DIY: A Color Wheel Circle Skirt, Blouse of Many Colors and the Crayola Experience!

Well, Happy New Year, all y'all! I hope this here blog post finds you bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and tackling that short list of resolutions...and not nursing a hang-over pondering the poor life choices you made last night (Not judgin'. Just sayin'.) Myself, I finally managed to finish off this here ROY G. BIV(and M...for Magenta) skirt complete with a blouse o' many colors and ginormous headband. It's only been on my sewing table for something like a month so hurray for finally finishing something! 

 

I got the idea for this circle skirt way back in November when I took my second sewing class at Craft South. Y'all might remember the music-themed skirt I made with fab-o instructor Devon Iott, aka Miss Make. The skirt was created from an Anna Maria Horner pattern and it comes with a coupla of different stitching options. One of them being a circle skirt that is made up of eight sections. I thought it would be fun to connect each section with a colorful satin stitch and have a corresponding quilted colored pencil at the base of the stitch. 

And while I was mid-stitch on el skirt-o (like, seriously, mid-stitch. I have this habit of getting an idea, dropping WHATEVES it is I'm doing and starting on Thing 2. It's really the worst habit ever and I don't recommend it), I got the notion of making a top AND headband to match. I decided to use the Scout Tee pattern from Grainline Studios because, y'all. That is one easy pattern to follow and one simple top to slap together in, like, 60 minutes or more. 

Hey! Speaking of stopping whatever you are doing mid-stream and totes doing something dif, I hereby interrupt this sewing talk with a chat about my trip to Orlando's Crayola Experience! (That was a segue, kids. A really crappy segue).

So way the funk back in September, the hubs and I made a trip down to Orlando for Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights. While we were there, we drove past the Florida Mall and I spotted that hallmark yellow and green. I was all, "Hey! That's a Crayola WONDERLAND! Like Chuck E. Cheese for art teachers. Can we go? Please?!" It was then that Mitch reminded me he'd told me all about this place before we left and I'd been all "meh, whateves". Silly me. I was so happy to find that teacher's get in free! Sadly, el hubbo did have to shell out something like $35 for his ticket. I told him he could stay in the car but that only got me the side-eye. 

 

If you cats and kittens ever get the chance to go to this place, y'all best do it. It's simply fascinating -- like a history lesson on Crayola and a science lesson on the making of crayons. Not to mention a look at their vintage ads which were just so fun to see. 

And tons o' other fun stuff. One of my faves was this station where you could name your own crayons and have them made. We made a handful of our own personalized crayons called such things as "Mrs. Stephens' Lipstick" for a red crayon and "Martian Blood" for a green one. 

Another fave of mine was this encaustic station where you could paint with melted crayon juice. Is there anything better smelling than a melted crayon? By the way, I've installed Scratch -n- Sniff technology in this blog post so feel free to scratch that photo above, stick your nose to the screen and breathe deep. Don't mind the stares, other folks just be jealous. Oh, it didn't work? Keep trying. You can stop when the men in the white coats come to get you. 

My ultimate fave was this melted crayon spin art machine. You get to pick your color combos and while the melted crayon is dripping down onto your paper circle, you can control the speed of the spinning. This results in some seriously cool and trippy masterpieces. 

 Like, far out, dude. 

But, if I'm gonna be all fur realz-ies with y'all, I've gotta admit that the real Experience was to be had in the gift shop. I mean, just take a look-see at that sock assortment. Need I say more? 

Even the check out counter was neat mosquito -- it's made up entirely of upright crayons! 

And now, I interrupt that interruption to bring you back to what I was originally chatting about. Before I interrupted my own dang self. Ahem. The skirt! Which was heavily influenced by all things Crayola Experience-y. And BOOM. I just segue'd my segue. 

 So the first thing I had to do was figure out the colored pencil (do y'all say "color pencil" or "colored pencil"? Because I've always said the latter but now I'm not so sure). Anyway, I sketched it out on paper first and used that as my template once I was happy with el sketch-o.

After cutting the pieces, I started stitching with right sides togetherness.

 Like-a dis. 

 And like-a dat.

 Press with an iron and...

 Viola! Eight colored pencils, one for each section of the skirt. 

Once I had cut out the eight panels of the skirt in black and stitched them together, I started the process of appliquéing the pencils to the skirt. I measured 12" down from the bottom of the waistband and held the pencils in place with some Stitch Witchery. Then I set my machine to a wide satin stitch (it's the one that looks like a zigzag) and sewed the pencils in place. 

Once all the pencils were in place, I simply followed the pattern to complete the skirt. That pattern is cake, by the way. The only thing that is a total drag is hemming that beast. I mean, the circumference is about three miles long so it takes forever to get through. 

Miraculously, I persevered (but not without mucho whining...to myself. The cat and the hubs don't seem to heed my complainingness). 

And I'm super happy I did because I do kinda dig this thing. 

It's great for sitting on the floor and doing a Wicked Witch of the West "I'm melting!" impersonation...

And for twirling away. I do hope you kids have a wonderful New Years and we'll chatty chat soon enough!

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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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