Painted DIY Roman Shades: On a Budget

SOOOO, this is what happens when you rent a house full of mini-blinds AND share that house with a curious cat: 

Obviously, it got a little uncomfortable to live fully exposed to the neighbors so I needed a quick fix.  Beautiful, sturdy, wooden blinds would be my preferred solution but too costly for a rental. Instead, I found 1 pack of THESE curtains at Ikea (discounted at $14.99 which equals about $2.30/yard), 5 yards of muslin ($0.90/yard) at Dallas's CHEAPEST fabric store, and THIS awesome tutorial on pinterest. With the cost of the fabric glue, my end product: 5 Roman shade window treatments for about $5 each.

I got a bit ambitious on the first shade and decided to paint THIS print on it. I like to call the finished look "free-hand weathered" basically because I didn't know what I was doing. So if any of y'all have tips on how to paint fabric, feel free to share! Here is what I did:

 1. Print off desired shape and trace with a pencil or chalk the same color of the paint. (I used a pen the color of the fabric but it shows through the paint... bad idea)

 2. Lay fabric flat on cardboard since the paint will bleed through.

 3. Dilute the fabric paint just slightly with water (the more water you add, the more it will bleed) and paint over stenciled outline.

4. Let dry for a couple hours and then follow steps in Roman shades tutorial linked above.

Now, even when I forget to raise the blinds, Horatio can weasel his was under the fabric without ruining the fixture.

(randomly foggy day in Dallas)

Easiest Skirt EVER

One time I found this awkward-fitting, stretchy dress at a thrift store.

Then I chopped off the top 4 inches and had a new skirt.

Then I remembered that tight, horizontal stripes are not for the pear-shaped (hence the long sweater). But for those of you narrow-hipped ladies who probably have not yet given birth, go for it! 

P.s. If you don't happen to have a stretchy dress lying around, you could easily make this by tracing a pencil skirt you already have onto 2 layers of stretchy fabric and sewing up the sides. 

Rescued Skirt and Necklace

Before you throw something away that appears unusable, think outside the box, and you may be able to prolong the life of whatever you were going to get rid of. 

 Example #1 is a dress with a high waist that had gotten too short for my daughter (rather, she had gotten too tall).  She loved it and was sad to think of giving it away, so she became resourceful and cut off the top of the dress above the elastic waist, folded the raw edge under, and with no sewing, it became a skirt that is plenty long for her!  I'm proud of her for the genius idea and grateful that she's saving me money by wearing it longer!

 Example #2 is a necklace who's beads were chipping and peeling and therefore looking very shoddy.  I was ready to toss it when I had an idea: paint over the chipped areas with matching nail polish!  It's good as new now, and I don't have to run out and buy another red necklace.

DIY Baby Cardigan from Onesie

Everyone needs to know how to make a baby-sized cardigan sweater!

I'll admit up front that this tutorial was 100% inspired by this tutorial. However, I wanted to make a cardigan that was more like a real sweater and less like a onesie dressed up as a sweater. I also sewed my contrast on differently, but maybe the original way was easier. Anyway, check out her tutorial if at any point my directions aren't making sense.

So I started with a white long-sleeved onesie which I dyed gray. DISCLAIMER: if you're going to dye something, it's a good idea to actually follow the directions on the box so you don't end up with a splotchy mess like I did. Let's just pretend I was going for a "vintage" wash..

You'll need:
* Long-sleeved onesie (a patterned one would be so cute)
* Some knit (stretchy) fabric. 1/2 yard would be plenty
* Buttons

Sew the little shoulder flaps down, and we're off!

Cut onesie:

1. Cut of the snaps, as close down as you can get without keeping any of the leg opening.

2. Measure, mark, and cut straight down the center

3. Draw a horizontal line across the chest however deep you want the V neck to be. Then use a straight edge to draw diagonal lines from the shoulder flaps to the horizontal line. Cut the V AND the entire hem all the way around the neckline.

4. Cut off the hem of the sleeves.

Cut contrast fabric:

1. One piece long enough to go from the bottom, up one side, around the neck and down the other side (the raw edges from steps 2 and 3 above). About 2.5 in wide or DOUBLE however thick you want the contrast band to be + .5" for seam allowance.

2. One piece a little shorter than the entire bottom edge and 3.5 in wide or however wide you want doubled + .5. 

3. Two pieces a little shorter than the circumference of the sleeve edge and same width as the long piece in step 1.

Then: 

1. Fold all contrast pieces in half and iron. I know, ironing is the worst, but you'll be glad you did. Iron the fat piece for the bottom with the right sides facing IN.

2. Start at the base of your center cut and sandwich the onesie between your nicely ironed piece of contrast. Fold the raw edge of contrast under about 1/4" and pin. Do this all the way around the neck until you get to the bottom o the opposite side.

3. Sew the contrast down the way you pinned it, staying fairly close to the edge. If you want it to look nicer than mine, use matching thread.

4. Take one of the arm band pieces. With it still folded length-wise, fold it again hamburger style and sew raw edges together. Slip that over the arm of the cardigan and line up raw edges. Sew those together without sewing closed your arm hole. Fold band down when you're done. Repeat for other sleeve.

5. Sew the two short edges of the bottom piece with right sides together. Flip right side out and line up the long raw edge with the raw base of the outside of the onesie. Sew raw edges together and flip the band down.

Iron everything into place, sew on some buttons--maybe button holes if you're feeling ambitious--and you're done!

Now try it on and attempt to get some cute photos of your very uncooperative model.

Spruce up a T-shirt

First, get a plain boring shirt.

Then, find some lace.  Cut a strip and fold it into a little ruffle.  Sew it down (I didn't even pin it, just folded it down as I went, because I'm lazy like that).

Cut a smaller strip of lace, gather it up and put it in the pocket. Sew right across the top of the pocket.

Better, right?  This literally took 10 minutes!

Scallops...or scales...or petals

It is sooo hot in Arizona right now. Just putting clothes on is miserable. But since I don't think my in-laws would appreciate me going about in my underwears, I have to! So I've been living in light-weight short sleeved tees. I decided to make this one more exciting by adding a little embellishment. After giving up on a hundred different ideas I had, I finally settled on these little scallopy things:

All I did was cut out some circles....

 Bend the tops over like this....

And pin them onto the shirt in two rows. Then I sewed them on!

Oh an since I'm too lazy to stitch around the edges for fray prevention, I just put clear nail polish around the edges... whatever works, right?

I think it would probably look better with more circles or bigger ones.

A Sunday Skirt

 One time I found this great muumuu/nightgown thing at DI. I was attracted to the print and lightness of the fabric, so I bought it in hopes of making something(s) out of it one day.

Two months later, I actually did it! Here's the process..

 I pretty much just cut the thing in half where it would be the length I wanted it

Then I did a running stitch along the top and gathered it.

 I gathered until it was the same length as a piece of elastic the length of my waist and pinned the elastic on.

I sewed the elastic on using a zigzag stitch,  pulled out the running stitch and ....

Tada!

 No hemming, because I used the hemline of the original dress. Hooray for laziness!

And today's ANTM shot for the full effect. 

I love it! Anddd, I could still make something out of the top!

When in doubt...start from scratch!

I already bemoaned my failed attempts at altering dresses for my wedding on my personal blog so here is the condensed version. Best just to start from scratch. Thanks to some beautiful lace from an old wedding dress from my neighbor, I am almost done with my (final I promise!) wedding dress. It still has a little ways to go before it's finished. I just got really excited though and wanted to post my progress.



I need to find a slip. I was thinking of making a sash in the pale mint that ties in a big bow at the back...too baptism dress? Should I just do a cumber bun type belt, or even an obi sash? Also, I'm not sold on a veil, what are some good alternatives?

tank top makeover

One time, I got bleach on my favorite comfy tank. But I, being the cheap person that I am, refused to just throw it away..
so it sat in a pile, waiting to be fixed for about a year.

Until one day, I came up with a simple solution!

I unbuttoned it

And pinned a scrap of eyelet lace to the inside

sewed it on, folded in and sewed the raw edges of lace...

and it covered up the big spot perfectly! There is still a tiny little pink spot, but it doesn't really bother me as much. I was lucky that the stain was in a convenient place, otherwise I would have had to be a bit more creative with my "embellishing".

Ruffle Sleeve T-shirt Refashion

 Before:

After:



First, I took in the sides a bit so it wouldn't be so frumpy.

To make some ruffles, I cut two long strips of chiffon (bought at SAS in the remnant bin for like 25cents).

Fold each strip in half and sew raw edges together.

Turn right side out.

Get the seam to the center of the tube, and sew a gathering stitch (largest stitch possible) right down the center.

Pull one thread to gather.

Pin ruffle around each sleave.  I like to pin and sew on the inside of the sleave, so I can see that nothing is catching under the material.

Sew all the way around the sleave, turning under raw edge of ruffle when you get to the end.

Lay out remaining ruffles on one shoulder, and pin into place.

Sew everything down, and it's done!