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 takes a sewing class at Francis Tuttle.

Throughout the month of April, I attended a garment construction course at a local vocational center. In my entire life, I have only sewn two pieces of clothing. But, I've always wanted to make my own clothes... just never got around to it. This would be the perfect opportunity for me! I figured that since I already knew how to sew, I would be proficient enough to skip the beginners' class and enroll directly in Sewing II (Intermediate). Um, no... that was a horrible assumption on my part. Sewing pillows and stuffed animals from scrap fabric was definitely not sufficient experience to carry me through basic garment construction. I have never even read a pattern or worked with any notions (such as zippers, clasps, elastic, etc.) or a piece of fabric larger than half a of yard. There was going to be a serious learning curve involved.

Luckily, I was surrounded by amazing classmates and a wonderful instructor. Our teacher was Betty, a retired sewing machine saleswoman and small business owner herself. She owns a custom embroidery company (I forgot the name) and teaches a wide array of sewing courses. There were only four students- myself, a young gentleman named Joshua, a retired woman named Pat and another woman named Nina. Nina is hearing impaired so she had an interpreter; I guess, technically, there were five of us in class. I was the only student who has never sewn clothing. Everyone was extremely talented, especially Nina, and very eager to help me learn! On our last night, Pat taught me a really simple quilt block technique that I will definitely be incorporating into RagsReborn's pillows. (Not garment related but I found this new technique to be really exciting so I had to share!)

I'm gifting the purse I made to a friend as a birthday gift. 

On our first class, Betty taught us the basic technique for sewing in zippers. We were told to make a small pouch. I decided that I wanted to make a purse instead. Betty was passing out extra zippers so I went home and immediately made the pouch we were originally assigned. (I didn't want to be a bad student and also decided that I needed something to store my sewing supplies in.) We randomly returned to zippers on our third or fourth night when she taught us two more zipper techniques - the centered zipper and lapped zipper. I was able to utilize the centered zipper just fine but I still need work on the lapped zipper. She was also going to teach us now to insert an invisible or concealed zipper but a couple of us didn't have the proper zipper foot attachment for our machine.

The real sewing began on our second night. I was unaware that we were to bring our own patterns and projects to work on. The course description erroneously stated that each student only needed to bring their sewing machine and would be provided all other necessary supplies to make a shirt and either a pair of pants or a skirt. The beginners sewing class provided group projects but the intermediate class was for students to work on independent projects with guidance provided by the instructor on an as-needed basis.

Since I was completely unprepared, Betty graciously provided me with basic supplies and I was able to construct the skirt that all the other students had already made in her previous class. She took my measurements, another first for me since I've never had clothes tailored for me, and I began working on the skirt. The skirt was an original pattern that Betty designed which consisted of several panels sewn together and held together by an elastic waistband. The skirt took me two nights to complete. (How the contestants on Project Runway construct their amazing ballgowns in 24-hours is beyond me!) I was picking up on all these little tips & tricks such as to always sew your fabric pieces from the bottom to the top because the clothes wear better that way. And to make sure all the inside seams are facing the same direction. I've been hemming my own clothes almost my entire life (#shortgirlproblems), but Betty taught me a new and much cleaner hemming technique that completely blew my mind. LOL

I brought the red fabric from home but I did not have enough to pattern and cut the nine panels that the skirt required. Betty let me rummage through her scrap fabric and I found the lighter fabric with almost the exact same print. Betty brought the wrong width of elastic for the waistband so instead of inserting one thick piece of elastic, my skirt's waistband is three skinny pieces of elastic inserted next to each other. I think I became pretty good at working with elastic after that. LOL I wore the skirt to work and to our next class; everyone complimented me on how nicely it turned out, especially for a first project. I was feeling good leading up to my next project... a maxi dress.

Betty chose the pattern for me after assessing my skill level. She said the dress was a good pick because it incorporated sleeves, gathering, and pockets (all new techniques I'd have to learn). She suggested that I purchase a two way knit jersey fabric. As soon as I opened the pattern, I was immediately lost. I had no idea what the words "stitch length," "selvage," or "grain line" meant. Since I was the new student of the class, Betty spent a lot of the class time helping me. I felt a little bad for monopolizing her time so I began to work a lot with Joshua. He was working on a dress for his mother. Since we were both sewing dresses, it was easy to help one another out.

At first, working on the maxi dress was great fun. I traced and cut the pattern just fine. The bodice construction was fairly straightforward. The sleeves were a bit confusing but I managed. (I plan to reuse the bodice pattern to make some cute shirts and crop tops.) Then came the skirt... which was not great fun. The skirt used about a yard of this light and flowing jersey fabric. I've used jersey a bit before this class but it was only a few 10" x 10" pieces. Working with an entire yard of the stuff was a different story. It took me a couple of nights to sew the two skirt pieces together and sew the hem. Then when it was time to gather the skirt and attach it to the bodice, my sewing machine broke! The jersey kept getting caught in the machine. Betty, Joshua and Pat each took turns inspecting my machine but couldn't diagnose the issue. Betty even went so far as to clean my machine for me. No one wanted to tell me to my face but the problem probably wasn't with my machine, instead it was me and my lack of experience. (:_:) I struggled a little longer but then Pat took pity on me and let me use her super fancy sewing machine--which was amazing; that machine sewed all on its own--for the remainder of the class. It took me a couple of hours and many many redoes but I finally managed to attach the skirt to the bodice and complete the maxi dress. There are errors all over this dress but it fit when I tried it on and I'm claiming that as a victory.

It looks so frumpy and shapeless on a hanger but I swear that it does look a lot better when I'm wearing it. 

Even though it is so incredibly far from perfect, I plan to wear my dress out in public. It is my first ever fully constructed garment and I am proud of it. Each time I made a mistake, I was able to receive instruction from Betty, Joshua or Pat on how to correct it and sew it better the next time I tried. I have even more respect for designers, seamstresses, tailors and other sewists after struggling through this dress. I've always known that I'm a hobby sewist trying to play with the big girls but I feel a little more accomplished after this class. While I enjoyed using a pattern and following instructions, I much prefer making up my own patterns and sewing according to my imagination instead of prescribed techniques. But I'm not giving up on garment construction just yet. I am seriously considering taking a pattern drafting and design class that Betty also teaches and I've already signed up for a sewing retreat with the Oklahoma chapter of the American Sewing guild. Pretty soon I'll have a closet full of Erica-made clothing!

Continued from last week...

Girls night dinner at Gogo Sushi : )

Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that last week. Are we ready for two more cheap, easy & awesome DIYs? YES WE ARE!!

BTW, please know that my Blogger formatting is still being crazy. I swear I'm not typing centered but for some reason, it shows up that way when its published. I've tried everything but technology has bested me. I give up; we'll just read everything aligned to the center tonight. Sorry (if this bugs you as much as it does me).  (;_:)

Here's the finished project for my coworkers' Christmas gifts.

Infinity scarf tutorial:

       Last year, I sewed scarves for Mike and Wes. This year, I thought it would be fun to make some for the females. 

       Materials needed- fabric (I'm using an old dress that doesn't fit me anymore, a dress that was gifted to me to use as fabric because it didn't fit its previous owner & some scrap cloth from a different project), scissors, tape measure, sewing machine & pins

       This project was actually free because all the fabric was used or scrap. But, if you didn't have old clothes or fabric, you can buy some cheap-o t-shirts from the Dollar Tree to use. 

Dress from Jessa, dress I bought myself & fabric for pillows I made Athena & Sonja.

1. Measure and cut the cloth into strips. It doesn't matter how many strips. I cut a few and sewed them together to have a variety of colors. The length and width depends on how big you want your scarf to be. I made three scarves: one for Jessa, one for Courtney and one for Wes' mom (not pictured because I was in a hurry and forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it). The scarf I used for this tutorial is the one pictured after step #3. 

    My measurements were: 

       red cloth (2 pieces) - 23 x 5 inches,

       beige cloth (1 piece) - 33 x 5 inches,

       patterned cloth (1 piece)- 28 x 5 inches

2. Hem the edges of the cloth, if needed. I used some really thin fabric so I hemmed mine to ensure that it won't fray or tear with use. Then lay the strips of cloth in whatever order you want & pin it all together to make a round piece of fabric

3. Sew the pieces together where you had pinned. And there it is... an infinity scarf!!

There are literally hundreds of Sharpie ceramic mug blogs/tutorials out there. Trust me, I read a bunch of them to get a good idea of how it's supposed to be done. I love the idea of customization and personalization so I definitely wanted to make some of these mugs for Christmas gifts. I took notes on the best advice from other crafters and came up with this.

Jessa & Mason's mugs. They're having a Pokemon themed wedding in March and I thought this would be a great pre-wedding gift.

Sharpie ceramic mug tutorial:

Materials needed- cheap ceramic mugs (the cheaper the better is what most bloggers say for this project), Windex & paper towels, Sharpie permanent markers

1. Take off the manufacture's sticker, bar code, price dot, etc from the mug. Make sure to really tear it off. We don't want anything catching on fire in the oven! Then wipe down the mugs with Windex.

2. Draw, color, go to Crazytown Decoration-ville on your mug. I did one for each of my coworkers (#team HCR) and then I did 3 pairs. A pair for Wes' video gaming best friends, and then a pair for my friends Courtney & Alex and Jessa & Mason. Wait three days before moving onto step #3. This will give plenty of time for the ink to settle in.

Down, Right, Fierce Street Fighter Move for Travis.

3. Place the mugs into a cold oven (aka DON'T pre-heat), turn the oven on to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and let bake for thirty minutes. After the 30 minutes, turn the oven off but do not open it. The mugs need to stay in the oven to cool. I let mine cool over night. Then the next morning, you have neat mugs that you decorated yourself. Oh, how thoughtful!!

I made three sets: the first is for new parents Courtney and Alex, the mugs read Mom needs coffee/Dad needs coffee; the second pair is for Wes' friends, Travis and Cameron, they have Street Fighter commands drawn on them; and the last pair are for newly engaged Jessa and Mason who are avid Pokemon fanatics, I drew Pokeballs on the mugs but you can't see them in this picture. I did research for the Street Fighter & Pokemon mugs so I wouldn't draw anything incorrectly.

A few weeks ago, Wes & I had his two best friends over for dinner (for Christmas). We all chipped in and got Wes a PS4. (This was my idea even though I don't know a lick about video games.) I also bought him Fallout 4 and an extra controller--so they could all play together. Wes also got his friend a PS4 game. And I drew Street Fighter super attack command moves onto their mugs (my idea but Wes had to show me what the commands looked like).  LOL 

So...it's been a few weeks since I wrote this and give Travis & Cameron their mugs (I think we all had our dinner on December 27th). It has been reported that the Sharpie has started to wear off. Do no put these mugs in the dishwasher and wash them very gently to avoid fading.