Monday, August 31, 2009

Blah grey shoes

These are some shoes I bought for $5 which were not sooo cool. I added some fabric poufs made from a tulle that I had kicking around and I am planning on making a purse to match.... eventually.


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Purple

Resized thrift store sweater vest, H&M Dress, BFM belt, Coach bag, Ecco shoes.
Purple is one of my favourite colours!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Cloudy Summer Day


Top remade from thrift store find, Talula skirt, Legwarmers from garage sale, Ecco Nagano boots (my favourite boots), necklace H&M.
It is overcast so I may be wearing a sweater too......

Lame but AWESOME

So yesterday, Aren asked me to make some leg covers for the couch. He said I sould try to use elastic at the top or something so they would stay on better, but also that he didn't want them to be too noticeable. Initially I remembered that he had a few socks with holes in them and I thought perhaps I could use the sock as padding on the underside of the cover - and then I had the best idea EVER. Well maybe not ever.... but I was pretty stoked anyways. I could use the elastic at the top of the sock to keep the cover on! Not amazing, but whatever.

So here we can see the cutout sock pieces. Black to use on the outside with a blue piece as padding, then the elastic top of the sock and finally a fnished Couch Sock. :)
Serging with my NEW serger!! (Thanks Aren)  
       
Before turning all of the layers inside out.   
                    
The Sock.

Couch modeling the sock. Awesome.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Men's Shirt Upcycle

Back in July, I was at my parent's place and my mum was getting rid of a bunch of clothing. This long sleeve men's dress shirt (from my bro) was in the pile. I was bored so I decided to restyle it as a ladies blouse with a belt and pleats/ruffles. So here are a few shots after the fact. A full length and then some detail on the belt (made with parts of the cuff) and the sleeves. Quite cute.



Old Capri Pants = Funny Clutch

I apologize in advance as this is not so much a tutorial as simply a collection of photos which have to do with a clutch project that I made this morning. My mother gave these pants to me the last time I was at her house (along with many other old but still wearable garments-soon to be made into projects!) and I knew I had to make something from them. A ruffly purse I saw in a magazine was the inspiration for this clutch.

One pair of crazy capris....

Draw a pattern on paper and cut it out... (it looks wobbly but I swear it is symmetrical)

Sew two sides together and draw on rough shape of ruffle with sharpie/fabric pen.....

Cut 1 1/2 inch wide strips and serge them together to make one long piece. They will be folded in half and sewn on in an oval fashion until the side is completely covered.

Sewing it on - I "gather" as I go, folding the fabric into a pleat/ruffle shape as I stitch.
Now this is the part where we lose a lot of photos.... I cut out lining fabric in the same shape and attached a zipper. First you sew the zipper to the outside fabric, then you sandwich the zipper between the lining and the outside fabric and sew again. The sides are sewn up (lining to lining and outer to outer). Then it is flipped inside out (since the bottom of the lining has not been sewn) and you serge/finish the inside seam. I am sorry but I got so involved in sewing that I missed taking pictures of that entire part......


The finished bag, and a shot of the inside of the bag. The lining looks lik it is puckering out in the corner as I didn't finish tucking it before I took that picture. It looks really nice now that I tucked it in!

Lamp Revamp Project


It all started with a lamp from Goodwill. It was a hideous rose pink colour with flowers painted on the base but I forgot to take a before picture! I made a stencil out of newspap to make a white out design on the shade. The idea was to have whited out areas with painting around it.


Here we have the beginning of the painting showing the henna inspired design that I drew on the shade. I used a variety of paints, acrylic mostly.


The finished lampshade with all of the angles shown. I am really happy with how it all turned out.



Neuschwanstein

Drawing using felt markers, pencil crayons and sharpies. I love this castle.

Summer Outfit


Numph skirt, Irregular Choice shoes, vintage Mariposa shirt (thrift store!), Caribou antler necklace (B-day gift from Rhonda/Hardy).
I wish summer would last forever....sadly it isn't so....

Immigrant Woman

A painting I did while visiting my mother in July.

Necklace/Earring Frames

This is a project that I made last month. I found it while browsing Cut Out and Keep



I bought the frames at Sally Ann's for $2 or $3 each.



Removed the glass and backing, placed my old IGA flyer on the balcony and got ready to spray.
The spraying wasn't too hard, other than that it was a teeny bit windy. Remember to start spraying BEFORE the frame and end AFTER, so that you don't get the drizzly bits/drippy spots.

A painted frame, drying.
For the earring frame I very fortunately had found some mesh at Goodwill (but you can get it at a craft store). I used the cardboard backing as a guide and voila - a perfect piece of mesh.
For some reason this is sideways, but all it shows is me putting the mesh into the dry frame. You can staple it in afterwards if you want, but my frame had metal clips to hold in the picture and they held in the mesh just fine. These are my ceiling hooks - Peavey Mart special.
I marked off where I wanted the hooks to go and drilled out little holes before screwing in the ceiling hooks. Pre-drilling makes it easier to insert the hooks and keeps them uniform.


Both frames, finished and full! I did make two earring frames, but one was camera shy.
Now I am working on a box for those stray bracelets you see in the picture.......

Sunday, August 23, 2009

My First Post

Can you believe it? I am entering the world of blogging, with my first post EVER. I hope I will be able to keep up with this! For those of you wondering, I am starting this blog to showcase my: fashion/art/music/sewing/cooking/projects/everything.
I had been taking photos already of some of my projects so I will be sure to post those as well.
This first one shows a refashion that I made this afternoon.

As you can see, it WAS a huge 80's sweater and now it is a funky highwaisted skirt.
I know it is August still, but I had winter on my mind and wanted to get a head start on some cozy clothes for fall. Lots more to come!