Mending

This is one of my favorite sweaters that I bought on that panicked trip to DI to buy warm sweaters last winter. I love that it is wool! It is so warm- and cute too.

Today I pulled it out of the dryer and I noticed small holes!
(One perk to buying clothes second hand- things never shrink in the wash.) But that doesn't mean you don't find other surprises.

I really love this sweater- it has been a trusted friend in keeping me warm this past year and a half.

So I decided to apply the old pioneer motto:

"Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

or do without"

by mending the sweater. I've never done this before so we'll see how it weathers during wear and washing. But I think it turned out well!

I found some scrap fabric in a similar color and placed it on the inside of the sweater.

Then took similar color thread and stitched "in the ditch" of the rows of knitting.

Can you see the patch job? (it is up by the collar)
Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

(and YES! (exasperated) this is another bathroom!)

I know.. I know.. I promised..

 

Do you see that baby blue in the sweater? I love that color. This week anyway. lol

Fashion Icon Challenge

I never never NEVER find these types of challenges, while they are happening. I was so excited two days ago when I saw Ladybird post about this Project Sewn challenge that was starting today!

 

I just had to play along.

 

I am determined to fashion a working/functional wardrobe. I am not going to keep clothes I don't love- anymore! Life is too short. ( And my closet too small ..HA!) So I am being fearless this year. I am reconstructing my clothes to fit me and be fashionable... or it is being destroyed in the process ... and can no longer hang in my closet.

 

Today, the challenge was be inspired by a fashion icon.

 

 

I picked Kate Middleton.

 

 

I love this color palette. Baby blue and brown. So cute right?

I have a brown skirt- that I love. I thought I would try to make a cute baby blue top inspired by this blazer.

 

I don't have a cute blue blazer- but I did have a baby blue linen dress. (That I loved, back in the day, before I got rust stains on the skirt. I haven't worn it in years. But haven't been able to toss it.)

 

I seam ripped the sleeves off and cut some length off.

 

Then using a tip from Kristina's book/blog- I cut new sleeves. (I want longer sleeves.)

 

 

Things were going along... fine. The sleeves turned out! That was a happy moment in the project.

I wasn't too happy about the shape of the shirt. It is looking pretty maternity.

 

So, I thought I would move along to the detail- that I loved from Kate's jacket. The brown collar.

 

 

I had some brown/tapestry type of fabric- and added to the collar of this shirt.

I'll let you judge for yourself.

 

 

This project turned out pretty home-spun.

 

This is pretty bad... but I just had to laugh. I wanted to play along so bad on the Project Sewn Challenge... but I am a DIY baby. I am still learning. Kristina warns in her book- that when adding elements to clothes- they need to look like they belong. This collar- sticks out. I mean, if the shape wasn't so horrible- I maybe could save this shirt by adding brown big buttons, etc.. but I am tossing in the towel. The shape is just too wrong- for what look I was going for.

 

Lesson learned? Shape matters!

 

My husband did a double take- from watching the super bowl and said, "That's not your blue dress-- is it? I LIKED that blue dress!"

 

ah. yeah...

There are going to be casualties in this "learning to sew" goal.

 

(I didn't hem the sleeves-) But I am proud that I was able to alter/modify the sleeves.  (If I am trying to see the positive side of this DIY failure.)

I can't wait to see everyone's amazing creations for this challenge!

 

casualty count: 2

Kristina said she had about 37 clothing items die in her learning process. I am giving myself an even 40. If I learn to sew, and create a wardrobe I love and loose less than 40 items of clothing... I will have done a good job.

 

 

Color Challenge: Navy Blue

So I have been thinking about this idea of color schemes.
I feel very dumb.

I searched some more sites- trying to wrap my brain around these concepts.
I found this site VERY very very helpful. (www.tigercolor.com)

I was getting kinda overwhelmed at the task of looking- analyzing all my clothes.
So I decided to pick a color range to work with. I like Navy Blue- I own a lot of it. (mostly jeans) So I thought I would start there.

I found all my Navy blue items (4 sweaters, 2 jackets, 1 dress, 2 shirts, 4 skirts)

Then I grabbed the colors next to blue on the color wheel.

I have two purple shirts ( that I rarely wear- almost never.)

I have 2 turquoise shirts, two turquoise sweaters (I wear a lot with jeans or khaki pants)

I have two green sweaters and one skirt
 

Those were my players today.
 

I am going to post FIRST in the line up- my normal outfit for church or whatnot.

 Then the next photos in the same row are NEW outfit combinations.

(Normal)                             Never thought about these two. (Last one I could even wear interpreting!!)

I actually bought

this all together.


 

I normally don't wear this dress- but by itself. I think I got out of the habit of "layering" while we lived in Hawaii for 8 years. Once I saw that green sweater over the blue dress-- I fell in love with that dress all over again! What a gem I had hidden in my closet!

Look how cute it looks!

Adorable.

This is another snooze outfit of mine.

 

(Sorry about the lighting- the sun was setting. There was GREAT light for about 30 min.)
Here are two new options for this cute skirt!


I also didn't realize what a gem this green sweater is! I honestly only (use) to wear it with that one skirt. Look how cute it is with this skirt!

And I love the look of denim jacket and skirt.. how cute is that?

















Here is a snoozer outfit I normally wear with this skirt. (on the left)
Remember the cute outfit I just created?

Did you notice that of all the outfits I posted- only a handful I could wear to work? I love white shirts! I need fashion counseling  therapy about a work wardrobe.

The good thing about this exercise is... you see where the holes are in your wardrobe. Belts- I am lacking and cardigan sweaters are delightful! I want about a million more- after I saw the transformation of that one dress!

Past Project: Christmas skirt

Here is a project I did before Christmas. (See? I've been doing this, or have been thinking about refashioning clothes- long before I set my goal this year. It has been on my mind!)

 I took these before I actually thought I would be blogging about my sewing projects.

I wanted to show you some of my past projects- so you can see some good examples of my starting point.

I found this really cute skirt at DI- right before Christmas.
Unfortunately it was a size 18 and I am normally an 6-8-10 (depending on the brand of clothing.)

Cute - Right? (I warned you before- I have a closet full of clothes that don't fit me.)

Another bonus was- this skirt was right in my price point.
I loved that this skirt didn't not have an elastic waistband. Instead it has a side hidden zipper.

I played with different ways to take it in.

Here I just folded it to one side.
I thought I could add some buttons on the waist for decoration.. and leave the excess fabric... like a mock wrap skirt.

I thought about this type of fold... with the skirt folded to the center... but that seemed a bit too retro to me. It brought too much attention to my bottom half. I don't know- I just didn't like it.

I've seen (and liked) maxi skirts with stripes like this- but this is not that type of skirt.

I ended up folding it- like the first idea.
I wanted to add buttons- but my button holes were a HOT mess. Then I remembered- I don't need functioning button holes- the skirt has a side zipper. (duh)
So I just placed buttons over my hot mess mistake.

I love it and have worn it a dozen times this season.
I've worn it with black tops, brown tops and grey. Red might be an obvious choice- but ironically I don't have any red tops.

Color: Part One

Kristina has a blog post about Color Scheming.
I am clue-less about this so I tagged it as a tutorial I wanted to read-think-experiment with more.

She always looks amazing- but effortlessly put together! How is that possible? Because she knows how to combine color.

After reading her post- I realized I needed a refresher course on the color wheel. (lol)

I grabbed this from a great website (click here) at the Virtual Instructor.
She created this wheel to teach students about complimentary colors. Just what I need!

The Virtual Instructor has this color wheel too. I like it because it shows more shades of these colors.
So my goal by next Friday-  is to post some outfits, NEW outfit combinations, I've created thinking about color schemes.

Feel free to play along! Contact me with your combinations! (laurabethblum(at)yahoo.com) Make sure to put in the subject header: Color Scheme.

Rest in Peace: Work Pants

Oh dear Peeps. Mondays I had hoped to show off cute finished projects.

I hate to tell you..
but today we are gathered to mourn the loss of :

This pair of bell bottom work pants. (sniff sniff)

I had such high hopes for these cute pants.

They fit great at the waist- but just flared too wide at the bottom.

My plan:

Take an existing pair of pants that fit and cut down the shape of the work pants.

As you can see- they were a bit too big!

My mistake in hindsight- I should have grabbed another pair of slacks and NOT JEANS.

I didn't think about that- until I had already cut up one leg. I thought- maybe it would still work- (fingers crossed) because the work pants fabric has a stretch to it.

So I proceeded. Because I'm no quitter!
I decided to sew up the in seam, instead of taking the bulk off the outer leg.. that is much simpler than having to deal with the waistband and such. Good decision- right? And I think my sewing process was sound... just I used the wrong article of clothing to use as my "pattern".

As you can see-- the fit is VERY fitted- you can see way too much of my pear/saddle bags- nothing left for the imagination.

Casualty Count: 1

We knew this would happen from time- to- time. But what is important is we learned a great lesson.
Hopefully sharing my loss of my Work Pants- will help spare you and other work pants in the future.

THE BOOK

I just got my copy of The Chic Girl's Guide to One-of-a-kind Wardrobe by Kristina Clemens.
Sign me up for the sequel!

I am giddy. Because I have been attempting to restyle fashion my clothes for years! (with not much satisfaction- I should add.) But I lack a lot of the knowledge about clothes construction and sewing skills- so my refashioned items looked very home spun.

Kristina has the skill set I lack. She truly understands  how clothes are constructed and walks the reader through the process of evaluating if a garment is a good candidate for being restyled or not.

She has great advice about fabric colors too. Which colors are easier to match and which are impossible.
If you have set the goal to alter your clothes- this is a must have book- in my opinion.
I am so so happy I splurged to buy the book.






If you have an interest in tailoring your own clothes- this is a great book to have in your back pocket!
I am so glad I bought it! Really.

It's not a typical DIY book- full of craft projects.
It really feels like a cheat-sheet to professional tailoring secrets, that a normal person would have to go through years of schooling to learn... but Kristina has written the cliff notes!

I am in love with the book- and love that some of my garments in my queue-- fit many of the projects she illustrates.

I can't wait to try some of her techniques!