Yes, another Giveaway to enter

I'm a long time reader of Little Birdie Secrets.

In fact I think it was pretty much the first craft blog I started reading, which has in turned fueled a daily consumption of all blogs and sites crafty.

Little Birdie Secrets is having a giveaway. Oh what would it be like to win a giveaway, and this giveaway! I've been drooling over the Silhouette for months! It can do amazing things, I just love how it connects to your computer just like a printer, so no expensive cartridges to buy and buy and buy. I’d like to get one someday, sigh. But I think that winning one would make that day not a million years away. Good Luck to me! And Good Luck to you!

Want to win!

I would love to win this giveaway at http://megannielsen.com/. I’d make a bunch of variations for some summery breezy additions to my wardrobe.  

Temporary

This is my new sewing set up for the summer. : )

 

Travel Pillow

In preparation for a 16 hour drive (and move) from Boise, ID to Denver, CO I made a travel pillow.

I sketched a pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut it out of a too small but soft comfy shirt.

(I ended up adding an inch to my pattern in the middle/fold)

 

 

 

 

 

I got two U shaped pieces from the pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I sewed the two together leaving a two inch gap on the right outside curve for inserting stuffing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I stuffed my pillow with the stuffing from an old pillow I’m not using anymore.

I spritzed the stuffing with Lavender aromatherapy pillow spray that my dear friend Jenni send me for my birthday!

Its perfect, a slight scent, just enough- very soothing while traveling!

 

Refashioned Spring Outfit

I haven’t had time for much crafting lately. But I found just enough time to fashion a new outfit.

So I had this navy shirt, its a good fit, three quarter sleeves. But it had a logo from a former job on the left side. I tried appliquéing over the embroidery but it looked terrible. So I pulled that off, and tried something new. I came up with this:

 

I sewed some of these fabric flowers—in the car (thats how easy they are) as we drove across the state to visit family--And then I hand sewed the flowers onto the shirt.

(Since we were on the road, the only place I got a photo was in the car)

Its been through the wash now and everything stayed secure, hooray!

 

I wanted to refashion the navy shirt so that I could wear it with this skirt I whipped up. It came from this lovely little number, Bought at Old Navy extra clearance clearance sale:

View Full Album

XL weird tube top/one shoulder knit jersey dress, with floppy wingy sleeve. Yuck. But I loved the print navy and white print. So I cut it straight across the middle and added an elastic waistband.

View Full Album

And ta da, I had a super comfy skirt, and for cheap, $3.00.

View Full Album

So if you have a shirt with an old ugly logo, a few scraps of fabric, and a not so hot dress you’d like to cut up and turn into a skirt…you can whip up a new spring outfit too!

Baby Boy Baby Gift

For a friend’s brand new (not so new) little monkey, baby booties and a stenciled onesie! It just took me 3 months to gift it to the recipient. Poor kid was born in January. His momma assures me it will still fit…we’ll see.

I just love freezer paper stencils! Cut stencil, iron, paint, wait for it to dry(impatiently), peel, and ta da!

View Full Album

More instructions and links for Freezing Paper Stenciling how to at

this earlier post.

 

And my new favorite crafting tool:

Instead of using an exacto knife (which scare me) I picked up this nifty cutter, its got a ceramic micro tip. Its sharp enough but without a big bulky blade. And its got a snap on lid just like a pen. I love it! Now I have to/get to make more stencils!

Refashion: Grey & Blue Dress

I took this clearance XXL dress and took in the sides and waist. Took it up inches and inches in the shoulders. Re-cut the sleeves and reattached them.

I’m still playing with how to make the pockets better. Thinking I’ll add a pleat to them, so they don’t gape open as much. Or maybe some shirring. We’ll see.

And now I have a super comfy simple dress, that fits! And for about $3.00, and an hour of tinkering.

Here’s me and my hubby after church on Valentine’s Day (wish I had a few fabric flowers pinned on too, forgot):

View Full Album

More Fabric Flowers!

So the inspiration for these flowers comes from having to read a book for a class over the weekend. I got an audiobook version of it, and blissfully listened my way through it, while making pretty little flowers. Here some of my creations:

 

• Instructions on how to make the flower in this post.
• Then I sewed on a pearly shank button in the middle.
• Then, folded a piece of sheer ribbon and stitched it to the back.
• Next, sewed the pin piece to a circle of white felt.
• Last, I used Tacky glue (inspired by this tutorial) to adhere the felt to the fabric. I love this stuff now!

I did a few singed silk flowers too. I mentioned them earlier in this post. 

I really love the way they turned out this time! Plus it kept my hands busy while I was listening to my homework!

  

Some Lite Reading

I have so much to learn. I love my Library.

Navy Stripe- Shirt Altering

So good ole’ Old Navy had another 50% off clearance sale. (Thank you Jenni, my girl on the inside, for the heads up). I went and picked up a few more things to refashion, and I’ve been working of my other works-in-progress too.

So this one isn’t a true refashion. All I really did was resize it.   (Cost= $2.49)

 

However, I completely took it apart to do so. Mostly because of the neckline- love this style. Don’t know what its called, anyone know? I decided to take it up in the shoulders to make it fit better, higher, and less saggy. A few inches makes a big difference. (pinned:)

This is what the inside construction looks like (inside out). Front and back pieces overlap to create the shoulder seam where the sleeve is attached. So I trimmed/ripped out the shoulder seams and side seams. I then overlapped the flaps more and stitched them in place.

Then I tried a new way of attaching sleeves, which is the EASY way! Sew the shoulder seams, flat, then sew up the side seam and sleeve seam in one pass. Really good tutorial here, its worth checking out! I’ll never do set in sleeves the hard way again, unless I have to. The sleeves were already perfectly finished, I just had to unstitch the bar stitch that was keeping them tacked up. I always need more long sleeve shirts, my arms get cold easy, so I’d prefer to have them long instead of leaving them rolled up. Oh and they were a bit wide, so I took them in as well.

I usually try to get by with using as few pins as possible, but this knit tended to roll up on the edges. Also, I wanted to get the stripes lined up as best I could.

   Then finish up with a twin needle hem.  The neckline turned out pretty good.The alterations were pretty effective. 

I’m thinking about adding a stencil. I really like the sailor feel of the navy and white stripes. So I  was thinking along the lines of the Navy theme, I’d do an anchor.

What do you think? Too Cheesy?

Which color? (these are just photoshopped to get an idea)

 

Indecisive some more

So, I got this basic Old Navy shirt in the sale last week. Its my favorite kind- long sleeve, perfect comfortable neckline, basic. Its great….but…I just love these freezer paper stencils, and I can’t just leave it plain. (hey, at least its not a bedazzler!)

So I don’t remember now where I plucked this picture from, but I just love the flower design.

And sometime ago I thought, hmm that would make a great stencil.

Just add a little photoshop/corel draw time and viola:

 

  

So the background is the approximate color of the shirt that I want to stencil, (turquiose?). The color squares to the right are the paints that I have right now: black, green, pink, brown, white, navy, orange.

So because I’m a indecisive nerd, and because it was so easy, I made these different color combinations.

      

Which do you think I should do? Suggestions?

Hoping to do this project this weekend. I’m on a craft kick.