How to Convert a Dress into a High-Low Tunic

Saint Patrick's Day is upon us, and I realized I have very little green in my wardrobe, which is unacceptable. I searched through three stores, not finding anything green that looked good on me, and finally found a cute green dress at the local thrift store in town, AND it was half off day, so the grand total for this dress? $2.50. Only, it was a bit. . . frumpy? Action had to be taken.

I decided to modernize it by making it into a high-low tunic. It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting and only took me about 30 minutes. I love any sort of thrift store find (half my wardrobe is from thrift stores or consignment shops), and I love all things upcycled and restyled.

Here's my tutorial, so you can try it too.

STEP ONE
First, put on your dress/skirt/extremely long shirt, whatever you are converting. Mark the length of the front hem with a pin exactly in the middle (I would actually use safety pins--one of mine fell out when I took off the dress). Do the same with the back. Obviously, the back is going to be anywhere from 3-4 inches longer to, well, as long as you want. Drama, baby.

Front pin (hard to see with that pattern, but it's there):

Back pin:

STEP TWO
Next, you're going to cut your hem. Remember to leave 1-2" of seam allowance.

To mark the hemline, lay the garment on its side, with the side seams matched up. This should leave your marking pins on the fold lines for the front and back.

Side seams matching and folded exactly along the front and back:

Draw your line for your hem (remember seam allowance). This is probably the trickiest bit. Remember you're going to want to hit the fold at a right angle so you don't create a point, and you're going to want most of the "high-low" movement to happen at the sides, leaving the front and back fairly level.

I used a white fabric pencil to mark my line:

I used a rotary cutter to make a smooth cut. Fabric scissors will do the same thing though. Cut through both layers of fabric at the same time. Once you've cut your line, try on the garment again before hemming, to make sure you like the line. I realized my cut wasn't curvy enough the first time, and cut a tiny bit more off, after I lined everything back up again.

My finished cut:

STEP THREE
Once I had my hem line like I liked it, it was time to iron the hem. Turn up however much you allowed, and iron. You're going to want to finesse this a bit--you've got some curves and that's always a bit tricky to get to iron flat, but most fabrics will adjust if you work them a bit.

Raw edge turned up:

Then turn the raw edge under again, making it meet the ironed fold and press.

Raw edge turned under again towards fold:

Once that's all done, stitch the hem down. You can use a machine or hand sew. I chose to hand-stitch my hem, but a machine will do the job just as well. Just make sure to ease as you go, since you're sewing curves here.

Hand stitching my hem down with matching thread:

Then wear your new tunic with pride! I love how mine turned out.

Also, one of my friends calls this hemline a mullet hem, and I'm pretty sure that wins the internet.

Linked Up Here:
Tatertots and Jello

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Wonder Woman Cosplay

It's been a while since I went all out on a Halloween costume, but David talked me into trying out Wonder Woman this year. Of course, this involved figuring out how to make my own custom-made armor, because why do anything the sensible, easy way?

This tutorial about how to make Wonderflex armor was invaluable in this process.

So, I started with the idea. After looking through hundreds of photos of Wonder Woman online, I sketched my own concept based on what I liked the best.

Now, it was time to shop for boots and the corset. We got one corset, and it was too small. I wanted the corset lacing to either meet, or to have a panel, and it probably had a six inch gap with no panel. The peril of ordering on the internet. So, we tried a different style. This time it was too big. Of course. So, I ended up just taking it in.

I also looked at probably hundreds of pairs of boots. I could have got the classic Wonder Woman boots, but I thought it would be more fun to go with something a little more realistic looking, to match the mood of the costume, and so I could wear them after Halloween too. I love the pair I got. When they came in the mail, I put them on and told David I was never taking them off.

Once we had the corset sorted, we started patterning the armor. It didn't seem like much, but there were a ton of different pieces to pattern, and then the problem of how to actually attach everything so it could come on and off my body had to be worked out before we made pieces.

I wish I had taken more photos of patterning, but I didn't start until we started molding. We used mostly Wonderflex backed with craft foam to make the pieces. I wouldn't do that again. The craft foam did not like sticking to the Wonderflex and it was a pain in the butt. I think several layers of Wonderflex is a much better option.

So, here's the front belt piece after the first mold, and then with the layers on top to add dimension.

I can't believe I don't have more in progress shots of the breastplate. Urg! It was the most challenging, because it had more complicated curves and levels. I did put in one little dart and that helped mold the curves a bit.

There you can see I'm building up the levels.

 You can see at this point, there are still a lot of waves and bumps.

We ended up covering a lot of it with Apoxie Sculpt, which was another giant pain. I don't think I mixed it correctly, so it was sticky, and impossible to get where I wanted it. And then it dries to concrete. You can sand it, and I spend hours sanding it.

We also made the stars out of Apoxie Sculpt. The stars were also a pain in the rear. I would do them differently now. I knew I wanted that shape and type of star, but how to get the very sticky stuff in the mold (which took us AGES to find--we were even going to make our own mold at one point), and then out again without destroying the star? We end up using olive oil. Which was ok. But, I would have lined it with cling wrap and then coated the inside with olive oil. I bet they would have come out so nicely.

The red you see up there isn't the Apoxie Sculpt, it's filler. Which then had to be sanded. Again.

First coat of paint! I actually ended up painting them three times. I wanted a slightly aged look, but couldn't figure out the right balance. Eventually, did a mix of two spray paints, and then mixed gold acrylic paint with browns, yellows, blacks and whites to age the top, and then ever so slightly misted that with spray paint. And then a top coat of polyurethane.

The bracers were actually done with a sheet of ABS plastic, craft foam and a touch of Wonderflex. Same with the tiara. It was a lot harder to heat to mold--but we were using my embossing gun from my stamping days. With an actual heat gun, it might have been a bit easier.

The basic bracer with a layer of craft foam, and then another layer for the dimension. (On the right is one of the paper pattern pieces.)

Adding the stars. I had to sand them down for ages to get them to curve. I wish I had figured out a better way to mold them so I could have just stuck down the clay when wet and avoided that whole mess. Next time!

The pieces to make the recesses traced and ready to cut out.

The tiara ready for paint. You can see the black ABS plastic (Wonderflex is white).

The chainmail was all handmade from washers and jump rings.

We found the red belt on the back at a thrift store and attached it to the armor with screws. The belt also comes apart in the front with overall hooks. Yes, the kind of overalls that are currently coming back into style. I found the hooks at JoAnn Fabrics.

The skirt I sewed from suede fabric. The star on the front is hand-stitched, and the other stars are metal--those things that you stick into fabric with the prongs that bend to attach. Studs, maybe? The bottom metal looking things on the end of each flap is wonderflex again, painted, with metal spike studs on each end.

The skirt is all attached to the belt. The back piece velcros so the belt still can unbuckle in the back. I got a swimsuit bikini bottom to wear under the whole thing.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Dealing with Those Pesky Sewing Patterns: Organizing Solution

This is Part 4 of my How I Organized My Entire House for $0.00 (Really!) series.
Part 1 (Intro) is here.
Part 2 (Simple Rules to Create Organization that Sustains Itself Plus Master Bath Organization) is here.
Part 3 (Inexpensive Organizing) is here.

Did you think I abandoned my organizing project? Oh no, I have not. I have only stared into the abyss that is my craft room, and it is not a short thing. It is a long, multi-part thing.

I started with my sewing patterns, which is what this post is about. I recently started crafting for a great company again, you know, on a professional basis, and that means lots of time in the craft room. And that place is scary. We don't have a garage, so storage is a rare and precious commodity at our house. Stuff that has no where to go ends up in the craft room. If a kid comes to me to ask where something goes, it's usually phrased this way, "Where does this go? The craft room?"

David has started calling it "the junk drawer." I know another crafter who calls hers "the room of requirement."

I have slowly started to change this. It was a major milestone when I could reach the closet--which by the way, is right next to the door.

I've also started changing my habits. I don't craft the same way I used to. I put things away as I go. It's a novel concept, I know, and more about how I made it easier to do later, but it does make my brain more clear. I spend a lot less time looking for the scissors (or other craft tool) that are somewhere on my table and clean-up afterward is so much easier.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the patterns.

I picked up a huge box of retro patterns at a garage sale a few Saturdays ago, and nearly doubled my pattern collection in one go. I desperately needed a way to look at what I had and also find what I had.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I spent it at rehearsals for Spanish Fork Community Theater's production of My Fair Lady. And then I performed in 8 shows of My Fair Lady. My part wasn't anything too big: a member of the ensemble, but David was cast as Colonel Pickering.

One of the funnest things about being in the ensemble was that I had nearly as many costume changes as anyone else. Five. While the theater provided three, it ended up that I offered to make two of mine: my dress for Ascot (possibly one of the most famous scenes for costumes ever) and my Embassy Waltz dress. For both of them, I didn't use a pattern. Edwardian style is stunning.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Sunshine Paisley Throw Pillow Tutorial

Ok, here it is. What I've been meaning to write and put up for ages. If I didn't have to keep doing that pesky schoolwork (five more weeks until graduation, five more weeks!), this would have happened a lot sooner.

Once I finished the five embroidered paisley squares (click for pattern), I knew I wanted to make a pillow out of them. I was worried though, because I didn't want it to get too "patchwork quilt." I didn't think that would go with the modern feel of my bedroom.

I wanted to do solid yellows and grays, but the quilt story nearby (Gracie Lou's--sooooo awesome!) didn't have any. This was perplexing. Normally, when I get an idea, there is nothing that can prevent me from doing that idea. I mean, small adjustments, they normally make the project turn out better. Large adjustments like substituting a print for a solid? I will normally not proceed. I think the saleswomen in the shop thought I was being completely unreasonable (although she was very perplexedly kind about it). Like, I had gone into a restaurant and said, "But, these green beans aren't green enough, I wanted more of a Christmas green, not so much an olive green. And I wanted them cut 1/4" longer. Do you have different green beans in the back?" (I did not ask for super-secret back-room fabric, FYI).

 

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Halloween!

So, I stayed up sewing until 3:30 am on Sunday night. Maxton, really wanted to be Aang, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I couldn't find any in the stores and for some reason, it didn't occur to me to check online until it was too late. This is cooler, because he's the cartoon Aang, not the live-action movie Aang.

So, of course, I didn't have a pattern, so this is hodge-podged together. The pants I based off a super easy pattern, then I added elastic around the bottom. The cape I sewed in one try, making up my own pattern, and same with the belt.

The collar took me four tries to get right (it's separate from the shirt). I'd never sewn anything like that, and I had to make my own pattern, so that was some serious trial and error. The shirt was a nightmare. The pattern I chose for the shirt was all wrong--the directions did not make any sense (or I was just not getting it, I'm going with the first because it makes me feel better), so I ended up just doing my own thing with it. But, it's done!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Aqua and Pink Camera Strap Cover

I'm not sure why camera manufacturers make camera straps so uncomfortable. I'm guessing that it's so that the straps have a grippy quality that allows them to be less likely to slip and therefore less likely to fall off of your neck and (in a second therefore), therefore less likely for your camera to achieve contact with ground (this is bad, unless you gently set it there. I once dropped my most expensive lens. That was un-fun).

I have not yet developed callouses on my neck that would allow me to wear my camera strap without discomfort. Perhaps that's something that is discussed with pride among professional photographers? I wonder if they compare neck callouses? Although it would be pretty hard to see your own. You'd have to get an impartial judge, which seems like a lot of hassle for a simple callous comparison. Or you could get two mirrors. Or, I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier, you could just take pictures of each other's callouses. I'm spending way too many words thinking about something that probably does not exist. I'm unfamiliar with small talk among photographers (or their necks.) (I don't mean small talk among their necks, I just mean, I'm unfamiliar with their necks--I don't make a habit of examining people's necks; although I do enjoy vampire fiction, a preoccupation with necks has not yet resulted, apart from this blog entry). Whenever I meet professional photographers, I try to change the subject. I feel like a fraud and I don't want to get caught forgetting that my camera is a 60D or confusing ISO with aperture (it's totally happened, even though I can use ISO and aperture with dexterity if with mixed results).

I've resorted to some pretty interesting solutions while trying to relieve camera strap chaffing, including wearing the whole thing down around my shoulders or under one arm. Not exactly ideal. So, it's pretty sad that it took me this long to make a dang camera strap cover.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Unfinished Craft Project--Finished! 1 of One Hundred Thousand Six Hundred Three

I have organized my poor (it ends up being the junk dumping room, since we don't have a garage) craft room  so many times since we moved in a year ago.

This is what the closet looks like when it's organized (if the closet is put away, the rest of the room does ok). Which is never. Because to find anything, I have to take down all those stacked boxes. And you can guess how often then make it back up into a stack (hint: never).

And it occurs to me that Flylady is right and that you can't organize clutter (or in my case, excessive amounts of craft crap). I tried to get rid of some of it, but my brain kept thinking up uses for it. Stupid brain.

Anyway, I pulled out all my unfinished projects. Every single one. Well, not counting scrapbook pages. I'm trying to motivate myself here. Not send myself to craft place-where-there-is-fire-and-brimstone-and-unfinished-scrapbook-pages-scream-at-you-all-day-inducing-high-levels-of-guilt. I don't mind the scrapbooking I haven't done--I never intended to scrapbook every photo I ever took. It's the scrapbook pages I've started and never finished that get to me. But that's another post for another day.

Anyway, I did manage to get rid of a few projects that I no longer wish to complete, but here is the list of projects I still want to complete. These are strictly projects I've started, not projects I want to start. That list is significantly longer. Some of these are biiiiiiig projects.

Spray paint frames (I'll show you these soon)
Tree tote bag (look below for pictures)
Pettycoat skirt (also coming soon!)
Ampersand (this was my last post)
White floaty scarf
Pink shirt refashion
Wrap around vest refashion
Crochet fingerless gloves
Repair pink and grey hair flower
Hexagon quilt (Somehow, I stopped working on this one)
Thanksgiving wall hanging
Rehang crochet butterfly in kitchen (See the butterfly almost the bottom left-hand corner? My kids keep knocking off the wall and breaking the glass--need to put acrylic in it or something)
Garden quilt
Grandkid silhouettes
Gold sweater
Yellow flower/pink flower/pink felted flower/purple headband/pink cuff
Yellow rosette pillow
Curtains (They need to be a tiny bit longer)
Green knitted buckets
Painted linen skirt
Braided rug (I got sidetracked on this project too)
Patches on jeans
Mom's messenger bag
Santa Claus wall hanging
Box purse
Grandma Jensen quilt--blues and purples
Crochet beaded bag
Let out Citrus halter (Aubrey never wore this much and it has some room to let it out--she could wear it as a top now)
Sew pom pom on poncho
Butterfly embroidery
Blue and brown hoodie
Wool scarf
Cross stitch Noah's Ark
Blue and Pink diamond quilt
Orange and green diamond quilt
Mom's Christmas present albums
Bag embroidery

Hummm, maybe it just seems much bigger in my mind? Because that list is looking quite do-able right now. I'm hoping I can have most of these done by the end of the summer. Maybe?

Crossed off items are ones I've already finished!

Speaking of finished, here's one I finished yesterday!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Make It Your Own--Northridge Publishing

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to film with Kristine McKay from Northridge Publishing. It was so much fun to be in front of the camera and I hope I don't seem too goofy, shifty-eyed or nervous. I had a blast, and here's one of the segments we filmed.

Many thanks to them for having me!




And the super-sassy photo of Aubrey I took with her in the skirt (which weirdly printed up backwards on my printer the morning of filming, but I didn't have time to print a second, not-backwards version):

And, a close up of the owl:

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Trick Or Treat Bags

Posting again today!

I pulled out the kids' trick or treat bags and remembered that I never shared them last year. I was literally sewing them minutes before we were due out the door.

They came out a lot larger than I was picturing in my head. I was really worried they would be too small and it would be hard for people to get treats into the bags and I overestimated the seam allowances. So I kept adding inches. Then I got the first one sewed and realize it was huge, but I didn't want them to end up different sized and incite a riot.

At least they will last until the kids are too old for trick or treating. No pillow cases for my kids. Well, pillow cases are cool, so maybe they will abandon them at some point.

When we got them out today, Griffin was ticked that his was candy corn. He wanted something hard core like spider webs or skulls. Candy corn is sooooo baby. Tough cookies, darling. I have no (working) sewing machine, no fabric and no time to sew him a new one, so he could be happy about candy corn or have no bag (by the way, he picked out the fabric last year). He seems to have made peace with it, as he was just pretending to be the "Candy Corn Power Ranger" a minute ago.

The names I printed out--the font is Century Gothic (funny considering my video I posted today--really, I love that font), and then I traced it onto the fabric and embroidered it by hand, adding the little x's for the dots on the i's.

David picked out the zebra fabric. I'm telling you, the mad has an obsession with zebra print. You can see how I used the leftovers in this skirt here.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

My Late 60s Pattern Goldmine

Ok, so I got my act together (by avoiding homework; I'm 28 and still as much a procrastinator as ever, I've given up ever thinking I will grow out of it), and took pictures of my patterns using my point and shoot. It's not so bad for things like this. Pictures of the children, never happy with. Pictures of inanimate objects that don't move or change facial expressions or dart into low lighting conditions, not so bad.

If you missed the previous post where I mentioned these, I picked them up at a yard sale a few weeks back. They were a STEAL at five cents each. I think whoever bought them has great taste. I really want to try one (as soon as I get my sewing machine situation sorted), but I'm not sure how I'm ever going to decide which one to try first!

They might be a size smaller than I would pick if I was picking based on my measurements, but I think I can work around that fairly easily.

So, if you were picking, which one would you do first? I've numbered them for easy reference.

This one is darling, but it's girl-sized, so while I might make it for Aubrey, it's not in the running for me (obviously).

I LOVE that coat in 8, although I would probably skip the pockets on the top and do an applique or something else (maybe add a yoke?) there instead. I adore 11 and 3, but I've already got a similar dress in my wardrobe, so I might hold off on one of those until a 3rd or 4th project. . . Isn't it funny how suddenly we get the 70s style with the long dress and the pointed collar in 2? I looked up the year on most of them when I could find them and I think that pattern is from 1970. They are from 1966-1972. I was expecting 1 to be from the 50s, but it's a 60s pattern too.

So, what do you think?

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.