New Aprons

Last week I attended a culinary themed women's luncheon at Azusa Pacific University, which I was asked to be a vendor at.  I had been preparing for the luncheon for some time now, and I figured whatever didn't sell at the luncheon I could list in my shop.  Happily, almost everything sold, which means I won't be having a big shop update.  However, I do have 2 aprons for the shop.

The first apron is made with Echino Quiet Ground in lavender.  And the second apron is made with laminated Echino Quiet Ground fabric.  Both aprons have a corset back and are available in my etsy shop Pretty Ditty.


Cheers,

Jamie

Thea fabric

Happy Friday!  Before I'm off and running to T-ball games and school picnics, I wanted to show you a new Alexander Henry fabric titled Thea.  Here are 3 of the colorways in stock at Phat Fabric. 

I think the first one is perfect for welcoming summer into my house.  Also, I have added new fabric to the sale section, including the 40% off sale section.  Here's the link.

Have a great weekend!  

Next week I will be adding 2, maybe 3, new aprons to the shop.  One of the aprons is a laminate apron.  I'm still on the laminate fabric kick.

Cheers,

Jamie

Pill Box Hat

The other day I stumbled upon a Pill Box Hat tutorial by Humble Bumble B on the Threadbanger YouTube channel (link).  After watching the tute I had to make one! 

I had a little trouble stitching the curve, but for the most part it was pretty easy to make.  Although to be honest, I think some of my stitching looks as if I was drinking and sewing.  I wasn't.  I promise. It was late at night.  Anywho, the hat was quick to make and requires very little fabric to complete it.  You can probably get by with using some scrap fabric if you have a stash.  In the tutorial, Ms Humble Bumble doesn't mention interfacing, which is probably because she uses a wool felt fabric in the tute.  However, when making my hat, I did fuse interfacing to the fabric pieces before I stitched the pieces together.  It all depends on the type of fabric you use, so it's something worth considering before you make the hat.  

The flower and birdcage netting is my own embellishment.  For the flower I used dupioni silk from Joann's Fabric.  I cut a 1/2" strip of the fabric, folded it in half lengthwise and wound it up.  While I wound the strip I dabbed glue along the base of the strip and glued the layers together.  For the birdcage netting, I found a great etsy store called Birdcage Supply (link).   They have all sorts of Russian, French, and English Veil netting.  

Here's how the hat looks on my noggin...

To secure the hat to my head, I stitched a small buttonhole on one side of the hat. Then, I pinned a bobby pin through it to secure the hat to my hair.  I pinned a second bobby pin through the birdcage netting to secure the opposite side of the hat. This was enough to make sure the hat wasn't going to fly off into the sunset with one little blow of the wind.

I love the hat, even though I have no idea where I'm going to wear it.

Cheers,

Jamie 

My vintage treasure

Nestled in the San Diego hills of California, sits a sweet little shop full of vintage treasures.  My mom discovered this hidden gem a couple of weeks ago and purchased a dress and capelet for me (I'll share some pics soon).  My mom told me that the shop was full of vintage clothes, fabric, buttons, sewing patterns, jewelry... in fact, she said that there was so much stuff you have to walk on stuff to get to more stuff.  

The story is that the owner is an elderly lady in her 80's and she used to work as a seamstress and costume designer.   Currently, she spends time frequenting estate sales on a regular basis.  

After hearing about and seeing first hand some of the thrifty finds, I had to find the time to take a trip to the shop for myself.  It took a couple of weeks, but finally, last Tuesday, I made the drive down to San Diego to visit the vintage shop.

When we arrived, we were greeted by an employee of the shop named Beth.  I asked Beth if I could take pictures for my blog. Hesitantly, she said yes but asked me not to mention where the location was.  I'm not kidding.  She said she didn't want a ton of people to come there.  "OK?" I said and I put my camera away.  The strange thing is there was a huge SALE sign in front of the store.  A little twilight zone-ish.  I did get a little spooked, but then again it doesn't take much to spook me.

The shop was overwhelming, but in a good way.  It wasn't like the swap meet (I don't do good shopping there).  It was charming and every room of the house/shop seemed to have a story.  There where 3 separate shops and one of the shops was a house.  The kitchen had vintage dishes in the sink.  The living room had an old record player with records stacked around it.  There was tattered luggage on the floor. The place seemed frozen in time.  I felt like a detective snooping and exploring through a
 private life.

I found quite a lot of goodies to purchase. When it was time to leave Beth showed me one more room. It was there that I found my treasure.  In the corner of the room there was an end table with a weathered book lying on it.  It looked like a scrap book.  Casually I opened it and found pages and pages of vintage magazine cut outs.  "This is what I came here for," I thought to myself.  I asked how much the scrapbook was and Beth gave a fair price, so I bought it.  I bought it without looking at everything inside, so as soon as we left the shop I opened my book and was shocked to see what I had.  The book not only had cut outs of fashion designs, but it also had magazine articles and full magazine issues dating from 1902 to 1978.  And when I write 1902 to 1978 that includes practically all of the years in between- 1903, 1905, 1906, 1910, etc.  Crazy awesome!

Here are some pictures from the book...

   

I circled the date 1913!

This one has the words written My hat.  I wonder if she designed it???

This is a magazine about crochet and knitted handbags.

I'll stop here, but there really is so much more to share.  Every page has the year the images were collected written at the top. This book is not only inspiring for the design element, but it also inspires me to keep a book of all the design trends in my lifetime.

I'm so happy I finally picked a good vintage find, because in most all of my previous attempts at vintage hunting I've come up fruitless.

I also picked up some sewing patterns...

And a dress...

 I'll show you how it fits just as soon as I get some pics with the dress on.  

The dress has some stains on it.  Beth said they're water stains.  I'm not sure how to go about removing them.  I don't want to ruin the dress.  Anyone???

I can't leave you with a picture of the stains, so here's some shoes...

Cheers,

Jamie

Ella's upcycled sock dress

   The other day my daughter asked me if she could use my fabric scissors.  "Why?" I asked.  She told me it was a surprise and promised to ONLY use the scissors on fabric.  About 10 minutes later she emerged from her room with this...

A cute mini!  Maybe too mini, but a mini.  Ella here is wearing a B-Girl original upcycled sock.  Three snips and voila! I just love the cowl neckline.

Not only is she a designer, but a hairstylist too.  Yep!  That there rocker hairstyle was cut by my B-girl.  She also gave her American Girl doll bangs... very short bangs.  I can't show you the picture because it freaks my mom out (she bought her the doll).  As long as she doesn't cut her own hair, I'm fine with it.  Right?

Are you wondering what the heck happened to Ella's left hand?  I think we all know who's calling card that is...

Nothing can escape the wrath of Shoog the Boog.

Cheers,

Jamie

The happy pillow

The other day I was browsing through Target and came across this pillow by Dwell Studio.  It was love at first sight!  From the rosette flowers to the color combination, it possessed all that I needed for my bedroom.  I tried to walk away, but it kept calling me- beckoning me to take it home.  Eventually, I justified the notion of letting it ride along in my cart while I shopped.  Every time I looked at it in my cart, I smiled.  The next thing I knew I was walking out to my car with the pillow in hand.  

It's happy here.  We're happy here.

Nightie night!

Jamie

Yarn Button Tutorial

Today, I thought it would be nice to show you how to make that cute yarn button featured in my Hooded Scarf sewing pattern.  I've had a few emails asking if I made the button and if so, could I share how.  The answer to that question is no I didn't make that particular button, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  

Ahh I couldn't resist.  

Anywho moving on.  As I was saying, I didn't make that one, it was an extra button from an Anthro sweater of mine, but I do know how to make them.

As you can see, you can make these buttons with many different types of yarn and embroidery floss colors (yellow button).  I prefer a mohair type of yarn, because I like the look of it and you can thread it through an embroidery needle.

Materials needed...

Yarn - About 2 yards will be enough for this project.  If you have too much yarn it will be difficult to wrap around the plastic ring.

Needle that is big enough to thread the yarn through.

Plastic ring - I used a 1 1/8" plastic ring found at Michaels.  However, the Anthro button has a center bar (I felt it), so I believe they used a belt buckle or something.

Directions

1.  With one end of the yarn, tie a knot around the ring.

2. Begin to wrap the yarn around the ring.  When you wrap the yarn, be sure to wrap the little yarn tail from the knot.  Do not cut the yarn once you have finished wrapping the ring.

3.  Once you have wrapped the entire ring, begin to fill in the center by stitching a Satin Stitch.  First, begin where you finished wrapping the ring (see #1) and insert the needle into the opposite side of the ring, making sure that you stay within the ring (see #2).  Next, pull the yarn through so that the yarn is taut.  After pulling the yarn through, insert the needle next where you began (#3). Pull the yarn up and through nice and tight again. Repeat these steps making sure your stitches are close together. Work your way to the opposite side of the ring.  If you find your ring is not thick or has some holes, repeat the stitching across to the other side again. 

4. When the button is nice and thick, decide which is the front and which is the back of the button.  Bring the yarn towards the back and begin to weave it through the yarn on the button (careful not to weave to the front of the button), making your way to the middle.  If you are going to sew the button to a sweater or some type of loose knit, you can use the yarn tale to do so.  Simply stitch the button to the loose knit using the yarn tale.  However for most fabrics, the yarn may be too thick to stitch with.  If this is the case, tie a knot and cut off the yarn tail.

5.  Thread your needle with matching thread and tie the thread to a couple strands of yarn.  Make sure the thread is centered and secure.

6.  Stitch your button to the fabric.

That's it!

To give you an idea of how they look on a sweater, here's the Anthro sweater from the original button.  

Cheers,

Jamie