Strapless to Strapped Dress

We recently went on a trip (that's why I posted about my suitcase) and I needed some nice clothes. I was lucky to have friends that were able to take me out shopping to get a dress. They took me to Saver's and I found a bunch of stuff.

The dress that fit me the best was strapless, and went well with a jacket over it so that I could still wear my regular bra underneath. I found while I was wearing it out that it still didn't fit quite well enough and I was adjusting it the entire time, and constantly worried about if I was exposing myself. I knew that if I wanted to wear it again it should be completely comfortable and worry-free.

Materials:
Strapless Dress
Bra (I had this because my dog destroyed the straps on one a long time ago)
Ribbon(should be same width as bra straps, and match dress, optional if bra straps look ok)

Directions:
First alter the bra. Cut off the old straps and add the ribbon to replace it. Sew it on as it was before.

Next, try bra on with dress. Pin dress to the front of the bra, at the very top of the bra, so that it hides everything but the straps.

Sew the bra to the dress, try to sew where there is already a seam so it doesn't look out of place. If the top of the dress tends to roll over, sew where the straps meet the top edge of the dress. This can be done easily by hand, to make it less noticeable.

It sounds confusing, but it really is simple, once you try both on it should make more sense to you. Thanks for reading, I hope this helps make you more comfortable in your own clothes!

Dimensional Magic Jewelry

I have been on the lookout for a locket for a little while. I'm being picky about it because I know I will be wearing it for the next few years. (I never take off my current necklace.) I saw this cute charm that was made by Polish the Stars. Her's is actually glass and it's customizable! But.. I'm kinda a DIY girl. So I found a bracelet with a metal ribbon slide that said hope. I put my tiny picture down and put the dimensional magic over the entire thing, giving it that glass-ish look. After it dried (wait the entire 24 hours to touch it! Mine has a finger print!) it turned out great and I just added a ribbon to it. Now I can wear a bracelet with my two favorite boys on it until I find my perfect locket. When I do, I was thinking a little strap of leather could make this a boy-ish cuff bracelet for the little man when he gets bigger.

Coke Can Bracelets

I'm over at Arizona Mama today showing off my newest obsession! I've made tons of these but this is the one that I wear! Go check it out and let me know what you think!

Hair Scarfette

I needed some practice sewing stretchy fabrics, so I pulled out something I've been meaning to do for years.

I had a scrap of stretchy fabric that I use as a headband, but the edges needed to be finished and it could be cut so that it had a straight line.

I first trimmed the scrap. One side had tons of fabric the other had almost none, so I made it matching and even.

Then I folded over the edges and ironed them so that it would be easier to sew. I also pinned them.

On the sewing machine I changed the tension so that it was a bit looser, and the stitches were a bit longer than normal. As I sewed, I pulled the fabric tight.

That was pretty much it. Using a straight stitch and pulling the fabric tighter turned out to be my simple fix. Happy Sewing everyone!

Halloween Garland

This garland was a compilation of other cute crafts I had seen online. The tools you need are:
Toilet Paper Tubes
Scrap Halloween Fabric, cut into 3/4 inch thick strips, by 3-5 inches long
Yarn
Acrylic Paints

First you cut your toilet paper tubes in half. Then you paint them orange and add a black pumpkin face.

Next you will let them dry and start tying your fabric scraps onto the yarn. I made sure my strips of fabric were angled at the ends.

Tie strips for about 9 inches.

Punch Holes in your pumpkin, and thread the yarn through.

Keep tying strips for another 9 inches and add the next pumpkin. Do this until you run out of scraps.

Trim the edges of the yarn and hang for Halloween! Happy Haunting!


This is available at my etsy store click here to view. Thanks for looking!

Also Linking to:

Styrofoam Pin Cushion

While I was sitting on the floor making my Hot Glued Flower I reached over to grab something and knelt on my plastic box of pins and it shattered. Within my reach was a chunk of Styrofoam, a scrap of fabric, my ribbons and my still-warm hot glue gun. So here was my spur of the moment pin cushion.

I wrapped the styrofoam with the fabric (like a present!) and hot glued the edges. I used the ribbon to hide the rough edges. The longest part was putting the pins in. I didn't think I had that many!

Hot Glued Fabric Flower

This fabric flower was made from some of my tablecloth scraps from when I reupholstered my chair. It was super quick and easy. All you have to do is cut a long strip of fabric, mine was about an inch and a half wide, and dab some hot glue at the very end and twist the fabric to make a roll and you glue it in a spiral to make it look like a rose. Glue your end to the back and cut a piece of felt and hot glue that on the back also. I added a leaf and a clip.

Ribbon Memo Board

Many people have done this project, and if not, you need to try it. It was easy and it's useful.


Mine were both made from what I had around the house, left overs from other projects. The first one I did I used a wooden picture frame that had held a mirror (used on the wanted poster). It was from the dollar tree. I put cardboard inside the frame to back it since I had taken the mirror out.

First you want to find fabric, batting and ribbon. The fabric needs to be a few inches bigger than your frame on each side. The batting should be the same. I didn't have batting, so I used stuffing. It came out a bit more lumpy, I like to think of it as cloud-like. The ribbon is tricky, measure your frame diagonally (I got 17 inches), add 2-3 inches (20). Multiply that by 4 (80).

Lay down your fabric and then your batting. Fold around the edges of your frame and staple them down. I used a staple gun, but a normal stapler can work also. Make sure you pull the fabric tight.


Next you will cut your ribbon. Of your total length, cut it in half. Then cut one of the halves into a quarter of the original length. Now you have a half piece, and two quarter pieces. Take one of the quarters and staple the edge onto the corner of the back of your frame.

Pull the ribbon across the front of the frame (over your fabric and batting) and staple the other side to the back of the frame. Make sure that the ribbon is laying flat. Do the same thing from the other two corners.

Next take the half piece of ribbon and staple it on the back between the two side corners. Pull the ribbon across the front of the frame to the middle of the top of the frame and staple it on the back. Fold the ribbon to go over the front of the frame and pull to the next side and staple it on the back. Fold it over, and pull it to the bottom middle of the frame. Staple and fold again. Pull it over back to the original side of the frame and staple it next to the other end of the ribbon. Confusing? The first picture is of the finished back of the first sample and the pictures below that are of my second sample. The thinner black ribbon is the first two quarters you stapled on, and the thicker brown ribbon is the single half-piece of ribbon.




That was all that I did on the first sample, I liked it just the way it was, I pinned on a cute flower and cute pin for whatever I wanted to hang on it later. The second sample I added a little more. I used pins to hold down the ribbons a bit tighter and for some cuter looks. On the backside after I pushed the pin though the cardboard I bent them and put a piece of duct tape to hold them down better. (If its on the back who cares what it looks like :) I also stapled a loop of ribbon at the top to use when I went to hang it up. There are all sorts of variations you can do for this idea, just be creative and use what you have! You can find the first sample on etsy.com. Thanks for reading!

Cuter T-Shirt Idea

This was a shirt that someone gave me, I loved the style of the shirt but it said something weird on it, in a font that made it only fit for kids in high school, and not my style.

First, I found some extra fabric I had laying around (actually a pair of white boxers that had been tossed into my scraps after my husband decided he didn't like how they fit) and I cut a square out that covered the words.

The next step to making this fabric look cute is to make a stencil. I like to make my own stencils because then they're personalized and because I don't have to buy them. To make your own stencil, find an image (or if your artsy, draw one!) on a google image search or clip art. Then put it in word or paint and make it the size that you want it to be on your t-shirt and print it out on the card stock. Then you will cut it out. Keep in mind that sometimes if you don't use a stencil image that there can be center pieces that will fall out (Think about cutting out an "A" and how you need the middle triangle to be there), so draw lines of parts you need to keep when you cut.

After you've made your stencil it's time to paint it onto the fabric. Fabric paints work best, but I've found that acrylic paints still work, they wash fine and only fade a little. I sponged my star shape on and then brushed the silver on around it. I also stitched on a button in the center.

When your fabric is finished it's time to take it to the sewing machine. I used a zig-zag stitch to keep the frayed ends from fraying too much and sewed a big square around the writing on the shirt.

Hope you can use this idea to make something even cuter!

4th of July- Ideas for Now or for Next Year

I had my younger siblings over the day before the 4th of July and was very mean and forced everyone to make a craft to put as a centerpiece for our 4th of July table. They all wanted to use my favorite medium and use the acrylic paints. I had a wooden serving tray, a metal bucket, and cardboard sheets in my craft room closet. This is what they created.
For my project, I had some felt and different ribbons and cords lying around and a big plastic jar that used to hold pretzels. This would be cute in different colors for other times of the year. I hot glued the different mix of ribbons to the felt and then hot glued the felt to the jar. Instead of patriotic red and white stripes it looked more like a candy-cane, so I decided not to use permanent glue on the blue ribbon, so that I can use the red and white stripes and a green ribbon for Christmas. Then i arranged some fake white roses in the newly-made vase. I also painted some extra place mats with the cardboard I had found laying around. They were quick and easy, I had a star-shaped stencil already made from another painting project and the rest was just quickly hand painted. It's a cute way to protect your table on a holiday!