Cheetah Velour

Simplicity 3835

Inspired by the talented ladies at Lindamade and Darling Petunia, I wanted to make my own version of Simplicity 3835 AKA the Built By Wendy top. It's also been dang hot around here, so the the time is right for light 'n' loose clothing.

I'll be honest, I never thought I would want to make a top like this. I thought it might be a little too sack-like for me. There are so many cute versions of it out there (check out this Flickr group), I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did! It's a pretty quick project, comfy, and I've received a lot of compliments, too.

On a personal note, this summer blouse also beautifully hides the dreaded muffin top. I'm not saying I have one (ahem) but you know, if I did, this would be shirt to hide it. If I had a muffin top, which of course I don't. ;)

Why yes, I do have a ton of that fabric left, why do you ask?

Wardrobe Refashion!

            

I signed up for Wardrobe Refashion last Spring/Summer, taking the two month pledge. I've been following along in the last year and was inspired to try it again. Wish me luck!

The Pledge

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed, Roxanne/Cheetah Velour

For my first project I posted this bag I made from an embroidered table runner I got at the flea market.

Is anyone else out there signed up on Wardrobe Refashion? I'd love to see what you're making these days!

I signed up for Wardrobe Refashion last Spring/Summer, taking the two month pledge. I've been following along in the last year and was inspired to try it again. Wish me luck!

The Pledge

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed, Roxanne/Cheetah Velour

For my first project I posted this bag I made from an embroidered table runner I got at the flea market.

Is anyone else out there signed up on Wardrobe Refashion? I'd love to see what you're making these days!

DANA A-line wrap skirt

Not too long ago I found this cute cotton fabric at JoAnn's and for something like $2.75 a yard! Something about the bright colors on a black background combo has always appealed to me, and I felt like this fabric was waiting there just for me. For that price, I scooped up several yards!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to make first. Inspired by this lovely skirt and the lovely PaperDollyGirl, I started with a wrap skirt. I picked out this FREE PATTERN (!) from Fitz a while ago but I had never tried it.

You print the pattern on your own printer, tape the pages together and cut. It looks like this:

I made a few small changes. I did the long tie belt, but it didn't really flatter me since I like to wear my shirt over my skirt and the tie added some extra bulk underneath my shirt. I prefer a flat & more fitted waistband, so I chopped off the tie belt and made a waistband that closed with buttons instead. I also added bias tape around the edges. I love me some bias tape!

One thing I really like about this skirt is the kangaroo pocket in front. Very handy for stashing your keys or lip balm.

Frumpalicious!

I found this frumpalicious elastic waist skirt at the thrift store for a couple of bucks. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was somebody's home ec project due to the variety of threads and stitches used. It was kind of weird.

The fabric was too cute to resist and I knew it wanted to be something else- but what?

The man of the house suggested a dress. Now why didn't I think of that?!?

I based it on McCall's 5425. Mostly I just winged it. You can pretty much tell how this dress is made by looking at the picture on the envelope. Yes, it was just that easy! 

After:

Now don't go thinking I'm all modest because my head is cut off in this picture. I was using the camera timer and gosh darn it, I'm just not that good at taking my own picture.

Now I personally like the potato sack dress/muu muu style because it's oh-so-comfy and hides those figure flaws we all know and love, but there is also the optional sash if you like.

This dress was really easy to make and even easier to wear. This could be one of my summer staples if I make it in a few different colors. I'm laid back like that.

Another summer shirt

I started out with another man shirt I picked up last year from the thrift store.

Nope, that's not a stain on the front. It's an iron-on! Nothing is easier than an iron-on.

I didn't get much use out of it as a long-sleeve but wasn't sure I wanted to toss it into the donation pile. Then I saw this shirt at Target and thought, "I can do that!"

Using another short sleeve shirt as a pattern, I cut the sleeves off at an angle. I made a casing all the way around each sleeve and ran some 1/2 " elastic through it. Not too snug so I could move my arms.

That's all there is to it! I also added a few narrow darts to the back for shape.

This was a super quick project and really easy. Now I have another shirt made from stuff I already had around the house. Nice!

Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman

Wait- I really haven't checked in for a whole month? Oops, my bad. I'll have to do something about that. How about an easy sewing project?

I started out with this man shirt-

and using Simplicity 4589, I turned it into a summer top for me!

The sleeves are a little bit of solid cotton from the fabric store, and I actually sewed the front shut. It's pullover style. I may change the buttons to something cute later, but I haven't decided yet.

E-Z!

Pincushions!

I recently tried my hand at making a few pincushions following the instructions I found over at whip up. Let me tell you, it was so, so fast and easy!

Here are the results~

I made these pincushions out of some old barkcloth I found buried in a trunk in a junk store years ago. The barkcloth then served as curtains in my Oakland apartment for about ten years.

I hand stitched the small one to an elastic loop that slips over the arm.

I thought this old barkcloth deserved a new life. Why hide away something so pretty?

If you are have some fabric scraps sitting around, I highly reccomend trying one of these pincushions. So easy!

Pajama Game

(This isn't really about the musical, I just thought this 1954 ad for the Broadway show was really cute. Made you look.)

Not much to post about lately, but there has been some sewing going on. The warmer weather is not quite here yet, so I am all about the flannel pajamas! I recently made a few sets of jammies from McCall's Endless Options pattern 2478. I bought this pattern a few years back and I honestly don't know if McCall's still has this one in print, but I did see one on ebay if that's any help.

If I could wear pajamas out of the house I would. The kids these days do it, but of course this shocks my oh-so-grownup heart. If you could hear my voice right now you would know I am being sarcastic when I refer to myself a grownup.

First we have this  moose flannel that was on sale at JoAnn's for $2.00 a yard. $2.00, people!! You really need about 6 yards to make an adult size large, so that ain't just whistlin' Dixie.

Buttons are courtesy of ye old button jar. Everybody needs a button jar.

Some of you who know me in real life may have already seen the next ones. I got this fabric over a year ago at JoAnn's and I haven't seen it since. Dang, it's cute! It's called "Funny Picnic Foods".

That's it for now. There are more sewing projects in the works, but some of them are surprises for people so I'll save those for another time.

Hope you're having a good weekend wherever you are!

That Funky Monkey

Yesterday was a rainy Saturday, just the kind of day for a rainy day craft project!

I started with this Howling Monkey poster. You've probably seen one of these at your local convenience store.  The fine folks at the local market had some extra, and let me have this one for free.

But what to do with it?

This project was inspired by a coworker. He saw someone at work wearing a store bought oilcloth apron and asked me if I had made it out of some sort of banner. I had to say no, but a seed was planted! Then I remembered the Howling Monkey poster I picked up last week.

It's made out of some sort of vinyl or plastic. Feels a lot like a thick oilcloth. A few snips here and there, some double fold bias tape I had on hand, a couple of snaps, and less than an hour later I had this:

I didn't use any pins to hold the bias tape in place. I used little pieces of double sided tape here and there and machine stitched right over the tape.

I told you I was sick

I love a good cemetery. I love taking photos in a good cemetery. So there you have it.

This may be one of my all time favorites. It's made out of horseshoes! Can you see the name 'Jack' at the foot? Just looking at this makes me wish I could have met Jack.

Here's another stone that tells you a little something about the lives of the people who are buried there.  I imagine these two had a lot of good times travelling and exploring the great outdoors together.  I think it's really touching. It also makes me think a little bit about The Long, Long Trailer.

Here is a special section called Babyland for the wee ones. It was a little unsettling to stumble across this.

Not everyone has a fancy store bought headstone. Here we see a few examples of the crafty/DIY approach.

I have more cemetery photos to share, but I will save them for another post. Thanks for looking.