Weekend Inspiration!

Man I am so inspired lately! Lots going on in my life and so much inspiration from EVERYWHERE and for multiple areas of my life.

First up is Eddie Izzard. I love his comedy (if you haven't seen it go rent a DVD or check him out youtube) but wow - He has run 43 marathons in 51 days!!! All for Sport Relief a UK charity. FORTY THREE marathons! That was pretty much one marathon a day for 6 days with 1 day off, repeated for 7 weeks. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I was running last year and managed to make it up to 6 miles till some knee issues/injury and illness, but imagine running 26.2 miles then getting up and doing it again, and again, and again and again and again then finally getting a rest day. WOW! Totally inspiring...

A lot of the fitness instructors at the gym are runners. Mary ran a marathon last weekend, and Julie is running the Los Angeles marathon today. I was talking to one of my class members yesterday morning, an older gentleman who said he's done two marathon. Here I am not done one. I have always wanted to do one, maybe I'll start training again for distance and see how I go?

Next how about making your own yoga pants? I love these things, so comfy for everyday wear, but also great for classes especially yoga/pilates (though for tough workouts I prefer shorts). As you can imagine I get through a few pairs of workout shorts/pants and have a pile that I need to alter, but this is an awesome idea to use existing clothes that fit as a pattern for making new items of clothing!

I have one pair of Champion Sprint pants that I LOVE which bit the dust back in January but I placed them in my 'scrap/sew' pile to use as a future dog bed filler and now I can use them as a pattern too!

Wow so much I want to do this weekend! Where to start first?

Di

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Saturday Sewing inspiration

I love Craftster, I especially love the reconstructed clothes section of their community. I love second hand or thrifted clothes, and especially seeing people take oversize or old items and make something absolutely glorious out of them! Today I thought I'd do a little inspiration post because honestly after checking out a few of the latest projects on there I feel totally inspired to set aside my current working project and switch to one of these fun refashions!

1 - Bikini from mens plaid shirt by Appleshannon. How awesome is this? I LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I can totally see myself in this for the upcoming swim season!

2 - Bikini from T-shirt by Appleshannon. Ok it's another bikini but I think I am in the Summer swing, ironic considering we are in the midst of a thunderstorm here right now, I could use a little Sunshine today! What I love about this one is the skull print Tee she used! So AWESOME!

3 -Tnbc, muse & the used t-shirt reconstructions by Maraleopard. What's not to love? I don't think I could pull this off anymore at my age, but I LOVE it so! Not totally 100% about the ruffley ra-ra skirt part but I think it goes with the overall look of the dress. I imagine it paired with a honking huge pair of totally rad boots!

 4 - its kinda too cold for tshirts, yah? by jilltheimpossible. I love tees and hoodies, there I said it! And I love all the hoodies I see on Craftster refashioned from graphic tees and leftover  jersey, or overside hoodies refashioned. Of the recent ones lately I love this...

5 - XL mens shirt to punup halter dress by justaduck. Yep this is from a regular mens button up shirt! I wouldn't really call it a dress at my age, maybe some leggings or just shorten it a little for a cute Summer top. Great idea though right? Also on Craftster the posters sometimes do tutorials for the items they reconstruct and this one has a little tutorial up for it.

Bonus - Skeletal undies by Stellacheri. I was gonna leave this post at 5 but had to include these. OMG I so love these! I'm not sure if its the skeleton graphic I like or the colors? The green would look horrid on me but I don't care :) Great project! I also seem to have shifted from my usual thongs to boy shorts, I blame the sale at Victoria's Secret back in December. I bought about 12 pairs but it never seems to be enough :)

Aside from these I love looking at Craftster to see what people have made from their old tee shirts (a popular project) and also to gain inspiration for other projects. I've said before that I'm not the best at sewing, I try though, but some of the Craftster crowd are sewing these BY HAND people!!!

What fashion sites inspire you? Care to share some of your sewing inspiration? I am looking for projects for Summer including shorts, tops and swimwear :) I'm definitely more of a comfort over fashion kinda gal but I made exceptions for special occasions! I'd also love to make some one of kind sports clothing for my classes! Let's share!

Di

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Sewing - quick project bean bags

I finally got around to making a sewing project! More out of necessity than choice but hey whatever works right? Basically we took the dogs to the vet and discovered what we already knew, the dogs are overweight. Too much good food and treats since Thanksgiving took there toll, and they need to lose around 10lbs. I already had them on a diet, and increased their walks and was looking for more ways for them to get active and remembered we have doggy backpacks! All I needed for them to work harder was some weights and that's where BEANBAGS come into play.

We wanted something soft and pliable cos Sky doesn't quite get that she's wider with the backpack on and every wall on the walk gets a scraping as she passes by! Not suitable for tins of veggies for sure! So I used some material from my stash, some dried beans from the Dollartree and got to work on my sewing machine & Serger. 

I made 2x1lb bags, and 8 1/2lb bags, right now they are up to carrying 1lb in each side (so 2lbs each) and I hope to increase that every week until they get to around 5-6lbs and then reevaluate.Dogs can carry up to 25% of their body weight (some more when in peak condition) so maximum they should carry is around 12 lbs (ideal weight is around 45-50lbs).

As you can see below, the dogs don't really care either way about walkies with or without their backpacks, as long as they get to go! Sky for some reason associates the backpack with going camping in the RV, not sure why as we never took the backpacks before? Maybe she's just sense that's what they are for? I dunno *shrug*

For anyone wanting a quick tutorial on beanbags I put together a tutorial below, they are super easy to make. The 9"x7" fits 1/2lb nicely with room for seam allowances and the turn down hem once filled.

Hoping to get to more sewing projects soon!!!

Di

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Sew Saturday

So I bought this jacket from the thrift store a few weeks back, but hadn't worn it because the top pockets would NOT lie flat. Pain in the butt they were, no amount of ironing or steaming was getting those suckers to stay in place, so I resorted to needle and thread! You can see the jacket below, with the flipped up pockets.

Using some items from my sewing stash I now have perfectly flat pockets that I'm sure you'll agree look a million times better! Just having that one thing irritating you about a piece of clothing can really ruin the whole outfit.

Nope I didn't sew the pocket closed! I simply added press studs! Just sewing two on each pocket really made all the difference to the pockets and the jacket as a whole! Amazing those small differences!

Here's the jacket after the flap attack. Looks much better huh? Also looks better with a solid color underneath I think, makes all the difference :)

Next project: Altering the hem on a pair of white cords. I picked up a pair at the thrift store that were 'long' but hey they fit in every other way, so I figure I'd just hack off the legs and hem them up :) Wish me luck!

Di

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Sew Saturday

Ok so I tried to start this Sew Saturday blog posting/scheduling before I got sick, but then I got flu and things just went to crap. So here is the first Sew Saturday update! My goal for these posts each Saturday is to provide updates on the projects I am working on, to hopefully force myself to MAKE/ALTER things with my sewing machine and serger, and to hopefully inspire you to do the same! I know some of you are sewers as well as scrapbookers, and if you're like me you tend to forget about other hobbies in favor of playing with paper!

So my scrap/office/sewing room is a bit of a mess right now. I had projects due the week after I was sick, so I had to do a quick turnaround on a couple of articles which always means the organisation suffers in here. I have an office mascot (Sky), who comes in and forces me to take breaks ;) Well Monday she decided to set up camp in here on a pile of clothing I have to alter in my sewing corner.

Not like I could be mad at her, afterall it DID look comfy! She seemed to enjoy it, and it's further proof to myself that I needed to tidy up, get organised AND get my mascot her own bed in here. For those wondering, River tends not to come in here much. She prefers to nap in the living room on the sofa. She's a Daddy's Girl for sure! Sky however is apparantly attached to me with velcro :) Anyway I got to work shortly after this photo was taken, tidied up the alterable stuff and set about organizing. Now all the clothing is folded neatly into piles in the closet. I can SEE what needs to be done, pull out ONE project, work on it and then move onto the next project!

Coming soon, the sewing projects!

Di

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book review: 101 ways

101 ways to use your first sewing machine by Elizabeth Dubicki

Firstly I want to say I LOVE the style of this book, it's hardcover but has spiral binding. So easy for reading and planning creative projects. IMO all creative "how to" style books should be like this! Really makes for ease of use whilst following directions!

Chapter one of this book provides some good information on beginning sewing with a fun beginner projects however the projects weren't really my personal style. The first project to start us off is a "sewing tool belt". I don't use a tool belt when I am actually using tools, why would I want to when I am sewing?

The second chapter on updating garments was more my style. Basics on mending clothes, shortening, lengthening, letting in/out etc. I didn't really like the 'embellishing' part of this chapter, but that's just not my style. For beginners though this is a great chapter to learn the basics of altering existing clothing to fit better.

Chapter 3 & 4 is basically bedroom and bathroom furnishings, again not my thing. I can make cushions already and the part on curtains was interesting, the rest not so much. Chapter 5 wasn't much better titled "fun stuff for kids and tweens" of which I have neither. There were Tote bag directions in this chapter (why in this chapter?) but you can get those patterns online. Chapters 6 and 7 again didn't apply with mostly home furnishings.

The end section of the book focused on general techniques, which was interesting but would have been better placed in the first chapter rather than at the end. In all a good book for a beginner if you like making things for your house/kids.

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Monday Musings

It's done! I made my first real item on my Serger last week! I've had this material in my stash for a LONG while now, those that read the blog regularly will know that we have 2 dalmatians so how could I NOT buy this? Plus it was a remnant, I don't even remember how much I paid for it but it wasn't much. Obviously the natural choice for this material was cushions. River especially likes to rest on cushions (and towels/blankets etc, I swear she was a cat in a previous life). So I got busy...

Just laid the material out, wrong sides together then stitch around the edges leaving a 4" gap to turn inside out then stuff :) Simple process that only took me longer than necessary because I threaded the Serger incorrectly *sigh*. Anyway after sewing/serging I stuffed the cushions with stuffing from some old cushions. These old ones were made with fleece covers, which if you have dogs you'll know fleece is a dog hair magnet! So I refashioned/recycled in a sense too! (plus the old cushion covers I used to stuff my dress form! Nothing gets wasted here in this house!) All that was left then, was to handstitch the opening shut and voila, done!



Not sure yet what my next project will be. So many things I need to work on, but that's one project down and it's my first proper sewing with the Serger! It made things super easy and super sturdy :) Totally inspired to tackle something a little more difficult now! Maybe some dog coats for the winter?

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