west elm inspired shower curtain

oh my gosh.

oh my gosh.

this project was SO MUCH FUN that i could hardly wait until wednesday to show you. when i finally finished i just couldn't handle it.

...i was squealing. no big deal.

so when i first saw this shower curtain from west elm i wanted it. sooo bad. 

it even went on sale and that made it a couple bucks cheaper, but i could not justify paying almost $40 for a shower curtain especially since my last shower curtain was plastic and on sale for $8.

.....so i made it. and i LOVE it.

i know you want one too.

soooo you need

2 1/2 yards of two different colored fabrics

coordinating thread

grommets

fusible interfacing (i used heat and bond)

1. cut you stripes. this is the hardest, most laborious part. you will need four grey stripes and three white stripes measure 73" long and 11.5" wide (that includes seam allowances)

2. sew your stripes together. again, this is laborious. there is a lot of fabric. but take a white and a grey stripe, pin them together, and sew with a .5" seam allowance. repeat until all of the stripes are sewn together 
note: if you are lucky enough to have a serger, i would use it for this part

3. cut off any excess fabric on the sides that didn't line up

4. fold under .25", then fold under again on the bottom of the curtain. pin and sew :)

5. do the same to both sides of the shower curtain, alternating thread between white and grey fabric

6. now for the top. what i did first was folded the fabric over twice on the top to see how long i wanted the top to be. it ended up being about 4.5". 

so on the wrong side of the fabric, iron on the fusible interfacing. tear off the plastic, fold over the fabric and iron the interfacing down

7. fold over one more time and pin. then sew

8. sew a stitch on the very top of the shower curtain to reinforce it

9. figure out how many holes for your shower hooks. i needed twelve. so divide how many you need by 72". keep in mind you need hooks very close to both ends. pin where you want to place your grommets

10. i used these grommets. they are great :) keep in mind that you will also need a hammer hahaha and start banging away!

11. go into your bathroom, take that old curtain down......

BAM!

ahhhh! are you dying?! i am dying. i love it so much!

the big stripes are so bold, yet very understated. does that even make sense?

this basically made my week. so, go make one! it will be so much fun!

PS- random grad school update. two schools completely applied for and just waiting to hear back from. only one more application left. yes!

have a wonderful wednesday you winsome people!

books and buntings, buntings and books

school is back!!!

which means i will be more stressed out, which means i will be sewing a lot more. which is both good and bad...(good for the sewing, bad because of the stress)

anyway, i have been getting my craft on lately outside of my own projects. i feel like a craft connoisseur. it's like "oh hey nicole could you help me craft something?" and i'm like "heck ya! i am confident in my crafting abilities!"

with that said, i helped my friend sarah make a huge bunting for her wedding. and by huge, i mean like thirty feet long. it is awesome. 

we got all of the fabric from the LA Fashion District, and most of it was only a buck a yard, and we ended up only needing less than a yard of all of them.

anyways, would you like to know how to make a pretty sturdy and beautiful bunting garland?

you will need

about a yard of each kind of fabric you'd like to use

some 3" ribbon

matching thread

fusible interfacing

iron

ironing board

1. cut up all your triangles

2. lay out your ribbon across the ironing board

3. cut long, thin strands of interfacing enough to cover one side of the ribbon. iron away!

4. rip of the interfacing's plastic part and start laying down your triangles and ironing them on. you can usually do about four at a time depending on the ironing board

5. fold over the ribbon to cover the top of the triangles and pin down

6. sew!

sorry for the lack of pictures, i wanted to bust this thing out as fast as possible so it could be checked off the wedding to do list

and you're done! 

i haven't seen these in action yet, but when i do i'll let you guys know what they look like!

now, go make this monday great! 

fitted to a tee

i got this

and sewed it down to this

which is a weird kind of baggy around my ribs

so i decided to make it fitted with a tie

let's do it to it.

1. take in the sides. i always sew a straight line  up and down, hence the little bit extra on the side

2. with the extra side fabric, cut two long strips

3. pin the sides of the strips. make sure to leave one end open to turn them right side out 

4.turn your strips inside and you now have tubes! yay!

5.put your shirt on right side out and place a pin where you would like the fit to be tighter/taken in

6. take the shirt off, and place your tube against the pinned part of the shirt. make sure their widths match. then, unpick the seam between the two pins 

*also make sure that the pins on each side of your shirt are equal to each other*

 7. take your strip and place it inside your shirt. pull the un-sewn end of the tube through the new hole. adjust your pins of you need to

8. pull your tube out to line up with your shirts seam allowance and place a pin on the original seam and sew it up!

9. turn the shirt inside out and BAM!

wonderful!

now your shirt fits you to a tee :)

you could easily do this on a shirt that is much too big, or on a shirt that is only a little too big

i like it because i can tighten it to make it realllly fit, or loosen it when i don't want it to be so tight

i also think it adds a little character to the shirt

now get some loose shirts and fit 'em up! let's all show off our curves! or in my case, a lack thereof...

have a great monday!

the invisa-snap! in action

so remember the tutorial on the invisa-snap on friday? well in case you missed it, here is a refresher. 

i wanted to show you guys what it looks like in action

oh and i did it to another shirt...it's just so easy!

i work in a classroom, and the last thing i need is to keep fiddling with the neckline of my shirt so that nothing shows

which would be dastardly

speaking of dastardly....remember the CSET tests i have been taking? my last one is this saturday! woohoo!

and while it is supposed to be on the seemingly easiest subject (performing arts, physical education, and something else....) i am still starting to crave my common enemy. hahaha oh and just to let you know, according to California State Standards,

"Handicrafts are intended to be used as a regular part of life, and are not generally considered to be arts and crafts, which is viewed more as a hobby."

(from barron's CSET test prep book)

um.....guess what barron's and California Teaching Standards?

my arts and crafts are a way of LIFE

pshhh

haters gonna hate

feeling stripey

first and foremost,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
candy candy candy!
i am eating Boo Berry for breakfast!
which is probably the worst cereal for you, but i don't care
i'll let you know tomorrow if anything happens....anything ghoulish or amazing :)

so, i have been eating kit kats lately (i am eating one as i type) because they make my crazy busy life seem easier. or at least sweeter. but what i have noticed is that halfway through studying my kit kat is half gone. and i always get really, really sad. and i turn to my jason and say
"jason, i am sad because my kit kat is already half gone"
and being very philosophical he replies
"you must be a kit kat half gone kind of a person"


but is there any other kind of person?! 
i mean with water, if it is half empty, who cares? just go fill it up in the sink. but a kit kat...i mean...that is precious. it should be cherished, stick by stick.


alas....my kit kats are all gone now. so i will sew
(super random tangent: my one pet peeve about sewing is that i cannot eat chocolate at the same time because i will get it all over whatever i am sewing. come on, that makes sense right?)


ok, enough of the chocolate craziness, and on to the refashion!


this beaut came from my good ol' buddy sarah and oh my goodness when i saw it i was so excited! grey! yes! 

slight problem: too big for me

my solution: take it down a notch

so i did

amazing what taking an inch off of each side can do...

i am wearing this. everyday if i can get away with it.

the stripes will distract them right?

am i the only stripes fan or are you guys lovers of this pattern as well? 

do tell!