Topsy Turvy and Totally Green

Have you seen the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter? It's made of a plastic-y fabric, green with a green print. Big and really pretty ugly.



My wonderful Hubby spent yesterday doing some planting. He planted some peppers into our vegetable garden (which hasn't been planted yet this year), potted some herbs and lilies into pots for our front patio, and re-did our strawberry patch yesterday. A few weeks ago he bought one of those Topsy Turvy tomato things and a tomato plant, and it has been hanging in our office window since then. Yesterday he hooked up a hanging rod near our front door- by the new pots- and hung the tomato thing. I'm glad he did it, but it had zero curb appeal!

So today, crafty lady that I am, I grabbed some outdoor fabric and made a cover for it! What do you think?

An Upcycled Skirt

for the Princess, from a pair of jeans. The jeans I bought on eBay at least a year ago, for Hubby, but they were too small and he never wore them. I cut them up and turned them into a super-cute skirt for my little gal!




front




back


pockets!

Wardrobe Refashion, take 1

My first attempt at re-fashioning an item of clothing. I bought these khaki jeans at least 6 years ago and haven't worn them in quite a while (they are a little short).

Following this tutorial, I created a skirt that isn't too bad. It isn't fantastic, but for a first attempt I'm pleased.




I cut the legs off pretty high- just above the crotch. I didn't want to have to resew the crotch like Procraftinate did.


Oops! Be careful when cutting the legs off... I cut off a corner of a pocket, too!


I used the legs of the pants to lengthen the skirt- I cut them lengthwise, then sewed them together to form the body of the skirt. Then I lined the body up with the top half, pinned them together, and sewed.



Finished front view photo taken by the Princess


Finished back view photo taken by the Prince. To finish the bottom edge, I carefully trimmed along what used to be a heavy side seam- now it is a nicely finished bottom edge!

Not Purple or Paisley, but on it's way!

In the mail to Purple and Paisley...



It's far from perfect, but this model has fewer "yuckies" than my first attempt (which I'm keeping for myself). The pattern said to hand-sew the handles, but I couldn't figure out how that would work- and I didn't think that anything I came up with would be nearly as strong as my machine stitching, so I tried to make it look nice.



Brand-new labels! Fresh from Spoonflower! I got my first order last week and have been waiting to show it off... it came right when my computer started to blip. I plan to do a post on the whole process soon.

I know it isn't purple or paisley, but I love the blue jacks fabric- I hope you like it!

WINNER!

This post is going to be super quick, more coming later today, I promise.

Imagine this bag in these fabrics:


To be completed today. Photo coming asap.


And now for the exciting part... drum roll, please...







Purple and Paisley, please email me your snail mail address! Congratulations!

Matchy-matchy

I'm making 3835 again. This time I'm adding an inch in width to both the front and the back, and 2 inches to both the length and the sleeves. I'll put in side slits again, probably 3-4 inches.


all cut out, ready to sew

I'm making a matching shirt for a dear friend (but I'll skip the extra width for hers!), and a matching 4206 for the Princess (I'm adding 5 inches to the length and an inch in width to my pattern that is 75% of the size 3).


the photo makes the design clearer than it really is- in person, the contrast isn't nearly as obvious

I'm making all of these matching shirts for a group picture. We'll be in these shirts and jeans, the boys (Hubby, friend's hubby, their son, the Prince, and my brother) will be in black t-shirts and jeans. The fabric I'm using for our shirts is black with a gray/black floral print... I couldn't bring myself to make these out of a solid black. I think that we'll look nice, my mom thinks we'll look like "gang-bangers". My dad considers all 8 of us to be his "kids"... this picture will be a Father's Day gift for him.

When I have these shirts done, I've still got a long list of things to work on- I'm still here, just busy this week!

Kitchen Facelift

Before:


dirty, kid-stained chairs




another stained chair and the ugly curtains


the ugly curtain over my kitchen sink

After:


new full-length curtains over the sliding door




the new curtains have a nice strip of dusty purple at the bottom; also notice the newly reupholstered chairs- they have a thick clear vinyl over the fabric (to protect them from my children!)


I made tie-backs for this curtain and the one over the kitchen sink... I love it when they're open!


kitchen window


My kitchen is purple- I love how the fabric matches the paint!


Conclusion:
I love my much-needed kitchen facelift!

Finished Shirt! OR 3835 Take 1

My first attempt at Simplicity 3835 is done! I used a fabric that I love (but haven't had a use for), and was really hoping that it would fit... it does!



I added 4 inches to the length, 2 inches to the sleeves, and a 6 inch slit on each side (for ease of movement). It fits really pretty well! At first I thought it felt a bit snug in the sleeves and chest, but after wearing it for the past 20 minutes or so, I'm quite comfortable. It fits like a t-shirt, but doesn't have the give that jersey knit does- very helpful in putting it on and taking it off...



I wanted this to be a bit long, but I probably won't add quite as much length next time- maybe I'll try 2 inches.



Isn't it purdy? :)

WIP Week

This week I'm focusing on making progress and finishing some unfinished projects.

Being a bit of an overachiever, I'm almost done with all 12 setting blocks for the SQAL. They just need to be stitched together (each block is currently in 3 pieces, I'll chain-stitch them and it won't take long to finish):



This week's block for the SQAL is done; but I didn't like how the last row looked, so I'm ripping out the seam and I'll re-stitch it.


I have a shirt that I started at least a week ago, I'm hoping to get back to it and finish it tonight or tomorrow.


The prince has a project he'd like me to do. He wants a tower to go with the rocket that I made a while back... please don't laugh too hard at my slightly-abstract rocket.


I'd like to make several more blocks for my two-color quilt. I really would like to be making at least 5 blocks every day. The strips are cut, they just need to be sewn together. Unfortunately, I've put this project on the back burner and haven't touched in in at least 3 weeks. Still have a goal of having the top done by the end of this month.... fingers crossed, nose to the grindstone.

Thrift, Schmrift

I keep reading about what other bloggers have found thrifting... many, many sheets seem to have been purchased at thrift shops somewhat recently. These sheets seem to have been used mainly to make quilts and shirts and dresses and skirts.

Thrift shops are fun, no doubt; but I have young kids and they make any shopping a bit stressful- I'd rather not take them with me to look for old sheets and other fabrics.

I KNEW we had some old sheets buried away in a box in our basement, I just needed to dig them out. I was picturing one sheet in particular that I wanted to make a shirt out of, and was hoping to find said sheet in that box. Tonight I went searching and found sheets that not only had I completely forgotten about, I don't remember ever owning!

I now have a pile of sheets, ready to become a new spring wardrobe of shirts (and a skirt, maybe a dress or two... and definitely another pair of lounge pants).

Needleturn Applique

I mentioned in my last post that I had a plan for some decoration for the next thing I will make with 4206... I'm using the tutorial that I found here and here (it's a 2-parter) and am learning to needleturn applique. Joanna did a fantastic job explaining this process and I wasn't hesitant at all to jump right in and try.

I'm doing this project for the Princess' birthday- I'll get a couple pictures in this dress on her big day, then she'll wear it again at her party. I'm basing it on a set of 4 shirts that she received as a baby gift, saying 3 (months), 6 (months), 9 (months), and 1 (year). The months/year part was hard to read, so it looked like they said 3, 6, 9, and 1. She didn't wear them very often, but the 1 shirt was great for her birthday- and looks great in pictures from her party!



So, based on that shirt is coming a "2" dress.

The fabric is cut:



I printed out my design, traced it onto my fabric, and cut it out (leaving a seam allowance). Then I pinned my design to the fabric:





The printed "2" and the fabric I've chosen:



A rough estimate of how the final product will look:



And now- just for fun- pictures of my ancient iron and sewing machine. Because I know you want to see them!


No annoying auto-shutoff feature on this baby!




I started sewing the applique last night, and it doesn't look terrible. Not fantastic, but certainly fine for a first attempt. I think I may run it under the sewing machine when I'm finished, just to make sure that the circle isn't going anywhere- this will be worn by a toddler!