Snappy Dyed Wallets

I might be crazy for doing this, but I just signed up for my second half-marathon!  This one is in just a few weeks, but my sister and I picked it out a few months ago and have been training diligently (ahem, almost diligently) so I'm suuuure it will go splendidly.  We chose one in Annapolis, Maryland, and we're going to make a weekend of it and spend a few days with my parents (and of course, their two pugs, Lucy and Ricky) on their sailboat.  I can't wait to parade those little dogs around town, eat ice cream and seafood, and do some exploring in Annapolis.  Here's to hoping I survive the race, as well!

Before I embark on that adventure, however, I have a few more projects up my sleeve: including the second installment  of the dip-dyed adventures (earlier adventures can be seen here!)  For this project, I used a couple of dip-dyed striped pieces.  I have been steadily working my way through them, in an effort to use these pre-cut pieces up before I forget what project I cut them out for (not like that's ever happened before or anything.)  To create the stripes, I folded my fabric pieces, clipped them with clothespins, and then dipped them into the dye, leaving some un-dyed at the top.  Once they were somewhat dry, I unclipped them and set them with a fixative to avoid bleeding.  What a triumph it was to pull my little pieces out of their buckets and to see that they actually had stripes on them!  Once all of the dyeing was completed for the outer pieces, I cut the insides bits and pieces from this great light blue/silver metallic lining that I found last week at Joann's, and already used for some zippered pouches.  I layered the inside pockets to make room for credit cards (or in my case, a vast array of coffee shop loyalty cards) and a few larger pockets for cash, receipts, lists, pet photos, etc.  I put a zippered coin/trinket pocket on the outside, and voila…a wallet!  I hand-sewed a snap button to the inside (post-photo shoot-I'll upload a complete photo as soon as I snap one!) to keep everything tidy and closed up, and declared these beauties ready for their internet debut.  

One of my many sewing "helpers" taking advantage of some good morning light

My mom and I have also been spending some time on a super-secret project that I will be able to share in just a few weeks (if you can manage to contain your excitement that long, that is.)  I'll be posting a sneak peek this weekend, and the will be revealing the finished project soon, so stay tuned!  Hope your weeks are going wonderfully, thanks for stopping by!

  

Zippered pouch tutorial!

As promised, I worked up a little tutorial, filling y'all in on how I make my little zippered pouches (I knew you were just dying to know!)  Check out the full tutorial after the jump!  As always, I would love to see any projects you come up with, so I hope to hear from you soon!

Adventures in Dip-Dyeing

Hello, there!  I've spent the last few days trying my hand at some dip-dyeing, and I'm so excited to share what I came up with!  This recent dyeing experiment came out of a valiant, if vastly unsuccessful attempt to right a pair of my sister's pants that had been quite wronged by some hand sanitizer.  By that, of course, I mean that she tried to remove some tree sap from her pants with hand sanitizer.  While it took out the sap brilliantly, it also seeped through to the front of the pants and caused some massive bleach stains (oopsies!)  Of course, my first response was "don't even worry about it, we can dye them" only to realize that bleach stains don't really want to be any color than white (or really, some gross yellowish variation of actual white.)  After employing many creative (read: ridiculous and very messy, even for an outside project) dyeing techniques, I threw in the towel (or pants: I literally threw the whole pair of pants in my dyeing bucket in an effort to unify the color, to no avail) and moved on to Plan B, which was dying some lace to match the pants, cutting the stains out of the pants, and adding the lace behind the holes.  We'll just have to see what happens with hair-brained scheme #2.

However, the real up-side to this dyeing disaster was that the pants in question are a great coral color, which I matched by mixing two boxes of Rit dye: magenta and orange.  It seemed such a shame to make a whole batch of dye for just a little bitty stain, so I planned a few projects, picked up come unbleached cotton, and had a blast experimenting with dip-dyeing.  For the most part, I just dipped parts of the pieces into the dye, leaving the other portions white.  For a few pieces (once I had some confidence in my dipping skills, really) I folded the fabric to make stripes, which I'm pretty proud to say actually look like stripes.  I've been making my way through the dyed pieces, cutting lining pieces to match and sewing them into little pouches, wallets, and bags, and I have just a few to share with you today.  

These four pouches were the simplest of my planned dip-dyed projects, so I started with them.  I interfaced all of the dyed pieces, cut linings from some great metallic prints I found at JoAnn Fabrics, and just added a 9-inch zipper to each to make some simple pouches.  I have been meaning to try a half-circle pouch for a while, and I love how they came out!  The only thing missing from these little pouches is a great zipper pull.  I'm thinking…tassels?  Maybe a little pull made out of lace?  So many possibilities!

In other news, I'm working up a simple photo tutorial on how to make your very own zippered pouches.  They've really become one of my go-to projects…they're simple, quite quick to whip up, and leave lots of room for customization (the world is your oyster with this kind of simple project template.)  I hope to have that up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

I spent the rest of the weekend doing lots of running, practicing, spending time with my sister, and of course, with this guy.

  I hope your weekends were as lovely and relaxing as mine was.  

Bonjour, mes amis

Today was one of those perfect days where the temperature is steadily rising outside but inside we're still holding onto the cool from the past few days.  It was supposed to storm all day, but I've seen nothing but sun.  I had some grand plans to take a dip in the pool today, but after careful consideration (I stuck the big toe on my right foot in) I decided it wasn't a good idea (so so so cold.)  Aside from that little adventure, I've spent the day getting a few projects together: lots of little bags, clutches, pouches, and sacks.  Here are just a couple of sneak peeks of what's coming up soon...  

While this last photo is most certainly not a photographic masterpiece, I feel like it just about sums up this day, and therefore felt obliged to share it.  Oliver was quite a pal today.  I hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I do!

Table fancy

Dearest blog world: I promise I haven't forgotten about you. I know you've heard it all before, but I've just been so busy at school. Not only have I been doing lots of musical things, but I'm officially working my post at the library, as well. That's right, folks, I'm a real, honest-to-goodness reference librarian, complete with thick-framed glasses and a wheeled chair in which to pretend I'm doing actual work.  Life is good!

On the home front, I've been dealing with some minor behavioral "incidents" with Oliver. These have mostly involved raucous trash parties, and some presents of the #2 variety in the living room. I usually call them "incidents" or "on-purposes," because I just know they're not "accidents." But who can stay mad at that face?

I also finally got around to re-upholstering the folding table and chairs in our living room.  This card table and chairs was a wedding present to my parents thirty-something years ago.  I took it with me to Boston when I lived there a few years ago, and my mom helped me re-upholster it then.  While I still love the funky prints we found, they were looking a little worse for wear:

 
I took all of the seats and seat-backs out of the chair frames, and spray painted them gold. This part of the process did not go quite as I had planned, largely because of the plummeting temperatures and blustering winds on my back balcony in Cleveland. I wound up almost completely covered in gold spray paint (as did the back balcony) while the chairs are spotty, at best.  As luck would have it, the set was a golden-beige color to begin with, so I'm hoping I can get away with a shoddy paint job.  Fingers crossed! 

For the upholstery, I used navy blue cotton ($2/yard at Wal-mart) and a sheer pink polyester blend ($1.50/yard at Wal-mart.)  I covered all of the chair pads, as well as the table top, in the navy blue cotton.  For the chairs, I covered the navy with the pink, and I left the table navy.  Cutting out the fabric was simple enough (and I used the previous upholstery pieces as general patterns) but getting the new pieces attached with the staple gun was a battle.  Thank goodness for reliable (and strong-armed) help...I just knew Sean wanted to help me with a project when he visited!  I love the combination of the dark navy, this peachy pink, and the gold frames.  It was just what I had in mind!  Overall, this project was pretty simple: just dissemble the table and chairs, cut out the pieces of fabric to cover the pads, staple them on, and re-assemble!   My favorite part of the new setup is this lacy vinyl overlay that my mom found for me at a local craft store in Pennsylvania.  My original intention was to cut it so that it fit on the table top, but I have yet to do so.  I sort of like the way it looks as a table cloth, so I may try this out for a bit before I snip off the ends.  It sits just under the glass top, and the white lace patterns contrast with the navy table top perfectly.  Since it's vinyl, it wipes clean easily when I (inevitably, and quite often) spill food and/or coffee on it.

Happy Holiday Season, everyone!  I hope you're feeling better than I am today (I'm suffering from my annual "the-semester-ended-so-I'm-immediately-sick" cold.)  But this is giving me some much-needed time to do a little bit of catching up, and Ollie is certainly an adorable sick buddy.  Happy Monday, and thanks for stopping by!

(Pink) Covered Couches

Hi friends!  I know I've been a little absent lately, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy for me!  Aside from a busy work schedule, I spent some time working on covering the couches in our living room.  We bought them from a nice woman in Orlando who wanted to upgrade her living room set.  While they were in pretty good shape (and we got them for a great price!) I had been dying to cover them since we picked them up.  So without further ado...allow me to introduce our couches!

Since couch covers are so very expensive, I decided to cover the couches with sets of sheets that I found on sale.  Since I wanted to buy the sale sheets (which meant I had to mix and match brands, sizes and colors) I decided to get all white sheets and dye them myself.  Sean and I decided on red, since we have a red fireplace on the opposite end of the room.  Here is where the project got a little complicated: it turns out that it's almost impossible to dye such a large amount of fabric red.  After many runs through the washing machine with boxes and bottles of red dye, my sheets turned out a lovely shade of cotton candy pink.  Oops!  So in an effort to minimize the pink (because it's a whole lot of pink) I added some strips of blue fabric across the arm rests and seat cushions, and I covered the back cushions and pillows in contrasting blue fabrics.  Since I mixed so many fabrics, it distracts from the pink, and it looks so fun and festive!  While the pink is still taking some getting used to, we love our new couches!  

Happy Wednesday!  I hope to be back with more to share soon!

Party time shoulder bag

Hello hello hello!  Last week when I was at the sewing store, I picked up a few yards of yellow trim...it was inexpensive, I love mini pom-poms, and I have an addiction to buying trim.  I didn't know exactly what I would use it for, but it was too cute to pass up (which is always a valid argument.)  So the other day I used it to liven up a little cotton shoulder bag, and now this satchel is ready to party!

 

In order to hide the cording on the back of the pom-poms, I pieced the bag together in strips (sandwiching the trim between them) rather than sewing the trim to the front of one big piece.  I was worried about having the trim poke out unevenly, but the cording was wide enough that this step was a piece of cake!  And now the cording is neatly tucked on the inside, and all you can see are those cute little pom-poms.  

For the inside lining and pockets, I used some pink and yellow cotton pieces that I had in my fabric pile.  Pink and yellow look so warm and cheery together, don't you think?

I added a magnetic snap at the top, which I camouflaged with two covered buttons, matching the pink lining.  For the strap, I cut one long strip, double-folded the ends towards the center, and reinforced it with a strip of floral ribbon.  It's sturdy, thick enough not to wrinkle up when I'm wearing it (or dig into my shoulder) and cute to boot!  (I just knew I'd find a purpose for that floral ribbon when I bought it back in January...)

Since I skipped any complicated closures and just sewed the strap right into the top of the bag, this was a  pretty no-fuss project.  And by using (almost entirely) leftover supplies, it was an (almost) free new summery bag!  It's lightweight, a practical size, and just festive enough for a Florida summer.  I can't wait to take it out...this bag is ready for some fun!

Pencil pouch

It all started yesterday when I found the most adorable pencils at Target.  Just look at those colors!

And they got me thinking: pencils like this need a proper pouch.  Like something that I can throw in my rehearsal bag and not be embarrassed to take out in public.  So I got to work!  I made a simple little bucket-style pouch, with a zipper on the top.  I made it tall enough that I could put in my pencils and still have room left for my other essentials (like rosin and candy.) 

For the main exterior of the pouch, I used some fabric I had left from this project, and a beige 7-inch zipper.  To make the bottom a little more sturdy (and a little more resistant to dirt) I used some floral brown cotton I had left from this project, and I stuck some crocheted trim on top.  For the lining, I used some white dotted fabric, left from this project.  Nothing like using up bits and pieces from the scrap pile!

This was such a quick and easy project...perfect for a rainy day off!  On top of this little beauty, I also got some great practicing in, and got the oil changed in my car.  What a day!  And I've got some more projects on my to-do list for this week, so I'll (hopefully) be back soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

Fly away tunic

I spent some time yesterday going through my sewing patterns, and unearthed a pile of patterns that I borrowed (read: stole) from my mom's pattern collection.  In with these, I found a pattern for a basic tunic that caught my eye.  In hindsight, the model looks so seriously unhappy (and a little confused) by the fact that her tunic looks like pajamas that she just doesn't know what to do about it:

But in all honesty, the text that reads "MAKE IT TONIGHT: An extra carefree pattern" sold me on the project.  While I am up for challenging patterns, I love being able to do a project from start to finish in a day,and the "MAKE IT TONIGHT" offer was just too enticing to pass up.  Despite the questionable photos on the package, I picked some fabric from my stash, and gave it a try.  I went with some adorable fabric from the "Nest" collection by Valori Wells that I ordered a few months ago.  And with a few minor updates to the pattern, I have a new tunic!

 The only real changes I made were to shorten the sleeves (I am in Florida in June, after all!) and to add a little embellishment on the front.  For some reason, I have been wanting a top with a scalloped embellishment on the front for what feels like forever.  And since this was such a basic tunic, I just couldn't resist!  At first, I tried a beautiful piece of blue and gold ribbon in the center of my embellishment.  While I loved the ribbon, it just didn't go with the fabric, so I covered it with this crocheted trim (although I left the ribbon underneath, and if you look closely, you can just see it poking through!)  I have some of the blue ribbon left, so I'll have to come up with something else to do with it...but I'm much happier with the crocheted trim for this project!  The most exciting part of this project was that I now have a basic shirt pattern, and I can't wait to play around with it!  I already have some ideas to change up the neckline, collar, sleeves, embellishments...you name it!  I can't wait to try them out!  Happy Friday!

Bicycle bag

To anyone that knows me, it's no secret that I love purses.  While I've pared down my collection considerably (I use all of the ones I have now, I promise!) I still always seem to have too many bags.  Despite this, I always seem to have one favorite that I use almost every day.  Lately, it's been a little across-the-shoulder bag I picked up at a vintage shop in my hometown.  Although I love it (and it's such a practical and summery white) it's started to literally disintegrate, and its retirement is looming over my shoulder.  In preparation for this, I came up with a new bag this weekend, using some fabric that I've had forever but not quite known what to do with.  While I may do some tweaking to the strap (the braided strap didn't turn out quite as neatly as I had hoped it would) I love the shape, and I'd love to try this shape in a few different dimensions as well. 

The fabric I used is called "Go By Bike" in grey, and is from the Weekends collection by Erin McMorris.  I ordered a few yards of this fabric months ago because it was so cute I just had to have it.  For a long time, I was too scared to cut into it because I wasn't completely sure of what I wanted to do with it, and I didn't want to waste it on a project that wasn't going to work.  But the other day I was feeling bold, and just decided to go for it.  And I'm so happy I did!  Fabric is meant to be cut!  It looks much cuter now than it did when it was folded up on the bottom of my fabric pile.

I interfaced the outer fabric of the bag (so that it would hold its shape) and I lined it with a plain grey cotton.  I added an inner zippered pocket (which I just had to line with pink polka dots) and I put on a pearly button snap on the front flap for a closure.  For the straps, I made three strips (one of each of the three fabrics I used on the bag) and I braided them together.  For now, I just attached them to the inside of the bag, but I'm planning to remove them and replace them with something that's adjustable.  I'll let you know what I come up with!

Despite the fact that I'm still figuring out what to do with the strap (for some reason I always have the most trouble with that part) I love my new bag.  The print is perfect for summer, and just neutral enough that I can assume it will go with just about everything.  It's not too big as to be cumbersome, but just big enough to fit all of my essentials.  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out, it should make the retirement of my previous go-to bag much easier.  Mission accomplished!  Hope you had a lovely weekend!

 UPDATE:  See the new and improved strap here!

Belated billfold

Hello friends!  I know I've been absent and I apologize!  I've had a wild couple of weeks that included yet another move and a great deal of training for my new summer job.  It's been exciting, but busy!  I popped in to share a project I made some time ago for my mom for Mother's Day.  I somehow got it finished, packed up, and mailed on time (which is nothing short of a miracle for me) but I just never got around to posting it on here.

For the last few years, my mom has been using a cheap "wallet" that she found in the attic, even though it doesn't really fit any of her cards or money, and it doesn't have a pocket for change.  After trying (and failing) to convince her to get a new one for herself, I decided I should make her one for Mother's Day, and this is what I came up with:

 

I used pretty blue and white fabric for the outside, and lined it with pink polka-dotted fabric.  I put in an inner zipper pocket, two larger inner pockets for bills, six credit card pockets, and two clear card pockets in the front for ID cards.  It closes with a snap button tab, and I used pink thread for the top stitching (I thought it looked so cute against the blue!) 

I lined the inner pockets with the outer blue fabric, just to make the inside more interesting.  I love the way it came out!  This was one of my all-time favorite handmade gifts.  I completed it in a reasonable amount of time, and it was pretty fun to put together!  This could easily be changed around in terms of pocket layout; the possibilities are endless!  I can't wait to make some more wallets!

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I have some projects planned for the new house this week, so I'll keep you all posted!  Have a great weekend!

Flirting the issue skirt

I've been sewing up a storm lately.  I know you're probably thinking something along the lines of "But you haven't posted in days!  And the last project you posted was dyed eggs!"  But I really have been working on a few exciting things to share over the next few days!  So today, I'm going to start with a  little skirt I made this morning.  This was another fabric kit that I've had sitting around for a while.  I got the fabric for this "Flirting the Issue" skirt (I wish I could claim credit for that sassy name, but that-along with the design-goes to Anna Maria Horner) as a birthday gift last year, and the pattern can be found (along with her other adorable free patterns) here.  It only took me eight months to work up the courage, and a half-day to make it.  So without further ado...

 

 

 
The kit came with this lovely brown floral cotton, and a sweet solid pink for the lining.  The directions didn't exactly call for the little white ruffle but I just couldn't help myself.  Doesn't it just remind you of Neapolitan ice cream?  (And what could be better than that?)  This fabric was so lovely, it was one of those pieces that I loved the more I worked with it.  It is soft to the touch and just sheer enough to look delicate (and hang nicely) without showing too much underneath.  The wide elastic band at the top is ultra-comfortable, and the pattern allows for a customized fit.  It was a breeze to make and I think it's just perfect for the coming warm weather...I see many more of these in my future!  I love it so much I think I might just wear it out to dinner tonight.

Happy Friday the 13th, and happy weekend!  Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more projects!

Little time = little projects

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!  As I am heading out of town for my first in a long, long string of auditions, I have been a little short on time for projects.  I'll be gone for the next day or two, but when I return, I'm tackling some of those big projects!  For now, I'm steadily working through my scraps with another little project that I have been meaning to try for quite some time now.  I'm a pony tail kind of girl, and I firmly believe that one is never too old to wear hair baubles.  So, without further ado, I give you: 

Fabric-covered button hair-ties!

They were so quick and easy, I see a lot more of these in my future.  

Thanks for stopping by!

New Year, Old Projects

Hello, world!  I'm taking the beaten path this year, and using the new year as an opportunity to cross some things off of my to-do list that seem like they might have made that list their permanent home.  For one, since I discovered the world of craft blogging within the last couple of years, I have been suffering from some serious blog envy.  Last year (for New Year's) I resolved to start my own blog.  Lo and behold, that task sat on my to-do list for an entire year.  So, with this new year, I decided to take the plunge, and here I am!  I plan to use this blog to keep track of my projects, to share things that I find, and (hopefully) to join in the online sewing community.  So without further ado...

Along with the creation of this blog, I am making an attempt to work through my ridiculous fabric stash.  I have an embarrassingly large number of projects that I seem to have started and abandoned, and a plethora fabrics that I seem to have purchased with no project in mind.  How did I let it get so out of control, you may ask?  I love fabric!  And sometimes my stomach is bigger than my eyes, so to speak.  

While I am still attempting to corral my fabric stash into some usable state, I've decided to share a knitting project that I just finished this afternoon.  I started this infinity scarf a few months ago and ditched it shortly thereafter (I usually don't have the patience to finish knitting projects...) and picked it up the other day with a few new ideas about the design.  For the sake of interest, I switched up the plain garter stitch with a few thick stripes in the stockinette stitch, as well as switching the color from pink to grey.  As a bow-lover, I couldn't help myself from knitting up a few and using them to connect the two ends.