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!

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.

Princess Leia

 I've been working since January or so to make Alex's Halloween costume. she decided a long, long time ago (probably the day after Halloween 2014) that she wanted to be Leia. I didn't really think thru the fact that it would be such a popular costume this year. but she doesn't seem to mind. in fact, she said hers would be better than everyone else's anyways because i made it. so anyways, here's how i made Alex's A New Hope movie accurate Leia costume. I started with the hat. I asked Alex if she wanted to wear a wig or a hat and she wanted nothing to do with a wig. so i set out to find a Leia buns hat pattern. I didn't really like anything I found so i pieced together a few different patterns and put my own twist on the buns to crochet her hat. I love the part in the hat - i had to redo that several times to get it right. And the hat is really warm and cozy - it basically has built in ear warmers. Then I started working on both the belt and the dress at the same time. The dress looks rather simple to make, but as it turns out it is way more complicated than you'd think. It's a double layered white jersey gown with the long hood - that's a lot of fabric. I basically made this dress twice since I made the pattern myself and made a few mistakes along the way. I researched and read a bunch of different tutorials and padawan guides for making adult sized Leia gowns. I took Alex's measurements and set out to make a pattern out of excess old fabric that I had on hand. I had to make adjustments to the pattern, but not too bad. I wish I had made the arms a little longer, but I am happy with the length since I didn't want her tripping over the gown. There's even the slit in the sides like in the movie. I don't have a lot of experience with this type of fabric and i hand stitched quite a bit of it (which I prefer to machine sewing anyways.) I made the hood pattern wrong the first time - math error! so i made that part a second time as well. and i had never made a keyhole opening in clothes before nor had I made a mandorin collar before. I made the collar wrong the first time as well, but re-measured; made a new pattern and made it again. So, yes, I made every single part of this gown twice! and before i hemmed the bottom of the dress I sewed an elastic waste into the gown. I know, that part is not movie specific, but this is an 8 year old and it would be way easier for her to wear with that waste line sewn in. And finally I hand stitched the hem of the dress. I am so happy with how it turned out. It did not dawn on me until I finished that she would be wearing this at school at most likely get chocolate frosting or cupcake or something on this gown. I sprayed the entire thing with scotch guard - recommended by a friend of mine (thanks for the fabulous idea, Alison.) We'll see how well that works, but I figure if it doesn't then she'll just be post trash compactor Leia then. Finally the belt. I made the fabric part of the belt out of faux leather - I kind of wish I had gone with real leather just for the sturdiness and thickness of it. the faux leather was kind of a problem. the first time i tried putting snaps onto the belt for fasteners they ripped right thru the fabric. so yes, I also made the belt twice! This time i used snap fabric strips that I sewed onto the faux leather as the fasteners and those seem to be working beautifully. the plates on the belt: I cut them out of aluminum sheeting; filed down each one; and punched a hole in the middle. I then attached those to the belts with an eyelit brad (or whatever you call those things) using a resin button that I had made as a washer. They still were rotating and spinning so I did add some glue (e6000) to the backside of the metal plates. I bent the plates to curve around her waste for betting fitting. Finally i finished off the belt by glueing silver button covers over the hole of the plates. Oh, the blaster. I bought one of those cheap toy blasters that are white and orange; spray painted silver first; then spray painted black; sanded some areas for wear and tear so the silver would show thru; and sealed it with a matte coat. I made the blaster strictly for pictures; she will not be leaving the house with it. She loves the costume and might even wear it (if it survives the weekend) when we go to see The Force Awakens in December. Happy Halloween.

Happy 10th Anniversary new Who!

yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the reboot of Doctor Who - the day when we met the 9th doctor (he's great) and rose tyler (also great.) alex and i each celebrated the anniversary in small ways. i think the 9th doctor is great, btw; people seem to skip over him for some reason, but he was fantastic! the first picture is a screenprint i made on sweatshirts for both alex and i (sorry i don't have a better picture of our sweatshirts.) we first splatter painted with some glow-in-the-dark fabric paint. then i screenprinted a fun quote from the 9th doctor to rose, "did i mention it also travels in time." alex wore her sweatshirt yesterday - i would have, but i already got a spot on mine so it isn't work worthy anymore. i did however wear my tardis arm warmers and my adipose shirt to abs class; "the fat just walks away." the other picture is my bitmap who bag. spoonflower has been testing out patterns: you pick a bag or a shirt pattern then a design and they send you fabric with the cut and sew shirt or bag with instructions ready to go. i was in the test group. i made a shirt (which i still have yet to take a picture) and this bag. i used the faux suede fabric and it was so easy to sew together and it's a great size. i wish i could have scaled the graphics down in size to work with the pattern better, but the whole cut and sew bag thing is still in development. oh, i also used my sonic screwdriver pen all day :)

secret santa work stocking exchange

every year for our work holiday luncheon, we create a craft of some sort. then wrap it up anonymously and exchange. we've done ornaments and frames thus far and this year we made stockings. i didn't take a picture of the original natural colored canvas stocking, but you can see a little in the bottom image (it's basically the lining of my stocking.) i started by gathering supplies that i already had at home and went from there. i hand beaded all the snowflakes onto grey felt - i made those while playing passenger on a car trip. i then stitched my snowflakes onto this beautiful silk teal fabric (leftover from the flower girl dresses i made last year.) then i added some crazy fur trim - that matched beautifully with the grey felt. then i stitched the outer stocking to the original canvas stocking liner. my favorite part is the label that says "this took forever" - haha, i got those on etsy and i plan to add those to most of my handmade goody gifts. i think it turned out alright and i think the girl who ended up with my stocking likes it. i picked out a wonderful stocking with an illustration of Yukon Cornelius from rudolph.

flowery headband from scraps of fabric

spoonflower has this awesome (relatively new) fabric called faux suede. it's super soft and washes great. i had some scraps of fabric leftover from some project so i decided to make alex another headband. i have some headband blanks (that teal part: which is basically thin elastic with a circle of felt.) i had enough scrap fabric for cutting out 6 circles (approximately 3 inches in diameter.) then you just fold the circles in half and then in half again and glue them onto the headband blank. easy and cute.

Sugar Softie

last year i made a halloween skeleton softie and i think he turned out adorable. so this year i turned her into a sugar skull softie. you can buy the fabric here: http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/3565824
the fabric comes with a reversible dress to make and some flowers to attach to her head and the eyes are little soft pillow attachments as well. here you can buy the original halloween skeleton softie fabric: http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2380735
they look great together too - my daughter says they are to be married now :)

love tattoo headband

there's a magazine that with every issue you get a little craft packet project - Mollie Makes magazine. these are great little projects to pack in our "at the cabin" art bin. i especially liked this project: a retro tattoo heart brooch. and i do love a good brooch, but i hate putting a pin thru my clothes, so i thought i'd make this one into a headband instead. so everything you need to make this is in the little packet - except the pattern to cut out the pieces! that is in the actual magazine, which i didn't have, so i freehand cut out the heart and the flowers and banner and letters. i also glued some little jewels onto the flowers. i added a little padding inside the heart as well (which didn't come in the packet, but the image looks like it's stuffed a little.) and finally i sewed the heart onto a skinny elastic headband via a circle felt piece. i love it! i will definitely be sporting this on valentines day.

john's fishing pillowcase

i made john his very own pillowcase! so i have a tardis pillow, alex has an r2d2 pillow and now john has a fishing pillowcase! i incorporated a jig based on the ones john makes himself. it's a moonlit scene of catching a fish in action. then if you flip to the inside you reveal the words "master baiter" - haha, because he's so good at baiting fish! :)

raggedy man ragdoll

i made a new cut-and-sew fabric that you can purchase here: http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2905705 to make your very own eleventh doctor! haha, isn't he cute? and on a yard of fabric you get all the pieces to make the raggedy man ragdoll with bowtie, his sonic screwdriver (one side it's closed and flip it over for the open screwdriver in action), and of course, a fez. he's an easy project to sew and so fun. as soon as i finished making this doctor, alex wanted to know who got to keep him, haha. of course i let her have him and she took him on vacation and everything.

droid bag

while i was at it with the droid pillow case, i made a shoppping bag droid as well. he's so cute and i think he's perfect for carrying electronics and gear when needed (or of course any market goods.) i want to make a boba fett bag and pillow case now, but alex wants me to make a furry chewbacca pillow case!

r2d2 pillow case

i enjoy having my tardis pillow case so much i wanted to make more - i think it's fun having pillow cases that don't match your bedding and you always know which one is yours! alex has been watching and enjoying the star wars movies with me. she even asked to go see star wars 7 in the theater with me - yay! so...i made her an r2d2 pillow case. pillow cases are so easy to make too, especially if you have a serger - not to much cutting of fabric and only a few seams to sew and you're done. alex says she loves her new pillow case :)

ping pong paddle taxidermy

the main part of our lettering trend group's gallery show was ping pong paddle art. we each made at least one ping pong paddle piece and then we filled out the gallery with whatever artwork we wanted to contribute: i made those concrete ampersands. there's some really nice paddles in the show with beautiful lettering and painting and illustrations. i made plush taxidermy deer with my paddles! i named them too: isi and ofra. i cut the paddles to be a little more crest shaped and then painted in a cartoony wood grain look. with bakeable clay i made their name plates and glued those on to the handles. i hand stitched the deer using felt, polyfil, and their eyes and noses are those plastic safety eyes and noses. and i mounted them with screws, cardboard ovals, and hot glue. i think they're cute and they sold on the first day of the show :) yay (thank you, elizabeth.)

tardis pencil case

it's bigger on the inside; tardis pencil case. about a year ago i made a foxy pencil case for a spoonflower contest...alex liked that so much that she claimed it as hers and has been using it at school ever since. i still might have to make another one of those for myself since it was so cute, but in the meantime i made myself a doctor who tardis pencil case-yay! it's a police box on the outside, but when you unzip you can see the interior of the TARDIS. you can find the fabric here: http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2901609 to make your very own. i wouldn't call this a beginner sewing project, but if you know your basics this case is easy enough to make. and it's the perfect size for a set of drawing markers.

beanie who?

i designed some more doctor who fabric! here http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2931192 you can buy a quarter yard of fabric to make your own beanie who set. you can also buy each one separately instead of a set on a swatch of fabric each at separate links on spoonflower in my shop http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/kfay they're really easy to make. right on the fabric it tells you where to cut and where to sew. i enjoy hand stitching these guys and that goes rather quickly, but you could always sew them up on a machine. i filled them with those plastic crafting beads to make them more like bean bags, but you could fill them with polyfill for a plush set. as bean bags, they're really fun to play with and toss around. my daughter loves to set them up in a scene. her favorite is the silence and she's itching for me to make amy and rory dolls next. and then star wars. in this set on a quarter of fabric you get: the eleventh doctor, the tardis, cyberman, the silence, a weeping angel, and a red dalek. you can choose to give them bottoms or leave them without which would make them more of a bean bag. the bottoms have difference phrases or words to go with each like: "geronimo" and "don't blink"

sew your own reusable shopping bags

this week's contest theme on spoonflower is cut-and-sew reusable shopping bags. I entered the contest with my not-so-plastic shopping bag (1st in picture) - be sure to vote for it at http://www.spoonflower.com/contests/242
while i was at it, i designed a couple more bags. one for my love of doctor who (the middle tardis in the picture) and another fun colorful one that says "i'm a happy camper"
they're easy to sew and fun to use. go green.

TARDIS pillow case

i've been watching and slowly catching up on Doctor Who...and, of course, now i want to make all these Doctor Who crafts. my doctor is the 11th :) that's what inspired me to create this TARDIS pillow case. it's so easy to make and i love seeing it every night. you can buy the fabric here: http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2756405 it comes on a yard with simple instructions at the top. it's a great beginning sewing project and a super fun project for any doctor who fan.

the wedding ties

another thing i sewed for the wedding were the ties for the groom and groomsmen. i had never made ties before and i'm not sure i would care to make them every again, haha. actually, i can appreciate why ties are so freaking expensive now. i think they turned out nice and if i found the perfect fabric then i would probably make another tie for my husband. i also made pocket squares for all the men (significantly easier to create) out of the purple fabric, however i didn't seem to take any pictures of those. the other thing about making these ties was that since i didn't know what i was doing and was following a pattern i didn't know what the end result was going to be - they turned out to be a skinny tie of sorts (which i love), however they were a bit short for half the men (half the wedding party is over 6 feet tall.) so keep height in mind if you plan on creating ties for a group.

flower girl dresses

so i will have lots of wedding stuff to show once i get all the photos organized and such (actually i didn't even get around to take photos of everything i made so i'm hoping the professional photographer did.) i did make the flower girl dresses though; one for my daughter and one for my niece. they both looked so cute all dolled up. i found this fabulous washable silk fabric in teal and purple. they have flecks of accent color in the fabric as well that just looks fantastic. i also found some perfectly matching tulle. i have very limited experience with silk and i had never sewn with tulle before (i made myself a tulle skirt right away to get a feel for the stuff - not so easy to work with i discovered.) the dresses are a fairly simple shape and i added the tulle (which i basically took the skirt pattern piece and flared it out more to cut the tulle pieces.) and i sewed the tulle right into the waistline. the purple bow belt is a separate piece (which was great because alex had practically grown out of the belt by the time the wedding arrived, so she was able to wear it for the ceremony and take it off for the reception.) i think the dresses turned out fabulous and alex might even wear hers to holiday tea as well (since it washed really well and i just have to figure out what to do with the rips in the tulle that appeared post wedding; probably from the fancy dancing alex was doing!)

convert-a-shirt princess costume

http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/2300148 i made a cut-and-sew fabric pattern to convert-a-shirt into an adult sized princess experience. i was originally motivated to create this design because i want to wear it to our breakfast in cinderella's castle when we go to disney world and have my picture taken with snow white. i plan to pair this shirt with a pair of yellow shorts to complete the look. then i saw that spoonflower was having a fabric contest to create a costume for either an adult or child on a yard of fabric = perfect timing! so then i added on the bow accessory and apple purse. the contest starts today - go here to vote for me, convert-a-shirt by kfay: http://www.spoonflower.com/contests/216