Sharing some FO's

It's been a long while again... Moving really takes a toll on your time, eh? Well, that, and lack of internet at home for the first couple months...

I don't have a lot of time for explanation, but here are some FO's for you to love. Most of these are cel phone pictures, since we moved & I still haven't found my digicam...

Remember my batwing tuorial? http://craftyconcoction.blogspot.ca/2011/09/basic-childrens-bat-wing-tutorial.html

Well, we painted those wings, and I made a gargoyle costume for DS for halloween!

It was a huge success!! The belt & axe were purchased; the tail was made by me, detachable, the horns were made from air dry modeling clay (the really lightweight kids stuff) & the gray jumpsuit was made by using a shirt & pants of his to make a pattern, then stitched together. It has a couple buttons in the back.

A couch-arm organizer for my step-dad who lost both of his legs to diabetes & vascular disease. He is getting around in his wheelchair better now, but he was confined to a hospital bed in the living room for quite some time, and this made it much easier for him to keep his remote, the phone, a drink, his meds, etc close at hand. Both sides have two large pockets (big enough for magazines) and three smaller, elasticated pockets for phones, remotes, drinks, etc. It is backed in fleece, which creates a nice no-slip effect on my mom's couch fabric.

These shirts were made for a friend's daughters, who are 5 & 6. I have one that I made for the onesie swap, which Shaun now wears. The girls loved them, and refused to take them off for about 4 days, until their Mom said they had to take them off to wash them!

Hubby & I got a puppy, then another puppy about a month after. The first puppy is huge & fluffy, the second not so much. She was forever cold, so I used an old hoodie that I no longer wear & made her a sweater. Sadly, she was not a good fit for our family (she was biting DS & jumping) so a friend of ours is raising her in a child-free home, but she still has her sweater!

I have an adjustable dress form, whom I have named Dolly. I scored an awesome deal on her ($2 at a garage sale!) She is a little smaller than me maxed out (about 2" smaller in the waist, and we won't mention the bust difference) but I make do with a layer of padding and a bra. Well, a friend of mine is downsizing and getting ready to spend some time finding herself (maybe travelling?)

She was selling her dressform, which is the old cage style that is fully adjustable to ANY size!

I snapped that up! When I brought it home, I named her Jane, and then got DS to climb inside the cage, and made it to his size. Jane is usually to mid-hip on most women, but that was enough to make some legs...

Here she is as a creepy replica of my son with a foam head & some of his clothes:

Now Jane has a different outfit on - she is wearing DS's birthday suit for this weekend!

And last, but not least; DS turns 4 this weekend! He wanted a "Superhero" party, where all of his friends dress up as their favorit superheroes. For nearly 2 months he has requested to be Spiderman. Last Thursday I told him I didn't have time to make a Spiderman costume, and couldn't find one for sale anywhere. I asked him to wear his Spiderman jammies instead.

Well, he assured me that he never wanted to be Spiderman, and wanted to be Batman instead. Same dillema....

Until! I found a plastic batman mask for $5. I then re-used the jumper from his gargoyle costume that I made for halloween. I sewed & topstitched a quick belt out of an old t-shirt, and made a felt & jersey pin-on batman logo. A quick black jersey no-sew cape, and I have a cery happy little birthday boy! He was skeptical of everything I did, but loved the outcome of the old-school batman costume :)

Now, I have so much more to accomplish for his party this weekend, as I have tried to DIY a LOT of it. Plus, two swaps on the go over on Craftster, which I need to focus on. And studying for my MCQ in two weeks? Ugh!

Gnome Hat & Tawashis

I was recently part of the Givers & Needers swap round 10 on craftster.

I sent supplies to two lovely folks who both handcrafted me thank you gifts.

I also received supplies from two very generous women, and I made thank you gifts for them. For the amazing rlynn, I crocheted her young daughter a gnome hat, inspired by the amazing April Draven, and some Tawashis.

Here are a coupld shots of her daughter wearing the hat - how cute!

Fabric Destash!

"What is Craftster?" you may ask. Well, it's only the most kick-@$$ craft-sharing website on the entire interwebs!

"What is a swap?" you may ask. BLASPHEMER!!! Swaps through Craftster are amazing, and that is all you really need, right?

So, if you don't know Craftster, or swapping, I highly suggest getting your deprived butt on over to that website, checking out the awesome & joining up. If you are really super-awesome & crafty, you might feel inclined to look into swapping.

The point is to destash a bit, and send supplies that are not useful to me on to those that CAN make use of them. One of my partners has requested fabrics as part of her supplies, and since I am unable to email her due to the size of the file, I am making a blog post.
Right now, I'm taking part in the Givers & Needers Swap Round 10. I offered up 2 givers packages, and one needers package. Turns out I'm doing 2 of each, which is making me a light

Don't want to read? That's fine, you can skip this one, and I won't even hold it against you. anxious, but I am working towards getting the right stuff to the right people.

Ok, so, here's the pictures of the fabrics I have up for grabs:

Miscellaneous Fabrics

*beige pleather – large irregular scrap

*burgundy velour – irregular scrap

*cream fur (not sure what this is) – irregular scrap

*burgundy faux suede with black embroidery – large irregular scrap

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Miscellaneous Fabric

*navy (not sure either, feels like a prom dress) – 60” wide x 4.5yds

*blue sparkly fabric – 60” wide x 15"

*black floral (this is very see-through) – 45” wide x 1yd

*brown stretch with purple/green pattern & gold sparkle – 60” wide x 19”

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Silky Plaids/Stripes

*brown/white irregular stripe – 60” wide x 23”

*purple/white irregular stripe – 60” wide x 18”

*blue/white/red plaid – 60” wide x 1.2yds

*blue/white/silver stripe – 2 pieces, 32” x 23”

*salmon/white/silver stripe – 2 pieces, 32” x 23”

*magenta/white/silver stripe – 2 pieces, 32” x 23”

*silver stripe – 2 pieces, 30” x 24”

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Silky Patterns

*white with rainbow irregular stripes – 4yds x 19”*white/navy stripe – 45” wide x 14”

*silver/pastel plaid – 60” wide x 34”

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Flannels

*dark red/tan plaid – 45” wide x 1.7yds

*blue/green plaid – 2 pieces, 60” wide x 20”

*light pink solid – 2 pieces, 36” wide x 29”

*light pink floral – 90” wide x 16”

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Fleeces

*blue polar fleece – irregular scrap
*red polar fleece – irregular scrap

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Christmas Cotton Broadcloth

*green with white hearts & holly/red bow – 2 pieces, 40” wide x 52” (one piece has small cut out on end)

*red with white stars – 40” wide x 4+yds

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Cotton Broadcloth

*blue plaid (not broadcloth) – 45” wide x 30”

*brown leaf print – 45” wide x 1.7yds

*blue/green plaid – irregular scrap

*white with black polka dots – 45” wide x 32”

*brown paisley – 40” wide x 2.1yds (this has some damage along the selvedge)

*cream with brown flowers – small scrap

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Cotton Broadcloth

*large brown/orange/yellow/white plaid – 45” wide x 3.5yds

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Fabric by the Bolt

not willing to part with all of any of these, just some of each

*gray ribbed knit tube

*red cotton broadcloth

*red/blue plaid cotton broadcloth

Another Swap Angel Package Sent!

I have been pretty busy with work & a kid & life in general, but I do try to fit in as much crafting time as I can without letting everything else fall to pieces.

I offered to angel for another awesome swap on Craftster. I angelled for Hollistercob

abe, who has an awesome boyfriend, a beautiful baby boy, 2 dogs, and a bit of a thing for videogames.

The swap was "Decorate my Room" & sadly her partner flaked on her. It was considered a 5-point swap, with a large item being worth 5 points. The room she chose was her bedroom. When I searched her wists & pinterest, stalked her every way I knew how, I finally came to a decision on what to make her. It took me less than a day to finalize, and then the planning began.

What did I get myself into? I planned to make a queen-sized quilt for her bed, with a Mass Effect theme... I've never even made a baby quilt before! Just crocheted afghans. I guess I figured it would be easier, since I didn't have to sit down & work out all of the motifs...

Well, I had a pretty good idea, just not a fully executable plan. I bought my fabric & other supplies. Then, with the help of my bff (who has made some really awesome quilts) I started to work.

Here's what we managed to come up with:

The Paragon & Renegades logos in white & red on a navy background. Trimmed with black satin binding & backed with a super-plush black blanket. Of course, there is a quilt batting in there too! As neither of us has the capability of machine quilting something this large, I hand-quilted it. In a heat wave. I can't imagine sitting under this thing for longer than I did with the temperatures we experienced this summer, so I kind of feel like I cheated with my quilting. I didn't think a tie-quilt would look right, so I made little X's with black thread wherever a tie would be, hand-sewn.

I really hope she likes it! It will definitely be warm this winter! (Only after I had it 90% complete, did I think to ask where she lived...which is in the southern US - d'oh!)

Dollar Store Swap

I have a couple pics from my partner Leeska that I wanted to share from the I <3 the Dollar Store Swap.

First, a picture of the wall art that I made (pictured with the sunburst mirror):

She also posted an awesome action shot of her DD in the pillow case dress I made (too cute!):

Another action shot, of her wearing the Catch & Release-inspired scarf:

And lastly, those HESTA knock-offs, tied in another way :)

HESTA Tie Up Espadrille Sandal Knockoff from the Dollar Store?

With Craftster's "I <3 the Dollar Store" swap that I am angeling for, I have to work with supplies from the dollar store, which can present a bit of a challenge when you are trying to make something chic & trendy.

I scoured through all the posts the Leeska has on Craftster as well as stalking her wists. I came up with so many ideas, and had to then narrow it down to what I could make in a short amount of time that looks like a million while only costing a couple bucks.

Well, one thing she had on her wist were these amazing HESTA tie up espadrille sandals that retail for $50US at TopShop. 

Gorgeous, no? I knew I had to at least try it. I figured that I would use cheap sandals and some ribbon and go from there.

But, I couldn't find any nice ribbon in a large enough quantity at Dollarama to make it cost-effective. I decided to cheat a little bit, and head to Fabricland and see what I could find there. Of course, I checked the remnant bins first, but they are having a sale, so I managed to snag some really nice knit for 50% off. Half a meter only cost me $3.50!!

So, I managed to muddle through it today, and took tons of pictures along the way in the hopes that I could throw a tutorial up if they worked out :)

Without further ado, the HESTA knock-off tutorial:

First, gather your supplies:

• cheap flip flops ($2 at Dollarama)
• .5m fabric, 45"width ($3.50 at Fabricland), ribbon, etc
• rubber cement ($1 at Dollarama) [other adhesives might look tempting, but rubber cement is the best choice here other than actual cobbler's glue, as it is flexible when it dries]
• scissors
• high-tech prying device (aka butter knife)

**Make sure your sandals are of the variety that have a separate sole & upper with the thong wedged between. If they aren't thong, that's ok, just one more step later.

Next, start making your awesome new sandals:

Insert your knife between the two layers. Usually there is a bit of a gap where the thong is inserted, which is a good spot to stick it in. 

Gently & carefully start prying the layers apart, working your way around the entire sandal. Have some patience & take your time, or you could rip some of the foam or fabric. 

You can see my first sandal ripped apart here, and notice that it is made of cheap foam for the sole & rubberized foam fabric wrapped around cardboard for the upper. The thong was faux-leather.

Repeat with the other sandal: 

If your sandals are of the thong variety (like mine), continue to the next step. If your sandals don't have the space between the toe, like this, then you will need to place your foot on the upper & mark the space between your big toe & first toe, then carefully cut a slit there on each upper where you marked. Then, move along with the rest of us... 

You are going to cut your fabric into 3 strips lengthwise in whatever width you desire. I made mine a little under 2 inches wide. Cut one of the 3 strips in half, so you have 2x45" lengths & 2x22.5" lengths.

And this is where it gets a little more complicated. Find the center of one of the short lengths & place it over the center of the top of the upper where your arch would be. I found it helpful to do this with my foot in place.

Wrap around & criss-cross under the upper, bringing the ends up and between your big toe & second toe. Insert both ends into the thong hole of the upper & pull as snug as you desire. I made mine snug for the thong portion, and looser on the arch portion.

If you are working with knits, keep in mind that the fabric has a good bit of stretch.

If you are working with ribbons, keep in mind that it likely does not have any stretch.

Trim the excess fabric underneath leaving about an inch:

Take the long length of fabric and find the center. Place this underneath where your heel would be on the botttom of the upper. You can practice wrapping & tying if you like, just to get a feel for how this will sit & make any adjustments you feel necessary. 

 Now, get your rubber cement & tack in place the two ends under the thong, as well as the criss-crossed fabric under your arch & the center of the long piece under your heel. You could, of course, use hot glue or something, but I just stuck to one adhesive. Plus, I didn't want to risk stiffness & cracking from other adhesives.

Once this has sat for a bit, place the rubber cement around the edges of the upper & a line up the middle for extra hold. Repeat this pattern with the sole. Wait 10 minutes, then stick together. [make sure you follow the directions on your package; mine said 10 minutes, then at least 30 minutes drying time]

 Firmly & carefully clamp the pieces together for at least 30 minutes:

Hey, the thousands spent on 2 years of education & all those text books have to be good for something, right? Plus, Leeska's geeky, so I'm sure she can appreciate that anatomy, physiology, neurology, kinesiology, pathology, hydrotherapy, treatments, etc were used on her shoes :P

Repeat the fabric placing with the other flip flop, glue, clamp, dry, etc... Don't forget to clean up any rubber cement that might have leaked out the side (like mine did)

And VOILA! $50 HESTAs for a mere $6.50!!

*I know these are a little small, but Leeska wears a 7/8, and I wear a 9/10.

Let me know what you all think! And if you decide to give it a shot, please do share pictures!! 

Think of the variations of colour, tying, knotting, embellishment - oh my! And, you could buy heels or wedges...maybe even several pairs of cheap foam flip flops to build your own wedges or platforms?

Wants & To-Do's

Don't we all end up with a mile long list of things to do? Things we want to own, or make simply for the sake of making them?
Right now, my major to-do is still trying to get organized. I have never been very good at it, so it's never really happened. With over a decade of chaos and multiple moves to sort through, it really is quite the chore. But I still manage to set aside time to craft. Of course, my son always comes first, but THEN comes organizing, and THEN crafting. OK, maybe crafting before organizing... hehehe
So, I have a couple things that I have to make for this summer:

1. I have been eyeing the jumpers that have been seen everywhere. Craftster use violentjayne (who's work I adore - one of my many Craftster crushes) has posted a few truly fabulous ones. I want to make a wide-legged, shirred-top, strapped one, and try to incorporate jayne's trapdoor idea (which is really quite ingenious). I feel like something with a flowy top, cinched at the waist, and wider legs will help hide my problem areas (read: flub) and accentuate the fact that I have killer tits and a waist that is over 10" smaller than my bust or hips. For this project, I have a large amount of olive green jersey. If that one works out well, I have a super-awesome thrift store find to make my second incarnation. The fabric is a light-weight knit in the most amazing azure with a slight pattern to it. It's soft & luxurious & reminds me of something that one might find a lehenga made of. I have a smaller amount of a similar fabric in the same colour, but with a white stripe. The edge of that one is a beautiful purple. It could easily be the sari worn over top.
Which brings me to my next project:

2. Make a simple sundress out of the azure/white striped fabric. I'm not 100% sure on which style I will use, but I don't think I want to incorporate any shirring into it. Partially because I've never done any, and taking on too many projects with a new technique will be too daunting. I was considering using the purple trim and some of the striping in a horizontal across my bust, with the remainder of the stripes in a vertical from underbust to knee. Just a simple strapless dress with an empire waistline & flowy skirt.

3. Another dress. I have this old piece of fabric that was given to me. I'm not sure what exactly it was meant to be, but it was store-bought & I don't think it was ever used. It's white cotton with a large blue floral pattern all over it. One end has a huge amount of wide eyelet lace ruffled on it. I want to use that end as the bottom of my skirt with the lace still attached.
The fabric goes almost 3 times around me, and is over twice my length, so no problem at all with making a dress. I was thinking perhaps a petticoat-style dress with a simple bodice? I might incorporate some shirring into the back of this one and opt for a slightly lolita-esque feel to the piece. Knee-length again, with 3 tiers on the skirt? I don't want to attempt any puff sleeves, though.... Or something closer to this one I found over at Hong Kong Badger. Either way, AntiCraft has a great tut for pettis.

4. A patchwork skirt or dress. Preferably rainbow. I have a bunch of quilting fabric that was gifted to me (two large boxes full!) And I'm not a quilter. It would be perfect for something like this, and I have wanted one of these for so long.








5. A lace-front button-down tank top. I bought a slightly oversized white button-down dress shirt. I plan to take off the sleeves & collar & add tons of lace trims down the front. I have several bags of mismatched trims in white & some more antique-looking. Perhaps dye the shirt as well? Make it all somewhat antiqued? This shirt is about the closest I could find online in a quick search. I want it to wear with my navy pinstripe bermudas. And a wide red or navy belt. And some cute red peep-toes, either flat or kitten heel.

As far as my organization goes, you can see my earlier post on my craft area. I have since opened all of the boxes & bins of fabric & separated lengths of fabric, folded them up nice & neat, and taken a sample of each stapled to a card with the width & length of each fabric. That way, I never have any guessing errors again.
I also pulled out all of my sheets, curtains & other miscellaneous household linens that I had set aside to use as fabric. They are neatly folded & patiently waiting for me to catalogue them all.
What's left to sort? I still have a couple of boxes of scrap to sort through, and a big rubbermaid bin of mismatched scraps & old clothes for reconning. I want to separate my scraps into quilting scraps, larger fabric scraps & smaller non-quilting fabric scraps. Anything I find not useful will be sent on it's merry way.
My yarn is still out of control, and I think I just have to use a lot of it up to get it under control. I have a 5-drawer organizer for it, and it's full, as well as a couple more bins & some random bags. Some of it was gifted, some of it was bought on a whim, some was bought with a project in mind, but never occurred (or never got finished - my unfinished projects are absolutely shameful)
I also found a multi-drawer organizer for $1 at a yard sale! I used it for all of my buttons, embroidery floss, beads & supplies. It was a bit rusty, but I gave it a quick coat of gold spray paint (I have a can from an old RHPS Columbia costume) Which means I have 3 smaller organizer boxes with nothing in them. I am going to either give them away or sell them.
I still have my under-bed storage system sitting empty (since there is no under my bed, just a mattress & boxspring on the floor). I think I will pull everything down from the space above my closets and fit it into those boxes, then put them up top. It should help keep everything a little neater and more organized.
Well, the organization part of this post is getting long-winded and depressing, so I'm going to cut myself short before I realize just how behind I am...

Onesie Swap!

Have I mentioned that I'm super excited about the onesie swap on Craftster??

Well, I totally am! I got two really awesome, amazing partners, and I have been doing my best to ensure that my workmanship is the best it can be for their little boys, and in hopes that it might come close to their own work.

It took me a while to find unprinted, unpatterned shirts to use for this swap, but once I did, I got to work!

Because of having my own little one running about, and the time I spend at school every day prepping for finals (3 weeks to go, baby!) I have been mostly limited to weekend work. BUT, my amazing, wonderful boyfriend has helped me out with some little fiddly bits (like hand-sewing velcro, or cutting shapes out in ridiculous amounts for me to applique to said shirts).

I had a couple set backs in the work, but all in all, I am very happy with how everything is turning out. DS loves the work I'm doing and keeps telling me "MINE shirt!" and trying to put them on himself. Silly boy - one set is too small for him, and the other is too big. But, I have a feeling I will be duplicating some of these in the near future for him.

As of tonight, I have one partner's package entirely complete. That's 5 shirts, appliqued, printed, stencilled, etc. I have to heat set a few of them (fabric paint and textile paint), but that can be done at the end.

My other partner's package is nearly complete. BF is hand stitching something together on one shirt, but it is otherwise complete, and I have 3 others entirely finished. The last one is a little more complex, as I have to figure out how to make it from scratch. I didn't buy a tshirt for this one, since it would be 10x more work to modify it into what I want than to make it from scratch anyways. I suppose that is a job for next weekend, along with DS's halloween costume.

Then, off to the post office to send them out, and hope that they are loved by the little boys who will wear them! :)

I also heard that one of my partners has already sent her package to me, so I better really get my butt in gear!

Craftster Apron Swap

According to the organizer, my partner has received her apron, so I figure that it's safe to post some pics. I'm really quite proud of how this turned out, but if I had it to do over again, I would change a few things...

My partner indicated a love of Fiesta Ware, and when I saw this great apple-y green fabric with a bold chocolate floral print, I knew that was where I had to start. I didn't care that it came from the drapery section of FabricLand. I then chose a deep wine broadcloth as my contrast, and a chocolate ribbon to top it all off.

Here's the patterned side:

Because of the two fabric choices, as well as the pattern that she liked, I made it reversible:

Here's the dark wine side, showing the pleats on the bust and the contrast ribbon:

And all packaged up, ready to be shipped:

Now, I'm just waiting on my package from my partner :)