Darn Good Sunnies!

I never, ever, walk out into the daylight without my sunnies. Be it the dead of winter or the steamy days of summer, I have them on. I am a delicate lass, it seems, and my eyes tear up in any bit of sunlight. I wish I could even wear them into the dentist's office so when they lower that chair and I am staring straight up into that bright light, I am not crying like a moody teenager. Earlier this summer, when I saw this advertisement in Harper's Bazaar, I had sunglasses envy.

Look at those sunnies!!! How cool are they? There are no words, really. And doesn't she look like she is having the best day? It has to be because of the sunnies. Dig the hair scarf as well. Love it, love it, love it. Just don't love how expensive Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses are. $344.00? Yikes. 

But the determined, sunglasses loving side of me would not forget about them. So I decided to use them for inspiration. I went to the thrift store and found some sunnies that I thought would love a little 'flower' touch to them.

At a buck a pair, how could I go wrong. I next headed straight for Michael's craft store. My husband calls me a 'Michael's All Star,' meaning I go there quite a bit. I found some bobby pins in the dollar section that had plastic resin flowers attached to them. Since I knew they weren't attached very strongly,  I bought enough packages to make both sunnies. 

For this project you will need E-6000 glue, the resin flowers, q-tips and Goo Gone. In the jewelry section, Michaels sells a Martha Stewart line of resin cabochons with rose shapes. There are even molds that you can make your own roses with. However, the dollar section was cheaper this time than Martha's resin roses, so I went with those. But they are a great alternative.

Figure out how you want to position your roses. I went with one large one on each side and several smaller roses surrounding the larger one. You will need some patience for this as the E-6000 doesn't instantly hold. Once it dries, it will stay quite well. But you will need to hold the roses in place for a few minutes until the glue starts to take hold. Otherwise, the roses will slide all over the place. I learned this the hard way. 

Use the q-tips to wipe away any excess glue. If you do get some smeared on the lenses, simply spray the lenses with some Goo Gone when the glue is completely dry. Wipe it away with a tissue and you are good to go. You will need to let them dry for at least 24 hours. 

I think I like the black best of all.

Look at that girl! Doesn't she look like she is having the best day? Must be the sunnies, right? 

(hair scarf also came from the dollar section of Michaels! Check it out ASAP!!!)

D& G Sunnies? Darn Good Sunnies to me! 

Denim Vest Part Deux

Meet Cosmos. He is a beloved black bear who belongs to my 10-year-old son.

He was named after this freaky area in South Dakota that has a strange phenomenal magnetic 'force.' We visited this 'x-file-ish' place while we were on vacation. Cosmos became a member of the family when my son fell in love with him at the Cosmos gift shop.

If you ever get to South Dakota, check out the Cosmos. It is a weird and very interesting place. Cosmos the bear, however, didn't make it home exactly all together. It seems he had an abdominal injury. So my son asked me to admit him into the hospital for emergency surgery.

The hospital being my sewing area.

But before Cosmos could be admitted into surgery, there was another project on the agenda. The other denim vest I cut up when I made the first one. This one was already cut up and washed, the frayed edges already perfected. All that it needed was a little decoration. So I whipped out some black faux leather trim with silver studs, part of the Project Runway line of trims. I put a band around the waist and then added two strips to the shoulder.

Finished project looked something like this.

And there is a happy ending for Cosmos the bear. I am happy to report that Cosmos is all stitched up and receiving numerous daily hugs from a very happy 10 year-old boy. Both projects were done within an hour. Multitasking at its very best.

Better than Sex Blunder

There are two things this girl loves for certain-chocolate and clothes. Too much of one will hinder the use of another. But when a good friend recently told me about Better Than Sex cake, I knew I had to forgo the calories and give it a try. The name itself is intriguing enough, right?

So it was on a fine Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago that I ran to Target in a frenzy to grab the supplies needed to make this fine cake. As soon as I got home, I whipped the items out of the bag and started making this so called orgasmic cake. I admit, I was a little excited. I was like the Swedish Chef whipping ingredients everywhere.  I was so excited I got vegetable oil all over my favorite t-shirt. I didn't notice this until later in the day, after I had already consumed a healthy amount of the cake.

Yes, the cake did live up to it's name. However, in the afterglow of it all, I noticed the two vegetable oil spots on my t-shirt. The shirt is a teal blue colored Zara scoop neck. The fit is divine!  I got the shirt in perfect condition for only $1. Just a buck!!!! So I probably shouldn't have felt as bad as I did about staining it since it only cost a buck. But the fit was so perfect and I loved the color so much and I could make quite a few Better Than Sex cakes for the price of a new Zara shirt.

I couldn't bring myself to get rid of my beloved tee, nor could I cut it up for rags. I left it beside my sewing table so that I could see it's lustrous color every time I walked by. Two weeks later, the light bulb went on and I was out the door to buy some stretch lace.

I decided to cover up the lower half of the shirt with black stretch lace. It would cover up the oil spots and the color contrast would be awesome. I laid out the lace over the shirt and cut enough so it would cover just the lower front half of the tee. I then cut scallops out over the roses on the top and bottom part of the lace.

I thought it would be best to pin the lace to the shirt on my dress form, affectionately named Olga.

Since Olga is set to match my measurements, the t-shirt fit on her like it would on me. Making sure that the stretch lace fit the shirt, I pinned it on the top, sides and bottom. I left the edges raw because I really like the raw effect and also the neckline of the t-shirt has raw edging, courtesy of Zara.

One very important thing to remember when sewing your stretch lace to your stretchy t-shirt is to use a stretchy stitch. You want to set your machine to a stitch that will stretch with the fabric. After all, the lace is positioned across the curvy parts and I will need that particular area to stretch with me.

Once it was finished, I put it back on Olga and was very pleased with the final result. I also made another Better Than Sex cake wearing a not so favorite t-shirt. 

The finished shirt doesn't compare to even one piece of the finished cake.....

Vintage Hand Me Downs

I am no stranger to hand me downs. Long before I started thrifting to fill my wardrobe, I was sorting through bags of hand me downs as a child. I would put different pieces together to make an outfit. I always wondered where the previous owners had worn these items and what the story was behind them. I always found them a bit mysterious.

The older I got, the older I liked my clothes. I loved to dress up in my aunt's prom dresses. I would go into the back of my mom's closet and pull out pieces from the '70s and wear them with 80s pieces. I once found a bright blue cowl necked flocked top. I put it together with big black belt and black vinyl pants. I thought it was 'totally awesome!' Hey-don't judge. It was the '80s and vinyl pants were cool!

My love for vintage clothes has grown and the older the piece I find, the better. Many find their way into my Etsy shop. Some find their way into my personal collection. And if they really are spectacular, they find their way onto my wall as art.

These are some of the vintage dresses I have hanging on my wall. They are beautiful and to me, they are art. They also carry with them a very personal connection.

This dress from the '50s era, belonged to my aunt. She was the oldest of four children. According to my mom, my aunt would get all 'gussied' up on Saturdays when the family made their weekly trip into town. When she would walk down the street, the boys would whistle at her! This outfit is two pieces with a sleeveless dress underneath the jacket. It is simply beautiful.

This beautiful '40s dress was found in a rag pile in the 'rubbish' room of my grandparents' farmhouse. It was in need of repair. I did not trust myself to fix such a valuable find, so I enlisted the help of a friend who is a seamstress for wedding dresses. She is the Yoda of sewing to me. She fixed it and renewed it to its beautiful state. I think it belonged to my grandmother, though I cannot be certain as she is no longer with us to ask. My grandmother was a beautiful person, inside and out. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended college for four years during the depression to be a school teacher. She was extremely creative. She made up stories to tell her children and later to her grandchildren. And when there was no money to buy new clothes, she took old pieces and remade beautiful new things from them for my aunts to wear. 

I hope I have a little bit of her kindness and creativity in me.

This was my mother's wedding dress. She made this dress herself. It was 1971 and it is a true sign of the times. She was a 'tall, cool drink of water' in this dress. As the marriage did not work out, she was reluctant to save the dress. I didn't see it as something that was to be reminded of failure. I saw it as something my mother created that she looked beautiful in. It means everything to me and I love to see it on my wall every day.

I love her hair in this picture!!! She is the strongest woman I know. When people tell me I look like her, I am sincerely grateful.

When I find vintage clothes, be it at a thrift store or a rummage sale or anywhere else, I am not only excited for the simple find, but also for finding someone's little piece of history. They made it this far into the future, so they were saved for a reason. Wedding dresses, cocktail dresses, house dresses-they were saved for a purpose. Eventually they make their way into someone else's hands. I am all the happier when they are mine. These clothes tell a story, just like a painting, book or any other piece of art. I always check the pockets of coats or purses. Sometimes, you find a remnant of a memory tucked away.

Sometimes, it is just a wadded up kleenex. Eew....

Save the Vest for Last

I went on vacation last week to the great state of South Dakota and saw maxi skirts everywhere! Some were hi-low style, others straight and long. Having maxi skirt fever, I had a project in my mind before I even returned to the northern part of the Dakotas.

Of course, I was too eager to cut apart my project to take a before picture. My mom had given me a dress she no longer wanted and it was in my 'stash' for quite a while. It was a gorge cream floral dress from Coldwater Creek. It had a rouched top and empire waist. But the dress itself just wasn't me. So I hacked it off right underneath the empire waist. I will save the top portion for later. I'm thinking peplum....

I then created a panel to insert elastic through to form the waistband. I folded over the top portion of the skirt and pinned.

I stitched the panel closed and left two inches open to thread the elastic through. Once it was through, I stitched it closed. BAM! Maxi skirt.

I wanted to add a bit of edge and funky-ness to my maxi. I like denim jackets with maxis, but it is July and a bit warm for the jacket. So I hacked off the sleeves of an old denim jacket and threw it in the washer and dryer for the distressed effect. Next I cut out the panel of the back of the jacket.

Then I added a panel of cream, cotton lace to the top of the back open area. I folded down the edges and stitched around the panel twice on the top. Then I added a bit of lace to the front pocket flaps.

I was planning to add some studs also, but thought the lace was just the effect it needed. I will save the studs for another denim project later.

I put a black tee underneath the vest so that the black would show through the lace panel. Still, the outfit needed one more thing. I added a black belt around the waist and BAM! Denim vest. 

I'm bringing vesty back....

Not too shabby for a project started and completed within 24 hours of returning from vacation.  Go grab a denim jacket and start hacking!!!!