shirt rework

i have several shirts that are too big on me. i've been adding clothes to a pile of things that i wanted to rework into something. i love this pink floyd shirt and i hated that it was too big on me. so i took that t-shirt and 3 flannel shirts that don't fit right anymore and made something new. i meant to make a dress, but turns out they were all the same amount of too big so it turned out more like a tunic than a dress. i really like it though. i guess i could have added more panels of flannels on the bottom part to make it more of a dress, but i didn't think of that and it's very wearable like this. this was really easy to make. i just cut each flannel right where the armpit starts. i wanted to keep the pockets, because everything is better with pockets. i really hate how they're covering up the "floyd" though, so i guess i should have dropped the pockets, but still pockets are awesome. i have a serger and a regular sewing machine, so i used the serger to sew the flannel side seams together. then i pinned the flannel shirts to the t-shirt with right sides together, which i cut just below the "floyd". i didn't sew across the pockets. i turned it right side out and then topstitched where the pockets overlap. easy and it only took me about 20 minutes to do this!

Starlord's blaster

: one of Alex's costumes for Wizard World this year was Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy. Stan Lee was scheduled to be at the event this year and this is one of his movies (he had to cancel due to pneumonia.) We didn't plan ahead very far this year since we weren't originally planning on attending, so i bought most of the costume. I did paint the blaster. I started with a toy that is complete with some lights and sound effects. My skills don't particularly lie in painting, but I'll get better with practice. I do like how this one turned out and it looked great with her costume.

market dress

it's been a really long time since i've posted anything on this blog! i've been sticking to instagram for posting things - you can follow me if you'd like, i'm katfay

anyways, i'm trying to work on more projects again and sew more this year. i've been wanting to make this market/frock dress for quite some time. it's simplicity 1080. i made a couple small adjustments to the pattern. i really don't like dresses that tie in the back - they're a bit painful, am i right? so i changed that out for an elastic cincher. i also started off by making my fabric using fat quarters and patchworking it together. this was a quick, easy project to make and it has a lot of room for error for sizing which is usually my biggest challenge with sewing my own clothes. and because i didn't line up my patchwork perfectly in one spot i hand stitched on some cute trim to hide that misalignment.

i made devil sticks!

otherwise known as juggling sticks or flower sticks, but i've always called them devil sticks. i used to have a pair in college, but i don't recall what happened to them. i've been wanting to make some for a while now and finally did it. i made a set for alex and a set for myself. i followed instructions that i found on instructables. the one thing i would change is that i would have covered the juggling stick completely instead of that criss cross pattern. they said it wouldn't make a difference in how they perform, however they are a little slippery in between the innertube. i got some dowel rods and cut one long and two shorter sticks for each set. i got a couple of bicycle innertubes for wrapping and for the end tassles, electric tape and push pins. they were fun to make and relatively easy. they are going to take a lot of practice before i or alex can do any tricks - we are still trying to volley the juggling stick. but it's a fun outdoor activity that doesn't require a lot of room, they're easy to travel with, and you don't need anybody else in order to play. i particularly like how alex's pair (the green ones, of course) have some of the innertube print still on the tassles.

i sprouted!

sprouts have long been a staple in john and my diets. i think i got hooked on them with my first earth day bagel from bagel and deli in oxford, ohio. yum yum yum. in the past few years they have disappeared from our grocery stores and sandwich shops and everywhere i've looked. i guess people aren't cleaning them and are subsequently getting sick. we've been missing sprouts and then about a week or so ago john said i wonder if we can make our own sprouts! it had never dawned on me that we could. and guess what? they're super easy. so i set out to research the best ways to do it and decided on this tray system. it came with some alfalfa seeds and i also bought a salad seed mix which consists of broccoli, radish, alfalfa and clover seeds. this tray system has three stacking trays so our first go i did two trays of alfalfa and one tray of the salad mix. i'm so excited. in less than a week we have a ton of sprouts ready to eat and they look delicious. i'm going to start new batches this weekend and keep experimenting with some different seeds and beans. they're healthy, delicious and easy - plus they go with everything!

imperial beer

at our house we craft a lot of our holiday gifts. all 3 of us. this year john made two different kinds of home brew for gifts: an imperial blond ale and an imperial pale ale. they turned out rather tasty. and usually i make custom labels for his beers. as soon as i heard "imperial" of course i thought of stormtroopers and asked john if he minded if i geeked up the beer labels. my friend had already redrawn the troopers so i asked him if i could have those and i did the hand lettering throughout. i used the old school trooper for the blond ale and the force awakens trooper for the pale ale. i think they turned out super fun. and they make perfect gifts for this year since everyone is a star wars fan right now.

star wars diy gifts

Alex has a great teacher this year (she has had great teachers every year thus far actually.) His favorite movie is Star Wars! and obviously, we just love Star Wars as well, so we made a few items to give to Alex's teacher as part of his holiday gift. you can't see it in the picture except for a corner of it, but I also designed and printed and sewed an R2D2 tea towel for him. I drew a cute little Chewbacca and had him printed and I sewed him into a bean bag doll - Alex likes to help me pour the bean bag pellets into the dolls when I make them. I also poured some concrete death stars. I glued on some little rubbery feet on the bottom and painted the bottom half silver. I think that will make a nice little desk adornment or paper weight. and finally, Alex and I made him a little Star Wars terrarium in a ball jar. we used little micro machine Obi Wan and Darth Vader characters for the scene. we do have a couple of other small items to add to the gift, but for a Star Wars fan I am hoping he will love this handmade gift set.