80's Dress to Hi-Lo Skirt Refashion

Greetings good people :]

I know that I've been pretty absent lately, and that makes me mega-sad, but hopefully I can do something about that! A lot has happened for me personally over the past... however long it's been, including moving away from all my people, getting my first big-kid post-grad job, and other various hiccups that come along with living in the real world.

But I have been at least somewhat creative in the meantime!

For example, I have done a few refashions, as well as worked on a few art pieces, which I hope to share some time soonly. In the mean time, here's a thing that I did manage to work up:

Gosh, I do love me some ridiculous 80's patterns [as well as giant 80's hair, which I decided to rock today]. They're just so ridiculously fab, how could you not love... whatever that is?

This refashion was not what I initially intended it to be. Originally, I thought that I was just going to keep it a dress because I loved that great gold button at the collar, but, well.. you'll see.

I started off by taking out the shoulder pads because while the linebacker look is great, it's just not my deal.

Then I started cutting off one of the arms of the dress following the curve of the weird shoulder-region.

When I got to the other sleeve though, I ran into a major snag. I got a little zesty with the scissors and cut the curve way too far, practically all the way to where the buttons are. Oops. Wild woman over here. So I decided to go a different route because yay problem-solving.

I decided that this dress actually wanted to be a skirt the entire time, so I gave into its wishes and cut the whole bottom of the dress off.

I then folded it my raw edge over once very small-like and sewed that down. I then folded it over again to create a casing for some elastic to be threaded through. I left a small section open though so that I could put the elastic in.

I measured a piece of 1" elastic around my waist so that it was comfortable, then added about an extra inch to that measurement so that I'd have a seam allowance.

I threaded the elastic through the hole in the casing, then sewed the two ends of the elastic together...

...and then I closed the hole in the casing.

All I had left to do was give my skirt a subtle hi-lo hemline by folding the skirt in half and cutting the hem on a slight curved angle. Then I hemmed up my raw edge and BOOM. Done.

Although this refashion wasn't what I expected or intended, I quite like the result! The hi-lo effect is not over the top, so I kind of like the subtlety of it all. I guess this refashion was just one of those happy accidents :]

So, any other accidental refashions out there?
I'll be linkin' mine up, for sure
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Making Monday

Welcome to Making Monday

Greetings everyone! I'm super excited to announce that the lovely Gracie and Lori have allowed me to be a cohost for Making Monday this week! This is my first time cohosting, and I'm super excited to be a part of their fun weekly shenannigans. So with out further ado, here we go--

This is a party where you can find fun new creative ideas and tasty recipes shared by amazingly talented people. Every Monday bloggers stop by to link up their posts and share with all you party goers. By joining in {both bloggers and non-bloggers} you will discover new blogs, be inspired to make something new, try a yummy new recipe, and most importantly make new friends!

This party is hosted by Gracie and me, and your projects will be shared on both of our blogs. We love that you're here and we love featuring you on our social media so be sure to follow us so you can see if your post gets shared!

Kitchen Table Art | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

A Bright and Beautiful Life | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

We also pin to our Making Monday Pinterest board and we'd love to have you follow along! This is a place you can find projects from all the previous parties, too, so it is like a party every day.

Becca from Halfway to Hipster.

Becca is sharing her fun and flouncy Tulle Skirt ~ make one for yourself or for a cute little princess that loves to dance and twirl.

Now make sure you show Becca some love! Visit her here: Blog | Pinterest.

 

This is what your hostesses have been up to lately:

Whether this Tomato Pesto Pizza is cooked on the grill or in the oven, it's a summertime favorite because the flavors are delicious and refreshing.

 

These are the fabulous features for this week, chosen by Lori:

#1. Canvas Menu Board ~ Bekki at Domestic Mommyhood

#2. Art Glass Garden Art ~ Erika at Living Frugal with Erika

#3. Food Storage: Freeze It and Save {Tips and Tricks} ~ Robin at Fluster Buster

 

#4. Lobster Avocado Sandwich with Garlic ~ Stephanie at Spaceships and Laser Beams

#5. Princess Nightlight ~ Erika at Living Frugal with Erika

#6. Potting Shed Redo ~ Penny at Penny's Vintage Home

#7. Snail Mail: Puzzle Love Notes ~ Colleen at Lemonthistle

 

If you were one of the features PLEASE grab a button and share it with some friends.

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If you weren't featured this week, don't forget to check out the Pinterest board and keep linking up ~ next week could be you!

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Don't forget to check out our Pinterest board where we pin plenty of projects from each party!

An InLinkz Link-up

On --

DIY Tulle Skirt

Greetings kids!

So, I've been doing a lot of sewing lately because when the urge to sew hits me, it hits hard. Like a semi truck. Or my dog running a thousand miles per hour because she is a dog and has nothing better to do with her time.

But because of this urge, I've been making a lot of skirts lately. One of the more ridiculous ones I've made has been this monstrosity [as featured in an obligatory mirror selfie because why not]--

Care to make one for yourself? [Because you should. Everyone should dress like a princess at least daily]. Then follow along!

This one started out with me scrounging through my basement and stumbling across five yards of white tulle. Where did it come from? Eh, no one knows. Which automatically makes it mine. For the lining, I also used about 2 yards of white broadcloth, plus another 1/4 yard of broadcloth to make a waistband. Oh yeah, and don't forget a zipper and matching thread and a sewing machine and all that nonsense.

After gathering my materials, I summoned my trusty Kitty helper and began cutting the fabric. All I did was cut the broadcloth in half lengthwise, and did the same thing with the tulle.

With the extra scrap of broadcloth, I cut out a rectangle that was 3" x 29" [or your waist measurement plus 2 inches for wiggle room].

Also, [very important step] with my extra tulle that I ended up with, I tied it to my helper's collar because he is a beautiful fairy princess.

Next, I gathered my layers of tulle and broadcloth, which I did separately and then attached together. Using the longest stitch length available, I ran two rows of straight stitches close together along the entire length of the broadcloth, making sure not to backstitch and  to leave pretty long threads after running the rows. Then, pulling on just the top threads [or bottom, doesn't matter], I gathered the broadcloth so that it was the same length as my waistband. I then did the same exact process with the tulle.

Then I attended to my waistband itself. To make life easier, I pressed it in half lengthwise, then pressed  the sides up again about 3/4"

Here's what I mean by pressing the sides up, if that makes more sense. Also, I forgot to photograph this part, but I also sewed the tulle and the broadcloth together after gathering them to the same length.

The last thing to do was attach the waistband to the skirt. How I did this was I basically encased the skirt part with the waistband. So instead of having all the raw edges poking out, I hid them inside of the waistband by attaching it thus--

Hopefully the pictures make more sense than I do because words and I aren't cooperating right now haha.

Finally, I just ran two rows of straight stitches along the waistband to attach everything together, making sure to backstitch at the ends. After everything was put together, I inserted a zipper and sewed down the back seam to make it a complete skirt!

Aaaaand booyah. Tulle majesty. I thought about trimming the tulle to make it the same length as the broadcloth, but a) that would take effort, and b) more tulle = more princess.

Now excuse me while I go frolic in the woods and speak to woodland creatures...

Linkin' up:
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DIY Wrap Bracelet

Don't you just love it when you decide to make a pin off of Pinterest, and it ACTUALLY turns out? I don't know bout you all, but it seriously makes me feel like I have my life together.

I ran across THIS PIN some time ago, and decided to give it a go. Only, I was too lazy to go to the craft store to buy the required materials, thus mine turned out a little different:

I pretty much followed the directions, only I substituted brown thread and hemp for the leather and fishing line.

I also just used bugle beads instead of the big fancy beads because... again... I'm lazy. And I already had all these things, so that counts for something, right? Using up materials? So they don't go to waste? Yeah, that's it....

I thought about making an actual pattern with the colors of the beads, but I kind of like how the random colors worked out. My whole policy with making this was "whatever color I pick up, I put on," which actually made life a little easier. Heeeeh.

Overall, this was a really easy project! I haven't made any beaded things like this in a while, so it was quite fun to get back into it, even if it was just for one project. When I was a kid I was ALL about making beaded things. I mean, ALL. So I def recommend checking out the directions if you would like to make your own!!


Linkin' up:
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Upcycled Dog Tag Jewelry

Oftentimes when I come home, I end up being confronted by my mother as such:

Mom: Becca. Look. I got these things.

Me: Yo. What. Oh. Okay.

Mom: Make something.

Me: Word.

*Direct quotes.

And it usually ends up with me creating something weird, but that's really no different than any other day of my life.

So last time I came home [... or some time... I don't remember... it was a little while ago], my mother showed me that she bought an entire jar of old dog tags. Why? Because of reasons I guess.

Therefore, I decided to upcycle them into some fun jewelry:

I have never seen dog tag like these ones before, but she got them from an antique store in the next town over [shout out to the tag that says Lucifer on it].

Once she gave me the tags though, I really just sat down and played around with some materials that I found in my basement: hemp, alligator clips, beads, glue, other items, and what not.

I did three main strings on both the necklace and bracelet-- one to contain the tag, a braided hemp strand, and a last string with knots and beads.

Then at the end, I just used some copper wire to attach all the strings together, then glued them with E6000 so that they stayed super-attached to the alligator clips. And just like that-- new life to old dog tags!

Side note: take note of the hella-dope para-cord bracelet that my oldest brother made me. I like to tell people that he enjoys man crafts. Because it's true.

But yeaaaah. These were pretty fun to make, and it was fun to give new life to another old material! Now I'm tempted to make something out of Gypsy's old rabies tags just because... hmmmm....

Linkin' up:

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March/April Sketchbook

Heeeey friends :]

I thought I would share a peek at my sketchbook from the last two months. There isn't anything too special going on, but I'm going to try and sketch more over summer to keep myself fresh. So here we are!

Here we have some pencil sketches of one of my OC's [with one of my fave quotes from Christopher Palu. I love that man so much. Y'all don't even KNOW.]

And cats because yeah.

At one point I took my students on a field trip to the Art Institute and ended up doing some studies of the Greek sculptures they have there.

Because come on-- marble sculpted fabric? Art-gasmic. I have mad respect for anyone who can carve marble.

I also recently got into the show Attack on Titan, which is pretty cool. Armin is def my fave character because I have a weak spot for my fellow nerds.

And Eren of course because why not.

I haven't been doing a lot of full-color drawings lately, but I did manage to finish one of my OC Esther.

And last, but hella not least, I think it's pretty well established how much I love Party King Thrandy. Ugh. I can't.


Linkin' Up:
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