Top to Bolero Remake

So, about a month ago, I was sifting through the racks at Value Village and came across this really pretty top.

I fell completely in love with the pattern in the sheer fabric . . .

And the beautiful lace lining the neck . . .

BUT, there was one small problem.

I may have lost almost 20 lbs since Christmas but this shirt needed another 10 to fit. 


Still, i had this crazy idea I could do something with it.  I hummed and hawed.  I thought about all the unfinished and backed up projects I had stacking up and thought about how I really didn't need another one did I? But ooooh the print . . .  sooo pretty . . .   the lace . . . sooo pretty. . . but cut it up without knowing if it will work? For $7.99?  And will I even get a chance to work on it?!

Sadly I ended up putting it back on the shelf.  For $7.99 I just couldn't bring myself to cut into it not knowing.

Forwards a couple weeks and I get news of a 50% off day at Value Villiage!  This is a golden day for pro thrifters. I gather up a bag of toys and a big packed lunch and my toddler and spend a few hours going through the racks. Lo and behold there it was! Still waiting for someone to take it home.

Well,  now it was only $4?  I said fine! BUT, only on the grounds that I work on it right away.

So I snatched it up and took it home and started by cutting off the white bottom.

Still didn't hang right so I also removed the elastic that was added around it.


Then I decided it still needed a little something but what?

Digging around for something I came across some lovely peach satin ribbon that had been intended for a baby blanket that never got used. (The ribbon, not the blanket.)

Pinned and sewed and here is what I ended up with . . .

A very sweet and light bolero style shrug.

My god this is a terrible picture *hides*

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out given I was really wingin' it.    I might still go back and round out the corners of the ribbon but we'll see.  Now I just need some nice warm weather so I can wear it!

Do any up-cycling or clothing mods yourself lately? 



Till next time, keep crafty!


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 I WAS FEATURED!!!

Reorgainzing: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

As part of my new me I decided to learn how to make all my bread from scratch, by hand, homemade.

My 3rd loaf so far!

So insert need to find extra housing for extra flours.

The Good? 
A TRIP TO VALUE VILLAGE! (I'll take any excuse to go there)

For $4 I came away from said trip with one of these:

Picture take from an ebay sale as I forgot to take a before picture.

Now this is the second set of these I've gotten from Value Village. The first one is no longer in it's stand but rather split between holding tea and herbs.

But I love these kind of containers and they seemed a perfect way to organize the different kind of flours I was going to be needing for the tackling of the breads I want to learn to make.

I even got a little fancy and gave the lids of my new containers a little coat of paint. 

Curiously, I asked my hubby what colours would his dream kitchen be. His response? "Brick and Brass"

Well ok then! 
(Granted, I was expecting some cheeky/goofy response about black or some insane color combinations that would make your head hurt.)

I like his idea so I ran with it.  First I painted it teal.  Yes, teal.  Then I took a bright shiny red and streaked it thick back and forth the other direction. The teal gave the red a nice deep color that looked much like brick or dark stained wood grain.

The picture doesn't do it justice *sigh*  Really miss my good camera.

Not sure how I did on the brass front. Didn't have a brass color and I think my custom mix could have used more yellow. But I basically took a copper and added black to it.  Used  it on the sides of the lids, just kind of wiped it around.

Loved the color so much I used the leftovers on a couple of my little clay birds.
 
But there,  painted and ready for show.

Then came the Bad.

Looking at my counter I quickly realized there was no place to put it.

Clutterific, no?

So! I finally decided to tackle a part of my kitchen that's been long overdue for an overhaul. An episode of sesame street and a 2 hour nap time later and . . .

Ta-Da!

Much better, no?  And I even got a little creative with some (poorly) stamped tags to help me remember which flour is which.

Each one is coated in mod podge to protect it from splatters. Here is a tip though,

when the rubber bit falls off your stamp, pay attention to which way you glue it back on . . .

Oops.  Ah well.  Gives it character. Yeah . . .  that's right . . .

Anyways, cleaned up the pots and pans cupboard so the rice cooker and the slow cooker could live under instead of on the counter.  Found a better place for my lovely new cookbook stand.

And those little jars of spices and herbs all piled in the corner all found a better home in the small draw turned mini shelf.

I love how it looks now. Much less cluttered.

And because I'm honest. . .

Not is all as it seems.  Beware the Ugly.

Yeah,  my work isn't done yet.

Sweater Uplifted

Just a quick one for you here.  Our house hold is currently recovering from a case of Norowalk (norovirus) and there hasn't been much going on besides couch, crackers, and lots of old school Sesame Street and Magic School Bus.

Luckily I found some more pictures hidden in the wrong folder, in the wrong folder, in the wrong folder. (yeah it's like that)

Anywhoo, here you go! A little Sweater Refresher.

Another one of my Value Village finds. A gorgeous yellow. And though the cabling in the "collar"  was really pretty,  it laid all strange, floppy and unflattering around my neck and shoulders.


So off it came!

A little bright orange for some subtle punch.

And done.

Though I did go back later and give is a second row of stitches later on which gave it a little more stability and over all better look.  Over all a quick and simple change to give it a whole new feel!


Now, back to my couch.  Hopefully I'll I've something more soon.



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Freaks, Geeks and Whovians

What is a Whovian?

This is a Whovian. . .

as are these. . .

How freaking adorable is that Romana?!?

and especially this. . .

And then there's me...

I love my crafting and art and all that is creative, but at heart I am pure geek.  From anime, comics, and manga, to gaming, star trek, and most definitely DOCTOR WHO! My husband introduced me to it when we first met and I have fallen head over heels in love with it. Old and new,  I love it all.  

So this year when fan expo came around and I found out that some of my fav celebrity geeks were going to be there including the one and only John Barrowman of Torchwood (a spinoff of Doctor Who) I couldn't resist the urge to make something extra special to wear.

So enter, the Tardis skirt.

See cardboard Tardis in the background?

*Note: A Tardis (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) for those that don't know, is the Doctors' machine that travels anywhere in time and space.  It's bigger on the inside....

Now, many people, as you saw above, do go out of their way to make crazy outfits for these conventions.  I decided to go a little more subtle so that I could still wear my skirt out in the every day world without it looking too costume. Of course, that did backfire a bit as it was so subtle many people didn't even notice it and those that did double took when they suddenly realized it was there. But I still got a good number of thumbs ups and compliments and even one person asked where I bought it, so I was pretty proud.

(And yay!  Photos because these have were taken with my phone and have been sitting on it since!)

It started with some Value Village shopping.  I found the perfect dark blue denim. And for the white I snagged an XXL white denim skirt which I am saving the left overs of for a future project.  Then off to fabric land to find myself some blue fabric to go with it. I think I could have gone a bit brighter as it blended in a little too well but, meh, oh well.



Step one: I figured out how wide I needed to make the panels.  since I didn't want them too thin I opted to shorten the number of panels by one row.  Looks a little stunted compared to an actually Tardis but it was the only way to make them look proportionate.

Next (not shown) I planned out the width of my blue strips and white panels and cut accordingly.  I also was able to use the long panels I cut out of the skirt for some of the smaller panels.  Here you can see the denim bits all laid out on the blue fabric for planning.

Next I sewed some blue ribbon onto the white window panels.  Then using a modified version of this technique here (I couldn't find the freezer paper so I made my own sticker like paper using card stock and spray glue) I printed the Police Telephone sign onto one of the denim squares.


First panel in!

Raw inside edges that later got zigzag stitched.  

 And DONE!

Now, showing my Doctor Who pride was great but I also love the horror section of the convention and I felt my other fandom was lacking.  And being that one of the people I was going to see there was Alan Tudyk, known more as Wash from Firefly, but more recently he and Tyler Labine made a comedic horror flick called Tucker and Dale vs EVIL.

So I decided last minute to throw together a little homage to my favorites. Here are some process shots....

Sketched out

Starting with some background and then the classic Nosferatu

Add in The Ring and start in on Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead

And right there in the bottom middle is my bit to Tucker and Dale vs EVIL.

All that's left are the zombie in the corner and Ash of Evil Dead as my top centre star.

Didn't finish it in time before the convention but I used it as is and still got some good responses on it.  Unfortunately it's remained in this state since then. Again, things got in the way. Hopefully I'll be able to sit down with it again soon.

That's it for the crafty side of things.  Next post will take us into October! (September was eaten by a visit from my mother and a lovely trip with her and my family to a lake house up north. A visit and trip who's photos I STILL haven't had time to go through and edit and clean up)



If you are of the geeky variety feel free to continue below for a few other things I saw at the convention....

She killed Sirius Black! She also made that dress and corset entirely herself including painting the fabric before sewing it!

The Man! Alan Tudyk!

The Legend

Chairface.

Pictures from the borrowed set of Frankenweenie

  

Khaleesi

Powdered Toast Man

Sweet Gauntlet

Red Letter Media Dudes!

A sea of geeks

And me.... exhausted, giddy, and totally in love....

Barrowman! *shakes fist*

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