changing oil?

this beautiful cardigan is straight from the 50's.

my grandmother wore this and saved it for my mom-her daughter- to wear. so, whilst wearing this beautiful, soft, blush pink, vintage cardigan, in the 80's my mother changed her oil.

in

the

vintage

cardigan

fast forward to 2011, and my mom is cleaning out her closet and hands this cardigan to me saying that it is basically destroyed because of all the oil splotches on it. at the time, she wasn't an experienced mother with a knowledge of every stain so she washed it and dried it. she set in its impending doom

until i came along.

so i sat at my coffee table trying to strategically cover all of the major stains with scraps. and to my surprise, the shape could be made into a bow. i whipped out some scrap fabric and got to work.

and this is how it turned out

moral of the story:

never let a stain get in the way of a beautiful piece of clothing. 

i know many refashionistas are against that, but hey i am a CHEAP refashioner people. i will take stains.

there are still a few small visible stains, but it is now wearable. and i LOVE it so much that i get to wear my grandmother-who-i-have-never-met's cardigan. so exciting!

i think it is time to cut my bangs....hahaha

so, have any of you creatively covered/removed stains from clothing? because i am still working on another cardigan with an unfortunate bleach stain...

dye dress, dye!

this poor dress. the original color just didn't match anything ever and it always looked so awkward....so i decided to put it in a bathtub full of water and bleach :) hahaha thankfully after about ten minutes, i called my mom and she told me to take it out immediately. not soon enough....now it is like a splotchy light pink with a weird dark spot....and this is where the awesome Rit Color Remover comes in.

i always think bleach is the answer. i do not know why. anyway the color remover looks daunting i know. my mom convinced me into getting it for making my awesome denim vest and i did it- and it worked! it is only a step in the overall dying process, but perfection is a process! hahaha : ) the key is patience and quickness. it seems paradoxical, i know....anyway, do not fear the color remover! i am here to show you the way down a lighter path! (pun totally intended)

keep in mind, nothing is perfect. Rit Color Remover does NOT change the color of thread. i have no idea why....but ya. this dress is such a work in progress. so...here we go.

you need:

something you want to lighten

Rit Color Remover

maybe some latex gloves

a big pot

some killa tunez

1. put a bunch of water in the pot

2. get your thing(s) wet

3. pour your Rit in when the water is simmering

4. test a little part where isn't very obvious. test how long you want it to be in there for. For the denim vest i did, i put it in there for one minute. for this one, i put it in there for ten minutes. yaaa

5. figure out your time and GO!

it will go from this

to this

6. rinse it out in the sink with warm water

7. set out to dry

7. you may not like the color YET, but this is just a step in the entire process. now you can change it to another, lighter color or do whatever the heck you want.

this tutorial is to be continued because i cannot decide what color i want to dye it now....yellow, green, blush pink, orange......what do you guys think?

pleat-nik

good news:
the gre is over.
yes! unfortunately, i am still in hyperdrive study mode which means i eat a meal around 10:30 or 11 to stay awake until about 1 to study...but i have no more studying so now i am sewing like crazy to finish some pillows before the weekend. oh yes, there will be tutorials.....
until then, i hope this refashion satiates your crafting needs :)


i am guilty of owning a certain amount of completely plain knit shirts. shirts that are so bland they need to be paired with a live snake to make the outfit interesting.

so instead of investing in a yellow python, i decided to create a cuter (and higher) neckline. bam.

so we are making this

into this

i am allll about the dramatically different and completely hideous before picture and the amazing after picture

you will need:

a boring top

some scraps

some oldies man!

1. measure your neckline

2. get your scraps out

3. create a tube that is 4" by double your neckline measurement plus 2"

4. make your pleats

5. sew a line higher up on your pleat, then pin and sew a lower line onto your shirt

6. make any necessary adjustments

7. BAM! sup sexy

i was honestly so lazy i didn't want to walk outside to take pictures....so i hope you enjoy this small glimpse of my work area :)
any awesome weekend plans out there? my husband's grandparents are visiting (hence the need for pillows) so...top that! hahaha just kidding :)


but seriously. tell me. hahaha

today is the day

this is happening people.

12 PM.

my fate is decided.

wish me luck!

all business

hay girl hay

this is one of the few shirts that is business-y. i really have no business to do, but hey it is

1. cute

2. free

my two favorite things

so i took it in and now look!

so much cuter! i do not know what i did without taking things in....

and with that, i sincerely hope you are having a great day.
lovelovelove

GRE stands for....

technically, it stands for Graduate Records Exam. BUT i think i am gonna rename it to....

 Getting

Really

   Enraged

because the whole thing is so difficult! I mean come one I want to teach elementary school, why do i have to torture over this four hour exam?

side note, i can't bring a water bottle without a label. apparently, being hydrated is cheating. 

i only have two days to go until it is over......pray for me friends, i am gonna need it! i'll show up at the test center with my sewing machine and ask if it passes for identification.

on a happier note, HOW FLIPPIN CUTE is this?!

and now, your tuesday has really started :)

pocket full of posies

ok, so this post does not involve a pocket, and i have no idea what posies look like. anything like this?

because that's what we are making today!

i have had this shirt for a while, and as you can see i attempted to 'fix' it by cutting off the long sleeves. it didn't really work....and i couldn't even have a before shot with it on because it is SO low cut. like scary low cut. so today, we are gonna bump up that neckline and make this ordinary knit top extraordinary!

you will need:

a top that desperately needs to be more interesting

scraps (coordinating and contrasting)

needle

thread

1. pin where you want your new neckline to come up to.

2. cut a random scrap that covers your needed-to-be-covered area

3. hem the top, pin it on, and sew it on! and turn your shirt right side out

1

2

4

3

4. take your scraps and fold it in half. cut. fold in half again and cut. keep folding and cutting until you have rectangles that are about 2" or look like this

5. now, roughly cut the edges, making the rectangles into circles (or ovals, whatever)

6. take a rectangle and fold it once, fold it again, and fold it one more time

7. take about 6-7 to make a flower on your shirt

(i know the photo shows four, but  quickly learned i needed six)

8. i hand sewed mine on because i have a steel foot on the sewing machine, and i stitched two circle in the inside of each flower. keep sewing, sewing sewing until your space is filled

9. go flaunt your modest hotness everywhere you go because you just made yourself the talk of the town with this bad boy (or should i say good girl?)

now, i am not one for unfinished edges but i think the raw edges add a little romanticism to this top. however, if you HATE frayed edges (like i usually do) just get some fray stop or see through nail polish and go around your edges. so easy :)

now i wanna see what you guys came up with! so link your photos below, or just tell me how awesome you are. both work. hahaha

the moment of truth

i have not sewn/crafted in three days.

i feel weird.

you know when you take a short trip and you pack all your current projects thinking you will get them done?

well, i did that and my projects never even left the car. hahaha i feel like these last three days were 24 hours for everyone else in the world but me- in nicole world, my days were only 8 hours. srrsly. BUT i will be posting a tutorial very soon on how to work with this stuff

it looks so scary but it is so nifty that i have to share my knowledge of its wonders with you. it lightens, brightens, and makes everything better. except the air quality because it kinda smells, but hey i'll take stinky air and cute clothes over yummy air and no clothes any day!

projects coming up:

learning to use Rit Color Remover

refashioning boring tops

fixing a droopy couch

maybe a skirt or dress?

oh and

another moment of truth:

i cannot sew/stitch/cut a straight line. 

example from this tutorial

so weird huh? i do not why, but whenever i am cutting fabric or sewing a hem, i think i am going straight and then when it is done i look at it and realize it is all wonky. eh. so goes crafting. 

so i laid it all out on the table for you guys....you know my deepest crafting flaw!

so 'fess up guys, what is your crafting moment of truth? 

(don't lie, i don't judge! i mean i can't even cut a straight line.)

oh, why thank you!

so, i was going through my drawer the other day in search of thank you cards and found these

unless i am thanking someone for buying my a sled.......these are pretty much useful only half of a month every year. i think it's time to beef up these cards usability. i am pretty sure that's a word.

anyway, i decided to give them a facelift since i love the silver lettering and i really need more thank you cards

so i came up with this

let's make some!

you will need

cards (preferably with a smaller design to cover up, or completely plain)

colored paper

scissor

glue

funky 70s disco music

1. cut out all your circles and all your leaves. i cut four for each circle, and made one much smaller than the other. then, i cut two leaves

2. stack your flower pieces together using a little bit of glue in the center. stack stack stack

3. glue your leaves on first, wherever you decide is best

4. glue on the larger flower

5. glue on the smaller flower

6. go thank people for stuff! and make more and more and more :)

what is the weirdest card you have ever received?

mine: for our wedding, we were given a mozeltov, star of david themed wedding card and we are lds...my husband's nose must have thrown them off.i guess it is not that weird....just wrong religion. nbd. ps- isn't my husband hawt (spelled wrong for emphasis)?

hahaha

so 'fess up: any weird cards out there?

playful pleating

i started with an entirely different idea for this skirt.

which make me feel like a designer since i just made this up.

i wanted it to be like this but it ended up like....well this. and i love it!

i feel so grown up....wanna feel like a grown up?

here we go!

you will need:

probably a yard? a yard and a half will do

3 snaps

GUTS.

1. take your fabric and start pleating.  flip the top of the fabric down about 1.5 inches behind the pleat. make your pleats as big or as little as you want. mine were about 2 inches

2. create pleats that fit to your waist measurement (I have a 26 inch waist and i cut a 27 inch piece) and then cut to desired length 

*you are gonna need an extra pleat or two for the back of the skirt, so be generous in your seam allowance for your waist, like two pleats worth*

3. sew a line about 1 inch below where the pleats stop, sewing your raw edge underneath it.

4. sew a second line 1 inch below the first

5. pin and sew your bottom hem

6. sew the ends of the skirt about 3/4 of the way up

7. at this point, you will notice that you have extra fabric to fold over in the back. this is good! get some snaps and hand stitch two snaps where the skirt fits comfortable on your waist and use one other snap on the other edge of your extra fabric like this

8. cut a 60 inch by 6 inch piece of fabric, fold in half and sew! then turn inside out and sew up the edges

9. wrap it about your waist and OH MY LANTA you are so cute. love love love.

so much movement!

now go make yourself one! i didn't know what i was doing and look how good it turned out!

how do you guys think the skirt turned out? and how was your weekend?
translation: tell me your life story.