Blue Jean Blues

I have a project to share involving a jean revamp...

At the beginning of my third year of college, I bought a pair of dressy, dark-wash trouser jeans by iT! Jeans, and they were awesome. The fit was perfect, and they looked great with a pair of heels or a pair flats (with the wide hem cuffed).

I still have this pair of jeans, and they're in great condition. However, I noticed that I wasn't wearing them that much because they had faded significantly since I first bought them, thus demoting their status from dressy trouser jeans to casual trouser jeans (insert sad face here). "Casual" and "trouser" should not be used to describe an article of clothing, in my opinion. 

So instead of buying a new pair of dark-wash jeans, I decided to dye them! I used Rit powder dye in navy blue and a 5 gallon bucket to carry out the procedure according to the package directions (they were in the dye bath for about half an hour). The best part about this project: the total cost was $3! I am so impressed with how the jeans turned out. I had never dyed anything except for a swatch of dotted Swiss in cranberry juice, and I was a bit skeptical that the wash would be transformed. I was willing to try it out for $3, and I am quite happy with the results! It's like I have a new pair of jeans!

One of my favorite local shops in Charlottesville called jean theory: has new and "inherited" jeans. I scored a great pair of Lucky Jeans there a few months ago for $20, and I'm thinking about dyeing them, too. Anyway, below are the before and after photos; needless to say, my blue jean blues have disappeared! 

Before:

After:

Friday, I'm in Love

...with my green toes!  I got my second ever pedicure yesterday after work, and to follow the summer 2011 trend, I went with a bold, non-conventional color.  China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover.  I kind of love it.  What do you think, too much?

Below is a long-awaited photo of the first shirt I ever made:  the Amy Butler Anna Tunic.  To new apparel seamstresses, I would not recommend sewing a shirt for your first project; I kind of had a tiny meltdown, which included H. telling me that I turned into an R. monster.  I would not recommend trying an Amy Butler pattern for your first piece of homesewn clothing either.  While they have a very professional and finished look, I got really frustrated by my amateurness and not knowing exactly how to do everything the pattern asked me to do.  The instructions were very thorough, but as my second apparel project, I did not enjoy making it, which defeats the purpose in my opinion.  However, I learned a lot on this project and I do love wearing it!

The red fabric used for the brooch matches the fabric-covered buttons

on the back of the blouse, my favorite part of the shirt.

Also, check out this sweet link for 52 free dress patterns! 

Tie Dye on the Highway

I'd like to tell you that this post is about a lovely sunset while driving down the highway,but it is not.  It is, however, about a dyeing experience I had yesterday morning.  I've been getting up earlier than usual and doing productive things before going to work like cutting fabric, sewing and laundering.  It's a new thing I've begun doing (getting out of bed earlier) because well, who doesn't like being productive?  Yesterday's morning project was dyeing.

Let me rewind and give you a brief view of my April (I'm making excuses for not blogging, obviously).  H. was sworn in at the U.S. Supreme Court, then his birthday was the same week (then a birthday party where we made 13.5 pounds of barbecue), and then I finished my white shirt I told you guys about (pictures later).  Oh, and I designed and sewed a skirt last week, which was really fun (pictures later).  I'm kind of obsessed with fabric-covered buttons right now (as evidenced by the buttons on the back of my white shirt I'm going to show later), so that's how I wanted the skirt to close in the back; the only problem was that I didn't leave the opening large enough, meaning that I must put the skirt on over my head to wear it.  How do mistakes help us?  They force us to learn and grow.  Moving on now.

I am making a brooch to sit atop my newly sewn and flawed white shirt.  The buttons I used on the shirt were covered with a lovely red floral print fabric, from which I cut pieces for my brooch.  The little flowers are slightly pink, so for the center of my brooch I wanted to use some slightly pink fabric.  This is what led me to dyeing.

I had some leftover white Swiss dot fabric from my shirt, so I cut a couple of swatches of it to dye.  Keep in mind that what I'm getting ready to describe happened in about 15 minutes and that I have no experience with dyeing other than with tea.  I filled a bowl with Ocean Spray 100%, no sugar added, cranberry juice, put two little pieces of fabric in the bowl and stirred.  I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that adding vinegar during one of the dyeing steps helps to set the color, so I added a little bit of vinegar (no measuring involved).  Once the color was a tidbit darker than I wanted it, I took the fabric pieces out of the cranberry juice and rinsed them with water.  

My concern with using the Ocean Spray juice to dye the fabric was that I wanted to make sure to get any sugar from the juice rinsed out of the fabric.  What happened next still puzzles me, in a, I-haven't-really-looked-into-the-situation-any-further, kind of way:  I put a dab of Arm & Hammer's perfume-and-dye-free laundry detergent on the fabric pieces and ran them under some cold water.  I don't remember the exact moment at which this happened, but when I put the detergent on the fabric and ran it under cold water, both pieces of fabric turned a gross, greenish gray, snot color!  I needed to leave for work in less than five minutes, so I was a little peeved about the unexpected color change; therefore, I rinsed the green color out of the fabric, dipped it in more cranberry juice for about one minute and then rinsed it off with water.  I thought, to heck with getting the sugar out, then I hung it up to dry.  When I got home, I was able to use the fabric for the center of my new brooch, and it was the perfect color, yay!  Feel free to laugh at my amateur dyeing, but it got the job done in the long run.  And the project was for me, which is different than if I would have been selling the thing.  As with the many things in life, it's about the journey, not the arrival, yeah?

Scallops

I knew this was going to happen, but I'll say it, I want a dressmaker's form.  Goll-eee, it would rock to own one of those puppies. 

Right now I've got two sewing items on the sewing table, er, my kitchen table:  my white shirt, and my very own design.  All you guys have seen on the R-design is the sleeve; yesterday in my sewing class I tweaked the sleeve design and added the bodice.  Now I have to make the pattern on my sweet roll of wide tracing paper.  I'm a bit nervous about the pattern drafting mainly because of all the pleats in my sleeve, but I will get through it.

In my inexperienced apparel sewing life (by that I mean, I've only finished a skirt), I've learned a couple of things about myself:  turning tubes right-side-out literally drives me to tears, I love pleats, and I'm pretty much obsessed with scalloped edges.  The shirt that I designed is covered in pleats, which I love, but because I've never sewn pleats, I'm fully prepared to get a little frustrated at first and then tackle it with tearless self control.  And these Marc Jacobs flats don't help my scallop addiction:

I want to make a simple skirt out of the below fabric (which I already own) with a scalloped hem, using this tutorial.  What do you think?

Pastry Line Saffron from the Little Folks Voile collection by Anna Maria Horner

Bend and Not Break

Happy Sunday afternoon to everyone!  Dad and Mom skipped town right after lunch because, as evidenced by Virginia's recent wild weather, it was snowing down south while it was monsooning here in Charlottesville.  Basketball's not the only thing experiencing March Madness...

I blog today with a heart full of joy because I have finished my very first piece of handmade apparel:  my reversible wrap skirt!  I had several ups and downs while making this skirt.  First and foremost, I consider myself a novice in the vast world of sewing.  I have read article after article and book after book about how to carry out multiple sewing techniques, such as gathering, inserting zippers, sewing buttonholes , etc. Some of you might have just said to yourselves, "Child's play!" but I have yet to try them out.  I suppose I should practice, but I really like to dive right into the project.

Anyway, my low point on this wrap skirt project came when I was turning the ties right-side-out.  Something so simple turned me into the frustrated, irritable R.-monster.  I broke down in tears, people.  Seriously.  That was last Saturday.  I have come a long way since then.  I just wanted to share that tidbit because while I love making things with my hands, sometimes I would like to strangle my projects in a world where they had necks.  I am proud to say, though, that I have conquered this wrap skirt, even though I wanted to finish it before March.  FYI, the pattern I used is called the Audrey Wrap Skirt by Fig Tree Quilts.  I was concerned that it wouldn't drape right or even worse, look like I was wearing a quilt as a skirt, but I'll let you be the judge of that.  

I'm sure most of you have figured out that I love polka dots.  And I love red.  So here we go, ta-da:

Quite possibly the coolest thing about Audrey is that she's a two-in-one skirt:  that's economical, eh? I was expecting to favor the polka dot print, but I fell in love with the blue floral 1930s print (from the Betty Dear collection, designed by Darlene Zimmerman), and its my favorite "side" of the skirt:

You Can Keep Your Hat On

...because it's cold outside!  I finished my green hat and made a pom pom for the top of it, just in time for our predicted snow showers tonight.  As it turns out, you don't need one of those fancy-schmancy pom pom makers.  I made mine with my fingers, some yarn and a pair of scissors, and it turned out pretty good (for my first pom pom).  I fear that I've started an obsession.  Raise your hand if you love pom poms!!!

Gold

This image makes me want to redesign my entire apartment.....or just the bedroom.  Isn't it lovely? 

  Johnny Valiant via Color Collective

I'm officially on vacation from 1:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon until Monday, January 3, how amazing is that?  Everyone have a merry Christmas filled with love, joy, friends and family!

DIY Time:  From Newspaper to Gift Bag! 

Baby, It's Cold Outside

...Well, it wasn't cold outside when the below photo shoot took place.  My friend Magpie went to Lebanon with me for a long weekend in July, and we went antiquing with my parents one afternoon.  We found this fur coat priced at a whopping $20.00, and my dad tried tirelessly to get Magpie to buy the coat (because check her out, she is totally stylin' and profilin')!  While Magpie didn't buy the coat, it did provide us with a few minutes of free entertainment.  Here goes:

Check out Mom!

Me trying not smile, you know, like the models do.  I don't think this look works for me, haha.  Why is it that they never smile?

And my favorite shot of the day would have to be Magpie.  I suppose you can guess that we were trying this coat on in July...

Oh, I made the pieces of Heaven homemade marshmallows last night, they were soo yum yum!  They were a very fun project to make.  

DIY Time:  Farfalle as a Gift Bow!  I always run out of ribbons and bows when I get down to wrapping the last gift or two.  This is a neat idea; I may have to try it out!

12 Days of Christmas

...More like the 12 parties of Christmas.  Since December 3, I have been to 8 Christmas parties, and I'm totally worn out.  I'm not tired of Christmas, but I'm ready for real food, you know?  I want every steamed veggie I can get my hands on right now-I'm craving healthy food (not the yummy and wonderful finger foods and dips I've been devouring for the past 3 weeks. 

This afternoon, I finished my last sewing project of the year, thank goodness (only one more knitting project to go!).  Now I'm lounging on the couch watching one of my favorite Christmas movies from childhood, Home Alone: Lost in New York City.  My brother and I even had the original Nintendo game that accompanied this movie.  It was wonderful. 

Tonight I'm trying out the pieces of Heaven homemade marshmallows, so I'm excited to see how they turn out.  I will report back on those. 

DIY Time:  Vintage Earrings!  Looking for a last minute Christmas gift idea?  Well this one looks like a great, time-efficient and gorgeous project.  Have a great Sunday everybody!

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

I'm making my list and checking it twice this week, making sure everything I need to do before Christmas is on the itinerary.  Christmas is two weeks from tomorrow, and my goal of giving something handmade to everyone on my list is attempting to become a reality.  Seriously, I should have started on this endeavor in July.  But that's beside the point.  

I've got goals and deadlines, all to be met before the end of next week!  Here's what I need to complete this weekend: 2 sewing projects I've already started and 2 yarn projects (should be pretty quick).  I'm on the highway to productivity this weekend, whoohoo!  Then next week, I have two more yarn projects to start and finish, but I'm still waiting on supplies to arrive from here, so they'll have to wait.  The other day my right index finger started hurting, so I'm just praying that my hands will be able to work like little elves in the next week and then I will give them a much needed break.

I saw this blog post today, and I loved it, thought it was a riot, and think everyone who has a sense of humor should read it.  My favorite line would have to be:  "If you think your hot-ness is more important than your country, Lisa, keep up the pre-Christmas diet.  Help put thousands, nay millions of our fellow Americans out of work."  Just read it.

DIY Time: Fabric-Covered Thumbtacks!  These do not require sewing either, so it's a relatively quick project.

Greener

My eyes are green, my favorite color is green, my favorite bowls in the kitchen are green, the mug on my desk at work is green, how much greener can my life get?  I understand the ecological pun this question poses, but let's not dwell on that; I eat healthy, people, and while that doesn't mean "organic," it does mean healthy.  I also reuse grocery bags in trash cans.  Enough said.

Green beans are one of my favorite things to eat, and I mean, they're right up there with mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.  It may come as a surprise to you that the first time I ever ate green bean casserole was about a year ago (made by Javalady).  If you think your mouth is on the floor, I wish you could see mine.  Green bean casserole is a revelation, and whoever thought it up over at Campbell's in the 1950's struck gold (in my opinion)!  Last night, I made the first of a long line of green bean casseroles.  I altered the recipe slightly, as I didn't have any milk, and I added a few more fried onions.  So here's my variation:

Green Bean Casserole

1 can Cream of Mushroom
1/2 c. Half 'n Half + 1/4 c. water
2 cans cut green beans, drained
1/2 t. black pepper (or to taste)
1 1/2 c. French fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour cream of mushroom into a mixing bowl.  While stirring, slowly add the half 'n half and water to avoid lumps.  Then add green beans, pepper and 3/4 c. French fried onions.  Pour mixture into a 2-quart (or thereabouts) baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.  Then pour the remainder of the French fried onions on top of your casserole and bake for another 5-10 minutes.  

Maybe I'm crazy for loving green bean casserole, maybe I just jumped on the bandwagon super late in life, but all I know is that I ate green bean casserole for breakfast this morning and it rocked.  So yeah, I guess you could say that my life got a little greener yesterday evening at dinner time.  P.S. Please don't read into my comment about eating healthy because the jury's still out regarding the nutrition-value of the above casserole.  For what it's worth, I think one could count it as a vegetable serving or two, depending on how much you eat.

DIY Time:  Poppy Brooches!  The only "sewing" involved in this project is with a glue gun, so it's very doable.  I made them for Christmas gifts last year and they were a huge hit! 

Every Day I Write the Book

I'm a huge fan of calendars and planners.  Especially the kind that can fit into a purse/bag, and especially those that show the entire month within two pages.  I am a big-picture person, and as a result, I love to see as much time displayed as possible (with enough space to write).  Last December, I found the calendar of my dreams and have been (happily) using it all year long; click here and here to see a preview of it.  Sometimes I abandon a planner if I don't love it.  But this one is very manageable in a way that doesn't make me a slave to it, and for the upcoming year, I am downsizing to the compact size, so we'll see how it goes.  

In some ways, I think calendars and planners are journals; I was discussing this with a friend yesterday.  She writes down everything she does in the day, whether it was going to lunch with a friend or going to The Jefferson to see a show.  I love journaling, but as I get older, I'm finding that I rarely set the time aside to do it.  In 2011, I would like to change that, and maybe calendar-journaling would be a good way to do this...Food for thought. 

DIY Time:  Vintage Postcard Calendar Journal!  I am a huge list-maker, and this project is a phenomenal way to keep a journal in the form of a list and keep it compacted into several years in a fashionable manner.  I want to make one (and it would be a great gift for someone, too)!

Photobooth

My friend Niknak and her fiance had their engagement photo shoot last Friday, and the pictures are now up.  I'm soooo impressed with their photographer.  I can't stop scrolling up and down their photographer's website; she does beautiful work, and I want everyone to see Niknak, Al, Charlie and Roxie.  Plus, if their post gets 100 comments, then they get a free print; so head on over and comment on the lovely autumnal photos of them posing in Richmond's Fan.

I get to go Lebanon tonight, yippeeeee!  It will be a wonderful week.  I plan on prepping some sewing + knitting projects, lapping up family time and doing a very minute amount of shopping with my cousin Cort on Friday.  And by shopping, I mean hitting up Hobby Lobby (the best craft store of all time) and antiques in Kingsport.

I have been feeling super culinarily uninspired lately; I even participated in one of those recipe email exchanges that I've always snarked at, but I haven't made anything from the recipes I received from that endeavor.  As it turns out, I did not receive the 400 recipes that the email leads you to believe you will receive, but I did get quite a handful.  I feel like a blob in my kitchen, eating chips, salsa, ice cream and deli sandwiches (in that order).  Bring on Thanksgiving!

DIY Time:  Yarn Wreath. You mustn't know how to knit to craft this beauty.  Niknak directed me to this link, and you can check out her yarn wreath; it's lovely in person.  I made a Christmas-themed one when I visited her this past Saturday, but I'd like to make one for every season. 

Money, Money, Money

Last night I had a little change-rolling party and watched Legends of the Fall. 

Today, I have $35.50 to show for it.  Get your change out, people, that's unaccounted for money that you could be saving, giving, spending, etc!  I know people that actually think they will have bad luck by snatching a penny tail-side-up.  

My mom always picks up stray pennies.  The way she sees it is, it's one more penny that she didn't have, and pennies add up to dollars and so on.  I probably sound like a first grade teacher.

DIY Time:  Bath Fizzies!  I haven't tried this out, but I've always wanted to make my own!  Great gift idea...someone in the reviews suggested using cookie cutters instead of the ice cube trays.  If anyone tries this out, let me know!

Celebration

Happy Election Day, everybody.  I hope everyone is celebrating by voting at the polls.  I'm planning on casting my vote after work this evening.

When we celebrated my mom's birthday, I made two party garlands.  I made this one from French General's Home Sewn book:

The second one I made was from a blog called Thimbly Things.  I made a cupcake liner garland out of leftover miniature Christmas cupcake liners (white with red polka dots) and mustard-colored yarn.  Wouldn't a Christmas-themed garland be super cute?  I have some leftover snowmen liners from last year that I might hang with some red butcher's twine...Is it sad that I'm already wanting to decorate for Christmas?

DIY Time:  Cupcake Liner Garland  The fun thing about this project is that you probably have the materials just laying around the house! 

November Has Come

Ya'll.  Is anyone else freaking out that it's November?  Time flies when you're having fun, huh?  This past weekend, I successfully dodged dressing up for Halloween.  I have never liked Halloween, other than eating copious amounts of candy (although my least favorite candy that regularly graced my treat bucket were those solid black and orange wrapped peanut buttery chewy candies), so I was happy to do that and admire the little people lurking with ravenous sweet teeth as well.

I got to go with Niknak and watch her pick out the dress for her wedding.  One word:  glowing. 

I went to Carter Mountain Orchard and picked up some yummilicious Fuji and Gala apples for munching this week.

H. and I went for a drive out in Monticello country and up to the Barboursville ruins to take another bite out of history up here in Central Virginia.  Mr. Barbour was a governor of Virginia back in the day, and Thomas Jefferson designed his mansion (complete with the octagonal room).  I got really sad when we read that the mansion burned down on Christmas day in 1884.  What a terrible day to have your house burn down (not that other days are better, but you get what I mean).

Saturday, H. and I went over to Poochie and her hubby M.'s house to play The Game of Life, and it was awesome.  A little tidbit about the game, though:  to win The Game of Life, you only have to have the most money.  Something in me cringed when I read the rule; this is what we're teaching our children.

And then yesterday I was a substitute player on H.'s kickball team, which was super fun.  I'm thinking about joining a kickball league here now...

When November hits, I start planning my Christmas gift-making shenanigans.  My goal for Christmas 2010 is to give everyone on my list something handmade.  I like to make most of the magic happen in November to avoid stress in December.  Christmastime is wonderful, and I love going to Christmas parties (and getting to wear sequins) and gallivanting around the mall listening to Jingle Bells and taking in all the decorations (even if I don't buy anything).  At the end of every post until Christmas, I hope to put a link to a DIY project that I have either tried or have in my bank of diy projects that I would like to try.  See the first DIY Time below!

DIY Time:  6-Pocket Bag:  This cute bag is a cinch to sew; it took me only a couple of hours!  I made this for my mom; she totes her lunch in it to work.  Happy November!