More and more, I am drawn to projects that take a long time and involve multiple steps. I think part of that is that you only need so many clothes and most of my wardrobe holes are filled now. I like being able to slow down and really enjoy the process. The creation of this… Read More Alabama Chanin Dress
Since I had four silk scarves that I dyed using shibori (indigo and other natural dyes), I decided to do a bit of experimentation with hems. All the scarves are hemmed using types of “rolled hems” but they all have a slightly different effect. Two of the scarves are done by hand. I first stitched a line… Read More Four Ways to Do a Rolled Hem
This is an ongoing project. You can read the story of how we acquired the couch and see what it looked like inside here. In this post, I show how I got the frame ready to be reupholstered. The first thing I did was use Murphy’s Oil Soap (only like my favorite cleaning product ever)… Read More Restoring a 19th Century Couch: Part 2, Cleaning and Repairs
So this fabric is everything that is wonderful in the world. First, it is silk which is pretty much the best fiber except for wool. Second, it is purple; I think it is well known that I love purple beyond reason. Third, it is plaid, which I love almost as much as I love purple.… Read More Fifties-style dress with PURPLE PLAID!!!
Aside from fabric, I really don’t like new stuff. I would much rather buy something off of Craigslist or from an estate sale than buy something new. I like that old stuff has stood the test of time. It makes me feel good that I am not causing more resources to be drawn from the… Read More Restoring a 19th Century Couch: Part 1, Deconstruction
This project has been in the works for while. I love making presents for people, but I have to make sure that I plan far enough in advance. This is a queen size quilt based off of the flower garden pattern from Scraps Plus One by Joan Ford. As I described in my first post on… Read More A Birthday Quilt for My Sis
My favorite season is summer. Even when it is 90 and humid, I am still happy to be warm without having to think about wearing layers all the time. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I love making and wearing summer dresses. I could probably make an unlimited number of summer dresses, but I have… Read More Summer Dress for 2017
This summer is full of home dec projects. This latest one is curtains for our bedroom. I am not really into curtains, but Wade likes it to really dark when he is sleeping. We agreed that I would make curtains with a pattern that I like, lined with blackout cloth. We are not 100% happy… Read More Curtains!
Since my mom and I had so much fun dyeing with indigo, we were itching to do some more. I thought about what we had on hand or could easily gather, and we decided to start out with annato and dandelion leaves. The first thing we did was mordant our silk scarves overnight. I use… Read More More Natural Dyeing
This project has been in the works for awhile. Actually this isn’t just one project but several. Awhile ago (well over a year), I ordered an indigo tie dye kit from Dharma Trading. I wanted to do some shibori-style dyeing on some silk. I also wanted to dye some cotton jersey a solid blue… Read More So Much Fun with Shibori
