A New Year and A New Life for an Old Dress!

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!!! We celebrated Christmas with my daughter and her family and my brother and niece on New Year’s Day since we were out of town visiting hubby’s family over Christmas. We had dinner and presents and a fine time.
I made another skirt to go with another store bought top as an outfit for my upcoming vacation.

You can’t tell from this photo, but the blue in the skirt is in the tiny stylized flowers on the shirt. And though I couldn’t match the crocheted trim on the shirt exactly, I felt the trim I did use on the skirt had a similar feel and it is the same color. And before you wonder, yes, that shirt is very sheer. I have an ecru color tank to where under it. The fabric and trim were given to me and this is the same pattern I used on the other skirts, so this is basically a freebie! It should have gone very quickly, too, but unfortunately I had two pieces of that crochet trim and the first one I sewed on the skirt was about 8 inches to short. Note to self: Pay more attention to what you are doing and a little less to Judge Judy (I just love her!).
Now I have obviously been obsessed with clothes lately. They make quick and relatively easy projects and I just haven't’ had the attention span to think about quilting lately. I have found lots of neat blogs and posts about sewing clothes and about remaking old clothes into new ones. I decided that was a challenge that intrigued me and I set out to find something to tear down and remake.
I found this dress at the Goodwill for $2.50. I figured there was plenty of fabric to work with!

As  you can see in this lovely photo, the dress had a fitted bodice above the breast area the rest was basically a muumuu with pockets. The emblems you see on the dress and bodice are all machine embroidered. The tag says it is a 1X.
I determined to save all of the embroidery and at first thought I would simply take in the sides by a couple inches or more to make it fit. But then I got inspired and ended up with this!

It now has gathers on the lower half of the bodice, a fitted waist, and pleats in the skirt. You can see the effect better from a side angle.

I love how it looks on Constance, but it looks absolutely awful on me. The fit is fine, but that is NOT my color. That’s OK. Back to the Goodwill it goes, but I learned a lot while doing this and I don’t think it will be my last redo!

My New Year’s Resolutions

Maybe… I think… I hope… We’ll see…

Surfing the web and looking at crafty magazines inspires me, makes me hopeful and happy. But getting down to crafting has lately been making me mostly frustrated and stressed. I know what the problem is. It isn’t even a new problem, but it is twofold.

For some stupid reason I have a very hard time just doing something I enjoy even if there is no “need” for it. Logically I know that the therapeutic nature of the activity and sense of pride and accomplishment should be reason enough, but if I haven’t got a recipient or “reason” to craft, I feel guilty. Like I’m wasting time and money that I should be spending on fixing my house up, or doing chores, or whatever. I know - Crazy, right?! That said, I also know that I am not likely to get over this quirk. Maybe it comes from being poor as a child and being raised by my grandmother who’s refrain “If you’d lived through the depression you’d understand…” still rings in my head. Whatever.

My second hang up is my incessant need to over-commit myself. I have always done that. With work, school, my kids, my family, my friends, my crafting… Here’s a “for instance”. I decided for Christmas that I would really like to give my female coworkers home made gifts. This in itself would have been OK, if I hadn’t decided I needed 12 whatevers less than two weeks before the holiday. I turned myself into a twitching mess with the stress of it all. And why? No one knew of my intentions, so no one was going to be upset with me if it didn’t pan out. In fact, it didn’t pan out (more on that in a future post, I am sure!) and I bought the office a new set of sharp knives for the kitchen which is something that was sorely needed, usable by the guys, too,  and not too expensive since I had a coupon.

So after all of that I have come to my resolutions. For 2012 I want to try my best to avoid crafting commitments. I know I won’t avoid other non-crafty commitments. You can’t expect me to go cold turkey! But crafting commitments are especially stressful because they often come in the form of swaps. And then you CAN’T not do it! I would rather die than not produce a gift for someone who faithfully sends me one! We’ll see how that goes, but this is still the easier of the two resolutions.

The second resolution will be much harder. I want to craft. I want to try new things. I want to make something I see online because it is cute. I want to dig into my stash of fabric, trims, doo-dads, and ideas and just go from there! I want to not start the creative process with a “need”, but with an inspiration. I am going to allow myself to make something that looks fun, but for which I have no real need or desire to personally own. I mean, these sorts of things don't spoil! I actually could make things and hang on to them until I find a use for them, couldn't I! I have recently read a few posts from folks who keep a bag/box of items like that that they can grab something from when a gift is needed. How convenient! Seems those last minute gifts are always needed when I have about 600,000 other things to get done, as well. And by the time Christmas comes, I might have a head start on that gift thing. I might have a quilt or doll or other item I can donate. I still plan on crafting for a reason when the reason exists (I am currently really liking making myself some fun things to wear) but I want to also make some of those really cute things I see on the web for kids or teens of which I no longer have either (WOW!  - maybe a little "empty nester" syndrome going on there!).

I have actually gotten started on my resolutions already. While searching for a tutorial on making a scarf like this (click photo for link)

I ran across these (click photos for links)

          

And I was inspired to make this!

It’s wrapped around my neck and layered over a white T-shirt and off-white vest, so the picture is a little unclear. The lace and rick rack is mounted on linen and the whole thing is backed with minky. I have tons of buttons inherited from my mom and used a bunch of them on just the front to sort of create a brooch effect.

And I bought myself a Christmas present. I ordered a box of thread from Threadart.com and once it arrived, I realized I had no where to put all of it! So I ordered some peg board hooks from Ebay and bought a half sheet of peg board. I cut it to size and mounted it on some 1x2 strips of wood. I then painted them to match my walls, installed the hooks, and voila!

      

Before I bought the hooks, I measured my spools and made sure I had hooks long enough to accommodate the spool and the matching bobbin (see that little one in the center?).

Isn’t that neat? Well I’m impressed anyway! I know there are folks out there who do not believe that one should store thread out in the open like that because it should be protected from dust and light. And they are probably right. But I just love looking at it! And I haven’t bought from Threadart.com before, but I read several good reviews and the price was right. I have been picking up clothes at the second hand store that I want to alter and play around with. I just didn’t want to buy several spools of expensive thread to match everything. This seemed a good option.

Well, my posts are fewer and farther between now and it might be a bit before I get back at it again as I am having the family to our house for Christmas on New Year’s Day and hubby and I are off on vacation in about 2 weeks. I can not wait to hit that beach! Happy New Year, everyone!

Yearning for a Calmer Christmas

I’m Back…. Sort Of

Hi all. I am back online. My computer is fixed enough that I can surf and post, but I still have to reload all of my programs, files, and settings. I shouldn’t complain. At least I was able to get my files off the old computer. It took several days, but they weren’t lost!
I have done a little sewing which I will share with you in a sec. But first I have to warn you all that though I am back on line, my posts may be sparse for a while. There is a combination of “stuff” going on right now that is requiring introversion of much of my energies just to get myself through the day each day. You all are so supportive and I have missed you so much, but things are just so… “you know”… right now. I am sure (at least I hope) that a lot of this is depression and will pass with time. Christmas without my mom seems to be hitting me hard this year. And there are other things. I noticed that when my computer was down and I involved myself with crafting, reading, watching a movie, or working on the house, I felt better. I think the productivity of it all is what helps. This is a long and rambling post, but generally I find holding a conversation too taxing lately. Anyhow, the gist is that I apologize for my absence and also for my impending unreliability as a poster – at least for a while. This, too, shall pass.
Now, if you are still reading…. on to some of what I have been up to…

Hubby and I are going on vacation in January. I am seriously counting on that event being very good for my mood! So in preparation, I decided I would get myself a new wardrobe. But while I found tops that would work, I couldn't find suitable skirts. So out came the handy sewing machine and now Connie has clothes!

Now remember, only the skirts are mine. And I know they are simple, but I did have to line the second one. And with my current mindset, I had to rip out a lot of seams, too!

Ok, enough boo hoo from me. I'll talk to you soon-ish.

Still Here, But Still Not ONLINE!!!!

Just a quick note from my desktop at work to let you all know I am here but still without a computer at home. Hopefully I will be up and running some time this week!!