This summer, I saw this refinished vintage glider on Shelterrific and immediately knew what I wanted for the empty end of our front porch:
The only problem was, I wasn’t willing to shell out hundreds to thousands of dollars for a refinished vintage glider. So I knew I’d need to find one I could refinish myself– and I’d just finished fixing up and repainting a wooden table and chairs I’d found by the side of the road, so I was inspired.
A little bit later, I found the following rusted-out glider with a matching chair on Craigslist, $300 for the pair.
I convinced Jon they could be our anniversary present to each other.
Then, in August, I found out that our real anniversary present to each other was BABIES. So stripping and spray painting was no longer on the allowable list for me. Thus Jon inherited what was supposed to be my project. He sanded and stripped and took apart and repainted and replaced hardware, and generally worked very very hard to execute my vision for the glider and chair. And THIS, this beauty you see right here, is what he achieved:
About six months ago, I said to Jon while walking through Hobby Lobby, “I wish I could sew cute dresses.” I started sewing in June, and let me just say: CUTE DRESS ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
Because I’m still a beginner at sewing, I knew I needed to stick with cheap, solid fabric for my first dress attempt. No worrying about matching up prints or stripes, and no sorrow if I somehow botched it beyond repair. I was inspired by this yellow dress worn by Leelee Sobieski (source):
And also by this image I found on Pinterest, which I’m pretty sure is fromĀ J.Crew catalog (source):
So I picked up Vogue 8723 and decided to tackle my first dress in yellow cotton.
I was a little nervous, as the dress would require me to sew my first ever darts, but I tackled them and they weren’t nearly as intimidating as I expected. It’s fully lined and features pockets and a back zip. I finished all my seams with french seams, so it’s nicely constructed. Jon helped me pin and fit my bodice, which was crucial– though I made the size indicated by my measurements, I probably ended up taking the bodice in by about 2 inches, mostly from the sides and back. Getting the shoulder straps right was also tricky, as I have scoliosis, which makes my shoulders crooked. You’ll probably notice that the straps don’t look symmetrical, but there’s no gaping in the back, which is what I was more worried about. All in all, I’m really proud!
I just might wear this dress every day, I’m so proud of it. And I think Tinycat approves:
Thanks to my “no shopping” post being featured on the WordPress homepage, a lot of new faces have showed up around here in the last two days! Welcome! Even though I said I wouldn’t be posting daily outfit photos, I will be occasionally sharing photos of items I’ve sewn, and possibly particularly interesting outfits remixed from items in my closet. Though seriously, I need to get a tripod and some self confidence, because I feel sublimely silly posing while my husband snaps photos with our 5 year old digital camera in my kitchen, home to the only bare wall I could find (I like art), while also trying to keep two large dogs from hopping into the picture (I was standing near their food bowls and it was almost dinner time, so they got rather excited).
I thought I’d clarify a bit on what motivated the no-shopping challenge. I identify as a follower of Jesus, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how my consumerism lines up with that identity. I read Shane Claibourne’s Jesus for Presidentwith a book group at my church, and I’ve also been reading a lot of Pete Rollins. Basically, I think I undermine my statements about following Jesus and trying to love people like he loved when my dollars every day are a) going toward my own comfort instead of those in need, and b) are perpetuating a system of slavery and oppression in other parts of the world, where the poor are exploited just to make my clothes. And yet: there’s no other way to say this, I want to look cute. Yesterday, while out buying a must-have hair product, in an apparent act of self-torture, I wandered into Forever21, “just to look.” I saw about 20 things that I really wanted. “Wouldn’t that little dress be a great beach cover-up for my upcoming trip to Costa Rica?” I didn’t buy anything, but I realized what an addict I am. I can’t say that I’ll swear off buying clothes forever, and only buy from thrift stores or make my own, though that would probably be ideal. I can’t even say I’ll never buy something from Forever21 again. But I am going to spend the next several months abstaining from buying clothes (I have a feeling trips to Target are going to be torture! I also spotted a gray striped jersey dress there yesterday that I really wanted.),Ā and I hope to learn something from the experience.
One area I do hope to improve are my sewing skills. I am confident that I can learn to make a lot of the clothes that I want, for myself, for less money than I would spend in retail stores, and in the process, with confidence that my clothes weren’t made in a sweatshop. Now, when I want an item, if it looks “sewable,” I pin it to my Sewing Inspiration board on Pinterest. One thing I had been pinning a lot of lately was chambray skirts (click image to be taken to Pinterest page which links to original source):
So, armed with several skirts under my sewing belt, I decided this covetable item was something I could make myself. And sure enough, I followed this tutorial to make myself an adorable (if I do say so myself) chambray skirt:
I used a double layer of chambray for the skirt, to prevent sheerness and give the skirt more of the full look I was going for. I have to say, I think it turned out just as cute as several of the skirts I had pinned!
You wouldn’t know it from my lack of posts around here, but I’ve been sewing up a storm! I’ve made a bunch of skirts and have now moved on to other fun, like reusable shopping bags. I’m of the opinion that you can never have too many reusable shopping bags. It lessens the odds that you will forget to take them to the store, because surely, out of the zillions, one will be left in your car, right?
My favorite shopping bags are Envirosax. They come in adorable colors and fold up into handy little pouches, and they hold as much stuff as four plastic grocery bags, without a risk of the bottom ripping out. Thanks to a 99 cent sale at Hobby Lobby, I scored a pattern, McCall’s 6130 that gives my trusty Envirosax a run for their money. And as a bonus, I finally found a use for the adorable apple printed cotton duck fabric that I just had to buy when it was on sale but found too stiff for clothes. The bags were pretty easy to make, and my only issues are that the small size bag is just way small. I’ll probably not make any of those again. And I might also find some way to line the bags or create a facing so I don’t have to apply bias tape to the handles. It looks nice, but it’s tedious. Overall, though, I think the bags are great, and I’m pretty proud of the way they turned out. I already got some more fabric and am planning on making a few sets to give away as Christmas gifts.
The shopping bag set, all folded up.Medium sized bag, unfolded.All three bags. The largest bag is about 14x14, similar in size to my Envirosax.
A few days ago, I discovered the awesomeness that is The Purl Bee, the inspiring how-to blog of Purl Soho, a knitting/sewing/quilting/embroidery shop in NYC that I’m now dreaming of visiting. I spent an entire afternoon just browsing through the site, pinning projects I want to try to my sewing inspiration board on Pinterest (another new obsession). One project I knew I wanted to try was the Cozy Quick Blankie, as I have a new nephew making his way into the world in September. The Purl Bee’s tutorial was easy to follow, and the only modification I made was to use flannel on one side instead of cotton knitted fleece, as my fabric store options around here don’t carry that sort of thing. The blankie went together in about an hour, and that’s only because I accidentally had the fabric wrong side out and noticed halfway through pinning it together and had to start over. This would be an easy project for a very beginning sewist. I’m really happy with the way the project turned out:
The blankie has printed cotton on one side and fuzzy flannel on the other. It measures 32x32.The rickrack trim is what sold me on this blankie.I think the little birdie fabric is super cute.
Now that Tinycat is staying, I decided he needed a nicer bed than a folded up beach towel. To the folks wondering, “how do you get your cat to sleep on a designated bed in the first place?” the answer is, he sleeps locked in the bathroom off of our bedroom, so he basically sleeps on the softest thing in there.
I started looking at cat beds online, but they were all kind of boring, slightly ugly, and $20-$30.
I wanted something cuter, and with my rudimentary sewing skills, figured I could make something decent for less than $30. I went to Hobby Lobby and assembled the following supplies:
Foam square: $4.89 (on sale, regularly $6.99), 1 yard of fabric: $8.99, 1 spool of matching thread: $.99, zipper: $2.29. Grand total: $17.16.
Then I basically laid the foam down on the fabric and cut around it, leaving about half an inch on each side as a seam allowance. I did this for each side of the cushion. For one of the long sides, I cut double the seam allowance to allow for the zipper to be installed, because I wanted the cover to be removable so I can wash it. I installed a zipper in the middle of the long sides, sewed the sides together end to end, leaving one side unsewn, and then started attaching the sides to the top, working my way around until all the sides were sewn on, and then sewing the last corner. Then I sewed the bottom on, turned it right side out (thanks to the zipper, this was possible), and put it on the cushion. I made sure to finish all my seams nicely so that they won’t unravel in the wash.
This is the final result (related: it’s hard to photograph a cat on his cute new bed when all he wants to do is eat the bed):
Crazy cat in action.View of the zipper side.
It’s not perfect at the corners, and the fit could be slightly tighter, but overall I’m pretty proud. Also, notice how it matches those pillows on our bed? When it’s not eleventy billion degrees, that’s also what our duvet cover looks like, so Tinycat’s bed looks like a mini version of ours. So cute I could die.
I could be convinced to make one of these again for someone I loved for compensation or a Christmas gift, and if that happens, I’ll try to take some step by step photos so this post is more helpful.
One of my BFF’s (technically half of our BCFFL (Best Couple Friends 4 Lyfe)) is having a BABY GIRL!!!Ā We’re very excited for our friends, and I fully intend to be this kid’s Crazy Aunt Sarah.Ā My friend is a really awesome, creative, crafty, thrifting queen, so I knew I really had to step it up in the gift department.Ā You can check out her awesome Etsy shop of vintage treasures, if you want!
My friend and I looking cute on the Subway, sharing some tunes, on Jon's big 30th Birthday in NYC trip.
Ultimately inspiration struck in the form of this origami lamp from Sweet Sweet Life, which I think I originally found via Apartment Therapy’s Ohdeedoh.
image via Sweet Sweet Life.
That lamp was inspired by a lamp that costs over $210.Ā And I thought, I have origami skills! I could do that! $200+ is ridiculous! Though I’ve been into origami for a while, I really honed my skills when I got laid off in October of 2008 and decided to use my abundant free time crafting origami Christmas ornaments.
The great origami Christmas ornament project of 2008. I made garlands out of tiny boxes, ornaments out of cranes......and origami ball ornaments.
Of course, I wouldn’t just make a giant origami lamp for someone’s nursery without asking, but I remembered my friend liking the lamp when I posted about it on Facebook.Ā So I shot her a quick note and asked if she’d be interested in an origami lamp for the baby’s nursery, and she said sure! I inquired about the color scheme: “i’m planning on doing olive green, lime green, fuschia, light pink, lemon drop yellow and lots of wood grains, burlap and galvanized steel (like those buckets)… if that helps”
So I headed off to Hobby Lobby, where, to my luck, scrapbooking paper was on sale for half off! I selected a variety of large squares, which are normally $0.59 apiece, in the colors she had mentioned, supplementing with traditional origami paper in coordinating colors.Ā After that came the folding. Holy crap, what a lot of folding.Ā I’d say it takes about 250 cranes to cover a typical lamp shade.Ā Luckily, it’s an activity you can do in front of the TV, and luckily for me, Jon knows how to fold cranes, and he helped me with my folding load.Ā Still, I’d say it was about 12 hours of folding…so THAT’S why they cost over $200.Ā You can follow this tutorial video to learn how to fold an origami crane.
A big pile of cranes, ready to be hot-glued onto a lampshade from Target.
I applied the cranes to the lamp with a hot-glue gun, which took about 4 hours, during which time I watched “The West Wing” on my laptop– I’m newly hooked on the show, having missed it when it originally aired.
I'm going to let my friend choose whether to use this as a hanging lamp or on a standing lamp, so I put the shade on one of my lamps to show off the finished product.Here's what it looks like with the light on.Closeup of the cranes on the lamp. As you can see, I managed to find paper that actually looked like burlap and wood grain. I think I did a pretty good job coordinating with my friend's color scheme!
So, there you have it. The Coolest Lamp in the World. The World’s Most Ambitious Origami Lamp Project!Ā All you need is: a lamp shade, a glue gun, enough paper for around 250 cranes, and a crapload of free time.
I’m a fan of the skinny jeans tucked into boots look.Ā In the summer I’m all about skirts and dresses with bare legs and ballet flats, but in the winter I don’t want even one inch of ankle to feel a bit of a chill.Ā (Hell, I don’t want one inch of anything to feel one bit of chill, and so you’ll see me bundled from head to toe out at the bus stop in the mornings, though that didn’t stop THREE people from honking at me this morning!)Ā It’s hard to find any shoes that look cute with socks, so the solution is to just wear boots over pants, preventing anyone from seeing my socks, and preventing frigid air from making its way up my pantlegs.Ā Not to mention, you get to show off your cute boots, and I definitely want to show off my boots if I’ve made the investment.Ā The problem is that the pants scootch their way up inside the boots and I end up with baggy knees and annoying bunches around my ankles.
I thought one solution might be tighter jeans, and for a minute, I contemplated some jeggings (jean leggings), but was assured by my friends that there’d be an intervention if I dared to make the purchase. Then, via Consumerist, I learned that people are making little straps for turning normal pants into stirrup pants, keeping them from riding up when tucked into boots.Ā However, these straps cost from $9.99 (jeanstraps) to $25 (stirrupz). (Seriously? $25? INSANE!) And I could have a whole pair of jeggings for that cost…
I mentioned my problem to my sister, and she said she uses those straps made to keep sheets on beds to keep her pants in her boots. GENIUS.Ā They’re only around $5, and I found a set of four in the bedding section at Target. Way cheap and no shipping.Ā They’re a little too long for my purposes, and if I weren’t so low class I’d probably cut and sew them properly, but instead I shortened them using folding and safety pins.Ā I tried out my new style tool with skinny jeans and a pair of Frye boots I scored for the unheard of price of $70 while on Christmas break, and THEY WORKED.
So there ya go kids. This durn librul is telling you to pull yourself up by your homemade bootstraps.
Edited to include: I also found these jodhpur clips (for horseback riders) for around $3 on Amazon if you can’t find the sheet straps at Target or Walmart.
Some things, I like to say, are better left to the professionals.Ā Like teaching.Ā And doctoring.
And now, hair cutting.
I have a difficult time with getting my hair cut.Ā I’m pretty sure my mom trimmed my hair as a small kid, and the same lady cut my hair from the third grade until my wedding day.Ā I even drove home from college to have her cut m hair, because she was the only one who understood my cowlicks, my hair’s weird ways of refusing to hold both a curl and a straightening, my baby-fine texture, my scalp’s sensitivity.Ā She saw me through the great DIY highlighting disaster that left me with ORANGE HAIR.Ā We went through a lot together.
And then I moved 1000 miles away, where all our friends were also transplants, where I worked with a bunch of dudes.Ā How was I supposed to find a good stylist?Ā How would any stylist be as good as Joan?Ā So I went to MasterCuts and kept to simple styles.Ā And other women always seem shocked, but seriously, MasterCuts can give you long layers or a classic bob as well as anywhere, don’t hate.Ā But after a while with MasterCuts, I began to feel that trimming my hair would be easy enough for me to do myself.Ā Or better yet, since I can’t reach or see the back of my head very well, for Jon to do!Ā He can even cut a straight line better than I can!Ā So today we decided to try it… Continue reading “better left to the pros”
Ok, so I know this isn’t really a beauty blog and I’m not planning on making beauty tips a regular feature.Ā HOWEVER,
I love this stuff, but I have to say, I made a great alternative!
I feel compelled, in the midst of the economic whatever, and at the height of the summer sun-burn-peel-repeat cycle, to share a little DIY beauty tip.
So, after the major sunburn I blogged about two weeks ago, this lil bufflo is shedding her skin, bigtime.Ā Often, I just buy scrubs from places like the Body Shop (love them!) to speed up the skin-sloughing process.Ā However, their delicious body scrubs usually set me back $20, which is a little hard to justify at this point (though seriously, that pink grapefruit body scrub smells so delicious you’ll want to eat your own arm).Ā I’m also a huge fan of Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy sugar scrubs, which are $16 and also highly recommended. (Salt scrubs are less highly recommended as you might, like me, make the mistake of applying them post-shave and rubbing some serious salt intoĀ your wounds, which is a less than spalike experience.)
So, instead of parting with any of my cash in my quest to quench my lizard-skin, I did a little Googling and made my own sugar scrub.Ā Seriously, it’s the easiest thing ever.Ā Just use sugar, brown or white, and oil (olive, baby oil, almond, coconut, sesame…whatever you have will work) in a 2-1 ratio, with a couple drops of perfume oil or essential oil or even lemon juice or vanilla extract.Ā I used 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of olive oil and a couple drops of Body Shop Satsuma Perfume Oil (it’s $16 but one tiny bottle will last you forever).Ā I put it in a lil tupperwear and tested it out in the shower today.Ā It smelled as good as all my other Body Shop stuff, and let me tell you, my skin was super smooth and moisturized so I didn’t even need to put on lotion after my shower. It also worked great to scrub my legs with the sugar scrub, rinse off, and then shave while they were still all slick and oily– no shaving cream necessary, closest shave EVER. Caution, however, as the shower will get a lil bit slippery.
Sorry Body Shop and BBW, but I don’t think I’ll be buying any of your scrubs ever again.
I mentioned my problem to my sister, and she said she uses those straps made to keep sheets on beds to keep her pants in her boots. GENIUS.Ā 
erniebufflo's south & west kitchen 