2016 Resolutions Update: Round 2

It’s now over four months into the new year and I'm long overdue for an update on my resolutions (see 2016 New Year's Resolutions).

Make more tutorials - I think I’ve done a decent job with this one, making video tutorials is super fun.  Total so far:

1. Lace Twin Hearts Hair Clip, A tutorial
2. Easy Bodice or How to Sew a Dress for Any Doll

Two out of twelve, and the third will be coming up soon and possibly a fourth.

Reduce craft stash – I caved on this one a little.  I had a gift card for Joann Fabrics and Crafts and they had a $1 sale on Simplicity patterns.  I only bought 2 as well as some Velcro and some clearance winter gloves.  You will see them when I start sorting out my stash.  The basket trick will work greatly for that too (see 2016 Resolutions Update: Round 1).  I also ended up buying some fabric for Easter, and some impulse craft items (see Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories...and And Now...The Dress).  Oh the shame.

Exercise – Because of how busy I've been at work and how miserably I been doing on my goal, I've decided to put this on hold to focus more attention on my other resolutions.

Stretch –  Same as with the exercise, it's on hold for the time being.

Save money – After much thought, I decided to change up my goal for this one. 

I've realized it matters very little how much I've been able to save if the interest on my credit card is eating a good chunk each month.  So the new goal is to reduce the balance on my credit card to under $1000 by the end of the year, and I have a stretch goal of reducing it to 0 if I can manage it. 

So far my strategy is to pay at least $220/month on it.  The $200 is because that's double the minimum payment amount and the last $20 is because that's how much I usually set aside to save for stuff for crafts/hobbies.  If I'm trying to reduce my craft stash I probably don't need that $20.

I have also been splitting the $220 and making two payments each month instead of just the one.  I’ve read that this affects the way the interest is calculated (Here's a good article on it). 

Clean out my closet – This one I'm quite proud of.  I continued using the basket trick and finished sorting out my closet.

Here's one ambitious basket full of clothes to sort.

Now all sorted.  The basket is full of the keepers, the pile on the right is stuff that needs fixing/mending, and the pile on the left is the stuff to get rid of.

Now all bagged up.  Two more bags of giveaways, and the mending has been added to the ever growing mending bags.

Now this is the final basket and the one I saved for last for a reason.  It's full of all the pretty dresses and skirts I have sewn myself over the years.  Extremely difficult to part with any of them as you can imagine.

Difficult, but not impossible.  Again the basket is full of the keepers, the bottom pile is the fix/mend pile, and surprisingly the top pile is all the ones I am giving away.

Now here’s the three completely full bags of mending with another bag of giveaways on the left and a basket full of keepers on the right.

Now to deal with the mending.  I had decided to re-sort them before attempting any sort of fixing.  No sense in keeping all this if I’ve lost interest in fixing them.

First bag, fixing the stuff on the left, goodbye to the stuff on the right.  The top right will be cut up for rags.

Second bag, top keeping, bottom left giving, bottom right will be used for other purposes.

The third and final bag.  This is the one full of pretty handmade dresses and skirts, but I’m still only fixing the top ones.  The bottom pile will go to good homes.

Now here’s the full bags of mending sorted from left to right in order of difficulty.  Guess which one I will probably get to first?

And of course two more bags full of stuff to give away/donate. 

The closet is fully sorted.

Goal completed.

New goal: Deal with each bag of mending, preferably before the end of summer.  Wish me luck!

Read More »

And Now…The Dress

I finished my new dress just in time to wear for Easter, and now days later, I am finally posting it here.

Here’s the sketch of the design.  It’s considerably different than what I originally had in my head, because in my head I was thinking of a different fabric that I thought I had.  I went fabric shopping, fell in love with a different fabric and pumped out this design inspired by the new fabric.  So how did the dress come out?

Wonderfully.

It’s sleeveless (worn over a blouse) with a full skirt layered with the floral fabric and a cream colored fabric.  The fabric should look familiar since I used it for the purse I made (see Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories...).   Matches the dress perfectly.

I only had a few little problems.  I not sure the front of the bodice came out as well as I want, though it does fit me quite well which is rare for me.  And I realized that when I bought the ribbon to match the fabric, I didn’t buy enough.  This required an additional visit to the store.  And naturally this lead to me walking out of the store with more than just ribbon.

Here is the bib on the front of the bodice.  Lots of lace, tiny buttons and pin tucks galore.  I kind of think I made it a tiny bit too long, but maybe I’m just being too picky.  Otherwise I think it’s great.  The ribbon was a pain to sew.  I did it completely by hand here as well as on the skirt because it would snag on the machine.  Completely worth it.

I made use of the pins and stuff I made with the purse.  They help complete the entire outfit.

Here’s the updated list:

• dress
• hair accessories
• small bag
• pins
• clips
• doll clothes
• video

Four down, three more to go.  Might be a little while for the next project, but it will come.  Look forward to it.

Read More »

Easter Bunny! Chocolate!

To celebrate Easter, here’s the life cycle of a Lindt Dark Chocolate bunny.

Presenting the bunny.

Unwrapping the bunny.

First bites.

The head is gone, the rest will follow.

This has been the life cycle of a Lindt Chocolate bunny.

Read More »

Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories…

Finally some crafts from my list to show off.  Still have more to do before Easter, but at least these are complete and ready to share.

I bought this pretty off-white floral print fabric for a particular project and I thought it would be great to use some of it for a small simple purse too.  One that I could wear with tons of different outfits instead of just that particular project.

I made this bag roughly based on this easy messenger bag tutorial, just with a few little touches.  It came out ok, except I think I goofed a little on the edges where the strap is attached.  The strap by the way is made by twisting together four strands of ribbon into a cord.  I learned how to do it when I was about 10 years old.

The purse is nicely trimmed with cream colored lace. I bought the lace years ago at SAS for $1 and have used it in tons of projects since.  I think it look great with this fabric.  The funny thing about the fabric is that when I got it home I realized I already had the exact same fabric in white instead of off-white.  I bought the white at Wal-mart and used it to make a dress (see Time for Some Catching Up).

The cute lace rosette on the flap is actually a pin.  I thought it would nice to be able to swap it out with other pins and broaches to make it easier to match different outfits.

Speaking of other pins and broaches, I whipped up these four.  The two on the left are made from lace and fabric yo-yos with some ribbon bows.  The ones on the right are just bows made from wider ribbons with pin backs sewn on.  Simple yet effective.

I also whipped up these simple hair clips using more lace rosettes with more of that cream colored lace.

I just used hot glue to attach the rosettes to some clips.  I covered the clips with some ribbon first to make them look better, plus it helps the rosettes stay on better too.

The beauty of these simple clips is that I can dress them up a bit if I want to by adding some of the pins.  See how well they look with the red ribbon pins?

Here’s the updated list:

• dress
• hair accessories
• small bag
• pins
• clips
• doll clothes
• video

Three down, four more to go.  The next project will be up in a couple of days, but here’s a little sneak peek.

Some lovely red floral fabric trimmed with lace and more red ribbon.  Still sewing down the ribbon by hand.  But what is it that I’m trimming?

And here is a panel of fabric embellished with pin tucks and lace.  Now where is this going?  You will find out soon.  Look forward to it.

Read More »

Up to Thirty Five

I realized that with Easter fast approaching as well as spring and then summer, I have plenty I want to sew/make.  I of course made a list of these things I want to make, but I realized I haven’t posted it here yet.

So here’s my latest to-do list:

Craft Project List #35:

• dress
• hair accessories
• small bag
• pins
• clips
• doll clothes
• video

Seven projects and about half of them need to be done by Easter.  Eek!  Luckily I have technically already started working on them.  Still, there is much to be done.  Wish me luck.

Update: I completed this list, you can see the last project and links to the rest of them here.

Read More »

Purple and Lace

The bad news, this post is unbelievably late, like several weeks late.  The good news, I finished all the projects on my list.

First up..

…a laptop case.

This project is actually a bit of a substitution on my list.  I intended to make something to “cover” something else, but this became more of a priority.

I found myself needing to replace my laptop computer (one of the reasons this post is late) for a larger but thankfully better one.  Since it was larger it was too big for my old case so I needed something new to cover it with.

I made it nearly the same way as one I made previously for an old netbook I had (see It's Covered), just no bias tape and I use fleece and poplin fabrics instead of denim.  It’s actually the same purple poplin fabric as I made for my tote bag (see Catching Up: Bags and More Bags).

Fits my new laptop perfectly and matches my bag, what’s not to love?

Next project…

…yet another bag, that matches too.

Yes, I am really loving the purple fabric.  At first glance this looks like a small lacey purple duffle bag.  But it’s designed to carry something besides gym clothes, dolls.  It’s a carry bag for my ball jointed doll so I can take her places without fear of damage.  The design is roughly based on this doll bag tutorial.

The inside is lined with fleece just like the laptop case, and there’s plenty of pockets to stash extra clothes and supplies.

There’s a pocket on the outside for convenience.

As you can see, there’s plenty of room for her, and possibly for a friend if I get another ball jointed doll in the future.  Or if I just want to lug other dolls or plushies with me somewhere, I’m set.

And this isn’t the only thing I made for my doll, or the last of the purple fabric either.

I also made clothes.  A cute lace trimmed skirt with a matching light jacket, they’re perfect for spring.

I originally planned to make the jacket a little different around the collar, but I goofed up with it so had to improvise.  I actually like it better like this so all is well. 

I also goofed with making the pattern for the front of the jacket.  My doll is a tiny bit more developed in the bust than she looks and I neglected this fact, so that’s why there is only one snap at the top to close it.  Anyway, it looks adorable and that’s all that matters.

Here’s the updated list:

• Covers
• Bag
• Jacket and Skirt
• Hearts
• Little Dresses

Five down and out.  Coming up, Easter sewing!

Read More »