Recycling “The Hot Seat”

The more my fabric collection grows, the more I’m convinced that collecting fabric scraps is equivalent to collecting memories.

Tonight I was digging around looking for scraps for the first draft of a new project (yes, a new project is in the works, woo!) and found this memorable scrap. My college roommate and I used it to cover an armchair in our dorm room sophomore year. We decided to call it “The Hot Seat” and added the iron-on letters and everything. I honestly don’t know what we were thinking.

I’m embarrassed to admit that it may have even been my idea. Hey, our college town was in the middle of a cornfield and we didn’t like parties. This (and studying) was how we chose to fill our time, which I think our parents really appreciated. Anyway. Stand by while this scrap gets turned into something new and exciting -because that, my friends, is the beauty of recycling fabric.

Kitchen camping? Yes, please!

In a few weeks, I’ll be spending a weekend camping out under the stars. It’s a trip I look forward to every year, although this year will be extra special because I actually own a tent! I usually have to rent or borrow, but this year I had a very lovely tent with my name on it under the Christmas tree!

While starting to prepare for my camping trip, I was reminded of this amazing sewing project I once stumbled across on the Obsessively Stitching blog – a play tent for kids, made to fit over a kitchen table, using a set of sheets and some PVC piping.

(Click here to redirect to the Obsessively Stitching blog for a full tutorial!)

WOW. Talk about inspiration! Is this not the coolest thing you’ve ever seen? What an amazing mom. She even created a drawstring bag out of one of the pillowcases to store the tent.

I’m still some years away from having kids, but I couldn’t help tucking this tutorial away in my files knowing that I’d like to revisit it again someday!

Aren’t you just dying to hang out in that tent for a bit while your mom cooks dinner? Yes, please!

 

The Friendship Bag: Rinse and Repeat!

Ahhh. The return of the Friendship Bag. I promise that one of these days, I will learn to sew something other than Friendship Bags and tissue box covers.

But in the meantime…

Wall-E inspired Friendship Bag eye candy that I made for a friend! Well, I guess you could say that it was actually inspired by Eve, the sleek white robot in the film. Details, details!

What I love so much about this bag is how much leftover fabric I was able to incorporate. The only materials I had to buy were the white calico prints. The black calico fabric was leftover from the Minnie Mouse Friendship Bag, the light green calico print was leftover from my first set of Friendship Bags and the dark green was leftover from Mike Wazowski’s eyeball. It’s almost as if I was able to stitch little pieces of my memories into this bag – and that makes it feel even more special!

Making the cut!

Living in a warm climate, I planned to wear a dress for my special birthday dinner outing last week. But the evening of my birthday was cold and rainy – boo! I decided to wear a dress I bought a few years ago in St. Augustine – a convertible dress by Elan-USA that can be twisted and tied in lots of different ways. The plan was to fashion a dress with sleeves to keep warm.

But as soon as I put the dress on, I was reminded why I rarely wear it: it’s too long. Being five feet small, the dress is almost ankle length on me, which makes it feel a little too formal. But the dress itself is made out of a jersey-knit material and is supposed to be a semi-casual dress. I would never actually wear it for a formal occasion.

I picked up the hem of the dress to examine it, wondering if I could attempt to hem it myself, and was shocked to see that the dress had no hem at all! It looked like freshly cut, jersey knit fabric. How come I had never noticed that before?

With only 30 minutes to spare before my birthday dinner, I pinned the heck out of the non-hemmed-dress and grabbed my rotary cutter. There was a moment of hesitation where the rotary cutter just hovered about the fabric while I panicked. What if I ruined it? But if I wanted to wear the dress to dinner, there wasn’t time to think about negative consequences…

So I cut. And cut. And cut. Then, the moment of truth: Dress + Lindsay + Mirror.

It… was… PERFECT! I think I’ll be wearing it more often now that it’s the proper length. And now I have a long, thick remnant of fabric leftover that I can use as an extra sash for the dress.

I wouldn’t have had the confidence to make the cut without my newfound interest in sewing. I never would have looked at the hem of the dress in the first place!

Have you ever made a last minute alteration?

Now it’s time to say goodbye…

Some years ago, my mom and I took a trip to Walt Disney World. While standing in front of Minnie Mouse’s house, in awe even at the age of 19, I said, “Someday I’m going to live there.” My mom offhandedly replied, “Okay,” and I repeated, with insistence, “No, I love that house. Someday I’m going to live there.”

Years later, after graduating from college and following a multitude of dreams, I don’t actually LIVE in Minnie Mouse’s house – after all, it’s still Minnie’s house – but I do find myself visiting Magic Kingdom Park quite often. More often than I ever could have imagined back when I was 19.

Today was the last day of operation for Mickey’s Toontown Fair, where Minnie Mouse’s house resides. Toontown is closing to make way for many exciting changes as a part of the Fantasyland Expansion. I’m giddy about the future of Magic Kingdom, but I can’t help but feel a pang in my heart and my stomach knowing that I’ll no longer be able to take a stroll through Minnie’s house.

And believe it or not, Minnie Mouse has a sewing machine. As if she weren’t already my idol!

Helping Minnie with a quilt during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in 2010, while dressed as Boo from Monsters, Inc.

 

As Seen on TV: Style Snaps (Stink)

I’ve been seeing a commercial lately for a product called Style Snaps. The first time it came on, I was immediately drawn to it, wondering what kind of sewing-related product would be exciting enough for an “As-Seen-on-TV!” style commercial. Within seconds I was less than sold. Watch for yourself:

I just don’t get why these Style Snap things are supposed to be so amazing. The “finished product” – or faux hemmed pants – LOOK like a faux hem. They don’t look nice at all. It LOOKS like the pants are folded under, which is exactly what I’m trying to avoid when I hem my pants.

One more thing – what is up with the borderline-provocative visual right around 0:59-0:60? “Sexy and tight for a look that’s DEFINITELY right!” Ugh, I’m sorry, I thought I was watching a commercial about HEMS.

Of course, I had to look up the reviews for these things, and they are terrible! Not only are oodles of reviewers complaining about being scammed as far as the shipping and handling costs go, but the product isn’t even working well as advertised. The snaps have a sticky backing that either don’t stick to the fabric at all, or leave sticky adhesive behind when they do.

Beware Style Snaps! (But if you MUST try them even after reading this post, get them from eBay or Amazon and steer clear of the “official” site, BuyStyleSnaps.com – that is where most reviewers are getting scammed with misleading shipping costs)

Could you see yourself trying Style Snaps?

Sewing represent!

While browsing the internet for either sewing or Valentine’s Day (which are obviously two of my very favorite things) I stumbled across these incredibly fun printable Valentines on the crafty style crush blog. I was pretty excited to see a whole Valentine themed to sewing (Sew in Love!)… plus the rest of ‘em are pretty neat, too! Who doesn’t love mac and cheese?

So if you’re in need of a quick and easy Valentine fix, throw some cardstock in the printer and give these a whirl. Click here to go to the style crush blog and download the high resolution PDF!

Valentine’s Day is on the way!

I spy… a new Valentine’s Day themed tissue box cover in my office at work! It’s almost time for my favorite holiday. Bring on the hearts!