Baseball T Makeover

I love baseball T's. I dunno about you, I think they're super comfy and really cute. I have a few myself, but my favorite is this gigantic one I wear when I'm loafing around my house. I get a little embarrassed when I wear it around my neighborhood though, so i decided to give it a little makeover.

I gave up on a sexy pose, little teapot it is.

First step, tighten it up. I turned it inside out and put it back on, and pinned all down the side and underneath the arms so that it was the size I was looking for. Word to the wise? Err on the side of a little larger, the first round I did was way too tight and I had to take out my stitches and do them over. A little wiggle room is always a good thing.

Pinning my armpits was awkward to say the least.

I then traced a line down the side where the pins were, and saw that for the body the pins were 2.5 inches in from the edge. I mirrored this on the other side of the shirt.

 

 Pencil washes off fabric. Best quilting tip evar.

I replaced the safety pins with actual pins, the safety pins just make it easier to pin the shirt while wearing it so they don't fall out when I'm taking it off.

 Little pins coming in handy.

I drew a line down where the safety pins were on the sleeves, and measured the new width compared to the original width. At the armpit the seam had been taken in 4 inches, and at the cuff the seam was taken in 2 inches. I matched this on the other sleeve and replaced those safety pins with regular ones.
I made a nice simple straight stitch all down the side and sleeves of the shirt, but BEFORE cutting the excess fabric off I tried it back on to check the size.
Like I said, the first time was too tight, glad I hadn't cut first and asked questions later. I resewed the lines and tried it back on again. Fit well, but the sleeves at the cuffs were too tight, I fixed this by hemming the cuffs a bit. Finally cut off the excess fabric.

Tried to think of a project for the leftover scraps, project 

ended up being "Fill up the trashcan".

Tried it back on, perfect fit! But we're not done, I want to add a little detailing too.

Such good lighting in my room.

I decided to fabric paint a little retro number on the front to give it a little more pizzazz. 7's my lucky number, so I went with that. I found a cool font I liked online, traced it onto a thick stock piece of paper and cut it out using my Xacto knife.

Finally found a use for all those Golf magazines sent to our house.

I then taped the heck out of the back of the number, to keep the paper nice and flush with the fabric while I was painting. Nothing worse then going through all this trouble only to have a little smudge do to sloppy paper-taping.

By thick stock paper I mean the cover to my sketchpad.

I used a light blue fabric paint, and when the paper was nice and tight with the fabric painted in dabbing motions along the cutouts. It's best to keep your paintbrush at a 90 degree angle with the fabric so no bristles accidentally slip under the paper.

Someone told me these 7's look like sassy raindrops.

Let it dry a bit to prevent smudges, and take the paper off. I then took a tooth pick and filled in little tiny holes I saw and to neaten up the edges of the numbers. You could probably also use a really tiny paintbrush or something else, but I'm poor and a toothpick is what I have :)

Little smudge at the top of 7 number 1, but what can you do?

Voila! Once the shirt is dry, wear it around town and tell people you're a softball superstar from the 70's.

Skulking in the background. He's lucky I didn't make him model the shirt.

Badonkadonk

So... I enjoy being a grown up, paying my own bills and getting to come home as late as I want. Unfortunately one of the things that isn't as fun is that you actually age as you get older... Lame. So certain parts of my anatomy have... changed... shall we say? Recently, the circumference of my hips. I'm digging this new big girl body, but my pants and dresses are not. So, one of my favorite dresses will no longer do as a dress, but must be rebuilt better, faster, stronger! Today? We turn it into a shirt! BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!

Is it the rapture?

I want to make it long enough so that it's not a belly shirt, but it's a little tough. The buttoned middle part ends a little too high for my taste, so I had to hem just below it.
This is how the buttoned pieces of fabric are held together.

Hard to see, but Waldo's in here somewhere...

Hard to see, but the flap of fabric is just tucked under itself. So I started tearing out the seams around it to see what shape the fabric was in underneath it.

Just tore it out with my teeth.

There wasn't much fabric to work with, but it's enough as long as you're careful with your sewing.

Pretty gnarly when you start tearing clothes apart.

I cut the extra fabric of the skirt off with an extra few inches to work with.

Wish I could think of something useful for this extra fabric besides "turban".

Aaaand cut right down the middle from the center opening.

I couldn't hem the sides of the opening straight down, there just wasn't enough extra fabric to work with. So I tucked them under and created a little V part.

Kinda looks like an angry, crazy face huh? With jacked up eyebrows?

With an area this small it's much easier to hand sew what you need. So I stitched as close to the edge as possible to match the sewing on the rest of the shirt/dress.

 This is where all my quilting finesse comes in handy.

 Looks messy from the back but better from the front.

So profesh. No dress-bot could do better.

Added a couple of reinforcing stitches to the back so it wouldn't flap open all the time. But I just stitched the heavier pieces of fabric together, so nothing shows from the front.

Not as nice.

 

Much more nice.

Okay you can see one stitch from the front, on the left hand side. But no one's going to be inspecting the hem of my shirt. :)

For the love of God don't drop one of these pins on the floor. You'll never see it again.

Pin the bottom hem of the shirt, using as little fabric as possible so it's still nice and long in the waist.

Had to search the house for an hour to find this iron.

Ironed the hemline before sewing so it stays nice and even while it's going through the machine. I sewed a 1/2 inch hem all along the bottom, sewing back on my stitches at the very start and end of the line to reinforce them.

Like my blinds? Don't act like you're not impressed.

And voila! Now I just have to go on safari.

Chain of Command

WOW it's been a long time since I've done a post, guess I've been coerced into enjoying this random beautiful weather in Boston. Decided to bang out a craft last night since otherwise I'd have to abandon this whole blog thing entirely. Result? Chain necklace:

I have a ton of beads I've been meaning to use so decided to break into my stash. Here are the supplies I used including these lovely pink lemonade squares from Beadles in Rockport, MA - awesome store.

Love me some craft supplies.

Check out my tutorial for making a loop out of wire for a bead here, apply that to the three pink lemonade beads with the jewelry wire. You should have three guys that look like this:

I swear this fabric is actually teal, not your grandmother's lime green...

Open a jump ring, which is a tiny metal ring that has a gap you can twist open and link the beads together in a chain. Here's a blown up ring to see what I'm talking about:

Please forgive my unpolished nails, I'm really not a heathen.

This is what the chain will look like:

Couldn't resist.

Using another jump ring, connect the end of your jewelry chain to one end of the bead chain.

You're feeling sleeeeepyyyyyy...

Without cutting the other end, measure how long you want the total chain to be by holding it up to you neck. You're going to cut the chain to connect to a clasp that will be able to open and close so you can put the necklace on, so for now just pretend like you want the chain to go all the way around your neck. Now cut the end that will connect to the other side of your bead chain.

Just make sure not to cut your finger off with these rust-slathered garden shears.

Measure the middle of the chain that you just cut and cut again, this is where the clasp will go to allow you to open and close the necklace.

This shot was way harder to set up than it should've been for the average human.

Using more of those nifty jump rings, attach the loose jewelry chain to the free end of your bead chain (Sorry for overuse of the word "chain", but it's applicable). You should now have one continuous necklace, just without the clasp at the ends. Using more jump rings, attach the clasp and it's little partner holder to the free ends of the jewelry chain.

Let's just hope it doesn't fall off while I'm breakdancing. Hate it when that happens.

And voila! You have an actual finished necklace. The more I tend to work on making jewelry the better I get at it, so practive makes perfect. That being said I'm still not very good at it, but hey "They can't all be winners." - Bad Santa

Tried to model it on myself, but Oscar held still longer.

Cauliflowers?! For meeeeee??

Stumbled onto something pretty awesome a few weeks back, mashed cauliflower. I dunno if you feel the same way as I do about cauliflower, I loves it, but it's hard to find fun ways to cook it. Roasting, steaming (blah), with crumbly ritz crackers on top (Super yum) etc. It feels very underappreciated though for how good it tastes even with the boring ways to cook it. So this seemed like a fun recipe to try...

First things first, acquire a cauliflower.

Like my magnet collection?

Break it up into small pieces and boil for 10 mins or until soft.

Smushy.

While it's boiling, gather 1/4 parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup milk and if you want, a tablespoon of cream cheese.

Squeeze bottle of pre-minced garlic. Best. Purchase. Ever.

When the cauliflower is soft (easily punctured all the way through with a fork) drain it and pat dry with paper towels. Doesn't have to be crazy dry, just enough so it's not dripping (We don't want no watery mashed flowers).

Immediately transfer to a food processor while it's still hot and combine the milk, cheese and garlic.

 Please excuse my bland kitchen.

Pulse until all mixed up like.

Yummmmm...

Enjoy your healthy and super yummy concoction. Only eat in moderation, safety first ;)

Fin.

Very sad post

Last week our beloved MCAT had an unexpected health issue and passed away. It was very quick and he wasn't in any pain, but it's sad for all of us left behind who loved him very much. He charmed whoever he met with his playful personality and sweet disposition, and we know that he's been reincarnated as a dust-loving, window-watching, cat-chasing tiger in the jungles of the wild. Rest in Peace little guy, you'll be very missed.

 Emerson Cat Munsell

2008 - 2012

Tonight we make soap

Helloooo, very sorry it's been about a month since I did a post. I really have been crafting, cooking etc but I just haven't gotten my act together enough to document and post it for everyone's viewing pleasure. Finally decided enough was enough and would try out making soap.

You can get really into soap and make it with lye and stuff and ingredients, not my style. So I bought a brick of soap base, some lavender oil and little lavender bits (seeds? I dunno...).

Been carrying this around for awhile...

Tip? Put some lavender oil right on your pillow, will make for some sweet dreams.

The soap base is fun because there's lots of different kinds you can buy. Goat's milk, soy, pure white etc. I got straight clear regular kind cause I'm broke and I wanted to see the lavender bits in it.

Take some, cut into little chunks.

 I don't know why, but this looks really cool. Like space ice.

 

Melt in the microwave first for 30 seconds, then 10-20 seconds until completely melted. It took me about 4 or 5 rounds of 10-20 second intervals until it was totally melted. It's the consistency of water so be carefuls.

Iew.

Put some drops of lavender oil in there, I just kind of shook the little container out until it smelled pungent enough. You can put the lavender bits in now too, but they tend to float to the top so let em steep in there for minute to bog em down.

Cover a wide bottomed container with wax paper, making sure it gets into all the corners.

Fits perfectly.

Pour the wax in, making sure it covers the whole bottom.

Also iew.

Let it sit for a hot second, then sprinkle the lavender bits in (Unless you've already done this.) This'll cause them to stick to the surface and they won't fly around when we pour the second layer of soap on top. I did not do this and my bits flew around.

*shake*shake*shaaaake*... *shake*shake*shaaake*... shake your 

laaavendeeer biiiits, shake your laaavendeeer biiiits!

I honestly like the looks of the soaps with less lavender in them better, so that's what I suggest. I went a little crazy on the first batch and they turned out a little murky.

Let that layer dry for a bit, 10-15 minutes, then pour a second layer on top.

Did not go as planned.

Let that layer dry as well, 20 minutes or so. Then peel it back from the wax paper until you have a little freestanding brick'o'soap.

Bam.

From here you can go crazy, just cut off jagged pieces, cut it up into neat little cubes, or even make soap shavings... I chose cookie cutters cause I just wanted to go straight up insane.

Seems legit.

Luckily soap is really easy to cut, so it's not difficult to use a bunch of shapes. I'd use metal though because plastic ones seem to be a bit too flimsy to do any real damage.

At one point my hand started to hurt, so I'd press down on the cutter with a flat hard surface, like the pan we originally poured the soap into.

Ease and class are the name of the game.

After fitting in as many shapes as possible, you can ball up and reheat the remaining soap. Although with the lavender bits the soap got tinted darker and darker with each reheat.

Blorbular.

When I only had a tiny bit of soap left I tried this method, taping down a cookie cutter to wax paper and pouring the soap into it.

Super easy, right?

Did not work.

ehhhh...

Let em dry, stack em up and package em for your friends and family. Don't worry, they'll have to coo over them and pretend they're really cool, so you'll feel validated in the end.

Glamour shot

 

Picture perfect