how to save a sweater.

I have this sweater. It's brown, supposedly made of cashmere (though I'm wary of that), and I got it for a dollar or so at a church sale. It's a nice sweater, though I never wear it. The collar is too thick, and the fit is not quite right, but I kept it around. Now it has been saved and improved, thanks to this super easy tutorial on how to reconstruct a sweater.

I didn't take a before picture, but here it is!



It might be my new favorite thing.

bring it on, cold weather.

A long while ago, probably when Spring was just about to start, I was at the thrift store and spotted a sweater. It was striped with loads of colors, so many colors it was almost obnoxious, but if there are only two things for which I am a sucker (and trust me, there are way more than two), they are stripes and bright colors. Here, why don't I just show you:



A little much, yes? (If you recognize it, it's definitely one of the holiday sweaters from the Gap a few years ago.) I knew I probably wouldn't wear it, and it was also too small. Shrunken, in fact. In the crafting world this is known as felting, and most crafters spend their hard earned quarters washing and drying old sweaters to shrink the wool, which then makes it suitable for a wide range of projects. I looked at the shrunken sweater and thought, Wow, I won't even have to deal with that! And thus, I bought it immediately.

Months went by, and it was warm outside, and the sweater sat in my closet. Then today hit with its cold and wind and I was annoyed. And cold. And sick of having all my cheaply made gloves and mittens fall apart. So, I cut up that sweater and made mittens. Then I said, hey, there's still a lot of sweater left! I cut off the sleeves and made a scarf to match.



(This is the place where I would give you a tutorial but there are many on the nets. Here is one. Here's another.)

Oh hey, recognize that coat? Yes, I done bought it. It is the most expensive article of clothing I have ever purchased, but I just consider myself a small (and fashionable) hero for the economy. And now with my new colored accessories, I am so ready for winter. I think. Ask me in December.

on anything and everything.

On Projects

Once upon a time, I got a tapestry type thing from Urban Outfitters. It was perfect for covering up $20 thrift store love seats in my dorm room. Then it was perfect for covering up a dusty bookshelf in my classroom. Then it sat unwanted for a while. Then, it was decidedly perfect to fashion new curtains for my bedroom, since I had been using a beach sarong.


(But now, what to do with the sarong? God knows I don't go to the beach.)

And since I had some fabric leftover, the tapestry also became perfect for a skirt, Maria von Trapp style.



On Biking

I have actual obligations this week (sigh!), and I'm being a good girl and biking to my class, which is just a few blocks away from my old workplace. And the ride there is really not bad at all, which makes me feel silly for having avoided it for so long. (Still working on the sweat factor.)

Also, I'm realizing that while my bike is fine, it's a bit small, so I'm dreaming of bigger and better options. Namely, a bike that is good for all of the following: commuting, dragging in and out of my apartment, not getting stolen, and a triathlon perhaps next summer. (So basically I want an impossible commuter-road bike with convertible handlebars and both clip-in and non-fancy pedals.)

On Motivation

I was talking with an old coworker last week and when I mentioned that I had run a marathon, she said I must have a lot of self-discipline, and that she would always talk herself out of running. I wouldn't say I have that much discipline, it's more that I talk myself into situations where I would feel like a jackass if I don't do something. As in, "You better run 11 miles today like you said you would or you will hate yourself!" I don't know if that's discipline or just well-channeled guilt. Either way, I signed up for a half marathon - it's in a week and a half.

On Travel

Crap, it's almost fricking August and I have no travel plans whatsoever. I need to get out of this state somehow without paying millions of dollars. Not even because I don't have the money (what, I never mentioned my millions?), but because I'm still not accustomed to paying $500 or more for continental flights. I'm also sick of wandering around cities by myself, reading in every possible park, coffee shop, and museum imaginable, and yet travel partners are hard to come by. But maybe I can channel my guilt-motivation into just buying a plane or train ticket to anywhere.

finally, it's done.

This skirt took a year and a half to make. I have this a-line pattern, and with my first attempt I ended up with a skirt so small I had to wear it way up on my waist and it looked stupid. So I gave it to a much smaller friend. With my second attempt I had a skirt so large it was falling off. (And that doesn't work as well with giveaways...hey friend, this skirt is WAY too big for me! You want it?) I tried to take it in, but it was still too big. So I did the completely normal thing to do in this situation - I got extremely frustrated and gave up, sticking it in a closet to be buried for a long long time.

I finally decided I should maybe make it work. But it needed something, so I added some appliques...a first, which took a lot of practice. The fit still isn't perfect, but I'm more happy with the fact that this sucker is finally DONE.



p.s. I just noticed that my last three posts have all been about skirts. This is a good thing, right? In fact, yesterday I wore this skirt I got about seven years ago. This was one of the first skirts I got that wasn't for a specific purpose, it was just for wearing. I remember the time when I rarely wore the things, and now I can't envision a (happy) future without them.

projects - wristlet and a beyond new dress.

So the other night I was having major ADD and decided I needed to organize my fabric. But in my world organizing means rummaging through a giant box and deciding to make something straight away. I still have a bunch of vinyl leftover so I decided to make a wristlet using this tutorial.

Here's what happens when I read tutorials: first I start scanning it, and soon realize that it doesn't make any sense. So then I turn off any music I'm listening to, cut off IM conversations, and read it with my full attention. Yup, it still doesn't make a ton of sense. (Something about any directions with sewing takes me hours to figure out.) At this point I either give up or decide I can figure it out myself, which usually works.

Anyway. I made this!



The zipper isn't perfect but for a first try, I was okay with that.


Next up. So I was shopping on Wednesday, hoping to maybe find a cute and wonderful dress for the weekend of weddings. (Yeah, I have things I can wear, but they're so...black. Ugh.) I ended up buying this dress in white, not thinking about or ignoring that rule that you're not supposed to wear white to weddings unless you're the bride. Etiquette be damned, I said! Also, it looked really cute with this red necklace I had just bought. But I later consulted with my sister who said it just wouldn't work for a wedding. And then I realized that I really had nowhere to wear it. Not to mention, white on white is scarily impractical.

I was complaining about the dress situation with my friend Andy when he suggested I just dye it. GENIUS! I ran all over trying to find kelly green dye. I consulted the internets for advice. I got really nervous that I could possibly ruin a good dress. But I went for it anyway.

Before and After:


I wish the green were a little bit darker, but I still have half a bottle of dye left and much more confidence in the process. Overall I'm happy with the lack of streaks, and green is so much more fun than white. Yay! New Dress!

how to get your earrings off your dresser.

Jewelery is tricky to store sometimes. (And even trickier to pack - still haven't figured that out yet.) Necklaces can be hung on pretty or not so pretty hooks, chunky bracelets can go in mugs, but dangly earrings? They become a tangled mess. So I made a hanging solution.



I got the idea from some magazine that I don't remember the name of, but only remembered this page - in fact, imprinted it into my brain! Anyway, here's what you do.

Materials:
- Unfinished shadow box (or in this case, a desk tray from Michael's. Closest thing I could find.)
- Acrylic paint and brushes
- Some pretty paper (or maps!) to line the box
- Sawtooth frame hangers and screw-in hooks (found in the framing section, perhaps at hardware stores also?)
- Mod-podge (or Martha Stewart brand decoupage glue)

1. Paint the box in a complimentary color with two coats.
2. Cut your pretty paper to fit inside the box.
3. When the paint is all dry, use mod-podge to glue/seal the pretty paper. (And do a much better job than I did. Sheesh. I blame Martha's silly instruction-less decoupage glue.)
4. When all that is dry (or if you're impatient, uh, not completely), start screwing in the hooks where you want them.
5. Put a sawtooth frame hanger thingamajig on the back.
6. Hang on the wall and give your earrings a happy home!

reinvention.

I'm a firm believer in taking things that are less than satisfactory and reinventing them. Such as this coat:



I got it at Target a few years ago, right after my car got broken into and they took some other stupid coat I had. It's a large, and I don't know if I've lost that much weight in the meantime or I've learned to buy clothes that fit (I think a combination of both), but it's just dumpy enough that I never ever wear it.

I was about to just give it away while cleaning out my closet earlier this year, but I thought it had potential...in fact, maybe just move the buttons in to cinch it a bit? Maybe add colored buttons to make it more interesting?

I didn't get around to it until today, when the odd weather sent me searching for suitable jacket. [Also exciting: I found an old pair of sunglasses in the pocket of my thrift store trench coat.] I managed to find enough buttons in my collection of crap to make this formerly stupid coat new. Yay!

apron.

Besides my tax return (woohoo!), here is the first tangible product of spring break that can't be eaten. Aprons are some sort of eternal, unlike peanut butter cookies and bread. The pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing, which I have hawked here before. The apron itself is reversible. I love it when I'm sewing something and even though it becomes a semblance of what it should be, I don't really know. And then I put in the last stitches, turn everything right side out, and oh my god, it's an apron! So fun.

wrapping with maps.

I have this conflict with wrapping paper. I love meticulously wrapped presents and can spend lots of time in fancy paper stores. I also hate how inherently wasteful the process is, both monetarily and in actual paper waste. You can spend a lot of time and money making something look pretty, only to have it torn apart in seconds, leaving a pile of paper that can rarely even be recycled. (Or in my case, you carefully open any present with superior paper, in the hopes that you might use it later but you never ever do, are you kidding yourself?)

Maybe I haven't mentioned this here, but anyone who knows me knows I love maps. My shower curtain is a map, I have a map under plexiglass on my coffee table, and I collect them whenever I have a chance. I especially like old maps with countries that don't exist anymore, so I of course jump at the chance to grab any old atlases that are about to be thrown out at school.

The last atlas I got is relatively large, and I've been cutting out map pieces to decorate postcards and such. But at the rate I'm using it will be with me for years, so I have a new plan: map wrapping paper! Alright, so it's not super Christmasy. BUT it is pretty, it's reusing old things instead of throwing them away, and it's maybe teaching people geography while they get gifts. (maybe.) I wasn't even sure of what to wrap yet, so I made one of those gift wrapped boxes that stay wrapped forever, which is nice in and of itself. It's the gift box that keeps on giving!

diy, for food and craft.

Craft

Sew, Mama, Sew (which I only recently discovered) is listing ideas for homemade holiday gifts all month long. Ack, what a fabulous idea! Of course, in order to finish presents by Christmas, I probably should have started them in...oh, I dunno, April?

One of the gift ideas that I would rather make for myself is this lunch bag. While trying to make sense of the directions, I managed to find a video on how to make a messenger bag out of plastic bags. Neat!


Food

Inspired by this question [What cooking do you do diy?], I finally made my own granola using this recipe. It turned out pretty well and was so easy. I also am very intrigued by making my own yogurt, since I like to eat it a lot and I get mad at all the non-recyclable yogurt containers I have. So, that's something to think about.

i am my own sweatshop.

I've only been to American Apparel a few times (we just got a local store), and every time I go I'm somewhat dazzled by the array of colors and the comfy knits. But there's always something a bit troubling about it at the same time, something that I can't always put my finger on. And although their stuff is not prohibitively expensive, it's just expensive enough to keep me from buying any of it, especially when it seems like I should be able to make something so simple myself.

Never fear though, as I am on my way. Here is my copycat version of the sheer jersey scarf:


I'm sort of ashamed to say I even needed help coming up with this one, but I got the idea here. Let me sum up it for you:

1. Find some stretchy and thin jersey cotton in a color you enjoy. (Really, this is the hardest part.)
2. Cut it.

Et voila, a scarf! Now, American Apparel retails this for $15. Atrocious. I found clearance fabric for $1.50 a yard, and could probably make three scarves for less than $4 total.

Going back to American Apparel..I'm still a little confused as to why this girl has to model the scarf in 18 colors wearing a sheer tank top. There's nipple showing there! What the eff! (Yeah, this is probably why this place is a bit unsettling.)

project!

Summer is melting, melting away and I was feeling guilty for not doing the millions of projects I intended to. It's never too late to start, right? So I made this purse. The pattern is from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter, which is a cute cute book. I had some trouble with the directions and had to read them about twelve times, but then I figured out I was just overthinking things. (Overly Complicated Sewing doesn't have the same ring to it, y'know?)

One awesome thing about this purse is that it is made completely from scraps, which led me to dig in my fabric scrap box and find tons of other leftover goodies. Next up: napkins! (For the many dinner parties I intend to have...)

smorgasboard.

Craft:


This is what you do when you have clothes you don't wear anymore, and also an unexplainable affliction for plaid, and also a lot of free time. You make a new shirt, dammit.

Food:
My weeklong project of eating all the vegetables I bought will be trying, but I will succeed! Mashed potatoes every day! Also, I'm so annoyed that I didn't buy snap peas because if I did I could make this...which looks really good. Recipe idea for dinner, perhaps?

Elsewhere on the internet: Viewing American Class Distinctions through Facebook and Myspace

Truly fascinating stuff. It's long, but entirely worth reading. The commentary on the use of these sites in the military is interesting too. Quotes!

They see it [myspace] as gaudy, immature, and "so middle school." They prefer the "clean" look of Facebook, noting that it is more mature and that MySpace is "so lame." ... That "clean" or "modern" look of Facebook is akin to West Elm or Pottery Barn or any poshy Scandinavian design house...

When I first started tracking soldiers' MySpace profiles, I had to take a long deep breath. Many of them were extremely pro-war, pro-guns, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, pro-killing, and xenophobic as hell. Over the last year, I've watched more and more profiles emerge from soldiers who aren't quite sure what they are doing in Iraq.

[Also, if I ever go to grad school for sociology I would be ALL OVER internet research.]

simple frames.

I believe I stole this idea from a ReadyMage magazine that is no longer in my possession. Yet the idea was so good, it was imprinted into my brain! Here's what you do:

1. Cut plexiglass into two equal sizes. (Note: you probably don't need very thick plexiglass. Be careful when you cut it! It's a little tricky.)
2. Put a picture in between the layers.
3. Attach the pieces together using binder clips from your large collection of colored binder clips. (WHAT? You don't have a large collection of binder clips? Get thee to Office Max!)
4. Put on wall and say, "awwww how pretty."

WOW. So easy. And they're foolproof, too. Some of my pieces have scratch marks from figuring out how to cut the plexiglass, but it still looks fine!


[In other news, I am so proud of myself because it's 12:15 and I've already gone for a run, watched an episode of Six Feet Under, made frames, made lunch using mostly local produce from the farmer's market, AND updated my blog. Amazing.]

diy. or, buy diy.

Anti-Factory

I stumbled across this through one of those funny blog trails, and I find it so inspiring. Really cute clothes altered beautifully using mostly found fabrics, thus reducing dependence on both sweatshops and farms to grow cotton and the like. It's silly how I always bookmark sites like this with the intention of emulating their designs and ideas, and rarely with the intention of buying anything. ($88 for a shirt is just not something I'm used to. Yet.) And do I make anything similar? Rarely. There is the hope that someday I will be able to make creations like these. Someday, someday.

someday I'll be creative again.

I'm still not a huge fan of buying books for the sake of buying books, UNLESS they can be used over and over again as reference books. As a result of this, I've bought a relatively huge amount of craft related books in the past few months.

Craftivity - by Tsia Carson
I think I saw this originally on notmartha, and I got it as a birthday present. It's a tad disappointing, to be honest. I really only found a couple of things I actually wanted to make in there. There are some cool ideas, but a lot of it is just too much. [I do love the shrinky dink necklaces, though. Mine here.] Maybe part of the problem is that I've seen a few of the ideas on getcrafty.com, back when it was getcrafty and not supernaturale or whatever happened. Why pay for a book when it's all online?

Simple Sewing - by Lotta Jansdotter
Another notmartha recommendation, and a total whim purchase from amazon. While I'm sad there are no patterns for actual clothes, the other projects (aprons, handbags, duvets, oh my!) are adorable. They could potentially make really nice gifts, too. Not to mention, this book is laid out beautifully with crisp pictures.

The Crafter Culture Handbook - by Amy Spencer
I found this one on a recommendation shelf while at the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. [The recommendation shelf at a massive book store is a blessed thing indeed.] The projects in here are all over the place, in a totally good way. Sewing projects, reused objects, and homemade bath stuff...it's all there. It also has fun little articles from crafters.


So yeah. School is over in about a month. Summer projects? Oh yes.