Upcycled Sweater Dress Tutorial

Alright. So, I didn't take a before picture of this sweater. I know! So so so not cool. I cruised around the internet trying to find something comparable.

This is similar...

Source: Bonanza

Although you can see that the one above has a row of buttons on the front. And no hoodie. And, well, of course....it's brown.  Ok. This is as good as I could fine.  Moving on...

When I spotted it on the thrift store rack, it was love. I decided to make it into a dress for my wee girl. But I wasn't sure what to do about the big neckline which swamped her little shoulders.

Well, I started by taking it in on the sides and the sleeves all in one go. And also putting in a new seam along the shoulders from the neck to sleeve.  (First I turned it inside out and then pinned it where I wanted the new seams....and... let's hope I first tried it on her to see where I wanted the new seams to go....but I can't really remember.... I actually made this last year and when I finished it, it was too big on her and looked funny. I chalked it up to a Craft Fail. But then Zoe found it a few days ago, slipped it on and I realized it fit and looked good! Yay!)

So, I serged it from the sleeves to the hem and also from the neck to sleeves (is this making any sense?) and tried it on her. (I probably had to take it in a bit more on the sides....)

And then I pondered about that neckline. What to do...what to do?

Hmmmm, what about some darts? Yes. darts. I put one in each side. The Nordic design disguises them rather nicely, I think.

This looks a bit like the outline of a body at a murder scene. Poor sweater....

Can you see the new seam line and dart?

No clue what a dart is? Or maybe you're picturing some yellow foam Nerf darts and wondering how I put those into the sweater dress?  Well, let me help you out. Go check out this Dart Tutorial for more info.

This is a another pic of the new seam and dart, but from the inside.

And there you go. Ridiculously easy. 

A woman's sweater to little girl's sweater dress.  

Comfy.

Cozy.

And super cute. 

Upcycled Tea Tray Tutorial

Oh, how my wee Zoe loves her tea set. We have countless tea parties where we pretend to sip cup after cup of hot cocoa.

And when her tea set is all set up on her pink table, she even manages to convince her older brothers to stop for a spell and have a cup of hot cocoa with her.

So, when I came across this tray I knew it was destined to become part of our tea party fun.



First we roughed it up a bit with some sand paper. Then we painted the side pieces of the tray.   I let Zoe pick the color. Of course, she chose...

Pink. This girl would live in a Pink World if she could manage it.

Since we were planning on covering up the bland paper in the bottom, it didn't matter if Zoe wasn't the most accurate painter. It would be much much easier to use spray paint on this project (for some of the reasons why spray paint is totally awesome, check out this fun post by my friend Sundi) but I opted for just the regular ol' acrylic craft paint. Because #1: It let Zoe be involved and #2: I didn't have any hot pink spray paint on hand. We used that all up on her little tea table.

I had some fun scrapbook paper for the tray down in my Pit of Despair (otherwise known as my sewing room/office) so I measured the tray, cut the paper to size and we spread some Modge Podge on the bottom of the tray and slapped it down, spreading it out all nice and neat. 

But the tray is wider than twelve inches, so we also had to add a border of a coordinating paper. Then we covered it all with another layer of modge podge. 

Then I lightly sanded the corners and edges of the tray, roughing it up a bit. Ryan sealed it with a clear coat spray (which I could have done myself, but he's just nice like that) and after it dried it was ready to play with!

You can't see her sparkley cape so good in this picture. 

She is also sporting a very nice cat mask. Yep, not just everyone gets to have a tea party with Super Kitty Cat and her doll, Pinky. :)

Host a Bow Boot Camp Party

Last week I hosted a fun hair bow/flower-making party.  We each (well...almost everyone. The slackers know who they are... :) demonstrated a flower technique.  There was such a great variety!  I loved seeing everyone getting down with their crafty selves.

Sundi and Sarah looking cute and crafty! :)

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the bows people made that night.  The lighting wasn't too good and I can't figure out how to take good close-ups with my camera in poor lighting.  Bah. I need to find the manual for it.  I was hoping to get some made after the party and take pictures (I was too busy visiting and snacking during it to make many...I only made one and I didn't even finish it!) but I've been too busy with my writing.  Oh, how I love to wait until the last minute to do things! Blech.

Jessica looking very serious about her bow project.
Kendra looking...
seriously happy! :)



Kendra showed us these super cute flowers that look like they are much harder than they actually are! And by the way, Kendra wins the award for getting me her link for her flower the fastest.  Thank you Kendra!! :)

Allison tried her hand at making a sweet satin rose that I've never seen before.  And it turned out really really pretty!

Seanie, my cute neighbor, showed us how to do a fun fabric flower....I can't find a tutorial for it on-line though. I'll keep looking...



Here's cute Allison and I.
I made this pic black and white because I had

a yucky rash on my neck and it's harder to tell like this! 

Ugh.  I couldn't figure out why my neck looked like

I had the plague. But now...I'm thinking

 I'm allergic to my moisturizer. 

Or maybe....it is simply the plague.
 Better keep back.



Jessica showed some really sweet flower clips made by singing the edges of satin.  Sundi demonstrated how to burn the edges. This is such a super easy technique with such fun results. It's a bit addicting!

Mikki (my super cute sis-in-law who I love and adore and who I wish I'd snapped a picture of before she had to run off to do homework :) showed how to make cute itty bitty fluffy flowers.

Heather and Cassidy working as a team on their crafts!





Shanna, Heather and Cassidy shared a bunch of clips they've been making.  They are like the rolled rosettes you see everywhere, but they tried making them with ribbons.  Oy!  I wish I'd taken more pictures!  They are really really cute.  Snap.

*Edited to add* Yay! Shanna sent me a picture of her clips! 

These are so sweet, right? It looks like she rolled the ribbon with pearls that you can buy by the yard (I've gotten them from Wal-mart). I love 'em.  I wouldn't have thought of useign the pearls like this. 

Kathy, a self-proclaimed non-crafty girl, showed how us how to make a cute (I think I need to find a new word for cute...I'm using it quite a bit in this post!) ribbon flower. I keep trying to suck her into the crafty world and so far I'm doing pretty good.  Skirts, a quilt, a tulle tu-tu and now hair clips!  Kathy, I'll convert you to the crafty-life yet. :)

 Kathy with her cute ribbon clip,
Shanna and wee Emmett. 

Kayli showed how to make a fun gathered flower. It was a really great simple idea that would be fun in all sorts of different fabrics.  Hmmm, I've tried searching for a tutorial on-line for it, too.  I'll have to keep looking.

 Mindy showed us a neat layered ribbon flower.  Lots of fun possibilities with it.  Snap. I tried to find a tutorial for it, but couldn't.

It was interesting how one idea seemed to show up in quite a few different ways.  I demonstrated how to make these flower puffs....

To make these you cut out about 8 round flower shapes, pick at them to make them fray, fold them in half and then in half again and then string them onto thread like garland.  Then once you have them all on the thread you loop it around to the first one and take a stitch, pulling it tight.  Then you fluff them up and attach to clips.  I will try to find time to put together a better tutorial than that brief explanation!




Sundi getting busy with a glue gun
and some fabric.

 

I love how they turned out!  The flower Mikki shared was similar, Allison brought one she had made that was basically the same idea (without the fraying) and Sundi....well, she showed how to make a clip like this but soooo much easier.  With glue!  I love it. 

Basically she cut out four big round flower shapes and four small ones.  Then she glued them all together and...Voila! So easy and cute. (hmmm....that explanation was somewhat lacking, eh?)She said she's going to make a little video tute.  And, thus, the anticipated waiting begins. I'll let you know when she puts together the theatrical masterpiece. (no pressure Sundi :)

Funny that four of us did something so similar, right?

As I was scouring the net for flower tutorials, I found some fun ones I'd like to try... 

T-shirt knit flower pom poms (I've got to try these.)

Wired Ribbon Rosette

Singed and Gathered Flower

Scrappy Strip Rose (ok. This is seriously a really awesome flower.)

Folded Flower with a Covered Button

Felt Flower Ball (I love it with the little leaves. So cute.)

Another Felt Flower


Rose and Feather Clip

And if you're looking for bow tutorials, I found a bunch here...

Boutique Hair Clips