Fourth of July Shirt

Hey, it's the 4th of July (well almost) let's make a shirt!

So in full disclosure, I did not go in to making this shirt with the intentions of it being a Fourth of July shirt, but it happened that way, so we're going with it.

 

(I apologize in advance for the blueness of all these pics, wasn't paying attention to the fact that the carpet is also blue in the sewing room)

What You Need:

1) A Shirt (One that is a little big on you will work best)

2) Ruler

3) Chalk

4) Scissors/Exacto knife

5) Studs (I actually am using star shaped brads)

 

First, using a ruler draw a straight line with the chalk across the front of the shirt. I made mine right where the V on the neckline exists.

 

Then, also using a ruler, draw vertical lines from the shoulder seam, down to the horizontal line you drew. I made 10 lines. I wanted 8 strips, so 10 lines.

Cut down all of the vertical lines you just drew. DO NOT yet cut the horizontal line. I used an Exacto for this as it is easier, for me personally, to do that than cut in with scissors. But that is up to you. If you do use an Exacto, make sure to have a cutting mat below, and PLEASE BE CAREFUL. I have seen (and experienced) too many Exacto accidents to not stress that.

Use the Brads, or studs, to connect every other strip you just made. Once you can see which strips you will actually be using, cut out the ones you don't. This part is a little hard to explain, but basically in the end you will only keep every other strip.

 

Use as many Brads as you like, and connect the strips in whatever pattern you feel like.

 

Finally cut a slit in the bottom of the shirt along the side. And tie the slit on the side.

 

That's it! I may pair this with a red tank underneath just to make it extra patriotic.

~Jessica

 

 

 

 

Lace Shorts

It's summer! Yay! Hence a lot of not posting here on the blog. Oh well, you should be outside enjoying the weather anyway.

But since it's summer (or tomorrow is, but let's not get picky), that means it's shorts season. I actually am not a huge fan of shorts and tend to lean more towards the skirt/dress option. But if I do decide to wear them, I dont want them riding up and pinching my legs and being super uncomfortable. So one solution I recently found to fix shorts that are a little too snug in the thigh region, is to add a bit of lace to them.

 

Here's what you need:

A pair of shorts (mine are actually cutoffs as well, but any pair of shorts is fine)

Scissors

Lace (2 pieces, about 6 inches wide and 8 inches long)

Pins
A sewing machine (you could hand sew this if you do not have a sewing machine, but the machine is easier)

 

First, cut a triangular piece of fabric off the outside part of your shorts. Do for both legs.

Then measure out how much lace you need to fill the gap in your shorts with the lace.

 

Place the lace on the inside of the shorts and pin in place. Then simply sew the lace in place. When you are done you can trim any excess lace from the inside or hanging off the bottom.

 

That's it! Pretty easy and pretty cute, better fitting shorts in the end.

~Jessica

 

 

 

Scrub-A-Dub-Dub

With the winter dragging on, I find more and more that I simply want to look forward and prepare for summer. Which, for better or for worse, means getting back to the summer beauty regimen and doing things like shaving my legs everyday again (yes, I neglect this habit during the winter, get over it). But that of course means dealing with razor burn and dry skin, but I'm cheap and don't want to spend a whole lot on beauty products either. So I started looking for at home remedies to combat these problems that I could make on the cheap.

Enter the brown sugar body scrub. It's super easy to make and works wonders. I use it before shaving to exfoliate and moisturize, plus it smells really good and will leave you smelling sweet.

Here's what you need:

 

1-1/2 cups Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 cup raw Honey
1/4 teaspoon of desired scent options: Pure Vanilla Extract, Lemon Juice, Lavender essential oil, Fresh ground coffee, Cinnamon or Clove (I used cinnamon in mine, but I might do vanilla next time)

Combine all ingredients and mix until it forms a paste. Store in a sealed container in your bathroom, and no worries about refrigerating, it is not necessary.

 

To use simply scoop up a handful and rub it in. Enjoy!

~Jess

Nail Prints

I know it's an old trend, but I hadn't tried it yet, so I thought I would. Newsprint nails, that is. I think they look really cute, and loving typography the way I do, why not put it on my nails?

So here's what ya do:

1. Using a light nail polish, paint your nails as usual. Most people use a white, off-white or light grey type color, but I like to be different so I went with a light green. Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet to be exact.

You will want to make sure your base coat has dried completely before you do the news print part. And if you need to do more than one coat of base coat, make sure each coat is completely dry before applying the next. Otherwise you will smudge the polish when you apply the newsprint. A great way to test if your polish is totally dry is to tap them together. If there is a slight pull when you do this, they have not dried all the way.

2. Cut out small squares of newspaper. Use areas they have a lot of text and try to avoid any breaks in the paragraphs.

One at a time, dip your nails in rubbing alcohol. Then place the newspaper on top. Dip a cotton ball in the rubbing alcohol and press on top of the newspaper and hold for roughly 20-25 seconds. This process reminded me of applying a temporary tattoo, and is definitely similar in the fact that you do not want to remove the newspaper too soon. After about 20 seconds simply peel back the newspaper.

3. Apply a clear topcoat. And that's it!

 

Mine didn't turn out as good as I would have liked, but I think I was getting impatient and not holding the newspaper on long enough. But overall cute, and more interesting than just a plan color.

~Jessica

EASY: How to turn King Pillowcases into Standard

I've carted these great pillowcases with me from apartment to house to apartment for years. I can't remember when I got them... probably when I was a teenager at a garage sale with my mom. They are obviously from the 60s, I'd say. Unfortunately, they were king sized. So, the other day I decided it was time to get new pillows. I was faced with the question of getting standard or king pillows, to fit my rediscovered cases. King pillows would not fit on my full sized bed though, so standard it is! Therefore, a compromise had to be made..

Solution! Turn king cases into standard!

1. Turn pillow case inside out
2. Measure 5" from seam
3. Sew vertically along the 5" mark
4. Turn pillowcase inside out

Cute, huh? AND now I can buy more random, mis-matched cases at estate sales because I know how to fix 'em  :)

Love,
Kelly

Designer Arsenal: How to Make a Box

This is the beginning of a new feature I will be doing on occassion. I plan to talk about some things that every designer should know and have in their arsenal, if you will. Starting with tonight's post, where we will learn how to make a box. Why do I need to know how to make a box, you say? Why DON'T you need to know how to make a box? For designers in particular it is an excellent skill to be able to physically mock up products. Yes, we live in a digital age, and you COULD do it in Photoshop, but come on...everyone knows it's Photoshopped. Plus I firmly believe that it is just nice to have something physical to look at and hold. For those of you who are not designers, a box can come in handy for all kinds of crafts, so bear with me here.

What you'll need:

1. Poster board (once you get this down you can use a thicker chip board for more durability)
2. Exacto Knife
3. Ruler
4. Pen/Pencil/Writing instrument of some kind
5. Cutting board
6. Bone Folder (Scorer, whatever you want to call it)
7. Double Stick Tape (I know, I know...I have glue pictured but that was before I remembered that glue sucks and double stick tape is the shit and I'm lazy and didn't want to retake the pic. I know some people don't like it, but I love it, let's put that shit on everything...but I digress)

 

This here is your handy dandy diagram of how to cut this out. I did a 5x5 box, so you will want six 5x5 boxes altogether.  Leave a 1/2 inch tab on the 5 outermost boxes.  It's really hard to explain, but basically draw the diagram above on your poster board.

 

Now the tricky part. Using your Exacto and ruler cut out your box, but make sure to just cut the outermost lines. The rectangles that were made for tabs will also need to be cut in the inner corner so that they can fold in. Again, reference diagram. When cut out, it should look something like this:

 

Then using your bone folder and ruler, score all the areas that will be folded. Scoring just makes it easier to fold and makes sure that you have a straight line.

 

Once scored, apply double stick tape to the tabs on the box. Stick the tabs to the inside of the side kitty corner to it. It's pretty self explanatory once you get to this point...you're making a box, soooo make it look like a box. Try to align the edges as best as possible, the box will work best if everything is even.

 

Fold the top down, but do not tape that side or else you just have a cube, not a box. But that's it! Once you get this down you can move on to more advanced boxes and shapes. If you are using this for a mock up, you would then print out your design, preferably in the same shape as the the diagram and wrap that around it. Sorry I'm not great at explaining what to do, but it's not too tough if you have the correct shape to cut out. Try it! Lemme know how it worked!

~Jessica

 

Create Your Own Ornaments

Well Thanksgiving is over so on to Christmas! I love decorating for Christmas, it's one of my favorite things to do. But sometimes buying decorations can be pricey, so I enjoy making my own. Plus it is a great way to add a personal touch to your holiday decor. So I thought I would share some quick and easy ways to make your own ornaments.

 

Here's what you'll need:

1. Clear glass ornaments

2. Glitter (I used fine glitter, but you could use the bigger kind if you so desire)

3. Ribbon

4. Fake berries (like what you would put in a fake bouquet)

5. Pledge

6. Wire cutters or scissors

First off, take the metal top off of your ornament as you will be putting things inside it. Just set it aside for the time being.

 

We will be making two different ornaments. The first one being a glitter ornament. For this one, take the Pledge and spray it on the inside of the ornament. Try not to spray TOO much, but coat the inside. I actually ended up using a napkin and a pen to fully coat the inside. Then pour a decent amount of glitter into the ornament and swish it around...dump out the excess glitter. The Pledge will help the glitter stick to the sides of the ornament. That's pretty much it for this one, set it aside for the moment.

 

 For the second ornament you will need the berries and wire cutters.

 

Snip the berries off of the stems with the wire cutters. You can use scissors for this as well, but if you have wire cutters, I recommend using them as it is much easier. Just be careful as the berries may fly across the room, and then your cat will chase after them and shove them under the china cabinet (or at least that's what happened to me...but I digress)

 

Put the berries inside the second ornament.

Please note that since glitter is the herpes of the craft world, I ended up with glitter in both ornaments, even though that was not my intent. And the same may happen to you. But I think it worked out anyway.

Put the top of the ornaments back on them. Cut two pieces of ribbon off and tie them around the top of the ornaments.

 

That's it! Your very own ornaments. You could obviously substitute many different things on these and even add to them. I thought about doing one with fake snow on the inside and going from there. So feel free to play around with these. I'd love to see what you come up with!

~Jessica

Cardigan DIY

With the weather now seemingly permanently chilly, I am constantly cold. Therefore feel the need to stock up on sweaters and the like and in the process rid myself on old sweaters that no longer fit. If you're like me, you may have a few of these lying around but just don't want to give them up. Here is an idea for a way to recycle an old sweater, or even long sleeve shirt.

Sweater to Cardigan:

 

What you'll need:

1. A sweater 

2. Hem tape (I used Stitch Witchery and it worked great)

3. Scissors

4. An iron

5. A button and thread (optional)

And here we go! First, lay the sweater flat and cut down the middle of the front of the sweater (this is the opening of the cardigan)

 

Next fold over where you have cut and determine how much of a seam you will want. I folded it over about and inch. Place the hem tape on the inside part of the sweater's hem. Fold the remaining fabric over on top of the tape and follow the instructions on your hem tape.

 

My instructions say to put a damp cloth over fabric and iron taped area. It is important to not drag the iron, rather press bit by bit.

 

Find a button of your choosing and sew it on wherever you like. I made mine just for show, but if you're real ambitious you could add a hole on the other side and make the button functional.

 Thats it! You're done, now go wear your "new" cardigan and try to stay warm this winter!

 

~Jessica

Surprise!

Hanging doily globe. Been wanting to make it for some time now. 

Supplies: 

• Wallpaper Paste
• Doilies
• Round balloon
• Newspaper to cover work surface
• Paint brush

Blow the balloon up. Brush a little glue over small surface of balloon enough to keep the doily on it. Then, liberally brush glue over doily.

Dry for about a day.

Then, pop!




Love,
Kelly

burgundy, burgundy everywhere

The 90s are back y'all. If you look anywhere recently, you will have a 90s flashback - and I am loving it. I was never a big fan of this color, but it seems so refreshing recently. Burgundy is everywhere. On nails, shoes, pants, lips, and hair. 

I am currently crocheting a cowl inspired by the picture above...to match my new lipstick of course. Refer to the series of pictures below on how to apply burgundy or other dark lipsticks.

1. Using the side of the liner, line your lips. I start on the bottom lip because it's easier. It is okay to draw "slightly" outside of your natural lip line.. I emphasize the word "slightly."

2. Line your upper lip carefully.

3. Blend the line you have made by coloring in the parts of your lips near the line you made. This will prevent the cholo effect. 

4. Add lipstick and blot on your nearest checkbook or junk mail.

*TRICKS*  - CONCEAL any and all blemishes around your mouth. Sometimes, placing a subtle line of a sheer white powder or eyeshadow will help highlight and define the shape of your mouth.

Do you like my scary 60s anatomical lipstick diagram?

wearing M.A.C. "Dark Side" lipstick with "Burgundy" liner

Please be sure to wear a light BRONZER as a blush. This shade can really wash white girls out. I would also be interested to see this lipstick shade with a light pink blush...

Lovvvv

Kelly