Did you know you can frame clothes?

Its spring cleaning time! I've been going through my closet and, oh my goodness, there are a lot of clothes that I don't wear anymore! 😆 Luckily, I can use a lot of it as fabric for RagsReborn pillows and what I can't use, I can donate. On the other hand, I came across a couple of items that I can't use as fabric but I still have a sentimental attachment to so I don't want to get rid of them, either. At the same time as I was trying to come up with ideas of how to re-purpose my clothes, I was also thinking of how to fill some of the empty space on a few of our walls. Then the two collided and I decided to frame a few of my shirts. It is a pretty straightforward process and here's a super simple DIY.

Materials needed: old article of clothing (I used the blouse that I got married in; it still fits but it's become a little too tattered to wear), picture frame, hot glue gun and fabric scissors.

1. Open up the picture frame and locate the piece of paper in between the cardboard backing and glass.

2. Cut out the section of fabric that you want to frame (or, if you don't want to cut into your shirt, fold it to where only the section you want to frame is visible). Make sure that the section is bigger than the piece of paper from step #1.

3. Wrap the fabric around the piece of paper (I wrapped it tightly, like I would a Christmas present) and glue around the edges.

4. Put the frame back together and you're done!

Another thing that I like to frame and decorate with is puzzles. But I guess that's not a novel idea. any suggestions for what I should frame and decorate with next?

Erica re-purposes a scarf.

I was just thinking to myself that I haven't posted any DIY projects in a while. I have tons on my "things to sew" list but I guess sewing for craft shows, gifts and custom orders takes precedence over projects for myself. And, to be honest, I've also become a little lazy on the weekends. A few months ago, I reconnected with an old friend who recently split from her long-time boyfriend. She went through her closet and gave me a bunch of clothes that reminded her of him. She thought I would like the bright colors and could use them as fabric for my pillows & stuffed animals. Around this same time, I was looking though some pictures that I had pinned online. One was a quick three step picture tutorial for a kimono. Time for the stars to align...

As I am writing this, it is currently a causal Sunday afternoon, which is the best time for me to open up the blinds, let the sunshine in and get creative in my sewing room. The tutorial I came across showed three pictures: a photograph of a stylish woman posing in a cute kimono, a large piece of patterned fabric, and some dotted lines with the words "Cut Here". I thought I would try to create the kimono from those pictures and also provide a little more instruction. I am using one of the scarves my friend gave me as the fabric. I chose it because it is trimmed in lace and fringe, which I thought could add some nice detail. If you are purchasing fabric (instead of re-purposing an old scarf), I would get at least two yards; more or less depending on how big you want the finished project to be.

1. Turn the fabric inside out, fold it in half and lay it on a flat surface. Make sure the creased side is facing the top. Measure 1/2 yard from the top and 8 inches from the outside. Draw a line from those measurements on both sides of the fabric.

2. Draw a straight line from the first line down to the bottom of each side of the fabric. You should have two upside-down "L" shaped lines; one on each side of the fabric. If you use your imagination, you can already see the outline of the finished kimono.

3. Pin along the drawn "L" shapes and cut.

4. Sew along the pinned lines. Sew one straight line from the bottom of the kimono to the edge of the sleeve. I actually sewn twice, one straight stitch and one zigzag stitch, to make sure the finished project wouldn't fray or tear.

5. Draw and cut out a neck-hole shape. Only cut through one layer of the folded fabric.

6. Draw and cut a straight line through one layer of fabric only from the bottom of the kimono to the neck-hole. Once cut and turned right-side-out, the fabric should open up and resemble a kimono.

7. Hem both sides of the cut line. I started the hem at the bottom of one side, sewn around the neck-line and all the way back down to the bottom of the other side. One nice, long, frustrating hem. LOL

And there it is... a fun summer kimono to throw over all of your casual outfits. Its not perfect but I think the fact that it is billowy hides all the crooked lines and the uneven hem. God bless loose & flowy fabric to hid all my sewing flaws! I used a Pashmina scarf as my fabric. If I had to do it again, I would chose a light cotton or jersey; only because it would be easier to work with. What do you guys think? Was it worth cutting up a nice scarf?

Erica is growing a mustache...

...did I say "growing"? I meant sewing.

Elizabeth (pink octopus) won first. Chastity (Sherlock Holmes) won second. Reba (Fourth of July) won third. I think Pam (bacon) should have won. That was hilarious!

Last week was employee appreciation week at my job. Delta Dental of Oklahoma has been voted one of the Best Places to Work in OKC and I completely understand why. The working environment is great, they hire some amazing people and they really go all out to show employee appreciation. This was my third employee appreciation experience. We get a theme each year and this year's theme was 2015 Delta Dental County Fair. We even had a "fair/carnival" at the end of the week. So much fun :D

The only ride I went on was the giant trampoline with bungee cords. It was pretty fun. I'd like to think I work out and am moderately in shape but that thing wore me out. My poor little legs!!

Employees were allowed--encouraged, actually--to have a table to display and sell crafts, goods and treats. OMG...mini show for RagsReborn!! I shared a table with Marie, owner of Glass Soldier Gifts. (Her stuff is quite amazing. Check out her Facebook!) I posted on the company intranet throughout the week to advertise. Look at my marketing skills go!

(above) I emailed this to my coworkers. (below) And check out this little gem on our intranet bulletin board. I tried crossing out the Delta Dental-ness...not like there's any HIPAA here but our Compliance department is rather strict and I fear. LOL 

My little table booth at the event did really well (almost as good as I did at the Indie Trunk Show!). I sold two totes (one was bought by our CEO's wife!), two pillows and a coworker brought me an old Elvis t-shirt for a custom order. Oh, Elvis! *swoon*

There were little events and competitions each day and Tuesday was the mustache and beard competition. We were all encouraged to put on a mustache--real or fake. I knew I had to do a fake one! I looked online for some ideas but none popped out at me. I was chatting with Vietfil and she suggested that I do a pillow mustache ... how perfect since I would be selling at the carnival later in the week. Give 'em a sample of my craft! (Thank you, Vietfil, for the idea...that girl should get into marketing!) RagsReborn can do freestyle pillows, right? I made a huge one for myself and some little ones for my coworkers. All made out of old t-shirt scraps so technically, they're still t-shirt pillows to fit my business theme. Since I can't give out my pillowing secrets, here's a tutorial for small prop mustaches.

Party mustache tutorial:
        Materials needed - cloth, cotton (not pictured), dowel rod, hot glue, scissors & a mustache pattern (I drew mine with paper and pencil). And any decorative materials, if desired.

Making these from leftover t-shirts! Yay for recycling :D

1. Find or draw a mustache pattern. I am not a good artist so I had to Google a picture to work from. It took a few tries but I finally drew one I liked.

2. Trace the pattern onto the cloth and cut out two pieces - one will be the front and the other will be the back. I used chalk to trace my pattern. It's not listed in the materials but you can use whatever you have... pencil and marker works, too. I attempted to cut one out without tracing first, which worked okay but was more difficult. I considered doing a different color cloth for the front and the back but I eventually decided against it. Its always still an option for you. The sky is the limit when it comes to crafting!

3. Hot glue the dowel rod in the center of the designated back mustache piece.

4. Hot glue a little bit of cotton onto the back mustache piece. Try to keep the cotton toward the center of the mustache. You want enough cotton for the mustache to be sturdy but not too much to where it's overflowing out the edges.

5. This is the hardest step and be forewarned that you will burn your fingers with hot glue. >.< You're basically making a sandwich with the cotton in the middle.
        Carefully glue the front piece of the mustache over the cotton.  Do this by slowly hot gluing around the edges. Move the cotton toward the middle as much as possible before you start gluing and continue to push toward the middle as you glue. I had to add more cotton to the middle as I glued. It needs to be stuffed pretty full in order for it to be sturdy.

6. Done!! I tied a ribbon on each of the dowels and glued initials on them (I have 4 team members in my department and had to do something to distinguish between which mustache belonged to whom). They look pretty cute without decorations, too. Again, its totally up to you!