Headbands-A-Plenty

Happy Mother's Day!

I was surfing the web of my favorite websites and blogs for some inspiration and I found some on P.S.-I Made This.  Today's project idea came from the braided headband all the way down the bottom of the page.

It is making headbands with covered elastic hair ties, scraps of fabric and odds and ends.  I not only braided some headbands but also made some from a bag of old neck ties I bought at a yard sale for a buck.

My odds and ends

Here is my collection of odds and ends: it includes neck ties, ribbon, yarn, lace and strips of fabric.  Yes, there is some feather boa in there, but it ended up being a bit too elaborate for a headband this time around.  I know, I'm no fun!

Good ol' Goody

First, I did the neck tie headbands first.  I used the skinny portion of the tie and cut a length that fit my head.

Making use of ugly neck ties

I knew these ties would come in handy!  I sewed one end around the elastic and pinned the other end to the elastic so I could fit it to my head perfectly.  I have a small head, so many elastic headbands slip off because they are too big.

Half done already

Once I got it where it fit the best, I sewed that end down.  Viola!  I'm done!

Ugly ties = chic headband

I made a few neck tie headbands, because they took no time to whip up.  I then made a few braided ones.  For the first one, I took a strip of denim, a green and white polka dot ribbon and a strip of black lace.  I sewed them around the elastic like I did the ties.

Neon is back!  Really!

That one had a very retro 80's feeling to it.  Very Debbie Gibson.  The second braided one, I took some brown chenille yarn, navy blue nylon cord and baby blue cotton yarn.

Skinny headbands are cool, too

That one is very skinny.  The chenille gives it texture that holds to your hair a bit.  The blue and brown together reminds me of Holly Hobby with her brown field boots and blue bonnet.

Love Holly Hobby! <3

So, all-in-all I made six headbands in the course of about an hour.  This was an easy project and you really don't even need a sewing machine.  You can just needle and thread the neck tie ones and then knot the braided ones.

Busy bee, I was

Show me some blog love and send me some pics or comments to let me know what your thinking!  I would love to see your WIPs or finished projects!

5K Shrug

This weekend I ran my first official 5K in Fishhawk Ranch in Lithia, FL (where I live).  It was called the 15th Annual Fishhawk Ranch Road Race.  There were just under 800 total runners either participating in the 5K or the 10K. 

When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was overcast, in the high 60's and a bit drizzily.  Normally, that would've been considered a dull day in Florida, but for a day that you will be running, it was a perfect day.

On a day like Saturday, you arrive at the race with a few layers of clothing on, like wind pants and/or long sleeve shirt or a fleece, but then you get to running and you definitely don't want to be wearing all those layers.  It's a pain to have to keep running back to your car (esp if the parking is not near where the race starts) or tying a bulky shirt to your waist.

That's where I got the idea of a 5K shrug.  Basically it is a long sleeved t-shirt cut up so you are wearing only the sleeves, like a regular shrug that you wear with tanks or dresses.  This means a lot less bulk when you are running.  Here's what I did:

Take an old long sleeved t-shirt or athletic nylon/quick-dry/whatever shirt you have.  This one came from my I-want-to-donate-but-I-might-wear-it-one-day pile.  Then cut the bottom straight off just below the armpits.

Cut it up the middle.  (Or not, it won't really be a shrug, but it can be your 5K I Love the 80's Half Shirt)

I then matched up the two fronts, wrong-sides together.

I took chalk and drew where I wanted to cut so that it is rounded in the front.

I did the same for the neck area.

Here we are...a 5K shrug.  This t-shirt was a loose one, so you can choose to add a button or a pin to the front to keep it closed, in case it is windy or you might actually want to run with it on.

It's now tied around my waist with very little bulk.  Since it's all cut up, you may even be able to place the shrug somewhere in the race start area or by a bush or something until the race is done.  The likelihood of a cut up t-shirt still being on the ground when you get back is pretty good.  I would advise doing this to a shirt that you won't be sad if someone else thought your idea was fabulous and really did take it (junk pile/Goodwill/yard sale/gift from old boyfriend that you forgot to burn).

Back to the race.  This was a chip-timed race, which is nice, but they still took the guntime as your official time, so I don't really see the point of the chip.  I also timed it with my heart rate monitor watch.

I did a thorough job of stretching out before the race.  Vince and I had been running at least 3 times a week for months now, and we recently added a boot camp style training workout 2 times a week (so awesome, its right after work and work pays for it - how can you say no?).  The boot camp has improved my running measurably.  I'm also sticking to the My Fitness Pal calorie counter and a healthy diet.  That has to be helping too.

My public goal was to run the 5K in under 33 minutes.  That is about an 11 minute mile.  During our practice runs, I would be able to run 2 miles at a 10 min/mile pace, then the last mile it would drop down to 13 minutes.  It just took practice and pushing to get a more steady pace.

My personal, more private goal was to run the 5K in under 30 minutes (less than 10 min/mile pace).  I have not run that distance in that amount of time since running a weekly 5K running series in Mass in 2005.  That's a long time ago!!

I was able to run the 5K in 30:12 (30 minutes and 12 seconds)!  I'm so excited.  My watch time was actually 29:32, but I will just stick with the official guntime of 30:12.  So, I can positively state that I beat my goal.  Whoo-hoo!

A perk of running the race, you get free stuff at the end.  They had hot dogs, bagels, pumpernickel rolls, chic-fil-a breakfast biscuit sandwiches, Gatorade, water, energy bars, granola bars, water bottles, towels, Beef O'Brady's refillable sippy cups and best of all...booze.  They had hard iced tea (Mike's Lite) and Sam Adam's beer.

Even though I did not win a medal for my running efforts (I came in 202nd overall out of 519 runners, 65th out of 285 women and lastly, 9th out of 40 women in my age group of 35-40 yo), I had a great time!

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween, Vince and I were invited to a house party with the theme "2011 Bates Senior Prom".  Bates being from the movie Carrie (which was the Hostess costume).  So, with that being said, I went as a prom teenager.  I went to Prom in the early 90s, so the styles were not quite as strange as the 80s, but strange enough.  My reconstructed dress might have more like a late 80s/early 90s feel to it, with elements spanning 3 decades (70s through the 90s) rather than straight 90s.  To my original prom, I wore a knee-length fitted purple sequined dress with a white rhinestone halter strap.  I LOVED it.  I may have asked my mom to keep that one, but there was no way in this decade that I was fitting back into it (ah, size 2, 90 lbs) so I must improvise with a dress from Goodwill.

Vince was my date, but he went as Don Johnson from Miami Vice (aka Detective James Crockett).  I played it off as the "boyfriend that went to college."  You all had that friend that had the older boyfriend that no one ever saw because he either lived in another city/state or was older than they were and went to another school;  whether they were totally lying or not, you may never have found out the real story.  That was my story last night.

I bought my dress at Goodwill, which was a bridesmaid's dress made of satin and organza in GOLD.  Yes, that is my throwback to the 70's decade.  Oh, and it had BIG boobs.

I think saying that it had big boobs was an understatement.  It had really big boobs.  This dress had an organza attached skirt with the satin top extending below the waist in an asymmetrical hem. Underneath was a petticoat to make it pouf a bit.

To reconstruct this dress to be Prom-worthy, I first had to cut the length.  A selling point for me was the asymmetrical hem of the satin top.  My prom had asymmetrical hems all over the place, so I am playing them up to the max.  I pinned up the organza and petticoat and just had the liner hanging down.  I trimmed 12 inches down from the satin hem.

Once that was trimmed away, I sewed a hem.  I then unpinned the organza and gathered it in little bunches along the new hemline of the liner.  Once the bunches were made, I took needle and thread and tacked the bunches in place.  I trimmed the remaining organza to follow the liner hemline.

I pinned up the liner and organza layer to reveal only the petticoat.  The petticoat part was really only at the bottom of the dress, so I just pinned it up and sewed to match the same asymmetrical hem.  This allowed the petticoat to have the pouf effect and stick out the bottom (in a Madonna/tacky 80s way).

I took in the sides at the top.  Just so you know, I'm keeping the big boobs.  I took it in so it's not falling off, but those boobs will be back.

You can't have a fun dress without the one-shoulder-poufy sleeve.  I cut one strap completely off.  I then unstitched the remaining one in the back only.  I needed to reposition this strap to hold my new boobs up effectively.

I took some leftover liner fabric and made a tube.  I affixed one tube end onto the front part of the dress encompassing the strap.  I then stuffed the tube sleeve with leftover organza.  I scrunched up the tube and sewed the strap back onto the back of the dress, but more towards the center zipper.  I then sewed the loose tube end onto the back of the dress.

It's hard to tell, but that is the makings of the poufy sleeve in the above pic.

I still had more leftover liner.  This is where my new boobs come into the story.  I made another tube, but larger.  I took leftover quilting batting and stuffed the tube.  With some arranging, I made a nice set of C's for myself. (With my own boobs, they must add up to D's, right??)  I put the dress on and adjusted the fill and evened it out.  I just tied the boobs on like a bandeau top.  Since they are not real, they don't weigh anything.  I took the strap I cut off earlier and tied it in the middle of the boobs to give a bit more definition, rather than a uniboob.

Here is the finished dress:

The dress actually is not too bad.  It's starting to grow on me.  Vince then spray painted with gold, my shoes and the white petticoat.

These shoes rock!  Who knew a can of spray paint can do such a transformation?

I then put on some finishing touches like black hose and teased my hair and I'm ready for the Prom!  I did my hair just like I used to do it back in the day: banana clip with the hair wall for the bangs with a long tendril.

I had to take the picture by the hedge, just like my parents would have done it.  Not only did I dress up, but Vince did as well, as I said above.  Here is us taking a "professional portrait" at the prom (notice my new rack):

I have to say, no offense to my high school friends out there, but I had so much fun at this prom, more than at my real prom (no teenage boy drama).  If anyone is looking for a party to throw, throw a theme party.  They are a huge amount of fun. (You'll have to check my Facebook to get a hint of how it went) :-)

I also am dressing up for work, but instead of a prom teenager, I will be going as something else.  You'll have to check back later in the week to see my Monday costume!

Happy Trick or Treating!

Fix It - Summer Lovin' Sweater

I bought this fair isle sweater at a yard sale because I loved the color work on the yoke and ribbing at the neck.  The color work is done in the knitting style called fair isle.  Knitting this would take me forever because you have to knit different colors in the same row.  Not a beginner technique but not impossible.  So when I saw this I appreciated it, even though it was not hand knit. 

Fair Isle

I did a spring cleaning in my closet this weekend.  I also went through my craft to-do pile to weed out the items that I realistically will not work on.  I came across this sweater and knew I wanted to tweak it but was undecided how.  This, and in conjunction with wanting to wear it soon, I decided to make this a short-sleeved sweater. 

Monkey arms, not to mention clingy!

The arms on this beauty were so long, that I knew that the only way I would wear it soon (um, wool sweater in the summer?) was to chop them off.  In addition, the arms were very itchy.  These had to go!

See ya, Sleeve-o!

I took my cutting mat and rotary cutter and positioned the sleeve so it laid flat and cut about 2 inches from the last color stitch.  It is a bit unnerving cutting knit, but once it is sewed, it won't fray. 

Colorful pins won't get lost in the bulk of the sweater

I folded the cut edge under until there was about a quarter inch of dark pink showing. 

Aerial view

I chose a ballpoint needle and used a zig-zag stitch and stitched just beyond the last color stitch to make a folded-over edge.  I can go back later with a serger and finish the raw edge to prevent fraying.  I have to hand wash this sweater, so the fraying should be minimal, but it is always nice to finish a raw edge for a professional look.

Summer Lovin' Sweater!

This is how it came out.  I love it!  The ribbing on the neck is very stretchy and I can have a wide neck or an off-the-shoulder look by pulling it down more.  It will also look good with a denim jacket.  Very chic! 

I have the sleeves leftover; so I cut off more of the edge so they are straight.

Homeless Sleeves

Now that I have made orphans of the sleeves, I was trying to think of something fun to do with them.  I had put them aside and was cleaning up from sewing and Vince was looking at my new Summer Lovin' Sweater and asked where the sleeves went.  I went over to where I put them and they were gone! 

I looked at Vince and he had thought of something to do with them...

Leg Warmers!!

We had a good laugh at that!  I think they will look cuter on me but why rain on his parade, right? lol

I will put them aside with my winter wear and pull them out in December.  Hopefully, the retro 80's fad is still in; I can't wait to wear 'em.

Off-the-Shoulder T-shirt

This project was inspired by my enthusiasm for UFC and a particular MMA fighter, Georges St-Pierre (GSP).  Yes, it is true and I do not hide it, I like watching cage fighting!  Atypical for a knitter and sewer to enjoy a little violence?  Maybe, but just be sure that you can never judge a book by its cover!  Ha, ha.

If you do not know much about UFC, it stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship and it is a fighting association and MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts which is a collective term for various styles of martial arts, such as Greco-Roman wrestling, judo, boxing and jujitsu (many more, but you get the idea) combined together to make one sport.

Now, the point of this project is to honor my favorite fighter, GSP.  He is from Montreal, Canada and has been fighting in UFC since 2004.  He is currently the Welterweight champion and every fight he fights, is to defend his title.  In short, he rocks!

Ohh la la!

Anyway, enough ogling over him and back to the project.  Last Saturday night on Pay-Per-View he fought against Jake Shields and he defended his title (although, admittedly, it was a bit boring, but still a good show).  So I wanted to make something with the letters "GSP" on it.  I have been liking the off-the-shoulder style that is retro-ing back from the Flashdance days.

So, I went to a thrift store in Tampa and bought a red t-shirt for $1.50.  With this t-shirt I cut the edges off and trimmed the neckline.


Chopped!


Now, something to keep in mind when you trim the neck to be off-the-shoulder: trim little by little.  Start with trimming the neckline midway on the shoulder (halfway between the neck and the sleeve seam on the shoulder), following the curve of the neck.  Try it on then adjust the one shoulder you want to hang off gradually.  You can cut too much.  You might want to try it on a junk t-shirt first.

For my lettering, I went online and pulled up an alphabet in a font that I envisioned.  It didn't want it to be too fancy because I have to cut them out with scissors.  Once I chose my font, I increased the zoom on the screen to 400%.  I took some tissue paper (not just for gift-wrapping!) and pencil and traced the letter from my computer onto the tissue.  I did this for a G, S, P and a fleur-de-lis.  Since he is French-Canadian and he has a fleur-de-lis tattoo on his calf, I figured I'd go with it.

Trace letters to use as a cutting guide

Once all the letters and symbol were traced, I took a junk t-shirt and pinned the tissue-paper letter to the t-shirt.  I will sew these letters onto the front of the red t-shirt.

Gimme a G!  Go GSP!

I cut along the penciled letter and then repeated it for the other letters and my symbol.  Once they were all cut out I arranged them in different ways to see what would look best.  I just chose the simplest layout.

That fleur-de-lis was a pain to cut out!

I placed the G on the red t-shirt first and pinned it.  I wanted it to look like a varsity jersey with the letters curling after washing to give it a broken-in look.


I sewed just on the inside of the perimeter of the letter

I sewed each letter and the symbol as in my original lay-out and viola!  Fini!


J'aime GSP!

I was still in my pj's when I completed this, so I will model without showing my head (trust me, my hair was a mess)!


Bed shirt or can I wear it in public?


Not sure if I will wear it out anywhere, but it is comfortable and girlie.  Now, does it look like an 8th grade Home Ec project...Yes.  Do I love it anyway...Yes!  I am considering Be-Dazzling it, but not sure.  I will post-script a new pic if I ever get around to it!

Chunky Cuff Bangles

I made these bracelets hoping it would be simple and quick, and it was!  I'm so glad when a project works out the way I anticipate it would.  Vince helped me with this project; I think he wanted to play with the hot glue gun.

First, this project idea came from a book called P.S. I Made This.  I bought this book at Books-A-Million and it is a great DIY book for the fashionista on a budget.  The link above is to the website for this book and it has a photo gallery and several DIY ideas right on the main page.  If you're a DIY gal, then you must check it out!


Ideas-a-plenty in this book!

I'm not claiming to be a fashionista, because I won't make half the ideas in this book, but the other half are quite clever.  Like I said, these bangles are from this book. 

The items needed for this project are a cardboard mailing tube, a knife to cut the tube, fabric strips (anything will do), scissors, and a hot glue gun.  I also had some cool studded strips that I harvested from a purse that I bought at Goodwill for $2 or $3.  It had some great hardware and a handle in great condition, so I bought it, with the intention of cutting it up.


Look at all the cool stuff on this purse!


First, the large rings are awesome, along with the handle, the small rings, the studded strips and the zipper pull all were taken off this purse.

All the possibilities!

Anyway, after I cut up this poor purse, I worked on unstitching the studded strips from the zippers.  I kept the fabric too; Vince will use these scraps later.  The other items I put aside and will use them on future projects.  I then cut about a 1 to 1.5" inch "slice" of cardboard tube for the bracelet base.

Cut on the edge of something so you don't gouge your work surface

I used a mailing tube that a calendar from work came in, so I did not even have to buy the tube (I love free stuff) and a bread knife.  I thought the serrated edge would work best, like a saw, but since I did not have a saw, this knife was my next best thing.

Then you take that slice and cut it so there is an opening, like for a cuff bracelet.  Pick the kind of fabric you want to use and cut it into at least a 1" wide strip that is at least a yard long.  I had some black lace from a past Halloween costume, so I cut from that.  But you can use anything, but if it is silky, it could fray.  That could be nice or not nice, depending on the look you are going for.  Thin fabrics would work the best.

Once you make one, you will want more!

Next, I practiced first, without gluing to get a feeling of how tight I was going to have to wrap.  This also gave me the feel of how much overlap I needed to do.  I did not want to see the cardboard under the lace, so I wrapped the lace overlapping itself at 1/4" intervals.  So, this is why you need a long strip of fabric.  If the fabric you choose is not lace or transparent, then you can be less tight/together with it.


Practice wrapping before you glue

Once I got the wrapping down,  I unwrapped it and took the cardboard opening and put a dab of glue on the inside of the cuff.  While hot, I affixed the end of the lace on the glue.  Then, as I practiced earlier, I wrapped the lace around the cuff.  As I got to the other end, I dabbed more glue and pressed the lace into it.  That is all you have to do!


Purse fabric cuff



Once the first one was completed, the others were simple.  Like I mentioned earlier, I glued the studded strip to one, Vince did another one with the other strip.  I did one with a ribbon and Vince did one with the leftover fabric from the purse.  We even made one with a feather on it.

Strike while the glue gun is hot!

 

We were looking around the house at what else we could wrap around a cardboard cuff!  We made several that evening and gave some to his daughter for her birthday and I plan on sending some up to my sister to give to her 80's-loving neighbor.

We had to stop ourselves, it was so fun!

These are very reminiscent of the Madonna Like a Virgin era. 

I'll always love Madonna!

You know, seeing this picture, you see that this sort of layering/lace/fingerless gloves/long necklaces are making a come back.  Not sure if the black rubber bracelets are coming back, but lots of other 80's inspired fashion is absolutely coming back.  I just hope that the pegging of jeans stays in the past.  I'm avoiding the skinny leg jeans and Converse sneakers.  I'm in my 30's, so I really have no business wearing those anyway!

I went to a party last night and got several compliments on my diamond studded lace cuff!  I was very excited to state that I made it with a cardboard tube!  It was worth doing.

I still have about two feet of cardboard tubing left, so this won't be the last time you see the Chunky Cuff Bangle!  (Hmm, what else can I glue to that cuff....)