What I've been working on...

Ok, so after the skirt I made earlier this week, I decided to take a little break from sewing, and work on some other projects. Here's a bit of what I've been working on:


I just finished crocheting this beanie :) Love it! It was a really simple pattern that I got for free from Lion Brand Yarn. Took me just a few hours; I worked on it a little bit last night and finished up this afternoon. Nice!

{P.S. I look like a dork. I know. I can't help it! This is what I get when I take a self portrait :}

This is a project that I started. I saw a tutorial on turning scrapbook paper into fabric pillows, using a lightbox and tracing {obviously I don't have a lightbox. I taped it all to the window and traced away!}.  

 I've gotten to the point where my tracing is done, but now I have decisions to make on how to finish the pillows. This is only 12x12 square, which I think would make smallish pillows, so I think I'm going to have to relearn how to quilt and add a border all the way around to make it bigger before I make it into a pillow...more to come later!


 This necklace is made out of magazine paper, rolled into beads. I tried to find colors from the magazine in similar shades, and settled on the yellow/orange tones. I actually like it a lot, and it didn't take me that long to make it, either. I just strung it on a piece of yarn, so it's not going to last forever, but, hey! I'm alright with that. This magazine would have ended up in the recycling anyways :)

One more project I'm working on is a waste basket made from magazine pages...I don't have a picture since I'm in the very early stages, but here's a link to where I got the inspiration.  Because there aren't instructions on how exactly she made the basket, I'm kind of making it up as I go along. I'm not quite sure I like where it is going...it might just turn into something else. It is taking me a long time, and I'm not quite sure I have the patience.

My Grapefruit Essential Oil experiment is coming along. The grapefruit peels are drying; it is taking a while, but that is to be expected. Every once in a while I get a whiff of grapefruit somewhere in the house and it makes me smile; I know where that's coming from! :)

Oh, did I mention that I won two different giveaways? Last week I entered a bunch of giveaways for fun, and I actually won. Twice! I never win anything! The first thing that I won was a sample of Shaklee Basic H2, which is an organic super cleaning concentrate. I won it in a giveaway from Someone's Gotta Pay.

From the packaging: "Inside this tiny capsule is enough power to make a whole bottle of all-purpose super cleaner and another bottle of glass cleaner-16 earth-loving ounces each." Basically you use 2 drops mixed with 16 oz of water for glass cleaner, and the rest of the little bottle (about 1/4 tsp) with 16 oz for the multi-purpose cleaner. I have to admit I haven't tried it yet, because I don't have spray bottles, but I'm looking forward to trying it out.

The second giveaway was from one of my favorite crafting sites: Chica and Jo. They were doing an Earth Day giveaway, and I was one of the winners! I got this awesome sketchbook and journal :) They make me happy!

Don't mind the mess all around. My desk is driving me nuts and I'll get to it soon.

So, about the sketchbook. From the packaging:
"The Sketchbook is made from 100% post consumer recycled paper. 100% Made in the USA
The Cover is 100% recycled board covered with 100% recycled post-consumer recycled paper stock, dyed with vegetable based ink.
The Paper is 100% post-consumer, acid-free, Process Chlorine Free paper stock. Printed with vegetable -based inks and bound utilizing environmentally friendlier adhesives.
The Rest: The outer elastic closure is covered with 100% organic cotton. Inside, the ribbon bookmark is made of 100% organic cotton. The band wrapping the book is made of 100% post-consumer recycled paper stock, printed with vegetable-based inks.

How cool is that? I'm really excited to get to use these. I haven't had a journal in FOREVER!!! I guess my blog has been like my journal. But now maybe I'll actually write some of my more private thoughts down, since I have such a convenient place to put them :)

Well, that's about all. Matt is taking a double-time shift tonight, so, after getting off work at 3 pm this afternoon and working out, he's catching a bit of sleep before he has to go back to work at 11pm (until 7am). I don't think I'll be able to stay up the whole time tonight, but I'll stay up late so I can be on at least a similar schedule.

I'll have to do a garden update, but I don't have pictures yet. Maybe I'll take them tomorrow. My transplanted strawberry bed is doing great, the watermelon/cantelopes finally sprouted and are doing well; the zucchini/squash are doing fantastic. I've harvested radishes already, and boy were they yummy! A lot of my other stuff has sprouted. The beans and peas are growing nicely. I'll definitely take pictures tomorrow and show you all.

Thanks for reading!

~Pam

Another T-shirt remake: Three T-shirts = 1 cute ruffled skirt

So, a few days ago, I was blog cruising, aka looking at other people's blogs to see what ideas I could steal come up with, and I came across a tutorial for an Anthropologie skirt knock-off. I have to admit, I'd never even heard of Anthropologie before I started reading other people's blogs, and I would have to say that I probably like most of their stuff since I want to try to knock off so many ideas of theirs that I see. Anyways, the tutorial from Ruffles and Roses inspired me, and Holy Craft gave me the idea to use t-shirts to do it at this tutorial.
So: Here's the skirt. I love it!

Want to see how I did it? I have a few (very few, sorry! The other tutorials are much better than mine, so if you want to see more details, check them out!)

First of all, I started with 3 large t-shirts. One dark grey, one light grey, and one black. The dark grey one was the one I was going to make the base of my skirt, and it was an XL or XXL (found these at the thrift store, in the men's section. Total cost: $2.75 :)

I cut off the bottom of the dark grey shirt. This ended up being just the right length for me. I was going to add some length to the bottom with ruffles, so I wasn't too concerned about it being too short. It's probably a good thing I'm not very tall (5'6'').

Ok, this picture is hard to see what's going on, but I basically laid a skirt that I knew fit me on top of my skirt base, and traced around it, leaving a seam allowance, then cut away the excess. Then, with right sides together,  I sewed up the sides. Easy!

Next, I started working on my first ruffle. I wanted the bottom ruffle to be black, so I took the black t-shirt and cut a 4" wide section off the bottom. I cut one end of the "loop" to make a long strip, but I knew based on the size of my black shirt vs. the skirt it wasn't going to be quite long enough. So, I cut another 4" wide section and sewed them together. Using a gathering stitch, I ran a stitch down the top, then pulled the top thread to gather. It's hard to see, but this is the ruffle....

Ok, then I sewed the ruffle onto the bottom of the skirt (this picture is upside down, but you get the idea, right?) I sewed it onto the right side of the skirt, since the seam was going to be hidden by the next ruffle.

Ok, I skipped a few steps in the pictures here. Sorry! In between, I cut a 4"  wide strip of the light grey, made a ruffle that went just halfway around the skirt, and sewed it on top of the black ruffle. Then I cut a 4" wide strip of the dark grey, and made a ruffle slightly smaller than the light grey ruffle, and sewed it on top of the light grey. Here's a picture of the dark grey ruffle getting sewn on.

Finally, I cut a last 4" strip of black shirt, made a ruffle that went around the whole thing, and sewed it to the top. However, this time, I sewed it upside down on top of the dark grey ruffle, so that it would fold down over the seams and hide them. does that make sense? See the Ruffles and Roses tutorial: she has much better pictures than I do.

And again, my finished skirt.

And, my ever-present dilema: what shoes do I wear with it? :P

I'm actually really happy how it came out. The ruffle is so fun! That's my first real time doing a ruffle, and I had to make quite a few, so I got a lot of practice. I'm thinking I could do this skirt in a bunch more colors and fabrics, as well....hmmm....we'll see if I have time :)

~Pam


Linking up:





PS. As a side note, another project I'm working on is making grapefruit essential oil. Condo Blues had a tutorial on how to make Orange Essential Oil, and I thought it would be the perfect solution to my grapefruit problem (namely, what in the world to do with all the grapefruits on my tree. I can't eat THAT many of them!). The first step is to take the grapefruit peels and let them lay out to dry. I did that today. Now just wait a week (gulp! a week?) until they are solid. *sigh* I'll keep you posted on the progress :)

T-shirt to Dress

Well, I was a little bit busy yesterday. I went to the thrift store, and spent about $10 buying some shirts. I had seen this tutorial for turning a tunic shirt into a dress, and I wanted to try my hand at it. I spent $2 for the supplies for this project ($1 each for the shirts). I couldn't quite find a tunic shirt like in the tutorial, but I shouldn't be surprised, because it is, after all, the thrift store. Here's pictures of my project:


Ok, first of all, here's the shirt. I actually kind of liked it, and would probably have kept it the way it was...those are polka dots, which I never wear.

 Step one: use seam ripper to take off the bottom of the shirt. I removed below the bottom of the band. The bottom of the shirt is going to be the bottom of the dress.

 Step two (not shown): Measure how long you want the finished dress to be, and figure out how much of the "t-shirt" or other material you need. Cut out that much material. I used a large black t-shirt, turned inside out so the logo on the shirt wouldn't show.

Step three: lay the black t-shirt material in between the top and bottom. Mark a line from the top to the bottom, giving yourself a seam allowance.

 Step four: Cut away excess. See the chalk line in the picture? That's where I decided to sew.

Step five (not shown): Sew up the sides, and then attach the top to the middle and the middle to the bottom.

And here's the finished product:

Do you like it? I had to add some darts in the back to make it fit a little better. And I'm thinking I need a belt...maybe a thick red belt...Also, I'm not sure what shoes to wear with it! I'm kind of shoe poor at the moment...

I must say, this dress is very comfortable. I think it will become my around-the-house dress. I could wear this dress all the time. Actually, the last picture was taken this morning, and I'm still wearing the dress. I wore it half the day yesterday as well :)

Ok, all in all, I think this project was fairly easy. I think next time, I'll try to get some knit material for the middle section, instead of using t-shirt cotton. The top and bottom is knit, and it might be easier to work with the same material. I'm kind of learning as I go, you know?

~Pam

Linking up:

Belize Pictures Update

Ok, so I know we've been back from Belize for quite a while, but Matt finished up the pictures from our trip a couple weeks ago. I keep forgetting to make a post about it. If you would like to see our pictures, the album is posted on line HERE.

Enjoy! When you view the pictures if you click on the "i" on the top of the page you can see the caption with the picture or download the high resolution original file.There are some videos there, as well.

~Pam

Make a T-shirt Better

Ok, why is it that when you get a free t-shirt, it is so boxy? Seriously. When we ordered our Nissan Leaf from Fontana Nissan, they sent us a bunch of goodies, these t-shirts included. We got 2 medium shirts, and this is what they look like:

 Don't mind the leftovers from my dinner in the foreground.... Anyways, I decided to make MY t-shirt better, fit a little better. This ended up taking me about 1.5 hours...not too shabby, seeing as how I didn't really know what I was doing.

First, I folded the shirt in half and cut off the sleeves. Now, I realize that the shirt should have been inside out, but...don't make my mistake! Turn it inside out, first! Then cut off the sleeves. Set these aside. You'll need them later.

 Next, I laid a nice fitting t-shirt over top of it, folded in half, the folds lining up. I cut away the excess shirt, leaving about a 1/4 inch for a seam allowance.

 I curved the sleeves by folding back the top t-shirt sleeve to give me a line to follow with the white shirt.

 Then, I sewed up the hem on the bottom, and up the sides, making sure NOT to sew up the sleeve holes. I tried it on to make sure I liked how it fit. Looking good!

 Now to make the sleeves...Using the black t-shirt as a template, I took the cut off sleeves, and cut them into the same shape as the black t-shirt sleeves. I kept the bottom hem of the sleeve so that I would have less sewing. Notice that the sleeve is kind of a triangular shape, not rectangular.

Ok, to sew the sleeve on, make sure your shirt is inside out, then turn the sleeve right side out and slide into the sleeve hole. This sounds weird, but I promise it works! Sew all around the sleeves, press all the seams, and try on your finished shirt. 

Sorry that the pictures are so bad, but I think you get the idea. I'll maybe have Matt take some pics of me later, and I'll replace them. But, now, I have a fitted t-shirt that I might actually wear! :)

Thanks for reading! I am thinking that I'm going to be changing a bunch more t-shirts into wearable shirts in the future. This was so easy!

~Pam

And, I guess I'm linking up to some parties :)

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Duct Tape Beach Bag

Ok, two posts, right on top of each other. I know. It must be because I'm finally on a normal schedule, or something.

Don't forget to add your Dadisms to the last post {all of you who read this and knew my dad :}

Well, I was browsing Totally Tutorials when I saw an idea for a bag made using Duct tape. Did you know that duct tape comes in a variety of colors, and even prints? Who knew. It is actually called "Duck Tape" but that drives me crazy, so I refuse to call it that ;)

Well, here's how I made this bag my own. I had to change up a little bit from the tutorial. I didn't have the clear plastic she used, and didn't feel like going out and buying some. So...I used a plastic bag from Nordstrom Rack.

 I liked the shape of it, and thought it made a good starting off place:

 I cut the bag open and laid it flat.

 I started laying down the tape. I taped the printed side, so the inside will be plain black.

 I actually ran out of tape (Yikes! that roll was $3.89, and I used the whole thing! Oh, well, it is still cheap, and I ended up with a pretty cool bag :) So I had to trim the side.

I don't have pictures of the next steps, since I needed both hands to form the bag. But, I followed Braids and Brown Boots instructions for forming the bag. I had to use the turquoise tape to seal up the sides, and form some handles. This is my almost finished bag:

I didn't like how the handles turned out. I basically wrapped the handles that were there in tape, but since the bag was no longer square, the handles didn't line up. So, I cut some strips of cardboard, wrapped them in tape, and attached the handles. Much better!

I'm thinking of adding flowers to the bag, kind of like Braids and Brown Boots did here.

Oh, and I didn't add pockets to the inside yet. I'm not sure I need them, since I'm planning on having this be a beach bag.

Moral of the story? With just a few dollars, you can make your own cute Damask bag, great for the beach, or groceries, or whatever. I would make sure those handles are on there good, though. Oh, and the duct tape comes in other patterns and colors, like zebra print. So....GO WILD!

~Pam

Dadisms

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who commented on my last post about my father. Here are some of the great stories you all shared:

Lani-
Does this ring a bell for anyone?

1) "Get my pocketknife. I'll fix it for you."
2) "It looks like you combed your hair with a shower shoe."
3) "If those long-eared boys come around here, I'll get my shotgun."

My question was always, what does "long-eared boy" mean? And where are the boys? Where? I never saw any. But then again, maybe when they showed up, he ran them off. Yeah, maybe I'll rewrite my high school years to include hordes of boys showing up at the house and being run off by my dad!!!!

Jill-

one day, we were down by the river there in idaho falls. dad had taken that geology class at i.s.u. so i asked him what kind of rocks were there...he picked one up, looked at it...turned it over and said...(are you ready for this....)river rocks...

how about when dad and i went to broulims and he got "greatest moments in sports history" and we told mom it was between that and "Anne of green gables?" i don't think mom EVER forgave him for that...nor did she ever find it funny when we would laugh about it...

or...christmas one...when we begged and begged to be able to draw names....dad said we had to keep it a secret....we were living in calf. at the time...got on the stairs..."peggy, who do you have?" "i have dad...who do you have?" "I HAVE DAD!" "Lani...who do YOU have?" "I have dad...who do you have?"
dad is downstairs just laughing....thinking he is so funny...actually, it kinda was.
 

Gwen Marie-

Favorite memory? Let's see... Driving all the way to Klamath Falls to get my "stuff" that had been sitting in storage for a very long time (about 2 years I think) we had some interesting conversations along the long long way.... First time we really seemed to relate as adults.

Trying to learn to drive a stick and Dad took me out for a spin in the rabbit. We got to a stop sign and the car started bucking. Instead of yelling at me, telling me what to do, he just calmly told me to figure it out myself... and let me! He knew I needed to learn from my experience, not from someone telling me what to do. I love love love driving a standard vehicle to this day.

OR how bout when Aunt Jo and Robert came to visit, it was the middle of winter, and we took Robert outside to see "stars up a coat sleeve". Dad was soooooooooo funny!

I miss you, Dad!

Beth-

I've been trying to come up with just one favorite memory of Dad and it has been pretty tough. I guess that I will always treasure the times that Dad and I, and sometimes Matt, would float the river from Annis to Hancocks after school. I particularly remember one time that it started raining on us. We couldn't get off that river quick enough. And I'm not sure if it was the same time, but I got skunked all the trip and could not catch one fish. But then we pulled into one last sandbar, and I plopped my line in and pulled out a nice german brown. That was pretty awesome.
I like to recall the times when Dad would call just to talk about what was going by on the tracks. And wouldn't you know, we'd be talking for about an hour and that same train would be going by my windows. I miss being able to call him when something cool is driving by.
I loved the Sunday drives to nowhere in particular...or to see the world. I think I get my spontaneity from him, or maybe just my wanderlust.

Penny-

hmm....there are so many,....lone pines....you might learn something....an old trick i learned from the indians.... :P my favorite memory of dad, however, is when us kids (penny pam matt beth (?) and kate) were watching bay watch, and dad told us everything that was going to happen, "guy sees girl in water, guy runs down to edge of water, guy takes off shoes and watch," etc. we were so amazed! how did he know what would happen?!? he just shrugged and said "well I don't know. I just do" come to find out he'd see the whole scene on oprah while we kids were at school. He sure was amazing! I miss him so much

ooh ooh, or what about the time he told us on christmas eve that for the first time ever we could open ONE present and after we got so excited trying to decide which one we would open up he convinced us to open uncle johnny's present. now, actually, it was a pretty cool gift (a grill for the campfire) but that's not the unfair part. Dad had opened it up already when he got it in the mail....so he knew what it was....that's so cheating!!!

Pam-
One time, Dad and I went bird hunting with Mr. Dean, our Principal/Superintendent. I don't think we were very successful, but we had a good time. At one point, Mr. Dean decided to show his birding expertise. We were looking at some small birds, which had landed in a group of rocks. Mr. Dean informed us that those were "rock wrens." With a completely straight face. Dad and I looked at each other, but didn't say anything. After we parted, we had a good laugh. Rock wrens? Seriously? I mean, if they had landed in a tree, would they have been "tree wrens"? After that, whenever we saw an unknown small bird on a rock, it was a rock wren. Or if it was in a tree, a tree wren. Or on a bush, a bush wren. No one else thinks that's funny, but to this day, when I see a small bird, I call it a _____ wren.

Kate-

one of my favorite memories is from my freshman year of highschool. it was a beautiful sunday afternoon, and dad and mom were driving me to get my patriarchal blessing.
when we got there, the patriarch asked if both dad and mom could say a prayer before we began. this was the first time i ever heard dad pray. it was the sweetest prayer, and when he was done, his eyes were misted with tears. i remember feeling so loved by dad.
i will never forget that day.

Tandy Gilbert-

One time I was staying the night at your house and there was something cool going on with the moon, (can't remember exactly what it was). But we all ran out to see it and while I was running outside, something hit me. I saw your Dad laughing and realized he through something at me. It was dark so I couldn't tell what it was. The next morning when I was leaving, I looked down and saw a gofer head. I looked up at the front porch and your Dad was standing there laughing at me. It was so gross!!

Your Dad had a great sense of humor! What a great guy!!


 

Thank you for everyone who shared stories. If anyone has anything to add, or another story to share, leave a comment, and I'll update this {hint, hint!}

Ok, so, as I was on a hike the other day, for some odd reason I had weird thought. I wondered if there were any "slow elk" around. Slow elk? Well, that was what my dad called plain, old domesticated cows. When I was little, he would get me every time with that. He'd say, "Oh, there's some slow elk up there on the hillside..." And I would fall for it, looking for the elk. My dad sure did have a whole lot of words and phrases for things. I call them "Dadisms": little  words and  phrases for things that were all his own. I want to make a list of all the ones I can remember, but I need your help, once again. I'm going to get us started. Let's see:

Slow Elk: Domesticated cows
Tree Bass: What you catch with your fly rod when you're too close to the trees on the bank
Gamboling and Cavorting: What deer do all day, as in "those deer are gamboling and cavorting up the hillside."
Potlicker: A dog that is basically up to no good, or can't do anything right (I hope that's not offensive to anyone)
Church Key: Bottle opener
Big (long)-eared boys: Any boy close in age to one of his daughters
Diet Pill- Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwich
Boy Scout Juice-Gasoline. Helps boy scouts start fires.

I know there are tons more. Help me out! What Dadisms do you remember?

~Pam

New Purse

Ok, so I have to say that this was one of the toughest weeks for me. Matt was working the night shift, from 11pm to 7am, and I switched my sleep schedule to stay with him. It was so much easier 8 years ago when I was in prototype and had to work rotating shift work. Maybe it was because I was kept busy....there's not much on tv at 3 am, let me tell you! So, anyways, now that the week is over, I'm a bit relieved. We're switching back to days (Matt goes to work on Monday) and it will be nice to sleep when the sun is down and wake when it comes up :) So, with all my free time, you would think I would have been really creative and got tons of projects done. Well, not really. I was really just too tired to do much of anything for practically the whole week. Until Thursday/Friday, that is. I decided to use up some of my scraps and make myself a new purse. The one I've been using was the first one I made, and I've gotten a bit better at making them. So the quality of the stitching is a little bit higher. I used the same tutorial as last time, from Flamingo Toes. So super easy! And, here's the finished project:

Here's the front. I used a green scrap to break up the black floral pattern.

The back.

And the inside.

And I was going to leave it at that, but I decided that I needed something more on the back. So, I searched the web for a flower tutorial, and decided on this one from Sew Ritzy~Titzy. I think it turned out quite nicely!

AND, I got rid of some of my scraps :) Always a good thing! BTW, the black fabric is t-shirt fabric left over from my t-shirt dress. And, the floral fabric is what I used to make Mom's Christmas present. The green is left over from my VERY first purse that I made. Remember that? :)

Ok, well, it is 8pm, and tomorrow it is our plan to go to the Long Beach Grand Prix. My future niece-in-law Sam has tickets that she can't use, and we're more than happy to take them off her hands. Last year we happened to be in Long Beach a couple days before the race, and we drove the race path for a ways. Didn't think we'd be going to see the race just one year later, that's for sure. Thanks, Sam!!

~Pam

Inspired

Ok, so, of course, I was blog hopping the other day. I mean, what else do I have to do? Right? Just kidding. But, I was checking one of my favorite sites, One Pretty Thing, and I saw a project by a girl named Natalie, and I thought, "I can do that!" {Watch her video. She tells exactly how she made the dress, and that's pretty much what I did as well :}

So, anyways, I went to the thrift store, picked up three t-shirts from the men's section, just to make sure they would be big enough. I picked out shirts that were on sale, so I spent a little over $2 for all three.

Like Natalie, I got one black, one orange, and one red. I turned all the shirts inside out, since there was some writing on the fronts.

Next, I cut the sleeves off the black shirt, and sliced off the arms.

I cut it into various sized strips. I also did this with the orange and red shirts.

Then, I laid them out, in a semi-random pattern, mixing color and size of strips.

I also cut up the side of each strip on both sides to make two strips.

Finally, I was ready to start sewing. Just a straight stitch to attach the pieces together. Since the top piece (with the neck hole) is together, it gave me a good top piece. I sewed a front strip and then a back strip, that way the color/size strips would match up when I sewed together.

It was a LOT of sewing!

Once it was all sewed together, and it was as long as I wanted it, I had to press all those seams. I didn't count them, but that's a WHOLE lot of seams! Whew!

Next, I laid it out and folded in half. This was tricky, because I needed four layers to line up. Once it was nearly lined up perfectly, I laid a tank top on top and used it to trace the outline I wanted. I wish I would have given myself a larger seam allowance--I always underestimate. I thought I was giving a 1/4 inch, but it was probably more like 1/8, so the dress ended up a little tight.

The fun part was cutting away the extra fabric.

Now, it was just a matter of sewing a straight stitch up the sides...after I had to use my seam ripper to undo the seam I had accidentally sewn on the arm hole....don't sew up the arm hole! Just sew the sides!

I decided that I liked the length of the dress, and I didn't need the extra flair that Natalie's dress had, so I just hemmed the bottom, as well as the neck/back and straps.  Finally, I put the dress on:

Add some heels, and viola'! A cute dress, made out of old t-shirts. Who would have thought? :)
I must say, that's the most sewing I've done at one time. By the time I got through those seams, my back was sore, and my eyes were strained. I think I sewed pretty much continuously from 3 pm to 8 pm, with a short dinner break. Oh, and a break for when I was pressing those seams, but that's a whole different kind of torture, you know what I mean? :)

Well, as I'm writing this, it is after 11pm on Saturday night. Matt has to work the AM shift (11pm to 7am) starting tomorrow night, and so we're trying to rearrange our sleep schedule. I'm trying to stay up as late as humanly possible, but my body is already telling me that it is time to go to bed. So... wish me luck! I'll need it :) Maybe I'll get inspired again and start a new project tonight...hmm...we'll see!

~Pam

Second Attempt

Ok, so remember yesterday, when I said I bought two sweaters with the intention of turning them into sweater dresses? Well, I would have to say that my first attempt turned out OK, but my second attempt turned out fabulous! I'm so excited. The first one isn't that comfortable. I made it too form-fitting. This one, today... well, there's a bit more wiggle room. I started out with an XL sweater that I picked up at the thrift store. It still had the tags on it, so, score! Never been worn! :)

 See how baggy it is? Yep, that's what an XL will do for you. But I got it b/c I knew it was going to be long enough, and it was so soft!


Well, this is the finished product!

  I went a little different on the sleeves, because I had a hard time with them yesterday, so I basically just cut these ones off. I kind of like them. I think they are called "cap sleeves." Or something...

And, here's what happens to your floor when you decide to cut up a sweater. Sweater fuzz all over the place!!!

OK, so I was reading another blog and there were these adorable origami bunnies, and I just had to make one. Or two. Or three. Well, as you can see, these little guys multiply just about the same as the live ones! :P

Well, what do you think?  Like my sweater? Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can! It's just a matter of not being afraid to cut up the sweater. I mean, I spent a grand total of $6 on this sweater. So if I mess it up, who cares, right? One thing I didn't mention yesterday and I'll mention today is finishing off the seams. I'm a little afraid that the seams are going to come unraveled over time. I would HATE to have my dress fall apart, especially if I'm wearing it at the time. So...I came up with an ingenious idea. I'm going to take yarn, in approximately the same color as the sweater, and run a ....blanket stitch?...is that what it is called?....Anyways, I'm going to basically wrap the seam in yarn. That way it should hold up a little better. Unfortunately, I have every color of yarn imaginable except gray, so I'm going to have to get some tomorrow to finish this latest sweater's seams. :) I'm in the process of working on the first sweater's seams. I have about 50% done. It is pretty tedious, so I took a break and whipped up this sweater-dress instead!

~Pam