Before.
After.
Dog sold separately.
Archive for I thrift. A lot.
Winterizing: The Boy
Hot off the press are these 5 new long-sleeve raglan tees for The Boy. This effectively increases his long-sleeve winter wear by approx. 250%. Not too shabby for a day’s work. This one features a lovely screenprinted image I got at the Procession of the Species Solstice event two years ago. The bowtie is mine. The sleeves are made from a lovely wool knit, the body from a sweatshirt type fleece that I thrifted some time ago.
This is a little trout block print I did. I was so proud of myself…until I realized I printed it on the back panel of the shirt. I decided to turn it into a little joke. Here’s the front:
Again, the bright blue wool knit. A fun technique for adding more linear elements; you can see the dried fabric glue stick I used to both lay out the writing and stick down the applique. As it’s a fabric glue stick, I trust it will wash right out. Haven’t gotten that far yet. You’ve already met Witchard.
Even a thin-gauge sweater makes a fine candidate for these shirts, if you can use the hems of the original sweater to prevent fraying. This sweater will have to be very carefully concealed from the sheep, however, as it’s entirely acrylic. Blech. Apparently the softness of it and stripes momentarily overtook my better judgement when I was shopping. Because it’s not nearly as warm or fabulous as wool.
Need to winterize your own Little? There’s space left for both the Embellish it! Workshop (all this printing/applique/collage goodness) and the Raglan Tee Workshop. Drop me a line and register soon.
Instead, Halloween came straight from the dress-up bin.
A warm thank you to the loving soul that handsewed this lovely prairie dress, no doubt for another Laura Ingalls of Halloween’s past. I found this gem at a thrift store, snatched it up for the dress-up bin, and in a huge sigh of relief, retrieved it when all Lofty Halloween Plans came crashing down. The sunbonnet was already in said bin, and, while the wide brim was cumbersome for trick-or-treating, we remarked on how well it kept the sun off her eyes from her vantage point in the covered wagon.
And The Boy? His costume also came from the dress-up bin. He had been slated to be a mini version of Lumberjack Andrew (what a huge departure from every day, right?) but threw a fit at the last minute and demanded we dress him in a cozy dragon costume. I’ll be damned if I had the presence of mind to take any pictures of him. The Tomten garb is still on the knitting needles and I’ve (conveniently) decided it’s a look more befitting Solstice than Halloween.
Come on in! (finally)
I should have known better than to promise I’d be done last Friday. What am I – a rookie? Whatever the case may be, here is my studio – reorganized a bit, freshened up, and bursting at the seams.
The yellows and blues have exploded beyond their designated cubes and have mounted an invasion on the meager Green Territory. My anal left brain is not pleased with this, or the fact that there is a ramshackle overflow shelf (conveniently not shown) where a whole rainbow of colors are commingling with absolutely no regard for order. My looser right brain told the left to shut the hell up and get busy making something. Lefty is still skulking in the corner, whimpering from time to time, but otherwise subdued.
In what may be the biggest triumph of this whole re-do, my robust collection of bias tape and seam binding is now safely out of reach of the chubby little hands which took so much pleasure in pulling the irresistible packages out, unwrapping the brittle plastic enclosure of each, and throwing them in the garbage. I have no idea how we will spend our days now that this activity is out of play. I might be a bad mother.
The lighting in this room, the most spectacular studio space I have ever inhabited, is sublime… until the sun shuts off and I’m left with some paltry task lights here and there. I shall be delegating a portion of future Etsy proceeds to fund a proper fixture install right above my worktable. I suspect that would rock my world and double my productivity.
And that brings me to my big, exciting news. All this cleaning and organizing and New Year planning and subliminal thinking and in-the-shower brainstorming has given me an idea. I shall tell you all about it tomorrow. I promise. (really)
Still working on it.
I guess I misjudged the scope of my studio-arranging project. (you think?) I’m still working at it, after having more than a full day without man or kid distraction to pound through it. I worked and worked and worked, organizing and scrubbing and vacuuming and purging just a wee bit and still I have not reached the bare tops of my work tables. The floors are clean, the storage above and below my tables and shelves are done. I can see the finish line but am not quite there. Tomorrow? Hope so.
Until then, enjoy these shots of what greeted me out my back door the morning after I tossed out the cornmeal dusting from my bread peel. I might make a habit of that.
I guess I made no reference of the scale of those little feet – they are bird, not chicken, in case you can’t tell.
Let’s not forget about Reverse Applique.
This little sack, happily stuffed to the gills with dirty laundry, is the love child of a single visit to the thrift shop. That is black linen, Ladies and Gentlemen! I got a whole whoppin’ pile of it too. The crewel birds were set free from a dime store 5×7 frame and carefully appliqued to the inside of the black linen, thus qualifying themselves as Reverse Applique. It’s a technique I love for unstable things like the loose weave linen who don’t take kindly to being cut out, unraveling at the very thought.
Switch out the buttons and call it good.
Second Installment of handy design + sewing tips:
Don’t underestimate the design power of some good buttons.
From ‘Crusty Old Professor’ to……
…well…less crusty. I’m shooting for ‘hip’ here.
And ‘Little Mrs. Proper Housewife’ becomes…
…Clever Housewife with a Knowing Smile.
Sweaters provided by Goodwill and Savers, respectively.
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Yesterday’s Installment: Tagless size tags
Stay tuned for another gripping episode tomorrow when we return.
Refashion – a piggyback KCWC challenge
The Kids Clothes Week Challenge (KCWC) is just around the corner. Do you have a plan yet on how you might proceed? I am especially inspired this morning after putting together a rather questionable ensemble for Isadora to wear to school. Having ransacked all of her drawers, pulling out anything with a size 4 tag to sell at a local resale event, we were left with one long sleeve shirt and one short sleeve dress. Both had pink in them, so they match, right? I’ll be refilling those drawers with some size 5 goodies after I visit the sale today and also as KCWC progresses next week. Which brings me to a sort of piggyback challenge: Refashion. Can we rock this challenge and crank out a whole pile of wonderful clothes, refashioned from larger thrift store cast-offs? Hell yeah! Join me!
The biggest wardrobe void I need to fill for The Girl is long-sleeve shirts. We’ve had the problem before, and I’ve found myself frustrated with both the quality and variety out there. I really can’t be bothered to shop for brand-new clothes if I can avoid it – underwear, socks, and sometimes pajamas excepted. With this in mind, I tackled the problem head-on about a month ago, driving somewhere in the vicinity of Dig & Save, our thrift Mecca, when I suddenly realized that it was Wednesday. Half-price day. Clothing on Wednesdays sells for just 50 cents a pound, instead of the usual $1.00. Yes, I think I shall, I said to myself in that most-satisfied-with-my-rampant-cleverness tone.
In the amount of time it took me to schlep the kids out of the car and into a cart, weave around the congestion in the paltry store aisles, divert the attention of my nap-deficient kids with things that were SHINY or FUZZY or (God forbid) LOUD, I was able to heap the cart with a delicious array of clothes from which to construct smaller clothes. I heaved the shopping cart onto the industrial-grade scale at the checkout, removed my kids (they were already paid for) and proceeded to hand over $12.00 for the whole lot. Hot damn.
So I shall be working from this collection all next week. I happen to have this Jalie pattern for knit tops that I’ll use for reference. I will also reference the infamous 90 Minute Shirt tutorial, where I hope to glean some tips on the best way to apply binding on the edges. Mostly, though, I’m going to sharpen my scissors, take a deep breath, and start cutting. The real beauty in working with thrifted materials like these is the freedom they give you to cut and pin and experiment with abandon. You don’t need to be too ‘precious’ with the fabrics, or too afraid to cut into it because you’ve only invested a few quarters into each one. This is where incredible design innovation happens!
Care to join me?
Pull out the pile of clothes you were going to donate, or the pile of clothes you might already have collected for this very purpose, and use your kids already-fitting clothes as a template. You sure don’t need a pattern – they are far less useful, actually, when not working with linear piece of yardage.
Some hints -
+ If using your child’s clothing as a pattern, be sure to consider the stretch (or ease) needed. Using a pair of knit pants as a pattern to make cotton pants will give you a pair of new pants with too little ease to fit over the butt. Try to match like pattern clothes to like fabric.
+ A good exercise to help pair up fun and clever design combinations? Pretend you’re doing a photo shoot of your collection, like for a blog, and try to lay them out in the most interesting way possible. Fan-tastic. I dare you not to drop everything and start sewing that very minute.
Let’s do it!
I made this quilt from scraps in my stash.
I had initially set out to make the Icepops design from the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book. After a printer snafu, I decided I couldn’t be bothered to enlarge and cut out the actual pattern pieces, so I drew my own. They’re actually nothing like the pattern, but are a loose variation on the overall shape of the Icepops block, a riff of a Log Cabin block. The quilt is being packed up in the smallest package possible, wrapped in 20 hugs and will be mailed off to London, where a dear soul is studying, and where it is quite cold, we hear.
But the very best part is that I made this quilt from a thrifted mini skirt, (the floral pattern pieces) a tee shirt, scraps from a big haul of garage sale fabric that sat in the garage for a month, some generously donated cotton yardage, and some vintage bed linens. And the binding was made from a thrifted piece of orange found while the quilt was in progress. Damn if that isn’t satisfying!
Among my favorite parts are the spots here and there where the vintage bed sheet was showing some wear and needed darning and a patch.
So here’s the good news: if you like the look of this quilt, you’re in luck. I’m at this very minute working out the details for some pre-cut quilt top kits. Whoopeee! You can expect more details as they are hashed out. Meanwhile, while I’m hunched in a dark corner of my studio with a pencil behind my ear and a calculator at hand, I shall keep you all entertained with a series of blog entries featuring my favorite, can’t-live-without tools and best-kept sewing secrets. It’s shaping up to be a fantastic week; stay tuned!
Oh, and I made this dress.
This past weekend found me retreating with friends to sew and thrift and sew and sew and giggle and sew some more. We also ate and slept, but minimally, when our energy levels could not sustain further sewing. We were so hard core. Such behavior is the inevitable result of mixing a cabin in the woods, project to-do lists disproportionate to free time, and a handful of women prone to motherhood.
I found myself in a harmonious collaboration with Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt. Amy supplied the pattern. Denyse supplied the fabric. I supplied the delirious manual labor. Together, we made this dress.
I finished tracing the pattern and cut out the fabric on Saturday morning. The final stitches and pearl snaps were applied before 10pm. In between there was a second thrifting run, some meals, lots of chit chat and a couple exclamations of “Oh Amy, (Butler) you clever thing!” Having trained in my Grandma’s school of sewing, where the inside of a garment should look as nice and finished as the outside, I was so pleased with the nice finishing details of the pattern. And how did you know, Amy, that I had been searching for months for a shirtdress pattern like this? It was exactly what I wanted and turned out perfectly. I hope to collaborate with such fine company again.
Winning the award for 1st Project Completed and also Most Time Squandered Deciphering Placket Incongruities was the aforementioned Square Dance Shirt.
I hand sewed this poignant strip of fabric to a bag thrifted at the last crafty retreat, a bag which now totes the sewing arsenal to and fro.
I even cast on yet another knitting project. Do I even remember how to knit? Barely – it’s been a while. The yarn is alpaca, and it’s a pretty compelling argument for getting an alpaca or two of our own. But those sweeties aren’t cheap.
