Distressing Furniture

The hubs and I have been blessed with families that unloaded their old furniture onto us when we moved out.  Which is actually kind of awesome because we saved lots of money.  But it's less awesome when the furniture is outdated and non-matching.  Luckily for us, I'm a thrifty DIY kinda gal!

I did some serious research (ahem) on Pinterest, and consulted my copy of the very 90's DIY paint book Debbie Travis Painted House (thanks Mom!).  And came up with this!

DIY Fabric Necklace

I saw a feature in In Style magazine a few years ago on some fabric bead necklaces by Louis Vuitton, and I ripped it out for my Inspiration Binder.  These bad boys retail for over $800 (!!!).  Like, holy frig who has that kind of money for a FABRIC necklace?!?!?  No diamonds or gold or anything!!!  Well I figured I could probably make my own for a mere fraction of the price.  So I did some Googling.

How to Make Your Own Maternity Clothes

Throughout both pregnancies, I have slowly been bookmarking websites that have DIY instructions to make your own maternity clothes.  Mostly this is because I'm very cheap frugal and hate paying full price for something that I will only wear for a short time.  Also, because I live about an hour away from the nearest mall.

Lots of other bloggers have already compiled similar lists, and links that I had already saved on my browser popped up on these lists as well.  Here are a few links that I'm planning on using to make my own maternity wardrobe, as well as some of the "link roundups" that other bloggers have compiled.

Turban Headbands!

I'd been thinking for awhile now about making a turban-style headband... lo and behold Burdastyle read my mind and posted this article last week!  That's it!  I finally went for it on Friday!  They were so quick and easy that I ended up making two of them in one evening!

Originally I started following this video by New York Design Shop, using the 8" x 24" measurements in the video, but quickly found the turban to be WAY too tight.  I suppose the fabric I chose wasn't stretchy enough...  But it is a great project anyways!

For my version you will need:

• Stretchy-knit fabric like a t-shirt, etc. (I found a royal blue velour zip-up bunnyhug at Value Village for $4!)
• Thread (duh)
• Sewing machine that can do a stretch-stitch, or you can hand-sew it...  (I'm impatient and HATE hand-sewing)

Step 1.  Measure out two 8" by 24" rectangles.  I used fabric from the back of the jacket.

Step 2.  Fold each rectangle in half lengthwise, right sides together (read: "right side" means the part of the fabric that you want to show on the outside of the finished headband). Sew a straight line down the long side so you create a tube.  Turn the fabric tube inside out so that your raw ends are on the inside.

Step 3 (Optional).  On one of my turban-style headbands I decided to add some embellishment.  I found these round studs at Dressew in Vancouver.  I simply pushed them through the top layer of the tube and then folded the little teeth to secure them.  It was pretty easy to reach inside the tube and add the studs since I placed them near the opening on both ends of the tube.  Since there is another layer of fabric underneath the studs (between the outside and the part sitting against the head) it should be nice and comfy!

Step 4.  Since my fabric had a finished edge along what used to be the bottom hem of the jacket, I simply tucked the raw edges end of the tube inside the finished edge.  Sew a straight line to join the two ends together.  You will now have a circular tube, and it will look like a headband!
 
Step 5.  I made another (smaller) tube using the same method as Step 2 and then wrapped it over the joined ends (as per Step 4) to hide the joined ends so it looks like a continuous headband with a "knot" in the front.  I secured the smaller "wrap" tube in the same way as Step 4 by tucking the raw edges inside the hemmed edge.  To keep the "knot" from sliding around, I hand-tacked (read: hand-sewed) a few stitches on the back.

Headband #1 all finished!

Headband #2 all finished!

Lovin' the studs!

Donezies! 

Easy peasy!  I love the look of the headbands, they look so chic and the studs add just the right amount of bling!

Mock-Designer Jeans

I absolutely adore dark-denim jeans, so when I saw my friend's pair of True Religion jeans I was smitten. I was not, however, smitten with the price-tag. So I decided to make my own!

I borrowed Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe from my local library and used the pants pattern to construct my own slim-fitting bootcut jeans. Unlike many sewing patterns these days, I found the sizing to be fairly accurate. My measurements said I would be a size 6 and the fit was perfect. Often when using commercial sewing patterns, I make the size I'm meant to be, only to find out that the garment is way too big and then I need to do a whole bunch of extra work to take it in - arg!!!!

The real secret behind these jeans was my careful use of white top-stitching as a contrast with the dark denim. I stitched the entire garment together using regular navy coloured thread, but finished all the top-stitching using a heavy white embroidery thread. This was my first attempt at making a pair of pants with a waistband - and it's also only the fourth time I've successfully put in a zipper. Needless to say there are a few weird things going on around the fly area, but my stepmom suggested that using a bar-and-hook closure would probably be better than a traditional button, so that helped things to be a bit smoother.

I absolutely love these jeans. I've worn them out and about a couple of times and have gotten several compliments on them. After people say they like them, THEN I tell them that I made them... That seems to impress them more, ha ha ha!

Hubby and I went to Vancouver last weekend and all the cherry blossoms were out - BLISS!