Things I'm Loving- Yellowness

I have really been drawn to yellow things lately. Yellow is an awesome color. Think of how many cool things are yellow. You have the sun, lemonade, baby chicks and all of this cool stuff I found over the weekend.  Enjoy!

Ecouterre: Grain's Colorful "Chi-Chi" Textile Necklace

I am torn between actually buying these and trying to make them myself.  They are for a good cause but I love to figure out how to make things.  

Makeitandloveit Tutorial: Girls Shirt- Pleated/Ruffles

I love this tutorial and it is super easy.  I am thinking of making a grown-up version for myself.

Freshly Picked: Elastic Waist Skirt Tutorial

This is by far the quickest I have made a skirt ever.  I found the elastic at Hancock Fabrics but you could also use the wide elastic from another skirt or even some old pajama pants.

Angelbot: Stacey Spacey- Little Big Head 

I just really like this because both of my best friends are named Stacey...




Thanks for reading. My Upcycled Fashion Show: Part 2 is coming on Wednesdays so see you then.


Steph

My Upcycled Fashion Show....

I am very excited to show you my progress on upcycling my spring and summer wardrobe. I have had so much fun doing this and I have at least a million more swimming around in my head. It really does keep me up at night. I haven't been to bed before 2am for the last week. I am going to have to split this into two posts because I didn't realize how much stuff I made. Yay. So I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear feedback and comments from you. 

Look #1

Vest: thrifted from Goodwill. You might recognize it from the Tea Dyeing Tutorial.

Top: from a soft yellow tee shirt donated by my father. Since this photo was taken I have lowered the neckline just a bit.

Skirt: (sorry about the wrinkles) Target find from late last summer. I LOVE this skirt because as you can see it is so versatile. I wear it as a top as well.

Look #2

Dress: (Again sorry about the wrinkles. I do own an iron, I promise) I it got two years ago at Old Navy. I liked it but it was orginally a creamy linen color. It was pretty but it totally washed me out so I dyed it a light purple color. I cannot wait to wear this.

Shrug: Repurposed an old Target tee using a version of this tutorial posted on Cut Out and Keep. 

Scarfy/Necklacy thing: Made from the remnants of 3 or 4 other tee shirt projects. I saw them lying in a pile on the floor and I really liked how they looked. This is one of my favorite accessories. I have more at my Etsy shop. Come by and visit...I know, shameless plug but hey, its my blog.

Look#3

Top: Upcycled tee based on a tutorial found in the book Generation T: Beyond Fashion by Megan Nicolay. It's on the front cover of the book but I modified it just a bit.
Skirt: Another Target skirt from last season that does double duty. Sweet.
Shrug: Made from thrifted tee from Goodwill. 
Necklace: Quite possibly my favorite piece of jewelry with the exception of my wedding rings. This was made by my friend Angie at Cherry and Violet. She is an awesome jewelry designer over at Etsy and I implore you to check out her stuff. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE every piece and you will too.

Look #4

Top: White tank from Target who knows when...they just seem to multiply in my closet like rabbits. I must have at least five.
Cardigan: This is one of my favorite pieces and yes, its from Target. I love the buttons especially and because its yellow...I love all things yellow.
Skirt: This was an ankle-length broomstick skirt that I got last year in the Macy's Junior department. I never have been one to wear really long skirt because I am short and I think that longs skirts make me look shorter. I was right, this skirt never looked right on me so I chopped it in half and used the bottom to make a dress for my little girl. I know I'm lame, I made a mother-daughter outfit...whatev.


That's it for now. Stay tuned for part two next week.
Stephanie

Check out this awesome website for all things Etsy!!!

Attitude Adjustment

So I am on day 83 of my No New clothes resolution and so far so good. You can read about my resolution here. I have not cheated and believe it or not I haven't really wanted to. I have sworn off all unnecessary trips to Target and the mall which has helped tremendously. That being said, I am having waaaaay too much fun reviving my long hidden creativity.

I joined the ranks of stay at home/work from home mothers a little over a year ago and have found my attitude regarding fashion changing. Before I had Monkeyfeet (aka my darling child), I was really into fashion and had time in the morning to perfect my look before I set off on my day. I loved shopping and could spend hours at the mall or my favorite boutique. As I am sure most of you know that ALL CHANGED after I had Brynn. For the first year of her life and really even while I was pregnant, all I cared about was if it was comfortable, if I could nurse in it and if it could camouflage baby spit.Then suddenly, she was 14months old, I was finished nursing, I had lost "most" of the baby weight and I had more than five minutes to shower and get dressed. I started shopping again but I found that had totally lost interest. I felt out of place in even my most favorite stores. I felt too young to wear the ubiquitous "mom wear" but too old for the junior-ish styles that I was drawn too. I love Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters but since giving up my full time job and thus its full time salary I had a very limited budget to work with. So I gave up for a while totally disheartened. Then I had my epiphany-come New Years resolution and my fashion spirits were lifted. I could recreate all my favorite looks for much, much less using what I already had (eco-friendly ) and it would give me creative licence to make it my own.

So now I am hard at work on my spring/summer wardrobe and will be posting the full "collection" hopefully by the end of this week but I did want to give you a sneak peek. I am using a combination of patterns I have had for years, new patterns and surprisingly a few ideas of my very own. I have been holed up in my crafting lair (yes that's what I call it) almost every night for the last few weeks and I feel a little crazy at times. I talk to myself, cuss out my sewing machine and drink lots and lots of coffee but it is my special time and I love it.

Sneak Peek....

This was a thrift store find and man was it lame. However finding a print jersey is a coveted prize (at least to me) so I made it mine.

After a little refashioning....

Now it just needs to be warm so I can wear it. Sigh....

Stephanie

Noodlehead: Tutorial: Messenger Bag from Cargo Pants

I LOVE this! What a great idea.

Noodlehead: Tutorial: Messenger Bag from Cargo Pants

Catch up or DYE: Part 1

Now that I have successfully escaped the wrath of my tonsils, I have been playing a serious game of catch- up- on- everything- that- went- all- to- hell- while- mommy- was- sick. My poor daughter is going through tv detox because that is basically all I had the energy to do with her last week. I also had to unearth the kitchen sink from all the piled up mugs of soup and tea I consumed.

On the plus side, while I was comatose on the couch, I got the chance to watch a great show on KET about some really interesting fabric dyeing techniques which inspired me to want to give it a shot. I have dyed fabric before but I did it with my usual MO of not really reading the directions and though it came out reasonably well, I would like to try it again...correctly. So I did what we all do these days and I Googled it. Whoa...fabric dyeing is most decidedly not just for Deadheads. There were so many different ways that I decided to try a few different techniques and show you how I progressed.

Tea Dyeing

Tea dyeing is a subtle way to give fabrics an aged antique look. It's also somewhat reversible since you are using a natural "staining" process. I have this great vest that I found at my favorite thrift store but it looks a little TOO new for me. The white is too bright so I think its a perfect candidate for tea dyeing.

Step 1: Prepare the tea dye

I used 6 iced tea bags to 4 cups of boiling water. Steep for 3-5 minutes and then discard tea

bags.

Step 2: Prepare the fabric/garment

Just like with regular dyeing you need to wet the garment before you dye it. Wetting it helps to more evenly distribute the color so you don't end up with splotches.

Step 3: Submerge fabric/garment

Make sure you swirl and stir the fabric around a bit to ensure even coverage.

Step 4: Rinse well

Step 5: Hang or Machine Dry (check garment label for care instructions)

Ta Da!!! So it's a subtle change but its exactly what I was looking for.

Stay tuned for next week as I explore more awesome fabric dyeing techniques.