Clean house again and a dream

The garage sale that we participated in this past weekend went pretty well; Phil and I made about $100, which is not bad considering it was all on items that we were just going to donate anyway. Its amazing what people will buy, and how much they will pay. Doing the sale made me want to look for more ways to earn money from home.

One goal I have been working on is improving my sewing so that one day I can start charging for alterations. There are a lot of businesses that I would not want to run out of my home, but sewing is something I have always really enjoyed and wouldn't mind doing as more than just a hobby. I have altered many of my own clothes, and a few for friends, but I don't feel confident enough to try to advertise for "real business".

Not many people know how to sew anymore, at least not clothing. And altering ready-to-wear clothing is a whole different game than sewing from a pattern (which I am also trying to get better at). The only way to really learn is to be taught by someone, or maybe by a lot of trial and error. I have a dream that maybe one day I can work as an apprentice of sorts in a tailor shop and learn all the tricks of the trade, and then start my own small business.

Until then, I will just have to keep selling our old stuff and sewing my own clothes.

Making the Most of Your Clothes - Part Two: Minor Repairs 1

So now that you have cleaned out that closet, you may have be feeling a bit lighter on the clothing side. Its ok. Part of the point of this series is to help you appreciate the clothing that you already have. We live in a consumer driven, "gotta have it NOW" kind of world. But the fact is, most of us probably don't have the money to have all those clothes that we see on the fashion blogs we love so much. And hopefully, we are also unwilling to go into debt to get them. So we have to make do with what we have.

Learning how to do some minor repairs can make your favorite items last just that much longer. To start with, knowing how to sew a few simple stitches can sure come in handy. Even if you don't have a machine, hand sewing can work on most little repairs.

Somehow, I've had too many shirts come out of the dryer with little holes in them. I'm not sure how it happens, maybe I am washing them with something rough that snags them, but I just bought this shirt a couple months ago and didn't want to get rid of it already because of this little hole.

The best way to repair a hole like this is to use a single strand of thread, you don't even need to knot it at the end because the stitches you will make are pretty much like one big knot (usually you would double up the thread and tie it together at the end). Also, this repair works best on knit fabric (like cottony t-shirt material). It would not work on silk or very sheer fabrics.

 To start, turn the shirt inside out and start stitching on one end of the hole, making sure not to pull the thread all the way through (once you make your first full stitch the thread will be secure).

 Overcast stitches (like a loop around the hole) are best for this tip of repair because it pulls the fabric back together. Try to make your stitches as close together as possible and as close to the edge of the fabric as possible.

After you have sewn all the way down the hole, sew back up to where you started to really secure it. This also helps to tighten up any spots that maybe you missed with your first few stitches.

Once you have finished sewing up the hole, knot off your fabric by making a loop and pulling your thread through the loop. Do this a couple of times and you wont need to worry about the stitches coming undone.

Snip off the excess thread and you're done! You can barely see the stitches when you turn the shirt right side out, and now its fit to wear again.

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween.  I think I love it more each year.  I especially love dressing up, and for me the fun is in finding/making the costumes. Phil doesn't want to have to work, he just wants an easy costume that he can put on and be done, but I don't just want any old store-bought costume.  Which is ironic because when I was a kid I always thought the store-bought costumes were the best, but my mom (wisely) was never willing to spend the money and always made my costumes. They were of course way better and much nicer than anything I could have bought at Wal-Mart, but its only recently that I'm really starting to appreciate her hard work. 

These days, I pride myself on being able to find everything we need to dress up at the D.I.  Even better if I can find something ridiculous and alter it into something great. I also really like have couples costumes. A few years ago Phil and I dressed up as Princess Peach and Mario and his roommate Brian was Luigi. 

My dress was a giant size 20 that I found at the D.I. and took in by hand!  So grateful to have a sewing machine now!

Then last year we dressed up as Gnomeo and Juliet, which was really fun except that people kept mistaking us for either Smurfs or Keebler Elves.  

A combination of D.I. alterations and clothing we already owned.  I made our gnome hats out of felt.

This year I wanted to have a theme again, its just more fun that way. We were thinking for a while that we could be the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland, but I wasn't thrilled with the idea and we were on such a tight budget I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to make our costumes good enough.  Finally, after searching online for ideas, I got the idea to be Sandy and Danny from Grease. I of course decided I would be the "good" Sandy which would be an easier costume, not to mention more appropriate for our Ward party. Phil's costume was what made me really excited though.  As you all know, he is attending Thunderbird School of Global Management. Well, all the students at Thunderbird are called T-Birds and what could be more iconic than Danny's T-Bird jacket?  

After a mishap with spray paint, I was able to use acrylics to paint the "T-Bird" logo on Phil's jacket.  I told him he should just start wearing it to school, I think its awesome!

My skirt was made from a large yellow muumuu dress.  The sweater and all of Phil's costume were also bought at Goodwill. 

Happy Halloween!

October, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I love October. I think I love it more each year. October means fall weather, scarves, boots, sweaters, General Conference, Halloween, and my Birthday. So many good things in one month! Although, it has been a little different here in Arizona--I have yet to don a scarf, boots or a sweater, and the leaves haven't changed a bit--but its still October. 

Also good in October:

The Balloon Fiesta

Pumpkin everything

Haunted Houses

Candy

The State Fair

I will be turning 25 tomorrow. I can't believe it.  Suddenly, I find that more and more often I can talk about things that happened 10 years ago and then be shocked that that something was actually 10 years ago. I know I'm not old, but wow, a quarter of a century is a big deal right?

Well to celebrate, Phil took me to the Arizona State Fair with my brother Nate, sister-in-law Theresa and nephew Kaiden.  Sometimes I actually feel that every year I get older, I am actually becoming more childlike.  As in, 10 years ago, I would not have been nearly so excited to go to the State Fair. But now,  now when I'm 25, you would think I was a five-year-old in a toy store. I know for readers' sake pictures on a blog are much appreciated, but as you know I'm pretty terrible at capturing moments on film (or memory stick, as it were).  I just love to enjoy the moment instead of worrying about getting everyone to pose.  So, I have no pictures to offer showing how much fun we had, you'll just have to take my word for it. 

Oh wait, except one, of a chicken.  

Are you surprised that my favorite part of the fair was the chickens?  Besides look at her!  She is so fluffy!

We walked through all of the over priced food stands, saw the rides, and walked through the weird infomercial section where people try to sell you things you don't need. We played in Toddler Town with Kaiden, saw the Home Arts exhibits, and then headed over to the Animal Barns.  I really did love the chickens, as I always do. Nate and Theresa bought Kaiden a stuffed duck that he saw and really wanted and then when we passed the ducks in the Barn he held his stuffed duck up to their cages and said "ducky, quack quack!!"  So cute.  

We all ate way too much. Theresa and I had Navajo tacos, Phil had a gigantic corn dog, and Nate had the Giant Western Sausage.  It was delicious. We watched a hypnotist for a while as well as some pig races. I had a great time. We finished the night off watching a movie at Nate and Theresa's and eating root beer floats. 

Also, Nate and Theresa got me this adorable sewing basket and a giant tomato pin cushion. I love it and am excited to fill it up with crafts!    

See, didn't I say that October is the best month?

Desk revival

I realized I never posted pictures of the cute desk that I fixed up recently.  When I saw it:

I just knew I had to have it.  I convinced Phil that it would be perfect for my craft and sewing stuff, with all the little drawers and compartments, and it really is.  Of course, when I bought it, it looked like it had been chewed on both sides by either a ferret or some kind of bird, so I had to sand that down a lot.  Then, I coated it twice with primer and painted it bright red. 

Unfortunately with DIY projects, sometimes what seems like a great deal at first ends up not being such a great deal in the end.  I don't mean the desk itself, just the cost it took to make it cute.  Once we had bought sand paper, brushes, primer, paint, and new knobs it went from being a $25 desk to a $70 desk.  

Its a little crowded in our living room, but hopefully we will be getting a 2 bedroom apartment when we move and can put it in the extra room.  I love it, and best of all, if I need to straighten things up fast, I can just put everything inside and roll down the top.  I guess it was a pretty good deal after all.

Muumuus are dresses too

Over Spring Break I was inspired by this blogger and her expert seamstress skills.  After staring amazedly at her creations for some time, I immediately headed to the closest D.I. to find some muumuus.  

I found two: 

I brought them home and begin cutting away at the first one.  I soon realized that while she may be an expert seamstress, I am NOT.  But after learning a few lessons on the first dress (still yet to be finished) I took a break and then some weeks later pulled out the second, blue dress.  It went much smoother  having already learned a few things and I created this:

Not bad considering what it was right?!

Penguin Sweaters

I have an old sweater that I've been thinking about revamping but I'm not sure what to do with it.  Maybe add lace? or buttons? or some kind of brooch?  Well, I got online to look at some sweater images and get ideas and I came across this:

source

and this:

source

If that doesn't make your day, I don't know what will.  Happy Friday!

Senioritis and Crafting

I have definitely been suffering from senioritis lately.  I still have one more semester after this one before I graduate, but already I am having a hard time staying focused.  I honestly really like all of my classes this semester.  They are all interesting and I have great professors, but somehow it just seems that it is harder and harder to motivate myself to go to class and do my homework (not that I have been skipping or anything, its just hard to get out the door some days).

Its funny because I know that once I graduate and start working full time I will probably miss school, and wish I was back.  What is it about always wanting what we don't have?

On a more creative note, I have been having lots of fun re-vamping some of my old clothes (and Phil's old clothes) lately. I probably shouldn't post them all at once, but I've already put off blogging for so long that I might as well just get it all in one.

I got the below idea from a skirt I saw in the window of White House Black Market (see here).  I actually had this dress in a bag in my car ready to take to the D.I. when I saw the skirt and decided it was worth a try.

Before.
(I actually wore this dress in 2007 to
the Snow Ball that I attended with Phil!)

After.

Next, Phil cleaned out his closet and gave me some of his old T-shirts that he didn't want anymore.  I messed around with a couple of them, but I thought this one was the best.  I turned it into a drapy vest, which I like.  Phil says he has never seen anyone wear a vest like that.  I don't know where he has been for the past two years.

I cut off the sleeves and collar and then some more to make it more vest shaped and
used the fabric from the sleeves to make pockets.
What you see in this pic are pins where I hemmed up the raw edges.

After.

I used the collar for the tie in the back.
It had some texture so it worked well.

My most recent project was glittering these shoes.  They were just a black pair that I never really wore because I had another that I liked better.  I have seen so many cute glittery shoes lately that I woke up one morning and decided to make my own.  I followed a combination of tutorials that I found online and I think they turned out so cute!

Before.

After.

Aren't they great? (Ignore my super white legs).

Well, I think I better stop here. This post seems long already and I really should be doing homework.  

Costume Craze

We went to out Ward Halloween party on Friday and had a great time.  The Primary did a great job with games and treats.  And, best of all, we won first place for best couple costume!

In case you haven't seen the movie, we are:

 

Gnomeo and Juliet

(not Keebler Elves or Smurfs)

The costumes were a combination of things bought at the D.I., things borrowed, things we already had, and things I made.  I think that is the best way to go with costumes!

 

And we laughed at the ribbon, obviously the Ward had a tight budget for the prizes. 

Then, Saturday we went to a party at a friend's house.  Everyone really got into it and dressed up in great costumes.  We had a lot of fun.   Isn't it great that it's only October 16th and we've already gotten to wear our costumes twice?!

Thrift Store + DIY = Lessons Learned

I've always wanted to be one of those people that go thrift store shopping and find great things.  I used to go a lot more when I was younger and I about every other time I went I would find a skirt or shirt or even jeans.  Lately I haven't found much of anything (I know, you are looking at the below picture and thinking, you got that right!), but then I started thinking how much fun it would be to find a piece and then alter it to be something better.  That's when I got the bubble skirt idea. 

Can you turn a boring old DI skirt into a cute bubble skirt?

Typical 90's skirt found in almost all thrift stores.

The answer is yes.  But I'm not going to pretend it was easy.  I sat up one night thinking about how I would do it and it seemed so simple.  All I would need is full skirt with a somewhat pleated waistline, elastic, and my sewing machine.

I found the above at the DI (of course) for $5. There are a few good things about it:

• It's in good condition, no stains, tears, holes or fading
• It has pockets
• It's lined
• It's black, which works with anything

So, after I cut about 5 inches off the skirt, I flipped it all inside out, sewed up the bottom, sewed in a sleeve for the elastic, threaded the elastic, and excitedly turned the skirt right side out again thinking how clever I was only to find out...I had sewn wrong sides together!

So I took out the elastic, took out all the stitches, thought again and was sure I would get it the second time.  I re-pinned, re-sewed, "re-elasticked", and turned my skirt right side out...

I'm not even going to try to explain what happened that time.  Let's just say, I did it wrong...again.

I didn't want to undo all the stitches again, so I cut the lining off from the top off the skirt, turned the skirt the right way and re-sewed the lining on again.  After replacing the ugly white button on the side with a cute black one, this is what I got:

I would definitely do a few things differently next time.  I need to find a fuller skirt, so it bells out more on the sides.  Also, I cut this skirt a tad short, its OK when I'm standing up, but goes up quite a bit when I sit down. Still, I don't think it's half bad for a first try.

I'm determined to do it again and make the next one just right. I would like to find a more colorful or patterned piece for my next try, and hopefully I can get it right without having to re-sew it three times!

Sew Excited!

I bought a sewing machine and I am SO EXCITED! I have been wanting one for quite a while and have been shopping around trying to find a good deal. I don't necessarily sew a lot, but I like to do crafts as well as mending and altering on clothes. I don't mind hand sewing, but sometimes is just takes to long, and doesn't hold up as well.

Well, they have sewing machines at Wal-Mart and Target for around $100 but I wasn't sure if they would last as long, though I found a Brother machine that got really good reviews. Still, I wasn't sure. Lucky for me, my mom is quite the seamstress and knows a bit about what makes a good machine. She came up to Utah to visit and we spent a whole day shopping around. I found mine at a cute shop called Shingleton's owned by a nice couple who have been in the business for years. It's a Janome Sewist 500 and seems like a great little machine. Its sews through denim and seams like a charm and has the most amazing one-step button hole. I've already played around with it a bit, and so far I love it!

I'll start posting some of my projects as they come along.