What the Art Teacher Wore #24

Motivated Monday: Some days, I've just got it. Motivation, that is. Most days I'm a useless slug. But on this day, I was all about the laundry, the cleaning and the dying of this dress...which I'm still losing sleep over. Note to self: no dying, hemming or drastic-vintage-dress-decision-making whilst pms'ing. dress: vintage, thrifted, sweated thru then dyed then hemmed by me

 Hiya, friends. How are you? Is it just me or has this week been screwy as all get out? It's that middle-of-the-week-holiday thing that threw me off. Wednesday felt like Sunday which made Thursday feel like Monday and Friday just wasn't as cool as it usually is. But, whatevs, the fireworks were cool (oh, who am I kidding, this ole bag and her party animal hubs were both in bed by 9pm).

Apart from this week trippin' me out, it was a good one. I got to catch up with some friends, do some estate sale shopping and a wee bit of crafting. So I thought I'd share just a bit of that with you, along with what I wore, this week. This weekend and upcoming week is going to be an exciting one for me as I'm attending the Tennessee Arts Academy. So if I'm a little pokey on the posts, I do hope you'll understand. I'll be certain to fill you in on all of the awesomeness that is the Arts Academy soon. Until then, enjoy your weekend!

Uh huh, you thought I gave up hookin', didn't you? Because it's not a craft that travels well, it has been neglected of late. However, I'm excited to share with you the two squares on the right that have recently been finished.

Car-Jumpin' Tuesday: I went to visit my adorable and amazing former-student-teacher-now-middle-school-art-teacher Lauren on this day in her new school! You might remember her and her artsy looks from these outfit posts. Sadly, after our visit, I had to bother her kind vice principal for a car jump as my GPS decided to go rogue, fall off the windshield, bump my hazards which blinked for hours on end causing my battery to die. What kind of Terrible Tuesday Domino Effect is that, anyway?! same dress; sandals:  made by me with this DIY

This may sound silly to you...but every summer, I've always wanted to spend my Fridays estate/garage/yard saling. And every summer, I've neglected to do so because I hated the idea of goin' it alone. This summer I've got a couple buddies that love to go with me and I'm so excited about that and my great finds! I found this beautiful book and creepy letter opener on a recent saling trip.

Happy Fourth of July Wednesday: We celebrated our independence by shopping at Goodwill and running into this sweet girl and her hubs. dress: the first dress I ever made based off of a pillow sack dress idea, vintage fabric; flowers in my hair: one by me, the other by H & M; sandals: old, BC Footware

One of my favorite estate sale finds: vintage hankies. Antique stores now ask for almost $6 per hankie...I managed to score all of these for half that. I'm thinking of collecting more to create another one of these skirts.

Ladies that Lunch Thursday: Met up with an incredible art educator and professor for a delish lunch on this day. dress: Forever 21, old. I added the brown and mustard yellow bands of fabric at the bottom to add some length. My thighs just aren't up for that much air time; belt: made by me; sandals: You've seen me wear 'em to death, old ones from Target

Ashie's new favorite place to spend her afternoons is on bird duty in this chair overlooking the deck. During this nap she missed the two dozen bird party we happened to be hosting in our bird bath.

Early Morning Estate Saling/East Nashville Lunching/Car Tire Exploding/Tire Buying Fun Friday: Yeah, throw in a thunderstorm, a near wallet snatching and a 110 degree day and you've got yourself more fun that you can handle. Thankfully I had a good buddy to get me through it! dress: vintage, thrifted; coral floral pins: made by me

"Um, did somebody say Bird Bath Party?! Where??" Poor kitty, I swear she misses all the action.

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DIY: Hankie Pankie

Photo from last summer. Notice the slight tan and the relaxed I've-been-sleeping-in-for-the-past-month look about me. Hoping to get a little of that back with my upcoming Spring Break.

Okay, call me crazy, but I don't think this warm weather is going anywhere. It's been in the 80's for a week or more in these parts and I don't see any signs of stopping. Which is totally cool with me. In fact, I've gotten so excited about the warm weather I've begun the long process of pulling out my tub(ssss) of summer clothes. And, in doing so, I found this skirt I had created last summer. I thought it was kinda funny how similar in concept this Hankie Skirt (Skankie?) was to my Scarf Blouse (I've settled on Blarf).

Inspiration: anthropologie. Funny story, I was once scolded at an anthro store for taking pictures of a display. Now I'm much more stealthy.

I just about died when I saw this skirt at anthro last summer. And then I died some more when I saw the price tag. So I began thinking of creating my own Skankie using vintage hankies, not some knock-off printed-in-China ones as seen on the anthro skirt.

The hankies that didn't make the cut. To be honest, I just couldn't bear the thought of cutting into the 1952 calendar hankie...it's just too sweet.

And while I do have some vintage hankies, I knew I'd need quite a few to make this skirt. So a friend and I went on an antiquing adventure and stumbled upon a treasure trove of hankies. I only allowed myself to buy those that were under $3 which helped limit the huge selection. The best part about creating this skirt was hunting for those perfect little hankies.

This is one of the first sewing books I bought when I got my sewing machine several years ago. The directions are simple and the skirts are adorable.

 I decided to use the Swing Your Partner prairie skirt pattern from Sew What! Skirts. I sewed the hankies together, sometimes right sides together, sometimes overlapping the hankies if the edge was pretty. Once I had a strip of hankies sewn, I added muslin behind the hankies so they weren't so translucent.

Front and back of the skirt. The embroidery you see is on the belt...which is for sale in my shop.

 Then began the task of gathering. For the top piece, a strip of elastic was added for the waist. I do love me some elastic waistlines. Then I gathered the top edge of the fabric of the second piece with a basting stitch. After gathering, I pinned the right sides of the layers together and sewed. This step was repeated again for the bottom tier of the skirt. To get yourself some thorough, easy-to-comprehend directions, I strongly recommend this book. Or a youtube tutorial.

So there you have it, The Skakie. Perfect for these summery hot spring days.

Well, kids, that's all for now. I'm heading out of town to Memphis this weekend for an art teacher gathering and some hangout time with one of my favorite friends. This friend of mine is the talented one who helped me sew my first dress from a vintage pattern: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html. I'll be back soonish with my What-I-Wore-This-Week post...which I'm really excited about as I've got something new in store! Enjoy the rest of your week.

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