The Fabric Floozie

I guess about 2 weeks ago, my husband headed out to Vegas on a work trip. I was really upset at first because as much as I hate to admit it, my husband and I are a little codependent.

Okay, fine. I’m a little codependent. He’d probably fare just fine without me (although, he is visibly worn down and relieved every time the kids and I come back from a vacation without him), but I always get very upset and lonely when he’s gone.

With 2 kids to worry about, a house to prepare and a birthday party to do final planning for, I didn’t have time to be lonely. You see, my husband was flying home on Friday night at 11pm. At exactly the same time his mother was flying into town for our daughters birthday. So when he got home, he’d have his Mom with him. Which meant ALL the cleaning/organizing was left up to me, to be done before his arrival home. On top of that, on Saturday morning, our home would welcome a dozen family and friends to celebrate Lily’s 2nd birthday. Yikes. So much to do!

Along with the normal “clean bathrooms, vacuum, mop floors” to-do list that is inevitable when you have a get together at your house, I decided to give myself a few fun jobs to do. Things I’d WANT to accomplish, but also really needed to be done.

One of those jobs was to redo the kids bathroom. Their bathroom is a nice sized room for a secondary bathroom, and includes a tub/shower and single sink. It’s nothing amazing, but it is roomy and it had potential if we could just pull it from the clutches of the builder basics that held it hostage. Beige walls. Plain cupboards and counter tops. Big cheap mirror and ugly light fixture. Don’t get me started on the brass doorknobs (those will be the death of me in this house).

So I headed to Lowe’s, armed only with a shower curtain I already had on hand for that room, and 2 screaming children.  I picked out a color by Olympia called “Turquoise Mist” and grabbed a new pack of roller heads. On the way  home, my 2 year old informed me that not only am I mean, but I’m “not da boss”. Can you say “nap time”?

So we headed home, I tucked the kids into bed for naps, and I tackled the bathroom.

After painting all the walls turquoise (half of a $24 gallon), I rehung the shower curtain and liner (Curtain: Free from a friend who didn’t need it anymore. Liner: Already had on hand, from Ikea $3.99. Rings: Already had on hand, from Home Depot. $2.96).

I also applied some fun Vinyl I’d picked up at Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale.  It went up okay, but nothing compared to the easy applications I’ve gotten from Samantha at Goin’ Vinyl (BTW, if you place an order with Samantha, tell her you heard about her through TFF).

Hit up the towel closet and picked out a mixture of bright towel colors that I had from my college days. LOL

Then I grabbed a green plastic bucket I got years ago filled as a gift basket, cleaned it all out and filled it with some basics for our house guests.

And Ta Da! The bathroom is done!

Overall, it cost me $34.00 to redo the bathroom, and I still have paint left over for other projects. Not too shabby The hubby was very impressed.

Thanks for following along!!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to enter this weeks giveaway! CLICK HERE to read all about it.

It’s no real secret that I’m a total Etsy fanatic. How can you not be with what feels like millions of unique listings of hand crafted goodies from across the globe? Etsy is like a haven for all those like me: People obsessed with trinkets, antiques, and all things shiny.
Every once in a while I stumble across an awesome etsy shop that provides something really classic and yet unique. It just so happened that a shop keeper of a store that fits that description contacted me last week, letting me know that she would love to provide a product from her shop as a giveaway to my readers.
Enter Julie of JulieVision.

JulieVision is a unique shop on etsy that sells both classic bags as well as fun, funky bags.

My favorite in the shop is her “Lucy, I’m home!” bag, which I seriously CAN. NOT. STOP. Drooling over.

She also carries something for the funky shopper

Something for those who love retro style
(is it lame that I totally adore that this bag is called “Frank Lloyd Wrong”??)

Something for the western lady

And something for the old soul.
(Oh my gosh, I adore the description on this. “[This bag is called] “Oregon Trail”, because if this bag could talk, it would say “Hepseba has dysentery” and “Caulk the wagon and float it.” “)

But aside from her fantastically adorable clutches, Julie also makes the coolest shopper bags, called a Mullet Tote. Yes, you read that right. Mullet. You know… like Captain Planet, Steven Segal, or Billy Ray Cyrus in his “achy break-y heart…” days. …I just don’t think he’d understand…

Annnnnyways…
Her Mullet bag promises Business on the outside and Party on the inside, providing you with a stylish, even professional, bag to carry around, whilst knowing your belongings are partying like it’s 1999 within.
Or in her words “A durable, machine washable tote with business/school/commuter train/airport appropriate outside, and a FREAKIN’ AWESOME inside. It’s like wearing fantastic underpants, only for your bag.”

And since the Mullet Tote is reversible, if your bag is feeling a little like an exhibitionist, you’re free to show off it’s glam inner with a simple flip of your bag.

Now on to your favorite part… Miss Julie has offered us a wonderful CUSTOM Mullet Tote as a giveaway for TFF readers! That’s right, not only can you win an awesome bag, but you get to pick out exactly what you want it to look like!

To enter this contest:

• WHAT YOU CAN WIN: 1 Custom Mullet Tote from JulieVision
• TO ENTER: Comment on this post and tell us the worst hairstyle you ever had
• BONUS ENTRIES: Post about the giveaway on facebook, twitter, or your blog then post one comment per shout-out with a link to it. Limit 4 entries per person)
• GIVEAWAY ENDS: Monday, February 1st at 10pm Central Time
• HOW MANY PRIZES: One
• AND AS ALWAYS: Be sure to go visit Julie’s site and scope out her other merchandise.

So get on it, spread the word, enter the contest and be merry.

I’m off to find a way to successfully hint to my husband that THIS needs to be MINE.

Last week my husband went out of town for several days, and I got a wild hair to make a toilet paper holder while he was gone. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know if it was a serious lack of anything better to do with my time (could that possible be it?), or maybe my inability to focus on projects I SHOULD be doing, when there are projects I COULD be doing… or it possibly could have been the anxiety i feel when I’m digging through stacks of toilet paper under the sink in any of the 3 bathrooms we have in this house. Ugh. Yeah, it was probably one of those things…

Anyways, this toilet paper holder can also be used to hold paper towels if you’d like to make something fun that matches your home decor.

My plan started out at Home Depot which, while functional, did not produce something as pretty as I’d hoped for. Nor was it easy finding what I wanted.

First I purchased a dowel to use as the actual holder. The dowel I purchased was 1″ in diameter (perfect size) and 3 feet in length (also perfect size).

I then purchase a 1×6 piece of wood, and utilized some 1″ wood trim I’d had left over from a recent project.

**see below for how to make this without 1×6 and trim**

First, cut a square off the 1×6. My husband says that a 1×6 is actually 5.5″ wide, so in that case, make it a 5.5″x5.5″ square.

Using a Miter Saw, cut trim that will fit around all the edges (this is just for looks). Using a nailgun, attach the trim pieces along all 4 sides.

Cut the dowel to a 12″ length (I cut mine into 3rds so I could make 3 of them).

Paint dowel and trimmed square.

Using coordinating scrapbooking paper and mod-podge, cover the top of the base and the entire dowel with paper. Consider spraying with Rustoleum Gloss Coat when it’s dry, to stop any tackiness the mod-podge might have. Using a 2″ (or longer) screw, and the coordinating drill bit, drill a hole into the center of your base and into the center of the dowel bottom. Run screw up through the base from underneath and into the dowel. Tighten down. I predrilled a little too much on mine, and it was still turning and not quite getting tight. If you have this probablem, a dab of wood glue onto the threads of the screw and onto the bottom of the dowel will help.

Apply no-slip sticky furniture pads to the bottom of the base to keep it from getting dinged up, or dinging anything else up.

All done! Just slip on some TP or Paper Towels and enjoy the decorative holder you just made for under $5.

Lemmi tell ya, that’s HARD. TO. FIND.

* as a side note, if you care to bypass the wood cutting, just hit up your local Hobby Lobby and go to the wood section. You can get decorative circles or squares (with pretty curved edges) for under $1.50 each. I went and got 2 to use on my next 2 I’ll be making, b/c the trim work was more than I cared to do for something so small

And totally off topic, and a little personal, but I’d like to ask my readers to say a little prayer for my Brother in Law as he prepares for a 6 months deployment.

Since you all can’t get enough of Stacie’s beanie from my Coat Recon post, she has graciously offered a discount of 25% to all readers of The Fabric Floozie.

To claim your discount, simply visit www.beaniesbystacie.com, contact stacie to place your order, and mention finding her through The Fabric Floozie. Discount expires January 31, 2010.

Stacie is my number 1 source for beanies both for my kids and photoshoots. Her quality is absolutely phenomenal, her turnaround time is super speedy, and her prices absolutely CAN NOT be beat.

Last night I made my first reversible reconstruction. I don’t mean reversible as in “the inside is one fabric, the outside is another”. I mean, it can be worn forwards or backwards with 2 slightly different looks.
Now, for most people, it wouldn’t really be worth it to take the extra steps to make something forward/backward reversible JUST to have two “slightly” different looks. BUT here’s where it comes in handy:
When you have a toddler who is growing at breakneck speed and you are trying to keep her in clothing that will last a while.

That’s right, this will fit her at 2 different stages.

Backwards it features a squared neckline, puffy elbow-length sleeves and a flat front empire waist with a slightly higher neckline (perfect for young toddlers with narrow shoulders).

Forwards, it features a mitered square neckline, puffy elbow-length sleeves, and a gathered empire waist front with a slightly lower neckline (better for older toddlers/young kids who fill out the shoulder straps more).

As usual, I started with a size medium women’s shirt (handed down from my mom) and went to town cutting it apart.

I started by removing the sleeves at the seamline

Then I cut the framed neckline at the 45 degree angle in the bottom 2 corners, both on the front and back.

Cut up the sides of the garment along the seam lines, making a front panel and a back panel.

Taking the shoulder straps that you removed, cut off the serged area, plus about 1/4″ of fabric to scale them down for a smaller garment.

Using measurements from your child, measure out the chest of the garment (for Lily, it needs to be 20″ around for the chest) and mark the fabric.
Cut front panel using your measurements.
Do the same for the back panel.

Taking one strap, lay it face down on top of the front panel. Line the top-stitched edge up with the neckline of the dress and pin at a 45 degree angle where you want to attach it to the garment (for Lily, I leave about a 5″-5.25″ neckline), then stitch down at 45 degree angle.

“unfold” upwards, and top stitch. Do the same on the other strap.

For the back, you can either do the same, or do a simple squared neckline like I did by laying it flat under the back neckline and top stitching. To make it reversible, do not line up the front and back necklines up exactly. Instead, stagger the back a few inches (1-2″ max) higher than the front neckline.

Serge up the sides of the dress while inside out.

Serge hemline and hem to your desired length (mine was 16″ from the center neckline).

Take the sleeves and cut them down (on the seamed side) to the width you need. Consider the sleeve lenght you want, and cut, then serge, inside out.

Turn dress inside out and place sleeve in through sleeve hole right side out. Serge to dress body

Do the same for the other sleeves, then turn right side out. (Shown “forwards”)

So that’s step by step of how I made Lily’s latest dress.
For the time being, she’s in it “backwards” as the lower neckline is just too low for my tastes. Once she’s a little bigger/taller and fills out the shoulders better, she should be able to wear it either as a dress forwards, or even as a tunic top

You think she likes it?

That’s right, it’s all up and the submission form is ready. Check out all the rules and details here on TFF, to find out how your latest craft project can win you free fabric from Spoonflower.com! You can use the link at the top of the page (”Enter the 2010 Recon-A-Thon!“) or by clicking HERE.

A few weeks ago I commented on a post on a cool website called CraftEvolve. CE encourages green crafting through up-cycling, re-purposing and usage of local organic and sustainable crafting resources.  I submitted a project of mine to them through their contributor link, since it seemed right up my alley, and the response was “Hey, can we interview you?” to which I, obviously, answered “OF COURSE!” (with exactly that much enthusiasm, too. I promise.)

The one amusing part of it all was that they wanted a photo of my crafting space. If you’re on my facebook fan page , you’ve already heard this comparison… but it was a little like being asked for a photo of my panty drawer. LOL. You know, tiny, crowded, and way messier than I want people to know it is.  We were actually in the process of seriously unpacking our bedroom from the move (that’s always the last room to be finished, isn’t it?) so I took the photo once everything was gone/out of the way. Not as embarrassing as I’d thought it might be, but at the same time, kind of inspiring. Because my craft space is SO very small. No joke… it’s one of these and a 2nd little matching tower stand that they evidently no loner carry. It’s tiny. It’s cramped. It’s cluttered. But it’s the most I’ve got right now. So let that be a lesson to all you crafters: You don’t need some big, beautifully decorated, dedicated crafting space in order to get stuff done!

Check out the link to my interview below and please take a moment to leave her some comment luvin’s to help me thank her for featuring my site! Thank you so much!

http://craftevolve.com/2010/01/innovator-the-fabric-floozie/

Earlier this year, our family gathered at my Mom’s house to say Goodbye to my Grandparents before they headed home to California from their holiday vacation.

While there, my aunt said that she’d brought a coat that she had and could not longer wear. She asked if I’d like it to make something for Lily. Of course, I said “yes!” and got excited thinking about what i could do with it.

The piece, to start with, was a Style&Co (Macy’s brand) Off-White Suede outer, faux-sherpa inner button down coat. It was a size XL in womens.

Since the coat was constructed using a patchwork design, I decided that to salvage as much material as possible, I would disassemble it using only a seam ripper. It was surprisingly easy and fast, and it allowed me to really focus on how each element on the coat was completed, giving me ideas for how to reconstruct it later.

Once the coat was completely taken apart, I started piecing together a pattern. Since I knew in my head what I wanted it to look like, I took all of Lily’s measurements and wrote them on a piece of paper with a diagram of a body. This allowed me to keep better track of EXACTLY where each measurement started and stopped. I drew out each pattern piece i’d need on separate pieces of computer paper with a sharpie. With sweat on my brow and fear in my heart (was I going to trash this perfectly lovely jacket that didn’t NEED to be taken apart in the first place, and not even end up with something wearable in the end?!) I began cutting pieces of suede to match the pattern pieces.

I utilized the existing button holes and buttons, as well as later using the existing collar piece. Pretty much everything else was just cut using random shapes of fabric that didn’t apply to the new coat pattern.

As the project went on, I was more and more excited with the outcome. As I told a friend of mine, I NORMALLY like what I make. I’m RARELY proud of what I make. And I’m *really* proud of this jacket. It came out perfectly. More perfect than I’d even hoped for. And it was so easy to do (from disassembling the XL jacket to sewing the buttons on the final product, the project took me less than 1 day).

Since Lily’s 2nd birthday is coming up next week, it was time to take her out for some birthday photos anyways. So one of her outfits for the photos was her new homemade coat. *swoon*

Check them out below (Hat by beaniesbystacie.com)

Grandmas and Toddlers have something in common it seems…

They both like sparkly things

At least my grandma does!

This is a reconstructed shirt, made from something my grandmother passed along to me. It was tricky to position the detailing just right without hacking off too much of it (afterall, it was sized down from a XLWoman to a 2T), but it turned out pretty good. There is a keyhole in the back to allow for it to fit over big noggins

So there is my recon for the week Working on a pink shirt right now and about to start an AWESOME sherpa jacket recon. Check back soon!

After our minor derailment during phase 1 (weather related) the dresser is finally complete. After the last post about it, all I did was clear coat the rest (What I could given how cold it was), attach hardware, pull the beast up a flight of stairs (I still think I got the hard part of that job, babe. I’m just sayin….) and insert the drawers. Decor on it is temporary (the vase is borrowed from my dining room) until I find what I have in mind for on top of it.

So without further ado, here is the before

And here is the lovely after:

Watch the transformation process HERE.