Katniss cowl - "oops"

Last winter break I decided to have a go at making a "Katniss cowl" and was so excited!  I printed out a picture of Katniss from the movie, got a bunch of yarn, turned on the TV and came up with a plan.

 

Things were going well, and seasons of TV shows were watched in only a couple sittings..., and when I finally took a step back from what I was working on I realized it wasn't going to work.  Why?  Oh that annoying habit I have of weaving (knitting/crocheting/etc.) things too tightly.  Since this was a DIY, "figure it out as you go" thing, there wasn't a gauge or anything to compare to (not that I do that when there is....lol)

 

I ended up taking out A LOT of what I had done (oh the hours of work I lost!) but was super glad I did later.  I *almost* finished the project last year but not quite.  And, since opening a craft booth have been focusing on other things.  Plus, working with wool yarn isn't so appealing when the weather is nice.  BUT, this winter break I am determined to finish it!

 

Here's how it was on my 1st attempt:

Katniss cowl attempt 1- front

 

Katniss cowl attempt 1- back

Eek!!  the back wasn't supposed to curve like that.  I tried it on & thought about trying to make it work and keep going, but knew I'd regret not taking it apart at this point.  Plus, the fit was a bit wonky at that point.



Finally signed up!

I have been so curious to try Stitch Fix for quite some time, and have heard great things about it.  So, I finally signed up! 

In case you don't know what it is, you fill out a style questionnaire when you sign up, and have a personal stylist pick out 5 items they think you'll love and send it to you in a box.  There is a fee to have this done, but that can be applied to the cost of whatever items you keep.  If you don't like an item, you send it back without a charge (except the styling fee).  If you love an item, you buy it & can deduct the cost of the styling fee from your purchase! 

You can have scheduled boxes sent, or let them know whenever you're ready for another one.  And, you can add a little note for your stylist to know what you're looking for.  Whether it be a cute outfit for a wedding, date night, or holiday party or whatever!
 
 

Shopping for clothes is so frustrating for me since nothing ever seems to fit right.  Yes, being someone who sews, I could alter *some* things... but I don't usually do it.  Instead I have a huge pile of "to do" sewing that by the time I get around to it, styles have changed!

 

I can't wait to get my 1st box!

 

 

 

If you're ready to give it a try to, please use my referral link:

 

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/5974806

New adventures of renting a craft booth!

Hey there!  I knew I was neglecting this blog while I prepared for my new crafting adventures... but didn't realize it had been that long since I last posted.  Eek!

Anyways, several months ago I heard about a new store that was opening near my home that allowed vendors to rent booths to sell things at.  Though the timing for me wasn't great (I go to school a couple thousand miles away), I couldn't resist my burning desire to look into it.  I've wanted to explore this type of opportunity for quite some time, but nothing too promising had come up until now.

Lucky for me, my Mom also loves sewing and crafts and was willing to help me be a part of the booth while I'm away (restocking things, inventory, etc., etc.)  She looked into the details of space rental, and talked the idea over with a couple of my other amazingly crafty relatives, and what do you know?  We signed the lease!

I had only a couple of weeks between school & travel to build up enough stock for the grand opening, we all organized the booth and sat back to see how things would go.  I have to say, I went into it expecting to lose money, but obviously was hoping for more.

Over the summer, I spent most of my free time making jewelry, going to rummage sales, repurposing furniture, and making other crafts so I could leave my mom with a nice amount of items to stock my section of the booth while I'm gone.  It took a lot of time, but it was all fun :)

The booth is doing well, and we are all still very excited about it, so much so that we extended our lease!  Can't wait to be closer to home so I can keep fresh with the crafting trends and not have to rely on my stockpile :) 

DIY burlap ruffled tree skirt

Slightly off season, but I was going through some old photos and remembered I never posted about our new tree skirt!  I have been wanting to make a ruffled burlap skirt for some time now... and my lovely dogs gave me a reason to go ahead and do so after they chewed a hole in our other tree skirt.

Bummer about the old skirt, but I may make some adjustments to it so it's good as new (they chewed the edges and last time I sewed it up it had a couple "scallops" to it)

Anyways, I started by cutting the largest circle I could with a base layer of white cotton fabric.

DIY tree skirt

Then I cut my burlap into long strips (I believe I had 2-2.5 yards of burlap)  I was SO excited about the burlap, because it had some metallic gold colored threads mixed in with it.

DIY tree skirt

Then I pinned the strips of burlap onto the cotton fabric and sewed each row on to form the ruffled look.  Of course the cat had to "help".  (he had to leave the room when I was using pins)

DIY tree skirt

I used the selvage edge of the burlap for the outer most layer of ruffles and thought it added a cute, slightly different border.

Burlap ruffled tree skirt

After repeating row, after row, after row of placing burlap and stitching it on, the tree skirt was complete!  I really like how it turned out (and the animals do too... they love to lay on it).  If I were to make another one, I would make it larger, by stitching panels of cotton together for the base layer rather than just using the size of the fabric from the bolt.

Also, due to the nature of burlap, it does fray a lot, and with 3 animals that love to roll around under the tree, I don't think this tree skirt will last very long...  I'll probably make a more durable skirt to rotate with this one in the future.

no crease hair ties

Just finished midterms today, that means this weekend I should have a little spare time to relax & do some crafty things :)

 

It's just not the same being so far away from my craft room and sewing machine... but here are some no crease hair ties I made recently.

 

 

I ordered a bunch of beads to make some jewelry for our booth (should be set up in a month or two!).  Can't wait to work on that.  (But, I will have to, since I had them shipped home, not to school).  In the mean time, I'll be making sea glass charms and crocheting.

A new adventure!

Guess what!?!  My Mom, Aunt, cousin, & I rented a booth at a store to sell handmade & repurposed items.  I am beyond excited.  I have been looking for opportunities like this for years, but the right thing hasn't come along.... until now :)

 

It's a bit unfortunate timing for me, since I'm away at school... but I'm hoping to stockpile some repurposed items, handmade jewelry and sewn goods this summer to keep the booth stocked with some of my things while I'm away in the fall again.

 

I cannot wait!

Scrub cap!

Here is one of the scrub caps I made for school, as modeled by my lovely assistant :)

 

 

This same lovely assistant destroyed the pattern that I was planning to use to make the scrub cap.... so I had to wing it a little.

Baby Sushi bodysuit!

When I saw this Sushi Baby Costume  on Martha Stewart's website, which was made by Carolynn Caffelle I could not resist making one for my niece/nephew-to be for Christmas a couple years ago.

 

 

 

There are templates to make either tuna or shrimp (<-- the one I chose).

 

It was a lot of fun to make, and got quite a few smiles when it was done :)

 

My brother & sister-in-law took some adorable pictures of my niece wearing this, where they had chopsticks in the forefront of the picture and it looked like they were "picking up the sushi" hahaha.

 



crocheted market bag

Now I'm ready for the beach or the market, with this simple crocheted market bag!

 

 

I single crocheted the base of the bag, into a circle, double crocheted the height of the bag, and single crocheted the handle.

 

Back to class tomorrow!  I can't believe how fast winter break went... Hopefully I'll get a chance to share some of the crafting & sewing projects I did over break with you soon :)