Rouched Sleeve Tutorial

I bought this shirt last year, and after one wash, it went from long-sleeves to awkward-sleeves. I have tried to wear it a couple more times by either pushing or rolling the sleeves up to more of a 3/4 length, but the material stretches and by the end of the day they are falling down.

I have seen a lot of rouched-sleeve cardigans and thought it would be an excellent fix to my very awkward length sleeves. This fix seriously took less than 20 minutes and was super easy. Tutorial below, for those of you who have had the same problem as me.

Such a horrible look!

First I was going to lay the sleeves out and get an exact measurement of the center, but then thought, what the heck, I'm free handing this. I threw on the shirt and with a piece of white sidewalk chalk drew a line from the shoulder seam down the center of my arm on both sides.

I then started from the opening near the shoulder (I started at the wrist on the first sleeve and it gave me some problems) and put in a few stitches to start.
To gather the fabric I made sure the needle was down and raised the presser foot. Once raised I would take 2 to 3 inches of fabric and push it in towards the needle and put the presser foot back down and sew. As soon I stitched down the scrunched up fabric I would raise the foot and repeat.
Here are a few pics of the finished product, this shirt will be getting a lot more use this summer.

My husband accidentally took this picture before changing the settings on the camera. I liked the washed out look though because it showed the detailing of the sleeve.

***I'll be linking this tutorial up at *These Parties*

Mother's Day Corsage

With Mother's Day quickly approaching, I had to quickly throw something together for mi madre. It had to be a completely free gift because I recieved a text from my mom that clearly said "cards are welcome, gifts are not, please don't spend any money." I wanted to order my mom a corsage because all the southern ladies wear corsages to church, but that would cost money, so I got creative. I grabbed the corsage idea from this blog, modified it a little bit, and found a free printable for the card from this blog. Hopefully this fabric corsage will match whatever my mom decides to wear on Mother's Day, and she can't be upset because I only paid for postage!

Completely Free Spring Wreath

I finally got around to taking our Christmas wreath down, mainly because I was terrified that our HOA would ticket me for having a Christmas decoration up in March! The Christmas wreath was from my floral design class and was made mostly with greens wired to a metal wreath form. I took all of the greens off because I figured I could use the metal form later.

My original plan was to make a grocery bag wreath, but less than half way through I decided it wasn't for me. I finished off the rest of the wreath by weaving scrap material through the wire frame. For a finishing touch I added the bow and a couple of flowers made from paper towel rolls. All in all it was a completely FREE wreath for spring. Doesn't get much better than that!

St. Patrick's Day Accessory (and not a tacky Kiss Me I'm Irish pin)

I love St. Patty's day and always make sure to wear green every year. Mainly because I have some Irish heritage (maiden name O'Neil). I am also known to pinch those who are green-less. This year I decided to make my pop of green an accessory rather than looking like the Leprechaun from the Lucky Charms's box.

By the way, I love the new-to-me technique of ruffling the edges of chiffon or chiffon like fabric by using candle.

Vintage Brooch Headband

For my wedding, (over 2 years ago) I made this hair piece to wear with my veil for my "something old." It is my grandmother's brooch from the 1940's. I had yet to wear it since the wedding because it was stored in a box that just sat on my dresser collecting dust.

Then I spotted some vintage gold and feather bobby pins at a local boutique and took that idea and ran with it. I grabbed a dollar store headband and wrapped it in ribbon. I then used a pack of feathers and added a few directly to the headband. After those were in place I gathered ribbon and fabric to make a spot to pin the brooch. I originally didn't plan on adding feathers on top the ribbon, but I felt like it needed something more. I just love the vintage look of headband, and how the neutral colors lend itself well to almost any outfit. I have already worn it a few times!

Please ignore the ratty hair, must have been a rough day.

I'm Sadd??

So I have come to a very important conclusion as to the reason behind my crafting slump...I'm Sadd. Well its more like S.A.C.D (Seasonal Affective CRAFT Disorder). The cold, snow, and gloomy days just do not lend themselves well to crafts, at least not for me. This past weekend it was beautiful out, I'm talking somewhere in the 60's, in Colorado, in FEB! It was glorious, and I had a sudden urge to go to all of the local thrift and antique stores to scavenge for my next project. Reality check, my next two projects are sitting in my sewing nook/craft space waiting patiently to be spray painted.

I haven't been completely un-crafty though. I joined a few of my close friends for a virtual quilting bee, and I managed to make a cute headband using my grandmother's brooch from the '40's. It is still sitting on our new camera because I am afraid to load the huge size pics on my little ol' Mac that slows down if more than one program is open.

I hope to have some pics and tutorials up soon...if only Spring would hurry up and get here!

Closet Turned Sewing Space

I know the blog postings have been sparse, but I blame that on the winter. You just can't spend as much quality time spray painting as you can in the warmer months. I have managed to complete one pretty big project this winter though.

A couple weeks ago I was browsing other blogs and found one on small space make-overs. I was inspired. I have been wanting a sewing/craft space but didn't want to take over the 3rd bedroom for it. I decided our bigger than necessary guest room closet would be the perfect space to make mine. That night I found an absolutely gorgeous vintage desk on Craigslist to go with the $7 chair I found at Restore during the summer. I added a peg board, shoe rack for material, recovered the chair (I plan on painting it Heirloom White once it gets warmer out), and some decorations crafted with my sis-in-law. Add a Reveal light bulb and I have a new space all my own! It came together at the perfect time because for the next year I'll be participating in a quilting bee.

Before...storage for all of our junk, that should have been thrown out or in the garage.

After

I changed out the knob with one I got at Anthropologie

Before

After

I thought it would be an ingenious idea to use a shoe holder for all of my material scraps.