Lilac Ruffle Tee Tutorial

I am super excited to be featured on Ruffles and Stuff, a fantastic blog for all things girly, and lots of DIY links! Here are the instructions for my lilac chiffon ruffle tee. Cut three strips of chiffon 3" wide by 54" long. Sew the strips together. I left the edges of my chiffon "raw", or unfinished for a shabby look, but you could definitely finish them with a zigzag stitch or rolled hem. Do a basting/ruffling stitch along the top edge and ruffle by hand; be sure to leave the tail-end thread long so you have room to gather. For a great gathering tutorial check out Ruffles and Stuff.



Once your chiffon is ruffled, pin it in the design you'd like to your shirt.



Once pinned, sew carefully along the top edge (over the basting stitch). I used a zigzag stitch sonce I was sewing to a cotton tshirt.



Voila! A super romantic yet sassy tee!

Feelin' Ruffly and Girly

I'm baaccckkkk! The dear ol' sewing machine has been acting up on me, so until I absolutely have to take her in for service I just let her rest for a couple weeks then come back and abuse her again :) As you all know, I LOVE ruffles and girly accents and turning tees into some sassy works of art. today I did just that. I took an old striped tee and made yet another cardigan. Then I ruffled up an old navy clearance find. Finally, I made a shirt (inspired by a designer dud) I posted last month for my dear friend Chrissy. Chrissy is a super cute, rocker wife who is expecting her 3rd baby and has been wanting some "prego chic" tees (checkout her blog!). I can't wait to see her in it! With Spring Break next week, I am ready to just hole up in my craft room and produce some more tees. The list is long and the inspiration never runs out it seems!

Cardigan de' jour:


Ruffles de' jour:



Prego de' jour:

From Jailhouse rock to one sassy frock!

I have had several sketches in my sketch book about turning old tees and sweaters into new creations for months. Actually getting around to making them is a whole another story. I love all the repurposing projects out in the blogosphere. Great minds must think alike because a blog, that I love and follow, called "Adventures In Dressmaking" posted inspirational ideas from JCrew's current line and many of these inspirations were just sitting in my sketch book and my brain. Many thanks to Adventures In Dressmaking for kickin' my booty into sewing gear! On Monday, I picked up this vneck, pullover cardigan from Target's (yep, my favorite place!) clearance rack for $4. I knew I could give it new life. I just love the way it turned out and I hope all you girls can do something like it too!

The jailhouse rock sweater, cute but needed some help for me to sport it :)



I made the ruffle out of an old black sweater.



Added some ruffled tulle, and a lace tie closure and voila! One sassy frock!








Many thanks to one of my blogging best friends, Andrea, on how to insert a link! Check her out at The Freckled Bug!

Irish Eyes Are Smilin'...on my decor!

Must be the wee bit o' Irish in me, but for whatever reason I was just chomping at the bit to do a "tablescape" and "mantlescape" with a St. Patrick's Day theme. Here is what some craftiness got me:

The "tablescape" with split peas, spearmint gummy slices, green colored water, and a variety of St Pat's decor from the craft store:


The Living Room "mantlescape", yes, those are beer bottles and beer mugs filled with yellow dyed water. Tell me whatcha think, cute and crafty? or weird and pub-ish?


Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!

Sew Inspired!!!

My fashionista cousin, Juliana, in Arizona, sent me links to some "haute mama" shirts that could easily be made for a fraction of the cost. These shirts range from $195- $495, crazy!!! I am "sew inspired" to get working on them, in the meantime I wanted to share the shirts with all my fellow bloggers. Much inspirational credit needs to be given to Valentino and Neiman Marcus, I love them but my checkbook doesn't!




















Gettin' crafty...again!

I just love it when I see an idea that popped into my head, but not yet my needle and thread, is posted out there in the blogosphere.; it's a total "ah-ha" moment for me! Here are 3 projects I've recently crafted and seen in various forms on other blogs. Time to jump on board girls! Get crafty and make something "one-of-a-kind" for yourselves!


This ruffle tee was made from a $2.74 Old Navy clearance tee and a funky striped turtleneck from Target's clearance rack. I love it when you can repurpose one shirt into another. I even have extra to make a striped knit twirly skirt for my Olivia...one of these days.



Another Target clearance tee (actually 2) turned into a rosette shirt:



I am loving all the variations of bib necklaces out there, that I just had to do one myself. Thanks to JoAnn fabrics and a funky thrift store picture frame with houndstooth rosettes on it, I now have one too! It only cost $4 to make!

In The Valentine's Mood

The house is so dull after all the Christmas decor gets put away. It needed some sprucing up and I have been waiting to try some ideas out. Last year, when our other house was for sale, I couldn't put together this darling "tablescape" that was inspired by Pottery Barn's catalog with all the vases full of leaves and such, but this year I was super excited to finally execute the idea. I filled the vases with conversation hearts, red licorice, and valentine nuggets, added faux rose petals from Wal-mart and pearls from JoAnn's, it sure is festive and the kids love it!




I did the mantle with inspiration from Tatertotsandjello, a darling blog.



Hobby Lobby and the local scrapbook store also contributed to my decorating. Happy Valentine's Day All!