a little tour

i know i haven't posted since june, but i've been meaning to, 

and i plan on posting more frequently in the future :) 

in honor of my return to blogging & sewing, i thought i'd share with you the place where it all happens!

here's an overview.

this is my knick-knack shelf. it has decorative things, but also hold jars of buttons and clothespin that i use.

this is the shelf on the left of the room. 

the giant key is from a wind up doll costume i made a couple of years ago. maybe one day i'll blog it :)

i like to put my thread in color groups rather than straight-up organize it. i think it looks more interesting!

the wooden organizer used to hold figurines on the wall of my childhood room. i removed the glass doors and decorative top piece, and now it holds things like pins, buttons, and other notions.

the tall dresser is filled entirely with fabric. here's a peek inside!

i have a chalkboard wall which i probably should have cleaned off before taking these pictures...instead you can see the weird night that my friends & i traced each other and drew cats.

in the opposite corner i keep my craft and sewing books, and some scrapbook paper too.

the other dresser has more scrapbook paper, a box filled with bits of lace, two huge spools of lace, and the organizers that hold my school things.

i sew on a small conference table i bought at ikea. it has adjustable legs and i made it tall enough that it is comfortable to cut fabric while standing. there's extra stools for projects with friends :) bonus- since it's a conference table it has a box that holds a power strip, so no cords on the table.

here's some neat vintage patterns on my bulletin board!

and this is where the magic happens :P

think i went a bit overboard with my color scheme? haha

that's all! 

prom: round two!

super quick update because i should be sleeping but i can't!

prom was last friday. i made a dress (in 4 days. no bueno.) and the usual accessories for matt & i. 

jess took some pretty sweet pictures of us beforehand so i figured i'd share:

yay!
also, it appears as though i forgot to do a weekly roundup this week. so much for that idea haha

weekly roundup: 5/30-6/6

this week has been made good by sweet friends. 

i love the little surprises they give me preceded with "this reminded me of you."

whether it be something for my ridiculously color-coordinated sewing room or a note that makes me smile; i always display it somewhere that i'll see it and remember how lucky i am to have these people in my life.

i also had a mini getaway to my favorite place in the world: the camp/conference center that i've spent summers at since i was nine. i'll be counseling at their youth camp this summer and attended an "enrichment sleepover" for the counselors and staff.

since then, i've been hard at work on my prom dress & accessories (that i couldn't have waited any longer to start..it's on friday!) and occasionally documenting the progress. there's way too many issues with it right now and i still have quite a way to go, but that's my own fault for procrastinating and improvising.

also: i put my dad to work on the rotary cutter to speed things along while i sewed. :P

i guess we'll find out soon enough whether or not i'll pull this one off!

a new record!

i may have to put this is my personal top 3 fastest projects ever completed. 

in an effort to avoid doing laundry, i made this:

a fully lined circle skirt in 45 minutes? yes please :) 

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.)

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! 

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 :)