DIY: A Palette Dress, Purse and GIVEAWAY!

At one point, every summer vacation, I start to fall into a slacker-esque routine. I'll have my To-Do list all written down, my running shoes by the door, a big ole stack of projects to tackle and then I go all meh, not today. The list gets forgotten, the shoes collect dust and  the stacks of projects turn into towers of tasks I ain't never gonna touch. That was today. YESTERDAY, however, I finished off this number and stitched up that thar palette purse! So I can give myself one day o' estate sale shopping and Mad Men Marathon watching, right?!

I'm super stoked about this lil outfit y'all. But, let's be honest, the purse makes the thing. Amiright?

Let's talk about what inspired this outfit: that fab fabric, y'all. I have this habit: late at night, when I should be fast asleep, I scour the interwebs for fabric. I like to google things like "art supply fabric" or "color wheel fabric" OR, you guesser, Chester: palette fabric. The moment I saw this retro-inspired goodness, I tossed three yards in my virtual shopping cart and scooted on over to checkout faster than you can say "fabric hoarder" (although, why would you say such a thing? I like to think of myself as a Fabric Connoisseur, thank you vury much). The pattern I paired with the fabric is a vintage Simplicity 3877. I decided to go with the bodice of view 3 but I didn't love that skirt (flat front, gathered hips? Because I wanna look like a hippo?!) so I opted to use a regular ole gathered skirt from some rando pattern. I ain't trying to be vague. I'm just sayin, it's literally a big a## rectangle that I gathered and attached to the bodice. The.End.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, that this here fabric pattern is a wee bit overwhelming. That's a whole lotta palette action, you know what I mean? So I decided to break it up with that lil dotted cummerbund.  

I do love me a cummerbund. Or any waist-cinching, belt-esque thingie I can get my kitten mittens on. This one was a snap to make. I have a feeling I'll be busting out more o' these in the future. Magic Eight Ball says it's so (actually she said, "Ask Again" which I always take for a YES! WHATEVER YOU SAY! Magic Eight Ball is kinda like the original Siri but without the attitude.)

But can we fur realz just talk about the show stopper here? I mean, that purse, right?! 

RIIIIIIGHHHHHHT?!

It was pretty easy to make (with my sewing machine only having a hissy fit a mere three times during the making) and, if you are interested, ya outta pay close attention so you can make your own! BECAUSE Ima bout to give away the supplies to do it! But first...

I started with two straw placemats I found on Amazon. I then sketched out my plan and placed it on top, pinning it into place.

Then I snipped away. 

The handle proved to be the biggest beast for a multitude of reasons. The first being it was a drag to cut out. BUT I did it. WITH much complaining. TO the cat. BECAUSE no one else will listen. 

Using extra wide double fold bias tape, I pinned that business around the edge of the mat. Sadly, I didn't have enough for the handle so I had to use the smaller double fold tape I had on hand. That proved to be a real joy (insert sarcasm here) to stitch. But I muscled through. 

And then there was The Great Debate. If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, I threw out a question because I was stumped how to proceed with the paint splotches. So my question was: round or blobby? I had so many sweet friends offer their advice that it was fab! The prob? Everyone was divided! So I took a closer look at the palette on my skirt and noticed that the paint splotches were ovals. That seemed to be a happy medium. Okay, so the Magic Eight Ball is actually the medium, but you know what I mean. 

This part actually went off without a hitch. I just set my machine to the appliqué stitch (all machines have it, it's just a zigzag stitch with the stitches set close together) and went to town.

Originally I was gonna stitch the two mats together on the black bias tape but it was just too thick. I ended up switching to a light brown thread and sewed the front and back of the bag together on the straw mat. Done and Done. 

BUT I'VE GOT THE SUPPLIES FOR YOU TO MAKE ONE TOOOOOOOO. Well, the purse, perhaps. And just a wee bit of palette fabric. And it can be ALLL YOOOOUURRZZZZ if y'all do the following:

* (If you wanna) follow me on Instagram, that'd be swell. 

* Leave me a message in the comments! I want to know...Who is your fave painter (ya know, since we're talking palettes and all) and why? Also! Don't forget to leave me your email addy so I can let you know if you won, you big winner, you!
 
AND, I'll see you soon! Artsy Sew Along friends, I'll be back shortly with more video clipp-ies of our next phase of skirt stitching. Toodles!

Read more »

DIY: Crafts on a Plane!

Well, hey there, long lost friends! I trust y'all had a super fab and totes turkey-tastic Thanksgiving. We don't eat meat in our house so ours was simply tofu-licious (just kidding, we don't believe in the senseless slaughter of tofu either). I'm quite positive that I devoured my weight in good food goodness this past week. However, I'm sticking with el elastic-waistband-o for another 24 hours before I gotta find out the ugly truth.  

Since I seriously was in pajamas and/or the same ensemble for three days in a row, Ima gonna have to skip sharing with y'all what I wore this week. Howevers, I did manage to whip up a coupla crafts during our travels and this here post is the result.

 Oh, okay, one outfit pic. Since I did manage to get dressed, comb my hair and put my face on, I outta show you the product of my one day of effort. sweater: Free People, found at Buffalo Exchange; top: JCrew on super duper Black Friday sale; skirt: TJMaxx years ago; floral fishnets with orange tights underneath: Urban Outfitters

Yay! Match-y embroidered jewelry! Y'all, whipping up these little do-dads took no time at all since the embroidery work was so minimal. Which is perfect for me because embroidery is not my fave thang in the universe. I mean, I've done plenty of it (check out this embroidered necklace and this one, an embroidered blouse, an embroidered dress and this thing). And I was super inspired by Mary Beth who's jewelry and etsy shop was featured in my last post. Her work is so amazing! By the way, you can still leave a comment to enter to win her whale ring. If you don't have an instagram account, don't sweat it, leave a comment anyway! 

Okay, what was I saying again? Oh yeah, CRAFTS ON A PLANE!

 One of my fave things about travel is that it gives me plenty of uninterrupted crafting time. And a four hour flight to Cali is the perfect chance to catch up on all things crafty, dontcha think? I had picked up some alpaca yarn from my trip to this sweet place and had my sights set on knitting myself a scarf. Nevermind the fact that I suck at knitting. Forget all about the thought that I hate knitting. Totally disregard the idea that the last thing I knitted was this gawd-awful hat that ultimately became the cat's chew toy. I had four hours, I was gonna knit me a scarf, y'all. 

AND about 30 minutes in, this was pretty much how I felt about my life as a knit-wit. Thankfully, I'd brought my embroidery backup. 

Please note all the alpaca hair strands all over the black cotton. 

Oh, how was California, you ask? So thoughtful of you to inquire. It was swell. We hit Disnatch a coupla nights in a row to check out the final days of the Mad T Party Band (sniff-sniff!) hit the rides and see the castle at night...

Oh, sparkly. I was also able to catch up with a couple of my fave Californian buddies (thanks for lunch, Jane and Hayden!) and shop. Because there's always time to shop. The hubs loves to hike so we try to tackle a new trail each time we are there. On this trip, we hiked to a grotto where the hubs captured this footage of me being obnoxiously (albeit totes normal) whiny and annoying. It's what I do best. 

I thought he was simply snapping photos until we sat down to look at our pictures together. The video had me laughing so hard at my annoyingness that I just had to share it with y'all. 

 "Wait. We hiked down all that for this?! Where are those knitting needles, Ima bout to knit/purl sumbody."

Once we returned back to civilization, I busted out these jewelry blanks I'd picked up at Michael's. They were on super duper clearance which is always my kinda party. 

To attach my embroidery work to the jewelry, I decided to adhere the fabric to some cardboard backing. Which, in this case, was the cardboard from a dark chocolate package. I'm all about the recyclin', folks. 

 After tracing the ring, I cut out the cardboard...

and glued it to my embroidery piece. I fringe cut the edges of the embroidery so that I could tack it down with glue a lil easier. My glue of choice is Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue. Mostly because I like the name Aleene and I'm totes tacky. Oh, and added bonus, I now have the nutritional facts of my dark chocolate on the underside of my ring! This way, when someone discovers my ring at Goodwill years down the road, they'll think they've found some sort of Da Vinci Code-esque (guys, why are all my movie references, like, 10 years old?!) puzzle which will ultimately unravel the universe! YES, mission accomplished!

Okay, tell me the truth: Does this giant bracelet make me look like some sort of Wonder-Woman-silver-cuff-wearing wannabe?

If so, I don't suppose that's a bad thang, do you? 

Hope y'all have a restful last day of your weekend! 

Read more »