Shimmer

It is true that in my teenage years I used to wear t-shirts and baggy sweaters almost every day during the winter. And...wait for it...thick wool socks with sandals.

And at least once a week you would catch me sporting a sweatshirt to school. A sweatshirt. Unflattering in every possible gray and shapeless way.
Now, you can't blame me too much for my poor fashion sense. I do, after all, live in one of the most casual states in the Union. And style was different during the 90's. Girls didn't wear dresses and heels. At least not around these parts.

And certainly we didn't wear ruffles.
Oh My how things have changed. Somewhere during the last decade I (re)discovered my frilly side. It had been dormant since my childhood. Once awakened, I can't stop it. All I want to do is wear pretty blouses and sparkly jewelry.
Fortunately for me, the powers-that-be in the fashion world agree that it is high time for a little femininity. Of course, they'll charge you an arm and leg for their frills....
But believe it or not, this lovely top cost me less than $10! I started with a stretch camisole that was collecting dust in my dresser. You know the type I'm talking about--lycra, paper thin, found everywhere in the lingerie section of retail stores....
Then, with about a yard of this pink champagne colored satin and a lot of ironing into pleats, I transformed said stretchy cami into a dressy top, perfect for layering under sweaters and for wearing to parties.
Long gone are the baggy sweaters and long-sleeved tees. Hello to girly pleats. Layers and layers of them!
And you, too, can transform a stretch camisole into this blouse for just a few dollars. All you need is a little patience with the iron, a sewing machine, and some shimmery fabric. And of course my pattern, available in my online store (click here!).

I, for one, am very happy to have upgraded from shapeless to shimmer.

Hope you all have a great Monday! Come back tomorrow for some handmade holiday packaging ideas!

Holiday Comfort

I was at the craft store the other day picking up a few odds and ends, and I just happened to notice the Christmas display.

Okay...so maybe it didn’t “just happen” to notice it. Maybe it ambushed me from the store threshold. Maybe it managed to devour at least half of the aisles. Maybe I never want to see red and green again.

Ahem...I digress. My point in bringing up this little story is that it confirmed to me that my holiday taste in decorating is decidedly less...um...holiday. I don’t want Santas and reindeer. I don’t want little tiny houses all lit up in a row. I don’t want red and green lights and peppermint pillows. Of course my husband does...but that is another story.

Basically I don’t want my home to look like a craft store threw up in it. Instead, I want decorations that are comfortable and cozy. Things I can leave out from Halloween through Valentines Day. Timeless. Classic. And easy.

Like these pillow covers, for instance. I designed these specifically with the holiday season in mind. Don’t they make you want to curl up on my sofa? Wouldn’t you like to have a pair for yourself? Or perhaps gift a set to a friend or relative?


Then please let me tell you that if you have an old cardigan in your home that you never wear (or that your husband/sister/father/etc. doesn’t wear), you are already halfway there! These, for instance, were stitched from one sweater I owned, and one I bought from the thrift store for under $5.00. That’s four covers for a little over a buck a piece. Affordable, right?

As for the assembly, if you can sew a straight line, you can do this project. It’s that simple, and a great task for beginner crafters.

And I even suppose that if you wanted to, you could make them in red and green. Just don’t expect me to be happy about it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a sofa to curl up on.

To learn more about this pattern, please click here!

Where Originality Lives

This is the time of year when we start to pen our holiday gift lists--the emails and sticky notes and scratch papers that catalog the things we want and the things we need. And of course the things we will give to others.

Certainly I am a fan of this process. For the record, I sent my gift list to family members two weeks ago. And I keep thinking of new things I want to add to the list: Aveda lip gloss...an amber-colored lamp...pretty new design books.... I frankly love the festivity of giving and receiving gifts.


However, I can’t very well close out a series on being original with a Christmas list. Because being an original doesn’t start with the question “what do you want?” but instead with “what do you have?”

I’ve read a lot of answers to this question lately on Facebook as my friends daily list the things they are thankful for in this month of thanksgiving. It is undoubtedly a good practice--noting the things we have in our lives that bring us joy.


But beyond the art of simple appreciation there is also the adventure of reinventing and reinvesting the resources we have into new things. You’ve heard me refer to it as the new Midas touch during posts last spring, and I’ll likely keep talking about it until next spring. Because I know with conviction that there is a world of possibility lying dormant in our closets and our under our beds and tucked into our garages.

It is where originality lives.


It might come as no surprise to you, then, to learn that this year’s annual handmade holiday series (starting in about a week) will place a heavy premium on uncovering the original creations hiding in our nooks and crannies. The revamped sweater and upgraded shoes. The patchwork pillows and sparkly surprises. All starting not with what do you want?, but what do you have?

(note: the above photo is probably Not where originality lives, but it was so pretty I couldn't resist...)

And so I suppose that originality won’t end tomorrow, but will keep going into the holiday season and beyond.

Thank goodness, because I could really get used to this theme...

Adaptation

I've been very distracted lately with design projects. I'm not sure why this happens to me. Maybe it's a genetic disorder. Or some kind of syndrome. And although normally it complicates my ability to focus on important things like...say...work, sometimes it comes in handy for illustrating a point.

And the point, naturally, has to do with originality since this is the final week (sniff sniff) of our series on Being an Original. During this final week I want to focus on one of my favorite themes: creatively adapting our existing resources to fit a need.

A need for new art, as in my case.

Take the above canvas, for instance. It was formerly a lovely Tuscan scene, painted by someone with more skill than myself. Lovely indeed, but entirely inappropriate for the design of my home. Like my inevitable future feelings for my skinny jeans, I wondered "what was I thinking?" when I glanced at the painting recently. And so I decided to adapt the canvas.

Some paint, some faux bois contact paper, and Voila! A pretty stag head on gray-blue. And even though my husband says it's creepy, I love it.

With my "stag success" (try using that phrase in a sentence today...), I moved onto another lackluster canvas. This pretty frame was once a floral scene perfect for adorning the walls of a hotel room. In other words, it was ridiculously generic.

So last spring I decided to give it an upgrade by painting over the floral motif and creating a fabric collage on the surface with remnants and spray adhesive.

Bad idea.

And then I saw this photo, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman, and suddenly I knew what Really should have been in the frame all along.

Which is steers butting heads. My husband and I are both pretty stubborn, so I figured it was a fitting image for our home. I'm the one on the right--can't you tell?

By this point I was really on a roll, so I decided to decoupage a lovely photo from a magazine onto this piece of wood.

It looked like first grade art.

Plan B, therefore, was to take off the image using some water and a knife and repaint. But lo and behold, under the pretty picture was an imprint of the opposite page, stamped right onto the wood. And I love it.

Even accidents can be more original than expected!

The point is that often what we need to create original spaces and clothing and gifts already exists in our home. We just need to practice our skills of adaptation. It all starts with the question: what do you have?

But more on that tomorrow! Cheers!

Found Treasures

We are about to enter that time of year. You know--the one where we are bombarded with a gazillion things to buy, when the stores are warm and inviting, and the commercials are calling out our names. It won't be long. Our door handles won't even be cool from the warm touch of trick-or-treaters before the holiday season comes knocking.

And as I mentioned yesterday, I am preparing for said time of year with a list of projects, and a hankering for originality. So I've corralled a few items and objects from around my home that I intend to transform into holiday treats. Want a sneak peek?



These pine logs, for instance, that have been warming the pavement on our back patio, are just begging to be transformed into holiday-illumination displays.

With belts, naturally. And candles.



And these tiny beads, which I've been harboring for half a decade, might finally find a home on a certain tank top I own that could use a glitzy holiday makeover.



These vintage toys from my childhood won't be gifted away (Never!) I promise, but I just might use their infant-sized apparel to inspire a few baby DIY projects of my own.



Finally, I have a pile of buttons crying out for a home...perhaps destined to be sewn onto new cozy bedding designed especially for cold winter days.

If you can't tell already, the theme for these found treasures--and the projects that will stem from them--is making clever use of ordinary, round-the-house items. Are you excited? Me too! More coming soon--I promise!

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
--steph

To read other Be An Original posts, click here!

Day 15: Redux

It's official. I have caught the "what-stylish-thing-can-I-make-out-of-my-existing-wardrobe" bug.

Personally I blame Mrs. Marple.

It was her class yesterday that got me contemplating the many ways I could transform my old clothing into new things.

Like this plain ivory tank top that I've been wearing for years. Sure, I like it alright, but I think I would like it even more with layers upon layers of polka dot ruffles. Wouldn't you?

Polka dots from this skirt, for instance, that I've had stuffed in a drawer for about 5 years. Once upon a time I loved this skirt. But that time has long since passed.

The truth is that converting old things into new things is virtuous for a number of reasons. The first is obvious: it cuts down on unnecessary consumerism by making good use of things we've already purchased.

Naturally this is good for our wallets and the environment.

But it is also good for other, less conventional reasons. Like exercising our problem solving skills, for instance.

The practice of seeing old things with fresh new eyes is a universally flattering skill, and can be applied to areas outside of fashion. Like work, for instance.

Challenging our creativity is also far more rewarding than simply gratifying someone else's inspired items. Sure I can buy the latest and greatest from Michael Kors or Mark Jacobs (well, I can't because they're too expensive, but you get my point...), but creating something with my own hands from the vision in my mind is Much More rewarding. Frankly, it boosts the ego.

Furthermore, it gives us a reprieve from the consumer auto-pilot that we often find ourselves on. You know the one--like when we (okay, me) walk into Target for toilet paper and walk out with 100 dollars worth of unplanned merchandise (this has happened to me more than once...).

So often we (okay, me) use our purchasing power to make us feel better after a stressful day or fight with our husband/boyfriend/friend. And then the shopping buzz wears off faster than our tension headache.

What we (okay, me again) often don't realize is that creative expression, and the process of making something from hand (aka actually interacting with the production of the "stuff" in our lives) provides us with a fulfilling outlet that trumps a shopping-high any day.

Plus we still end up with fancy loot.

Gee--this Mrs. Marple is certainly wearing off on me! Here I am going on and on about the virtuous of old-stuff-turned-new when you already know all of this.

So I'll stop talking. After all, I have a plain ivory tank top to convert into a fabulous ruffled number that my husband will undoubtedly glance right over without noticing the design genius.

But he might appreciate the financial savings...

Previous Related Posts:
Day 14: Alterations
Fall Project Preview (making a graphic t-shirt)
Nesting: Nurturing my Maternal Side (making a baby-quilt)

Day 14: Alterations

Today in Mrs. Marple's class we learned about transforming the old and boring into the new and fun.

Otherwise known as taking my bland cable sweater that I purchased five years ago from Wal-Mart and converting it into a chic new cardigan.

When Mrs. Marple started the lecture by asking us to think of something that we already own that had perhaps lost its luster, I immediately considered this sweater.

And my recent obsession with ruffles.

She then encouraged us to start envisioning that item as something else. I saw a cardigan with three-quarter sleeves. So, casting fear aside, I took my fabric shears and cut this sweater right down the middle.

Then I rather unceremoniously chopped the sleeves off at the elbows.

And then it was time to embellish. I rummaged through my fabric stash and located this soft gray checkered remnant that I salvaged from Habitat for Humanity's thrift store.

I knew it would be a perfect fit for the ruffles.

After some brainstorming, I decided that the best thing to do was fold under the raw edges on each strip, making sure to sew a zig-zag stitch along the sides to prevent fraying.

Then, after finishing four strips, I tucked and pinned each ruffle into place, which doesn't take as long as you might think. Plus I was simultaneously watching previous episodes of Glee while pinning (have you seen that show!? It's probably my new favorite. And yes--I once was a choir geek.)

I wasn't too worried about perfection here, because really--is someone going to measure my ruffles to make sure they're all the same width? I think not! And if they tried, I'd probably have to harm them, because that's just plain weird.

Consider yourself warned.

Once the ruffles were pinned and stitched onto the cardigan, I sewed the sleeve cuffs back onto the sleeves (cleverly making sure that they could fold up--this took some problem solving and lots of second guessing...) and then I sewed hooks-and-eyes along the middle to close the sweater.

Finally, I finished it all off with a slender belt.

And now that I've finished prancing around the house in my old-now-new cardigan, and bragging gratuitously to my husband about how I didn't spend any money on my newest fashion find, I should pause and thank Mrs. Marple for having such a good idea.

Frankly I can't wait to hunt through my closet to see what other cast-offs I can find!

See you tomorrow!

Previous Days at the Institute:
Day 10: the balancing act (as told through vintage advertisements)
Day 9: pink, pink & pink
Day 6: premade hostess