Nice to See You!

Hello, little blog--I hope you've been well! We really haven't spent a lot of time together lately--please don't feel neglected. I've been hanging out with some of my other friends, but that doesn't mean you aren't important to me! How about if we talk about our projects?

I'm still thinking about spiral flowers, blog, so I made a few samples just to carry out my ideas. This pink one uses vintage rayon hem tape from my stash. I love it! Made me wonder: how would lace hem tape work out?

Very pretty!

Hmm..how about bias tape? Or torn fabric strips? I'll try them and get back to you, blog! And don't forget, we're still working on that flower tutorial!

Renaissance Head Gear--for Pennies!

Renaissance headgear is needed for the annual conference of our church women's group, and I've been having big fun coming up with easy and inexpensive ideas--from the dollar store and thrift store, of course!

Now, I'm not claiming that any of these ideas are particularly authentic, though I did do my research--but what can you expect for 25 to 50 cents each? And after the big day they can all go straight into the costume box.

The first hat above is a ring, cut and stapled into a circle, from a roll of wired velvet ribbon I found at the thrift store for a dollar. The veil is made from a golden thrift store sheet--the sheet cost $2.00 and made a pile of veils when cut into squares. It was polyester, so I was able to avoid hemming the edges by fusing them--just pass the cut edge near a candle flame. Keep it moving to avoid potential problems! I gathered one edge of the veil and stitched it to the ribbon, but it could be stapled on just as well, and the veil could be attached at the back.

Hat #2 above is a scrap project--the brim is a scrap left over from a project involving a different gold thrift store sheet. I folded a long strip of fabric lengthwise, and stitched along the raw edges, making a 2-3/4" casing, then threaded through a piece of 2-1/2" elastic, 22" long. I sewed this strip into a circle, then cut a big circle (about 24" in diameter) from some scrap velour left over from a robe project. The circle is gathered around the edges, then seamed to the brim section right sides together. Voila!

Hat #3 was inspired by the glittery party hats shown above. I used the party hat cardboard to make a pattern and cut a base from poster board. The poster board base is covered with some brocade I had in my stash, front and back, and stapled to the metal band from the party hat. This veil is one of a pile I cut from a thrift store curtain panel, price $1.00. The edges of these veils are fused in the same manner as above.

Hat #4 is easiest of all, and pretty much a freebie. Plastic swamp cooler tubing is cut to length and joined into a circle--I used short pieces of sucker sticks, inserted in both ends, to join the tubes--somehow the sucker sticks were just the right diameter. The circle is covered with scrap ribbon, wound around and hot-glued on, and lengths of ribbon from my stash trail from the back. Curly ribbon would work just as well here.

Now for a step back in time. . .

Dollar Store T-Shirt--Updated!

Last year my local dollar store had a great supply of good-quality t-shirt seconds, so I bought several in the biggest size available--some pretty colors, and plenty of material to work with.

On a trip to Hancock's recently (my current favorite fabric store), the clearance fabrics were on sale for 50% off--always a fun prospect. Among other possibilities, I found a green, sheer mesh knit that it seemed to me would go well with one of the shirts from my t-shirt hoard, so I bought 1/8 yard. Price for yardage: $.25!

Since spiral-flower motifs are all the rage right now, I've been wanting to try a dollar-store version. Posted above is my first attempt, and I'm excited to try some others and make a few improvements. Tutorial coming up!

Note: Since a standard t-shirt never provides a good fit, I've been fitting them for years--I've used different commercial patterns and taken patterns from my favorite shirts. Recently, I invested in the Perfect T-Shirt pattern from Pamela's Patterns, and I'm here to say it's great! The pattern comes in a full range of sizes, is easy to follow, and produces a great fit. So--I've been making (and re-making) a few T's for myself, and having fun.