a series of unfortunate events

i'm rather confused about what the weather was thinking in the past week. 

the snowpocalypse completely annihilated my town and nearly everyone was without power

...which was mostly unfortunate because i waited until 2 days before halloween to do costumes.

no power = no sewing

did i learn my lesson?
nope.
i'm still banking on the fact that last year's costume was made the night of and came out decently

as for this year? halloween was pretty much cancelled. 

however, i'm still finishing up the costumes and hoping to show you soon!

in the meantime, here is the ridiculous(ly disappointing) last minute costumes matt & i donned at a party:

andy warhol and ladyfriend? ...yeah i'm not sure either :P

the cat's outta the bag

so that crazy dress i wanted to show you? the reason i was making it has been put on hold. hence, i don't find myself liable to keep the dress a secret anymore. plus the fact that it's difficult to sit in the same room as this thing without wanting to show someone

it's far from finished (clearly, there's not even a zipper or anything haha)

but here's the progress i've made so far after a solid 2 days of working on it and about 24 yards of fabric.

...i also think i've lost my mind.

granny chic?

the things i make while i'm procrastinating making other things are always of a questionable nature.

enter: the pillowcase dress.

unfortunately, it actually just looks like i'm wearing a pillowcase. good thing i wasn't planning on leaving the house in it anyway :P

on a different note, i have something seriously awesome that will be finished tomorrow!
i want to post a progress shot, but i've been sworn to secrecy.
apologies to my huge number of followers.. (read: one.)

thrifty finds

i just felt like sharing some random objects i have acquired in the past month :)

first up, this wine colored wool hat. i'm not sure how to style it yet, but i think i'll figure it out come winter time

i got these wonderful vintage patterns that i love too much to lay a hand on

this not-so-attractive green suitcase has beautiful insides. pretty profound for a piece of luggage :P

it was a $1 garage sale find, along with another suitcase that i'm turning into a chair!

these little crafting magazines are so cute. and bizarre. i've found some of the most ridiculous projects among these pages. they seem to be aimed at scout den mothers of the early 60's.

....i think that says a lot about my personality haha

and lastly, my absolute favorite: 50's era detachable collar

it still has the original tag!

and came with a backstory, told to me by the vintage shop's owner. i love pieces with history :)

that's all for now!

various life happenings

last friday i went to see these lovlies play in the city:

http://www.aprilsmithmusic.com/

i admire april beyond words, so i wanted to sew a dress for the occasion!
i spent the night before and morning of creating a dress that was as "april" as i could possibly make it
i'm rather pleased with the results :)

it got quite a few compliments throughout the day, but the best came from april herself!

i don't think i could have asked for a better night to happen.

i don't have any photos of the dress from that day, but my mom and i are moving into a house that has a HUGE field in the back, so of course a trivial photoshoot was in order

...but unfortunately none of the pictures really show the dress.

oh well! 

crazy straw craziness

today my friend jordan and i decided to connect 16 crazy straws and attempt to drink from a large snapple container with the contraption. (we're bored teenagers on summer vacation, it happens)

at first things were going very well:

...until i tried to see how far the straw would let me go...

then this happened- oops!

don't worry, we cleaned it up. 

luckily, the maintenance man was amused by the whole thing. 

he thought we were doing a science experiment. 

either way it was a lot of fun!

first REAL post

hi there! i've never written a tutorial before, so this should be interesting. i chose a fairly simple project though,  so i'm thinking i can't mess this up too much! :P

here's what you'll need:

-a pair of shorts or pants

that you're willing to cut up

-paper to make a simple pattern

-pins!

-something round to trace that is the 

size you want your scallops to be

-fray check or something similar

-a piece of cardboard

-scissors 

for my shorts i actually started with these hand-me-down capris that clearly don't fit.

i turned them inside out, pinned them and sewed in the adjustments 

that would make them look less ridiculous on me. 

(yes, my current sewing table is the floor.)

anyway! for those of you fortunate enough to fit into your pants, this is where things become relevant.

cut the pants so they are slightly longer than the length you want to end with. the scallops rise enough to make the shorts shorter than most intended. 

next, you'll gather up a pencil and paper, and something to trace to make the scallops. i used a small votive.

trace yourself a pattern that is long enough to wrap around the entire leg of the shorts. it's helpful to measure first, because you may end up with your last scallop being messy if the lengths don't match up.

now you pin the pattern onto the shorts. i like to start with the inside seam, just in case the first and last scallop don't match. it's much less noticeable. cut carefully around your pattern (or trace the pattern on, if you desire)

remember that the way you cut will be your final product, so it's okay to get a bit obsessive here. 

after you're done cutting, slide a piece of cardboard between one of the legs. use the fray check to trace along the edge of the scallops, which will ultimately keep them intact. 

at this point, the edges will probably look something like this. don't worry! once it dries you shouldn't be able to see the fray check at all. (drying shouldn't take more than a half hour)

you're finished! slide a ribbon around your waist and tie a cute bow. 

you are now free to frolic in your super cute shorts :)

i suppose i should introduce myself

i'm kristina, sometimes known as rina. i'm not entirely sure why i started this blog, and i'm still not sure what to do with it, but i guess we'll see where this takes me!

here's a few facts to get to know me:
-i wear a dress almost every day (winter too.) it suits me, and at this point my friends get concerned if i wear pants for a day.

-i love to sew! i can't name a specific age that i started, but it's always been in my life some way or another. i'm completely self-taught, and i never use patterns because they always manage to confuse me. it's still a learning process, and i've got a long way to go- but i'm really enjoying myself in the mean time!

-i play the melodica (badly) and tap (also badly). i would love to be a tap percussionist or melodica player in a band some day. (assuming i begin to suck less).

-although i don't very often, i really enjoy baking. the irony is that i don't enjoy eating baked goods whatsoever, so i always end up with cupcakes just sitting in my house. 

-i have an unexplainable affinity for architecture. when i was younger i was convinced i would be an architect one day, but now i'm not so sure. there's so many other things i want to do! i've settled on keeping an architecture an interest, because loving something doesn't mean i have to do it! it will always be an influence on me regardless.

-if a zombie apocalypse happens, i'm down. i like zombies.

now that i'm thinking of these things, i feel like i could go on forever! :P i'll save you the trouble though, more fun facts to come. :)