~Memory Blanket....made from clothes~

For me, what makes hand made 

gifts so special is the love 

and emotion that goes into it.

I'm thinking of the person I make it for 

throughout the entire process. 

This next thing I'm going to share with you

is one of the most emotional projects

I've ever worked on.

Eight and a half years ago, a very dear friend

of mine passed away suddenly, leaving two 

little boys and a husband behind. 

Her husband kept her clothes in the exact

place she'd left them in her closet and drawers

for six years. About two and a half years

ago, he asked me to go thru her clothes with him.

He wanted me to keep some of them to 

make blankets for the boys. 

Going thru her closet....that was rough.

tears. missing. laughter. memories.

I brought the clothes home that I'd set aside for the blankets

and had to wait another year and a half before

I had it in me to start working on the blankets.

I had a good excuse and a deadline....

her oldest son was getting married. 

I started it a couple months in advance. I'd

never made a blanket out of T-shirts before and I

had no idea how I was going to pull it off. 

This wasn't a project I went balls to the walls

and completed in a couple days...I could have...

but there were times I just had to put it aside

and step away. Man...I miss her.

There were also times it was like she was

sitting right next to me as I was working

on it. I swear I could have reached out and

touched her....I can't describe it. 

She was here...with me, making this for her son...and it's

like it was a gift from her too. 

I wanted to make sure the clothes I was choosing

held memories for her son as well.

The panels are from T-shirts, pajama pants, 

sweatshirts, her work shirt, swim shorts, etc.

I sewed the panels together, put a layer of batting 

in between and backed it with a flat sheet.

A couple of the panels had pockets on them.

I printed up pictures of her on fabric paper,

backed them with fabric from more of her clothes,

and hid them in the pockets. 

 This one is a pic of her and her oldest boy,

when he was about 5 or 6 years old...we were sledding.

I got the saying I printed on the pic from a 

children's book....I can't remember the name of the book.

I thought the words were PERFECT.

I was pleased with the finished product.

It gave me a great sense of accomplishment...

Her son loved it, he cried when he got it.

The ceremony was beautiful and heart wrenching all

at the same time. It hurt my heart that it was such

a big day for her son and she didn't live to see it.

This mourning business is so complex.

Lots of hidden cracks and crevices.

Just when you think you've moved on and 

accepted it....BAM! 

She may not have lived to see it but she

was there that day....and she was happy...

and she was proud of her boy. 

And so am I.

~recycled hair pretties~

 I pull my hair up. A lot.

Like...almost everyday.

Especially in the summer.

It's just too hot to wear it down most days. 

I love a little bling in my hair and

I got this bright idea to refashion a couple 

of REALLY old barrettes that I haven't worn

for a long time. I haven't got rid of them because

I like the size....one is real big and the other is real small.

They were very plain and boring...which is why 

I rarely used them. Honestly-I'm shocked I've

kept them this long.

I took this:

 ...and turned it into this:

 My little guy took the pics and was so proud of himself.

"Ooh...this is a good one Mom."

The small barrette I didn't get a before picture of.

It was just a little, clear barrette. 

This is what it looks like now:

I wear this A LOT now.

I actually didn't have to use the E-6000 glue

for these. The embellishments already had an

adhesive on them and they stuck really well

to the barrettes. I found these embellishments

in the scrapbook section at Michael's.

They are scrapbook stickers! 

Who would have thought?

This is about the easiest refashion I have 

EVER done. And I figure all the hairspray

I use will just help to permanently affix 

these do-dads onto the barrette. 

 

~silky shirt transformation~

 My friends all know I love to re-vamp clothes

and because of that I often become the recipient of

bad shirts like this:

It's OK for me to say the shirt was bad.

My friend knew it when she gave it to me 

and she never wore it herself. Her Mom,

bless her heart, gave her this shirt to wear

for a job interview......LAST YEAR!

Needless to say, my friend didn't wear it 

to the interview. Instead she gave it to me.

I love the challenge of taking something that 

is not wearable (for my taste) and transforming

it into something that I love. 

I love polka-dots and really wanted to 

find a way I could wear this.

This is what I came up with:

I wanted to give it a more modern shape.

The first thing I did was cut that elastic band

off the bottom of it and turned it under with a hem. 

After that took off the buttons and

sewed it together right up the middle. Next I changed the 

neckline to be a v-neck instead of that round crew neck (ugh).

The last thing I did was make a cut-out at the shoulder

and tucked the sleeve at the top and bottom.

 I like the final product and I think I'll wear it a lot.

It's one of those shirts I can wear when 

I'm feeling chubs because it's forgiving 

and hangs nice but it also has that little edge

I like in my clothes :) 

And really, how often do you say,

"My shoulders look fat today."

NEVER!

~embellished girls boots~

 My little lady LOVES boots and she has outgrown

the 2 pairs she had. She keeps trying to squeeze her

little chubs into them and gets seriously pissed 

that no matter how hard she tries they just WILL NOT fit.

I pulled out these little winter boots I saved 

from when our son was a babe.

Truth be told, they were fine and feminine enough

just like this. In fact-I tend to think they tip more

on the feminine side than the masculine side.

BUT-they were the only warm boot we could find

for our son when he was a babe and we went with it.

When he wore them they actually didn't look 

girly at all because the fur was always covered.

I don't know if it's because I associate them with

my son or if it's because I just love to embellish things

but YOU KNOW I had to add a few little things to

make these scream, "GIRL! girl! GIRL!"

 I found some embellishments in my collection here at home

so I didn't have to buy anything. I have intended to make

some leg warmers for her with the long socks but 

need to wait until she gets a little bigger. I cut a little off

the top to use for this....leaving enough to still allow

for the legwarmers when I am ready to make them.

 It's easy.....just pull out your glue gun and start gluing!

I did it in 5 minutes.

I slipped the sock over the top of the boot to see if

I liked them (which I DIDN'T) but my little lady 

threw a fit when I tried to take it off. Here's a picture of

them on her feet.....cute huh?

 I like them better without the sock around the top.

 What do you think?

~t-shirt transformation~

 My friend's son has really cool taste in 

t-shirts. He likes them rock-n-roll style.

On Sunday I was lucky enough to intercept 4

of these shirts that he had discarded into the 

"donate" bag because they no longer fit him.

SCORE!

These are the exact shirts I love to transform.

I've already re-vamped two of them....

Here's the first one:

One thing I love about re-vamping t-shirts is 

that they are so easy and they don't have to

be perfect to be cute and wearable. 

I mean....it's just a t-shirt. 

 The first thing I do when I re-vamp a shirt is 

cut off the crew neck collar.

HATE THEM.

For a person who is well endowed in the boob

department and very short (which I am both)

-crew necks ARE NOT flattering.

In fact, in my humble opinion, crew necks

are really not flattering on most people.

After cutting the neckline much bigger, I needed

to do something to bring it in so I made this little

tuck in the center. I then cut the sleeves off a little

and  did pull thru slits all the way up both sleeves.

I still needed it to fit tighter around the neckline

so I went ahead and did pull thru slits across

the top back of the shirt.  

Not perfect.....not any of it.....

but it's cute anyway and has more personality

than just a plain 'ol t-shirt. 

And here's the back story to this concert shirt.

TRAPT.....

A spur of the moment concert that Jolie

and I went to. I had just had my daughter

about 3 weeks prior and I was needing

to get out of the house. The concert was

at a small venue downtown.

At some point during the 

concert the place in which we were standing

had turned into a mosh-pit and we were 

almost dead center of it. Jolie puts her arms

out and screams as she's dragging me out 

of it, "Precious cargo! Full momma boobs

right here folks! Make a path!" 

Obviously-I had VERY 

full boobs because I had a newborn baby

at home and they were extremely tender AND FULL 

at that point in the night. 

Jolie wanted to get her little guy a

shirt from the concert and this was the shirt

she got him. We ended up meeting 

the band after the show......

Two words.

Douche. Bags.

At least the shirt is cute.

~skirt turned dress tutorial~

 Remember this skirt:

...that I turned into this:

For any of you interested in doing this

EASY transformation, here's how I did it.

Let me just tell you before we get started...

my pictures suck! There's just no way around

that at this point so I just had to make due

with the pictures I had. I hope between the 

pictures and the written instruction, you

will be able to follow. 

First off-start with a long skirt. I got

this skirt at a local thrift store for $5. 

It can be any material but I recommend a cotton

or polyester blend....these will be easiest to hem.

IT HAS TO HAVE AN ELASTIC WAISTBAND!

Next-put the bra on that you intend to wear

with the dress once it's complete....this is important

because you want to make sure and place the

straps of the dress so they cover your bra straps.

Put the skirt on and pull it clear up over your boobs

in order to determine how long you want it and

how much you'll need to take off the bottom. 

Place a pin where you want the length to be.

Take the skirt off now and let's begin!

You've marked with the pin where you want 

the length of the skirt to end up so we need

to add a bit for a hem allowance. From the

point of the pin, add an inch towards the bottom

of the dress (this is our hem allowance) and mark

with your marking pen or chalk. 

Now, you will need

to measure the distance of the bottom of the original

hem to the mark you just made.....mine was 3".

Now go around the entire skirt, making a 

mark every couple inches to determine where you

will need to cut. Be sure to measure from the bottom of

the original hem in order to ensure a straight

hem on your new length.  

Once you have marked around the entire skirt,

you are ready to cut. You will basically just

connect the marks you just made while cutting

with your scissors or blade.

 Be sure to lay your skirt out so that you

are only cutting thru ONE LAYER!

Also-you need to cut this off in one continuous piece.

This fabric we just cut off will be used for our straps.

Once you have completed cutting the bottom of the skirt

off, put that piece to the side...we'll come back

to it in a minute.

Let's go ahead now and put a new hem on the 

bottom of the skirt. I turned mine over 1/2" TWICE

so I had a finished edge. Mark it with your 

seam gauge, pin and iron as you are marking it.

Now go ahead and sew it.

Next we are going to make our straps.

Take the big piece you just cut off from the

bottom of the skirt. Determine how wide you

want your straps to be. If the piece you cut off is

extremely wide you'll need to cut some of it

off again so it's not too bulky. I simply

folded the unfinished edge over to meet the 

center of the already finished edge and that was

perfect (My straps are 1.75" wide).

 Go ahead and iron it down.

 

 If you have a serger I would recommend serging

the raw edge before you fold it over and iron it

down. However, I don't have a serger so I didn't

finish the edge first.....I figure it won't show and

I didn't want to take the time to finish the edge.

Hopefully it won't fray too bad when I wash it.

Now you can sew the piece down.

I went ahead and made two stitch lines down

the length of the strap in the center because I thought it

looked better that way. Depending on the type of 

stitch that was in the original hem, you may already

have a visible stitch. If this is the case-be sure to

sew this down using the existing stitch as a 

guide to determine the distance apart for the 2nd

stitch you are about to put in. Does that make sense?

You want the stitches to be straight because

they will be very visible on the straps.

 Now you should have a big long piece of fabric with 

finished edges. Go ahead and cut it in half.

 This next part is MUCH EASIER if you have someone

who can help you. I didn't and it took me forever!

You need to determine the placement of the straps now

so put the dress on, pulled up over your boobs. 

Remember to have the bra on that you intend to 

wear with the dress. Have someone pin the straps

onto your dress both in the front and the back.

 You are going to sew this right onto the dress

now but you don't want to sew thru the elastic.

You still want the elastic to be able to stretch and move

so be careful to pin and sew at the top and bottom

of the casing NOT thru the elastic.

 Sew both straps on.

Almost done.....now we want to sew the sash onto

the front of the dress. This is what makes the 

sweetheart-type neckline and fitted bust look.

The skirt I bought already had a very long sash attached 

to it so I just used that. If you need to make one,

You can either use a scarf you already have

or you will need to sew another long strap that

is approximately 3.5 " wide and 6 ft long.

Most likely you won't have enough fabric from the 

bottom of the skirt to make a sash with also.

That's OK. I actually think it would have

been cuter if I had used a different fabric for the sash.

(in fact-I'm going to try that next time)

If you have to make a sash from scratch-you will need a 

piece of fabric that is 8" wide by 6 ft 1 inch long.

Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together

and stitch it together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Do not sew the two ends.

Now you turn it right side out by pulling

one end thru to the other end. Iron it

and after turning your ends under, 

sew the ends shut.

Now you have your sash.

Fold your sash in half lengthwise and pin the

center of it to the center of the bust of your dress,

right directly underneath the bottom stitch

from the elastic casing. 

Stitch this onto the dress,

being sure again to not stitch thru the elastic.

You don't need a long stitch line for this because

you want it to be sewn onto it with just

a SMALL stitch length. 

Mine is only like 3 stitches that I just

re-enforced several times using my back stitch.

THAT'S IT!

You're done.

Put the dress on and pull the sash down underneath

your boobs and pull tight around to the back.

Tie and adjust as you need to.

 Voila....

a new sundress made from a skirt.

Guess what?

You just made a dress that can be worn 3 ways.

If you want more coverage in the front you

can turn it around and wear it like this:

This offers more coverage in the boobie/cleavage

department....the tie is in the front now. 

I don't have pictures of this but you can also

wear it as a maxi skirt with a sash tied at the waist.

I've worn it all 3 ways and trust me.....

it's equally as cute each way!

Again, I apologize for the crappy pics in this 

tutorial......the tutorial took me longer to

create than the entire dress did!

 Linking up with Positively Splendid.

and

Recycled Fashion Finds

~faux milk glass vase~

 What to do with a bottle of fine Canadian whiskey

(besides drink it)........

Spray it with this.....

 and you get this...

Pretty isn't it?

Getting the bottle was a bit of a laugh.

Last weekend at a party, our friend, Derek, was 

offering drinks with this fine whiskey.

I turned down the whiskey (not a whiskey fan) but

asked him what he was going to do with the bottle.

His response..."I'm going to drink it!"

OK. Duh Paula.

Maybe I should have made myself more clear.

"What are you going to do with the bottle after it's gone."

After I clarified my question he told me I could have the bottle

when it was gone. I thought I'd get it in a couple weeks.

NOT BY THE END OF THE NIGHT!

In his defense, he wasn't the only one drinking it. 

Apparently it went down real fast and smooth...

Although I didn't like the whiskey, I LOVED 

the design on the bottle. I knew immediately

what I wanted to do with it. 

 I had to spray about 5 or 6 coats of paint to

cover the painted label on the bottle. 

I love the delicate, intricacy of the bottle.

Because only a flower or two can fit in it,

it allows the focus to be the bottle, even when 

filled with flowers. 

The flowers I have in here now are little tiny

flowers from my chives.....it's what happens

when you let them grow too long. 

I think I'm going to spray a couple more bottles I 

have laying around the house here.

I'm envisioning a few of them clustered

in the center of my dining table.......