestad just posted on my Twitter. LOVE it, thank you, Tricia! 

Read more »