DIY Pearl Collar

I’m getting preppier and preppier in my old age; aka, I just bought a puffer vest!!  

Anyway, I’m loving the studded trend, but it’s just not me.  You know what is 'me'?  Pearls!  Here is a super easy pearl embellishment DIY.

I started out with this chambray shirt.

I started to randomly sew on pearls to the collar.

I had a costume pearl necklace that broke on me and I kept all the pearl beads.  There were a variety of sizes which added a lot of interest on the collar.  

I just sewed them on to the tips of the collar; I think it gives it a little bit of a western feel.

I can't wait until my puffer vest comes in the mail, and then I'll wear the two preppy items together.  I'm also getting a new camera!  So hopefully I'll learn to use it ASAP and get better pictures for all the DIYs!

Heart On Your Sleeve

Valentine's Day is just a few days away now!  I thought I'd give you a sweet little tutorial on adding elbow patches to your sweater.  I made these before work the other day.  If you know me at all that's amazing in itself.  I love to sleep in until the last minute and rush to get ready for work.  This quick project only took 10 min!

Step 1:  Cut out hearts from felt.  I get the felt in the craft aisle of hobby lobby.  You can get it anywhere and it usually costs around $0.30.

Step 2:  (Do this carefully)  I put my sweater on and pinned the hearts to where my elbows actually hit.  This can be kinda tricky, maybe have a friend help you with this part.

Step 3:  Pick out some adorably pink (or any color) embroidery floss and sew simple little stitches all around and repeat for other arm.

Step 4:  Revel in the satisfaction of a job well done!

Step 5:  Only walk backwards and approach friends and co-workers elbow first.

Step 6:  Receive compliments graciously.

If only I had neices....

I went to a friend's baby shower last week.  She is having a girl!  Everyone in my life for the past 5 years has had boys.  So for boys I can only crochet so much; an animal here and a blanket there.  I always thought if I knew someone with a girl I would sew cute clothes.  So this was my chance to try it out.

I went to Hancocks and found this fabric first.  I found a pattern for a romper that was only $1 (awesome).  This fabric was on sale too for $4.  What a great deal!  I had thought in the past that only Amy Butler had cute fabrics and places like Hobby Lobby, JoAnnes, and Hancocks have 90s style fabrics and nothing cute at all.  I was SO wrong.  There was a ton of great choices.  I probably stood in front of the woven cottons for 12 minutes before I had one of those thoughts "If I'm having so much trouble they would all be good choices so JUST PICK ONE."  I kept seeing fabrics that would fit perfectly with some of my favorite couples styles.  So if they ever have baby girls  I'll be able to make clothes I know they would love.

I know my friend loves owls.  We worked together as fashion merchandisers so of course fashion and our fashion influences was something we talked about often.  She told me this very endearing story about her grandmother.  Her grandma has themed bathrooms in her house.  One is filled with owls and another is filled with tiny mirrors.  My friend had always loved the owls and the idea of collecting something and making themed bathrooms!  I saw this fabric and thought it was kind of expensive the first time around.  After I found out that my $11 pattern was only $1  I went back to get the "expensive fabric" that I knew she would love.

I couldn't help but crochet something, too!  I found this pattern for little tiny baby girl headbands.  They button at the back so it can grow with the baby.  I made all of these flowers and put them on safety pins so that they can make any combination of colors.  I made these while at work which was an awesome use of time!

I was so glad to finally make something for GIRLS!  I had a ton of fun doing it.  Too bad I have 3 nephews and probably only one more eventual child on my side of the family.  Luckily I'm about to marry into a family with 4 sibling-in-laws that haven't even thought about kids yet.  So I still have a big chance for nieces someday.

Topographical Map Blanket

I finished these blankets a few weeks before Christmas. I made one for my nephew that is 3 months old, and one for my fiance that is 24 years old.

It is a topographical map blanket.
I sewed the grading yarn onto the blanket with a zig-zag stitch. I sewed the yarn in organic shapes. (I couldn't really control the way the shapes came out completely because I was shoving half a blanket through the arm of the sewing machine.) I think they turned out great.

Christmas Project #4: Dish Cloths

November 22, 2009 is when I completed these towels (also the day I got engaged!)

So I wanted to screen print on towels something that matched my friends and families kitchens or something that at least matched their personalities.

This is the first one I made, it is for my almost in-laws (!) I wanted this to have a traditional feel like their kitchen, so I did their monogram and some curls behind it. But I think my mistake was using black and grey paint. It has a modern feel now.
The next two are for my sisters. I just mixed some paints and got a color I liked and made something really simple with their addresses on it.

This one is for the BFF. It has her colors in it and a simple modern design. This was my fiance's favorite.
This next one is for my friend who has a black and pink kitchen and loves vintage kitschy things and cats. So I hope she likes this too.


For my brother, the graphic artist, nothing seemed cool enough. So I put it off and put it off. I remembered this technique of sewing yarn on fabric that I am planning on using on another Christmas Gift later on...(Found in The Big Ass Book of Crafts by Mark Montano) and thought it would be awesome to do on the tea towel. So I pulled out my 100% cotton yarn and made this...


Here is the close up.
You just zigzag over it. I did the 3 stitch zigzag and it looks awesome if I do say so myself.

Pinky Jr.

Meet Pinky Jr. Pinky Jr. is actually the little sister of Pinky.

I made her out of two socks. The socks actually came with the sweater that I made the other bunny with.


I don't feel like I can sell or give away my recycled socks. They're clean, but there is just something about it...

left overs

So today I decided to catch up on my magazines. I had a couple of months worth of Vogue, Lucky, and Elle magazines. While reading these wonderful magazines I got very motivated to sew.

Sew I decided to make a bubble dress and I made it way to long. whoops.

Here it is folded under.



Here the bottom part of the dress is folded under at my waist to make a top. I added jeans and it I know it looks like the above picture but take my word for it, that it is much shorter.



So I have an idea for another dress I really want to make and it is coming soon. Today I just decided to make this dress with some left over fabric and it took an hour, so no big deal.

Martian Child

I've been taking a break from my Project lately and doing things that I really love. This would be stalking craftster.org. I came across this today and decided to make one of my own. I walked out the door went to Walmart and bought two dollar fabric. I came back home stuck in Martian Child and started to cut and sew.

It is a convertible dress, sometimes called an infinity dress. It is basically a circle skirt with two long straps that you can tie any way you want.

This is me in the dress and I'm wearing it crisscrossed in the front. (Martian Child is on the TV in the background)

One of the ways to tie it. Yeah, I kinda got that 90's floral feeling too.