Cheetah Velour

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!

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!

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.

Kitschmas Krafts!

In the spirit of June and Sandy, I wanted to share some of my Christmas crafts with you. Nothing says Happy Holidays like MAGAZINE TREES ! I made these while I was at work and yes, we actually used them as table centerpieces at our party. Mmmm, gold spray paint, glitter and sparkly pom poms- FESTIVE!

I used to make these out of phone books when I was growing up in the 70's. Now you can get the directions on the Reader's Digest website and start making your own holiday eyesore festive centerpiece. You still have plenty of time to make at least one before the big day. These ones were made from National Geographic (large) and Ellery Queen (small). I know you have some Ellery Queen stashed away somewhere, so no excuses.

What would kitschy crafters do without felt? You can make anything out of felt! Why, you could even take some leftover felt scraps & whip up some snazzy gift card envelopes for those hard-to-shop-for-types on your list. I hope nobody in my family is reading this. Somebody is getting "the gift of Oakland A's Baseball". Shhh! Don't tell!

If these ideas aren't enough for you, I highly recommend checking out the glamorous holiday craftstravaganza over at Kitschy Kitschy Coo! Thirteen Kitschy Christmas Crafty Things you simply cannot live without. This tin foil snowman is one of my faves:

I don't want to ruin the fun, but there is also something involving a can of hairspray. If you are a ladyfriend of mine, you may be getting one next year. That's all I'm going to say about that!

Get craftin' people!

Looka me (shameless self promotion)

The Adorn blog recently featured a few projects from Wardrobe Refashion including a couple from yours truly. Aw, shucks!

Here is a bag I got from a friend at a Naked Lady Party (get your mind out of the gutter, it's not what you think!). I added the applique myself.

Here is one side of a quilt I am making from t-shirts. You or someone you know has a ton of t-shirts & here's just one idea for what you can do with those shirts. I used the rest of the shirts for reuseable cleaning rags. Save a paper towel and all that.  I'll bet you could come up with all sorts of good ideas for soft t-shirt scraps. How about making your own earth-friendlier baby wipes? I don't actually have a baby to wipe, but I love to take baby wipes along when I'm camping. Great for washing hands and all over, really.

Wardrobe Refashion participants pledge to abstain from purchasing new items of clothing for the term of their contract (2, 4 or 6 months). They also pledge to refashion, renovate, and recycle then post the results. I only pledged for two months, but it was a lot of fun and the message really stuck with me so I continue to renovate a lot of my old stuff instead of buying new. If you haven't been over to check out WR, what are you waiting for? We at Cheetah Velour Industries highly encourage you to sign up and show off your stuff.

(Thank you Susan and Adorn!)

Muslin Mess

Due to popular demand (ok, there may have been two of you) I swallowed my pride to bring you the Muslin Mess (AKA the practice dress). This is actually more about version 2 of the practice dress. Version 1 was chopped up and sacrificed so I could fuss around with it a little more.

Why is this lady so sad? The front of this dress is too darn big. Everything from the waist down more or less fits fine, but it is too big in the shoulder and bust. Time to adjust the pattern by shortening the waist, shortening the shoulders, and removing the bust darts entirely. This was made out of a thrift store sheet but don't worry, it may come back in the form of a lovely apron or perhaps some curtains. On to version 2.

Now I am going to do my impression of someone flashing you their hospital gown. Actually, this front part is like a hospital gown or apron. Ladies, let me tell you- the fit of this dress is all about the darts in the front and the back. If it doesn't fit you first try, play around with the darts. You probably already guessed that. Perhaps you are an accomplished seamstress. I am teaching myself and found this out the hard way. Baste first and adjust as necessary. The pattern shows the front darts extending below the waistline. Yours truly has a high waist and a bit of a tummy so I just stopped the darts right at the waist for a little more room. Worked like a charm.

That's more like it! Don't I look manic? I mean happy? I feel like Doris Day in this, that is if Doris Day were a dumpster diver instead of a movie star. Of course the part that wraps around the waist will match the skirt in the real version.  I found that bringing the skirt up by shortening the waist on the pattern worked really well for me. The skirt is really full and heavy, and when it wasn't sitting on my hips it dragged down and tried to strangle me in addition to pulling the shoulders of the dress back. We are not going for a drop waist here. It's supposed to hug those sides. If you have a bust maybe the bust helps hold the dress up? I have no idea. That's for you to know and me to find out. If you decide to give this pattern a whirl, let me know about your experience!

Oh yeah, I also used size 20 for the back (to fit around my waist) and size 18 for the front (because the top was too big). Again, worked like a charm! Mix it up! There's no rule that says you can't, you know.

Next stop- the real thing. Here's a blurry sneak preview. It's true- this dress really is easy to make once you figure out how to adjust it for your figure. Now I want one in every color!