hello spring

What have I been up to? I don't know really, school mostly. But I did manage to make one little thing for a lovely lady in my ward getting married.
Oh needs trashy lingerie anyways? And tricolt is officially my favorite nostalgic cloth (like in my version of the nightgown below)

what do you do on the first day of spring? Eat egg salad sandwiches and wear yellow. anyways.

New year, New hat

Well, my brother Jason had this great idea of making a warm and cozy hat out of an old hoodie he had. So we spent a whole day trying to make this, and all we could do was make it look more and more like medieval serf apparel. I gave up making the hat look "good" and just decided to finish it. When we got back from break I stitched a foresty scene onto the hat, and added some ribbons. It doesn't look so great on Jason anymore, so i get to keep it! A brand new winter bonnet!

Origami Shirt

So, I've been wondering what to give a certain friend for Christmas. And i had alot of ideas i guess, but one day i thought of an origami shirt! So here it is, and yes, i know the instructions are going to be a bit hard to follow. But First i recommend finding a origami crane how-to, like this fun 3-D version.
1. First I got a small mens hanes white tshirt, really cheap, and fit good usually. I wanted a scoop neck, so i took my favorite scoop neck, and drew a line on the white tee. Then made a cut!

2. I stitched around the neck in pine green thread, to keep it from stretching weird. You don't have to though, if you like that sort of thing.







3. Now i cut 6 squares of cotton in white and peach. (the white has a pattern on it, but you can't see it because of low budget photos...)
And i stitched around the edges so that they don't fray terribly, then iron good. You re going to need the iron alot today.

4. Look up instructions for the origami piece you want to do. And practice in once on a square, iron after each fold. If you've got it, and it looks cool then take a break and get a snack.
5. After the snack start making your pieces. Pick out 6 steps that you think would look cool (eg, step one, fold three or something) .
6. Start folding! It helps if you fold all at the same time, or you can just do one. I kept forgetting the steps soo.. Most importantly, iron very well after each fold you make, so that it stays good and creased like paper. If you want you can use starch or something.



7. To make it more permanent sew some creases in an invisible way. This is piece #2, I sewed it on the inside of a fold so that it stays close but is now a closed seam. Yes, just play around with it. I don't know how to explain it better.

8. Here's the actual crane, i actually sewed down pieces that you can't see. That way the bird won't fall apart, which is highly probable, considering its cloth and not paper!

9. this is a stitch down the middle of the tail (or head?) to keep things intack't. Also stitch the head folded, so he actually stays that way, you can do it by hand if you don't want it to be noticeable.

more pieces

10. This one i just sewed along the creases, it looks pretty neat, and keeps it down! Continue doing this on all the pieces necessary. Take another break if needed.

11. Start to sew the pieces onto your shirt. I sewed along creases and on the edges. Be aware that when you stitch onto a tshirt it doesn't stretch so good. So be modest in the stitching, in case you need that area to be extra stretchy. Be creative with placement or whatever.

then Tah dah! Your done! The crane is thick, so stitch it on by hand, this also makes it look more like its floating on the persons collarbone.

It was fun, i want one for myself now though.

I hope this helps a little bit, be creative with it though.

Birth of Bowknots

Today I started my etsy business! I've been thinking about it for a long time now, and I finally took the plunge and did it! It's really quite scary, but I feel much better, now that I have it all down.

Right now i'm just selling some baby headbands that I've made, but soon I will be adding more. Check it out for fun! And later for even more handsewn goodies!

http://www.bowknots.etsy.com/

Sundays

A couple Sundays ago my niece Ada was blessed at our church. My sister was looking for the perfect blessing dress, but they are all so expensive, or just to frilly, online. So I made her one! We got a McCall's pattern, and some cloth, and about a week later it was done! This is one of my favorite things I've made, maybe because it was smaller... but it turned out well, and I'm especially proud of the lining and french seams.

Nursery Rhymes

The next couple of posts will probably be focused on my new niece Ada LeNore Chadaz, I've been in Virginia with her family since she was born in September. Decidedly she deserved a brand new baby room, Alyson decided she needed a black and hot pink room. Here's one of the first decorations, a set mini pictures I painted in electric raspberry.

The set includes a birds nest, a bird cage, a box and her name Ada LeNore. Yes, I know the pictures are tiny, but the paintings are tiny, and I hope you understand

oh, and here's a picture of the baby girl, she is decidedly nice and cute, and I can't resist her chubby cheeks.