Wordless Wednesday: Dyeing The Day Away

Don’t Throw Out That Dye!

Are you dyeing eggs this weekend? Do you hate dyeing eggs but desperately need a novelty for your kids on day 9872947 of rain? (If you don’t dye eggs, wait until Monday and pick some up at 50% off clearance. I’m planning on stocking up.)

Just use the old Easter egg dye, dump in 1/2 cup of white rice and let sit for however long you want. Strain and dry in the oven on the lowest temperature it will maintain for a few hours. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

As cool as it looks all on one pan, I’d suggest putting each color in individual pie pans to prevent the colors from bleeding into each other.

I plan on pulling out our jar of rainbow rice on the next rainy day and setting it out on the table in a big tub with cups and spoons for the kids to play with. Or, if I’m being realistic, I’ll put it in 2 separate tubs with exactly the same amount of rice, same color cups, and equal number of spoons.

WIP Coat O’ Doom — FINISHED

I’m really not back but I just HAD to share that my dreaded Coat O’ Doom is finished! It took me almost six months to complete but it is done, done, DONE!

More pictures and a bit of a rundown of my progress can be found here on my Ravelry page.

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. & Mrs Sprat and Purple

Operation Purple was a huge success. The kids were ornery, so let’s hope the pictures were successful too! I big puffy heart my new “hair pretty”,
as Ella would put it.

 

My kids complement each other so well. When it comes to soft boiled eggs,
Ella will only eat the yolks and Miles will only eat the whites.

What to do?

We’re getting family pictures taken tomorrow morning and I simply have not been able to find coordinating purple accents for the whole family. It’s ridiculous.

I ordered a headband for me off of Etsy, which didn’t arrive in time.

The shirt I wanted for Aaron was $40.00 (NO WAY).

No one carries gender neutral dark purple turtle necks or long sleeve tshirts. NO ONE.

Instead of disparaging my fate, I have a variety of 100% cotton garments from Goodwill soaking in dark purple dye in the sink as I type. I’m sure something will turn out, right?

Amazing Goodwill Find

I meandered through Goodwill today, not really looking for any furniture. Suddenly, this beauty stopped me.

Everything is solid and no upholstery to hide bedbugs.

Just a bit of sanding, spray paint, fabric and cushion. All of which I have.

I even have the perfect place for it!

And you really can’t beat that price.

Another Refashioned Shirt

I refashioned another piece of clothing today! Not as successful as the blue dress, I think, but I’ll wear this new creation more than the awkward fitting original. That equals good enough for me since the whole point is utilizing my wardrobe more.

This is the original shirt. Not sure WHAT I was thinking (or thinking at all???) when I got it. I’m sure it looks cute on someone but that someone was not me. Not my style at all or flattering in the slightest.

First, I cut out the neckline, sleeves and shortened the overall length. I then took the trimmed length and pinned in as a small collar, pleating as I went.

I also simply turned the sleeves the opposite direction after removing the dark blue band and reset to create a flutter sleeve. The arm/bust was gaping, so I added bust darts as well.

To finish it off, I added a narrow bias tape to cover the raw seam edge along the collar.

In the end, it isn’t really what I was envisioning. The neckline is a bit awkward, but I hope some careful pressing with an iron tomorrow will fix it.

Current WIP

I started this yesterday, 7/31/10. About an inch accomplished, after knitting the swatch.

I love vintage patterns and am so excited to watch this unfold! I’m thinking a green lining with a petite white polka dot. But that’s getting ahead of myself. I have to finish this first!

95% wool, 5% acrylic (so it should be gently washable).

A “New” Dress

My fabulous aunt sent me a few dresses when I was pregnant with Miles last summer. They were perfect for uplifting my exhausted pregnant spirits — cute, fashionable and NOT maternity clothes, so I could wear them after the baby was born!

I love the feel of knit material as a dress. The soft fabric is so inviting. It’s like wearing pajamas in public without feeling slobbish! The only drawback I had to wearing the lovely blue knit dress is that the straps were ultra thin and my bra straps showed no matter what I did. If I layered a tank top underneath, I couldn’t nurse Miles. Quite the loose/loose situation. Well, not a total loss. I wore it at home the month or so after Miles was born while the weather was still hot, but that’s about it.

So it’s sat in my closet this entire summer, unloved and unworn. For a couple weeks, I’ve had an idea forming in my mind. A picture of what I could make the dress look like if I had the guts to break out the scissors. Finally, I worked up the courage to do it. After all, I wasn’t wearing it the way it was. If it didn’t turn out, there’d be enough material left over to make Ella a sun dress or swimsuit cover up. There would be success, no matter what happened. That thought is what booted my fear out the window and I hid in my partially finished sewing room for a couple of hours and channeled my inner Marisa and got to work.

This is what I had to work with. Lovely blue knit dress from Old Navy, courtesy of Aunt Tammy.

The hardest part — the first cut. I used a safety pin to mark where I wanted the hem to be.

Insert about an hour and a half of me hand stitching alternations. I could have broken out the sewing machine, but I felt like I had more control using a hand needle.

The material for the straps were cut from the side seams of the skirt length. I felt the seams added stability to the straps to prevent them from stretching. These were sewn around the existing straps. I’m all about not burning bridges. I may want to shorten them some day or some such nonsense.

I then cut two strips of material from the hem of the skirt length and gathered them into a ruffle to tack along the neckline. A little bit of flare never hurt anyone, right?

This is the final product! Hooray!

The skirt ended up a little shorter than I anticipated. I think what happened is the weight of the length of the skirt stretched it out some, so when I cut it free, it bounced up a bit. Oh well. I just won’t be wearing it to the park to chase the kids. That’s okay.

Success!!!

Success!!! I am so excited!!!

I attempted to make a skirt, but I wasn’t too impressed with the results. I used this really cute tutorial over at Ruffles And Stuff and it looks great on her, but I just don’t have the same body shape and I felt the skirt looked really boxy on me.

But then I rediscovered Angry Chicken’s tutorial on how to draft your own a-line skirt pattern! I followed her directions exactly and… it came out beautiful. I think my fold over elastic is too heavy, so I’m going to order some  from the store she suggests for my next projects. Either that or my tension is messed up on my sewing machine. Probably a bit of both. I decided that it really doesn’t matter, though, since you can’t see the messy stitches as they’re on the inside of the waist band.

It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.

I absolutely love this fabric! It’s from a vintage sheet set I found at a second hand shop and it is so soft and delicate feeling. The bias trim hem gives the material some weight and prevents it from blowing up at every stray breeze. It also offers a great definition and finish to the overall skirt.

I’m wanting to make myself a structured peasant blouse to go with it. Do you think it should match the pink or yellow in the skirt? Pink because I know it will look good on me or yellow because I should dare to walk on the edge?