wardrobe redux: fitting a too-big blouse

As I may have alluded to once or twice, I have a huge pile of fixer-upper clothes bought with the best of intentions, but I don’t usually get around to fixing them up [this is the most notable exception]; so with that in mind, I debated long and hard [about 5 minutes] about buying this top… the fun print and price [$5.99] did me in, though. AND I fixed it the same day I bought it! Yeah… that’s probably never happening again.

Before [or at least halfway through the process, just imagine there’s a sleeve on my left arm, or maybe don’t, I’m not a huge fan]:



and after:



Much better.

materials -

• blouse that you would like a more tailored fit from
• sewing machine
• seam ripper
• pins
• iron
• bias tape [store bought or self made if you have enough fabric from the blouse]

process -

> Remove sleeves at the shoulder with the seam ripper. Set aside for bias tape making if you have enough fabric.

> Turn shirt inside out and try on. Pinch in sides to estimate how much you'll need to take in, then pin.

> Take off and sew up side seams. Try on again to check fit. Tweak as necessary.

> Once you're satisfied with the fit, finish your arm holes with the bias tape.

I use this method a looooot to rescue Goodwill finds that are too big. This is a double-edged sword because, while it opens you to way more options which is awesome, it also opens you to way more options ie purchasing more than you should. Just because it's there and cute and cheap doesn't mean you have to buy it. This is something I struggle with, haha.

how to make shorts from pants

While perusing various mall shops yesterday, I found a pair of white shorts in Gap, which I liked except for the fact that they were pretty much see-through. No bueno. Then I happened to notice that they still had the white jeans I got last time I was in there for about $5 cheaper than the shorts… cue the lightbulbs. This was the easiest way I could think of to do this, since rolling the hem twice = no need to finish the cut edge. I like shortcuts :D

materials -

• pants
• tape measure
• straight edge
• pencil
• pins
• iron
• sewing machine

process -



Measure the desired inseam length + allowance for the hem to be turned under twice. I wanted the final length to be 4”, with a 1” rolled hem, so I marked 6”.



From the mark you made, draw a line perpendicular to the inseam, then cut along the line.



One leg cut successfully!



Flip your pants over to the other side, making sure the legs are lined up.



Align your straight edge to the cut leg, then draw a line on the non-cut leg so they’ll match up, then cut off the excess.



Line up your tape measure along the inseam and place a mark at 1” and 2” up from the edge. Repeat for the outside seam, then repeat on the other leg.



Use the markings as a guide; fold once at the 1” mark, then again at the 2” mark. Hooray for hiding that raggedy edge! Pin on either side to hold in place, then repeat for the three other seams.



Once your two seams are pinned in place, you’ll need to finagle the rest of the fold to match, then pin it in place. This is what it should look like when it’s done. Repeat for the other leg.



After everything’s pinned in place, use your iron to press the folds so they’re all nice and pretty :D



Here’s what it should look like when everything’s pinned and pressed!



Now, using your handy dandy sewing machine, sew down and back the middle of the outside seam [orange dotted line] a couple of times for security.



Repeat on the inseam, although for this one, I sewed along the outside of the seam [orange dotted line] because I thought it looked nicer :D Repeat this step and the last one for the other leg, then remove all the pins and press with the iron again.



And now you have a new pair of rolled-hem shorts!

quinoa tabbouleh

Ta-what? I can’t even pronounce some of these ingredients, much less what it’s called… who are you and what have you done with the girl who eats fried foods like they’re going out of style?! I know, I know… but occasionally I actually do enjoy eating healthy foods [despite the fact that I’m typing this up while eating some Starbursts… true story], especially when they taste so good you aren’t really even aware of the fact that you’re eating healthy foods because there’s such an epic party going on in your mouth. This recipe sounds all kinds of intimidating, but it’s actually really easy, just a loooot of prep work. Totally worth it, though :D

what you will need -



1 cup quinoa
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 tsp salt
1/2 c lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil

getting down to business -





> First things first, cook your quinoa. Bring two cups of water to a boil, then add in quinoa. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, then remove from heat and drain the rest of the water [there shouldn’t be much left, if any].







> While that’s doing its thing, you got a lot of veggies to chop up. Hopefully you’re faster than me and can chop up everything in less than 30 minutes…. I’m too much of a perfectionist [check out those cucumbers…. unnecessary] to chop up anything quickly…



> Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Refrigerate before serving to let all the flavors mix together.



This stuff tastes awesome when it’s 939261243 degrees outside… it’s really refreshing because of the cucumbers and the lemon juice and the mint. Annnnd since I’m not a food critic or anyone who knows anything about food other than that I like to eat it, I’m gonna quit talking and let y’all try it for yourself :D

pico de gallo

Our garden at the house is starting to have stuff come in - best time of the summer! There’s not a lot better in the world than eating a tomato right off the vine :D We eat a looooottttt of Mexican food at home, and this time of year is awesome [insanely hot temperatures notwithstanding…] because we can get most of the ingredients from the garden - no comparison to store bought veggies!

what you will need:
[there aren’t many fotos because chopping up tomatoes doesn’t mix well with cameras, haha]

3-4 large tomatoes, seeded and cut up
2-3 large jalapenos [more or less depending on how hot you like it], seeded & diced
half a large onion [~1/2 cup], diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely
juice from one lime [~2 tbsp]
2-3 cloves minced garlic [to taste]
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste



Chop up veggies and cilantro and throw into a bowl; add lime juice and spices and mix well. Then devour with some corn chips :D It also tastes awesome in tacos, on nachos, in rice casserole like I had for lunch the other day, and probably lots of other things too!

wardrobe redux: cobalt & white patterned dress

I found this dress at Goodwill a few weeks ago [yesss bathroom mirror fotos!]:



As far as dresses circa mid-late 80s go, it’s not toooo terrible [cue the not quite convinced expression], but not not terrible enough where I would feel compelled to actually wear it in public…. but it fit well [= way less altering] and I like the fabric a lot, so for $3.50, I decided to take it home and add it to my pile of stuff to fix up… and I actually did fix this one up, hooray!

The end result, after shortening the hem about 4 inches, removing shoulder pads/lace collar, and hacking off the sleeves:



I’m pretty excited with how it turned out, although I may play around with the bodice a little more at some point. I do have to say, though, that finallyyy completing one major goodwill alteration successfully has given me a little more motivation to tackle the rest of the ones I have…. stay tuned to see if I actually follow through on that :D

vintage earrings > cocktail rings

I was trolling around Pinterest the other day, as I do far too frequently when given half a chance, when I came across something where someone had taken old clip-on earrings and turned them into rings… genius! There are a few decent old earrings floating around my house, so I made sure to repin that one and headed to Hobby Lobby looking for some ring blanks so I could get started :D

materials-

• old clip-on earrings
• ring blanks [adjustable rings with a pad you can glue/otherwise attach things to]
• super glue
• wire cutters

process -



Take your earrings and, using the wire cutters, remove the clip from the back.



Depending on the earring, you might have a bigger piece of metal left than this one did, which would be nice for purposes of gluing it to the ring.





Put some glue on the back of the earring, then attach to the pad on the ring blank. Allow glue to dry, preferably overnight just to be safe!



Then you can wear/admire your new additions to your ring collection :D

i'm never making another earring holder - aka jewelry organization pt. 2

That’s probably an exaggeration…. haha. This one should be big enough to fit all my earrings for a looong time anyway! This attempt was with the blue frame I got at Goodwill the other day.



Back story: I have quite a few earrings, but most of the time they hide in my jewelry box so I never think about them when I’m getting dressed. A lot of my earrings have stud posts as opposed to the fish hook kind, so, while I liked the idea of the picture frame as earring storage, I didn’t think that’d be the most convenient kind of storage for those, since you’d have to get the back off the other side of the frame. Sooo long story short [they don’t teach you in design school that no one in the real world really cares what your rationale for your project is haha] I decided to cut/reassemble the frame so it’d stand up on my dresser.



This gave me an excuse to see if I still could work a table saw :) After removing the picture/glass/assorted nails, I took the frame, cut it in half, then tilted the blade to a 30 degree angle and cut the ends. I wish we had a chop saw, that would have probably been much easier [aka more cooperative] in that it wouldn’t have spit back leftover pieces in my general direction. Regardless, I made it through with all appendages intact and my frame more or less cut the way I wanted… had to sand a few spots, but that took about 5 seconds with the Dremel. Not gonna lie, I kinda love power tools :D Then I glued the pieces together, let them dry overnight, stapled the burlap into the frame, et voila!



Projects like this make me miss studio/the design process, but hey, I can do stuff like this on my own time now and not have to worry about being graded on it! Now to finish putting the rest of my earrings on there…

burlap brooch display

I had some things to take to Goodwill this morning and made the mistake of going inside to shop afterwards. I think I came out with almost as much as I donated... haha. I wish you got credits for donating stuff that you could spend there - that would be so greatttt.



Among other scores [brand new Banana Republic blouse with the tags still on for $3.50!], I hit the jackpot with these two frames [one without anything in it = less work for me :D]. I’ve been wanting to attempt a jewelry storage picture frame for a while, so these were perfect!

first attempt: smaller picture frame

materials -

• picture frame
• pliers to remove old staples
• staple gun + staples
• burlap
• contrast fabric [I used the edge of some old sheets so I wouldn’t have to sew anything… laziness ftw!]

process -



Remove any leftover staples from frame with pliers. Cut strips of contrasting fabric to a little more than the approximate width and arrange to your liking, then use the staple gun to attach. Staple guns are kind of simultaneously terrifying and way too much fun to use… haha.



I kinda like the frame done just like this… could be interesting wall art if you made a few using similar fabrics and clustered them together :D More things to file away in my mind under the ‘future apartment decor’ category!



Cut a piece of burlap sized about an inch wider all the way around than the opening. I placed the frame on top of the burlap and traced around the outside edge to give myself plenty of extra fabric. Use the staple gun to attach to the inside of one side of the frame, then do the opposite side, making sure to stretch the fabric nice and tight. Once those two sides are done, repeat for the other two sides.



This is what it should look like when you’re done stapling. After that, you can cut the extra burlap so it’s flush with the back of the frame. Just to make sure it won’t unravel, I went around the inside edge with hot glue.



And now you’ve got a fancy jewelry holder! I used this one for my brooches since I always forget about them hiding in my jewelry box. Stay tuned for the next attempt with the blue frame - I’m about halfway through that one because I had to wait for glue to dry - but it involves disagreements with crazy intense table saws and me breaking out my Dremel from its retirement since third year studio, fun times :D

fabric scrap flowers

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to knock a dent in the ridiculous amount of fabric I’ve accumulated over the past couple of years. It’s almost hoarder status - I even keep tiny scraps on the off chance I might find something to do with them. Guess it’s a good thing I did, because I keep seeing flower pins/brooches everywhere on Pinterest, so I thought I’d try my own version today, because Super Bowl commercials can only entertain me for so long :D

materials -

 

• fabric scraps, cut into strips - 1/2” - 1” seems to work the best. I like using a couple different sizes for variation]
• felt scraps - they’re the backing so you can use any color
• hot glue gun - I’m not such a fan of hot glue because it’s so stringy but since it sets up so quickly it’s probably the easiest to use
• scissors
• pins/barrettes/whatever you want to put your flowers on

process -

Put a dab of glue in the middle of your felt scrap. Attach one end of the fabric strip to the glue.

Begin twisting the fabric and wrapping it around the middle, securing with more hot glue.

Continue wrapping and gluing until you reach the desired size.

Once you get to the size you want, trim excess felt, then secure fabric to the back with some glue.

You can stop here and put your flower on a pin or whatever, or you can make several and cluster them together to your liking, then glue them together.

I decided to make a brooch for my first attempt, but I think I’m gonna make some smaller ones and glue them to bobby pins or a headband. They’d be cute as a necklace, too! So many possibilities :D