Fun With Fashion and Scrap Busting Too

Since I am so late in getting to this post, I decided to just call it fun with fashion rather than our usual Monday Morning Inspiration post.

My husband broke his ankle a few weeks ago. Of course it was his right ankle, so no driving, and no much of anything else either. So, I am doing all the driving, and running all the errands. I have always been extremely grateful for all he does to help me, but now that it's all on me...I am all the more grateful!!! 

I absolutely love fun fabrics, something that's just a little out of the norm. I shared the jacket below earlier this summer. I had it in the Haute Couture fashion show this past May. It's such a fun jacket to wear, and I always get lots of compliments on the jacket. Look closely and you'll see the faces in the fabric pattern. 

I found the fabric below at Oak Fabrics here in Chicago. I ended up pairing the dress with the jacket. When I wear the two together, I call the combo, faces in the dark, and faces in the light :) 

Below is another fabric from the same designer. I found this on the Mood website. It sold out quickly! I actually bought this fabric before I found the white knit at Oak Fabrics. The white faces knit I just could not resist :/ I'm sure you know the feeling ;)...Anyway, I was just a little short on the fabric for this skirt, so the skirt is a little shorter than I would like. To remedy the issue, I added a black band around the hem. Rather than leave it a plain black band, I bought some embroidery floss and did a little stitching. I'll share that in an upcoming post. 

As I was going through Pinterest, I came across a number of ideas that I thought would be fun to do. We all love something a little fun, and too, if you've sewn for more than a minute, you have scraps. So not only are these ideas fun, they offer great ideas for doing a little scrap busting too!!! 

I absolutely love this little skirt! And it's a great way to use up scraps. 

This is the same skirt, but rather than fabrics, a tape was used to create the silhouette.

Another fun use of scraps. 

Here's the top in a skirt version.

I thought this top was especially sweet. It's patchwork, but super fun!

This is a gown that would get you noticed at any gala!

Another great way to use some scraps.

Wishing you an absolutely wonderful day, and have a little fun with YOUR fashion! 

Rhonda

A Little Fall Decorating

The Wednesday Showcase post will come a little later today. I'll be sitting in the airport for some time this afternoon, so I'll have a little more time then. But just quickly, I thought I would share a project that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks.
A few years ago, I found this article in a Country Living magazine for decoupaged pumpkins. I loved the idea of using fabric to decorate artificial pumpkins.

It's a great way to use up scraps and make something pretty.

And I have something that I can use year after year. You can see the original post and the how-tos here.

I'm the social chairman for a musician's group and one of my jobs is to decorate the tables for the monthly luncheons. I enjoy doing something special when I can, so this month, I decorated artificial pumpkins with musical fabric!

 I added some artificial leaves, moss and the tiny little pinecone looking seed pods that I found on a walk.

All lined up and ready to go. I think they will look especially pretty on the tables.

I bought a couple of extra pumpkins for myself and I am planning to decorate them with some sewing related fabric. Why not, right???
Happy Fall decorating!

Scrap Happy 2

I am asked all the time, "What do you do with your scraps?" It seems like such a waste to throw away fabric that was lovingly bought only because it's not large enough to make something from it.

I too hate to throw away perfectly good material, so I decided to use my scraps of Christmas fabric and make ornaments. A quick story, a few years ago I volunteered to help with a kindergarten class. The children were precious, but what a lot of work. At the end of the day, I was exhausted. The teacher decided to have me do some of the craft projects with the children. I decided to do this project. They loved it and I ended up a mess. Painting with Mod Podge was just right up their alley and down the front of my dress. At least it was washable! Needless to say, their ornaments were not as well put together as mine, but they were so proud and we really had a great time.
Supplies:
1. Styrofoam Balls, any size
2. High Gloss Mod Podge
3. A brush for painting on the Mod Podge
4. Narrow Ribbon
5. Skewer Sticks
6. A Doll Needle
7. Lots of Scraps, any size

You'll want to begin with pushing the skewer through the styrofoam ball. This will give you the ability to hold the ball as you paint on the scraps and something to hold the ball as it drys. Paint some Mod Podge on the ball and then apply a scrap. Paint some Mod Podge over the scrap. Continue this until the entire ball is covered. Be sure to overlap your scraps. Allow the ball to dry. I applied 3 coats of Mod Podge to my balls. It gives them a very shiny finish and really seals the scraps onto the balls. A little hint, between dryings, be sure to twist your skewer so that it doesn't get stuck in the ball.

To attach the ribbon, thread a long piece of ribbon through the eye of a doll needle and thread the needle through the hole left by the skewer. Once you've gone through, push the needle back through the ball to form a loop in the ribbon.

Take some of your ribbon and loop it into a bow as you see in the picture below. Lay the bow piece through the loop that is on top of the ball,

and then tie a knot as you see in the above picture. Once you've done this, pull the ribbon done so that the top loop is tight against the ball.

For the bottom, make another bow by looping some ribbon and lay it between the ribbon,
and tie it tight at the bottom.

Cut the bottom ribbon to your desired length and you're finished.

I just love how they look and they really take no time to do. There's the drying time, but hey, you can do other things while these dry. I would let mine dry over night and put a quick coat on in the morning and then forget about them for the rest of the day.

I think the ornaments would make great hostess gifts as well, a true gift from a sewist. Lovely. I was thinking of making my husband an ornament with scraps from all the ski shirts that I have made for him. Maybe you've made a lot of outfits for a child, what a wonderful reminder for them, like a little mini quilt without all the work!!
Enjoy!
Rhonda
P.S. I linked my ornament to the Create Something Inspiring contest. You can see other wonderful ideas here. Thanks Kitty!!

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Scrap Happy 1

Back in October I bought this issue of Country Living magazine. What caught my eye was the twist on the pumpkins. Such fun.

For the little green calico pumpkin in the lower portion of the picture, they instructed you to find a fabric, theirs was a Liberty of London fabric, photocopy it and then decoupage it to the pumpkin. The pumpkins aren't real pumpkins, but the "Funkins" that you can buy at craft stores.

As I read the instructions, I thought, there is no way I am going to go to the trouble of photocopying fabric, I do have plenty to spare. And besides, what a great way to use scraps!

So I started with the "funkin". I just happened to have a hat stand that would work perfectly as a drying stand.

All I did was rip strips of fabric that were about an 1 1/2 wide. I used an old brush and a jar of Mod Podge. Very generously apply the mod podge to the funkin surface and lay a strip on. Once the strip was on, I brushed mod podge over the strip which seals the edges of the fabric.

Continue to work around the funkin.

Once I had the surface covered with strips and mod podge, I was going to allow the mod podge to dry and do another coat, but I was quite liberal with the modpodge and there really was no reason to add another coat.

In the end, I thought it made for a nice, unexpected touch to my fall flower arrangement.

I don't know if there are any funkins to be had at this point. I should have posted this sooner. But, maybe file the idea away and give it a try next year. A great project to share with your children, or for the kid in you!

The Green Seamstress

There's an old country song that says, "I was country when country wasn't cool." If you're a seamstress, you were "green" when green wasn't cool. Generations of women have saved their scraps because something could surely be done with them.

The scarf that I am posting tonight was made from scraps that I had left over from a wedding gown that I made. The fabric is a burnout velvet, a bear to work with. I find that if I hand baste, everything will go smoothly. It's definantly not a fabric that should be used if you want to quickly put a garment together.

After I finished the dress, I found that I had pieces that would work well into 4 rectangular pieces. I came across a Threads magazine article that is probably 10 years old. The article was all about beading and doing the fringe that you see below. But I had pieces that somehow had to be pieced together. I came across another Threads article on hand stitches which gave me the idea to connect the pieces with a fagoting stitch, but do it in beads and make the fagoting larger.

I was given a necklace and a strand of the pearls had broken. There were so many strands that one less didn't matter so rather than fix the necklace I saved the beads. They worked well with this project.

Everything about the scarf is delicate from the velvet to the bead work. The scarf is lined with a matching chiffon so the scarf continues to have a very light and airy feel.

Now who knew that being green could be so beautiful?