Two quick make-overs...with leopard print!
Several years ago I bought these cheap snakeskin heels at a thrift store. I'd planned to somehow make them leopard print, but after removing the outer layer of snakeskin (in the photo you can see one shoe in its original condition and one with the skin removed....yuck.) I sort of stalled for a very long time. I thought about painting them leopard print since the under-fabric was a relatively smooth cream coloured cotton twill, but it all seemed so time-consuming and I just never got around to it.Well, I finally completed these shoes, and I ended up covering them with fuzzy leopard fabric instead. I used some black bias tape to trim the top edges and give them a more "finished" look. I think they came out pretty nicely after it was all said and done. What do you think? 
Next is this sweater that I purchased at a thrift store. My best friend was looking for a light weight, short-sleeved black cardigan that did not have a vee neckline. I told her I would see what I could find, because I was confident I could turn up something like that after a bit of thrifting. Yeah, but no. After hours of hunting around, the closest I could get to her request was a light pullover sweater that had short sleeves and no vee-neck. I bought it anyway, thinking I could probably make it into a cardigan.
Of course I didn't think to take a before OR an after picture because I'm an airhead, but I do have an in-progress shot. 
Basically, I just cut the sweater straight up the middle, and then trimmed the raw edges with some leopard print jersey fabric. When the photo was taken I was in the process of basting the trim on. I also added a small elastic loop and a covered button to the neck area for closure. My friend said she loved it, and she looks super cute in it, too. The whole project turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be, especially considering how frightened I was at the idea of cutting a sweater open. ^^; Labels: clothes, diy, makeover, shoes, thrift
Quilting outside the box.
It's September, and that means my mother's birthday is quickly approaching. Each year I struggle to come up with the "perfect" gift for her. Sometimes I manage to succeed, but my failures certainly outnumber my successes. This year my gift-planning process has been hampered by a severe lack of funds brought on by a number of different things which I will not go into here. :PIt's not life-threatening, it just means I have to be extra thrifty and creative when figuring out mum's gift. After a few weeks of stressing myself out and coming up with and then discarding a number of different possibilities, I finally came upon a solid idea: A quilt!
I'm not talking about one of those cute decorative quilts that some people make. I'm talking about a heavy-duty queen/king sized monster meant to be used like a comforter. Last year I made a beast of a quilt for Adam & I, and when my mother saw it she asked if I could make her one. At that point, I was totally over the whole quilt-making thing and I told her in no uncertain terms that if I ever did make her one, it wouldn't be any time soon.
Fast-forward to this July. In the process of cleaning/re-organizing my sewing area, I found that I needed to purge a lot of my stashed fabric. I didn't want to get rid of any of it so I decided I'd make us another quilt, because honestly, is there anything on earth that will use up more fabric than a large patchwork quilt? ;)
I did things a little differently than with the beast-quilt I made the year before, which helped to simplify things and allowed me to finish in record time. I didn't work on anything else during that time period and somehow managed to stay very focused as well.
Anyway, after realizing that quilt-making did not have to be so torturous, I figured it was time to give my mum something she had actually asked me for. :)
But by that time, it was already the end of August. Mum's birthday is the 28th of September, so I knew I wouldn't have much time if I didn't want to rush. By using a plastic square template and planning a simple checkerboard patchwork pattern (every other square is from a blue flowered print, and the rest are cut from a few different, random fabrics) I saved a lot of time in the cutting squares/planning rows stage. I know that I probably do not make quilts the way that real quilters do, but I don't care. I do whatever works best for me, and the quilts that I have made in my own little way have turned out pretty well and held up to a lot of wear and tear. I can't say that I enjoy making quilts, because I typically start despising the entire concept by the time I am ready to start sewing squares into strips, but oh well. :P
I definitely reached that point with this quilt as soon as I had finished cutting, sorting, pressing, and stacking all of the squares into row piles. For some reason I felt like I had plenty of time, so I took a break before beginning the sewing process. I was only going to "break" for a day or two, but before I knew what hit me it had been at least a week. I started to panic, because I knew I had less than a month to finish everything, and I knew that it would be very time-consuming (and I am atrocious at managing my time!). So I've plotted out a schedule for myself that, if adhered to, should allow me to complete the entire project with plenty of time to spare--even if I am slower than expected or just plain undisciplined. I've got a decent start on the sewing, and just need to keep chugging along now. Hopefully I will be done well before my planned finish date. Expect pictures when everything is said and done. :)
Labels: gift, mum, quilt, sewing
Basically, I just cut the sweater straight up the middle, and then trimmed the raw edges with some leopard print jersey fabric. When the photo was taken I was in the process of basting the trim on. I also added a small elastic loop and a covered button to the neck area for closure. My friend said she loved it, and she looks super cute in it, too. The whole project turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be, especially considering how frightened I was at the idea of cutting a sweater open. ^^;
