Sommer Designs

My Gingerbread Cardigan

How wacky-crazy is it when you buy new items to refashion? The whole point [for me] was to use and reuse what is already in my closet; long forgotten and refound. As I was staring at my two boxes of amazing vintage lace, trim and doily's, I was thinking about adding some lace to another cardigan.

It appears that I like cardigans. They are simple; they are the perfect weight for our moderate climate; and they are easy to use for this kind of project. But I wanted to use just a basic beige cardi, and adorn it simply. So I bought a new one.

This is where it gets spotty...and actually more wacky-crazy. I was bopping around Janet's website, and saw the sweetest vintage crochet trim - cream with red. It was ridiculous, but before I knew it, I had hit the 'buy' button and the trim was mine. All 9 yards of it.

The cardigan arrived, and then the lace arrived, and then I set to work refashioning my NEW sweater. I added some cute (new) red buttons, sat back and thought about Gingerbread Men.

He didn't need that arm anyway....

It's not like he's going to take up knitting, or anything.

Refashion: Fleece gloves to handwarmers

It's getting cold in my studio/workshop/garage. Even if the fog burns off and the day warms up, unless it gets really hot, my workshop stays pretty cool. Which isn't so bad, but my hands get cold and I can't stand cold hands!

I've been coveting a pair of knit handwarmers since last winter and I've got all sorts of fabulous favorites over at Etsy, but I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for in terms of color and style. Then Erin went and knit up a whole batch a couple of weeks ago, and that really put me over the edge! I want to knit some too! I think that project will have to wait, as I am fully consumed by the never-ending knit scarf (which I still love!), and definitely don't have the skills yet for that sort of project.

But as I was thinking about my cold hands, and coveting (as I do), I remembered a pair of Old Navy fleece gloves that I had crammed into a drawer in my dresser. I hardly ever wore them, and I thought I might be able to make them at least partially cute.

I started by cutting off the fingers and thumb.

Then I whipstitched around the cut openings.

I used ordinary embroidery floss...simple.

That was easy, but I still thought they were a bit boring. Initially, I started to embroider little flowers on the top, but my flowers didn't quite turn out the way I visualized, and you can't really draw or trace on fleece, so I had to think of something else.

I cut out little flowers from ivory felt and stitched them to the tops.

And added little faux-pearl beads to the centers, and a little running stitch for the stem...

That's better.

Even toastier with some hot chai! Mmmmm. Perfect!

I think I have a matching fleece scarf crammed into another drawer somewhere...

There's a new kid on the block - Make It Mine Magazine

 

Have you seen it yet? The premier issue is on the newstands. It's a little like Adorn, all about embellishing clothes and projects, and actually has some potentially fun possiblities. I'm so happy to see more magazines embracing the whole reuse, recycle and refashion philosophy. I have a major magazine obsession, and I love all the craft ideas that are being explored lately. Have you also noticed how the big-time magazines are scoping out and recognizing independent artists and crafters? I love that! It's so inspiring to me read about all the inventive women out there who are continually doing what they love and living their passions.

New magazines are still very fun (at least for me!). I had found a call for submissions to Make It Mine way back sometime over the summer - they have a little gallery on aprons, and of course, I had to submit. They did accept one of my aprons, and here it is!

I had totally forgotten about it, and Beki emailed me Sunday night that she found it, and low and behond, there it was! It's always a thrill to see one of your creations in print - sorry for bad scan, I'm not very good with that machine! There's a little bio-blurb that they kind of chopped up a bit, but you get the gist, and if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, I think you know what I mean! So, if you see Make It Mine, pick up a copy and check it out! I'm curious to see what you think!

You can also check them out online right here - and check out the submission section right here - it looks like they are looking for how-to articles, step-by-step techniques, profiles & artists' galleries. It's always worth a query, because you just never know...you know? ;)

The Inspiration and the Interpretation.

I got so carried away with the doily skirt that I forgot I had another skirt refashion that I finished about a month ago! I was reminded yesterday when Shari posted her thrifted buttons on Flickr, and was wondering what to do with them.

This skirt is not thrifted, but refound in my closet (love that). I was looking through the Boden catalog (love) a couple of months ago and saw this cute skirt:

Oh, swoon! Button embellished! I have buttons! A whole jar of them! Then I remembered an old Ann Taylor Loft denim skirt somewhere in my closet that I hadn't worn in years (I don't know why - it was pretty cute without embellishment). I decided to put my own stamp on it, reinvent it, and wear it again.

I gathered my notions and inspiration...

And stared and stared until I figured out my plan of action.

I used two different sized embroidery hoops to visualize the placement of my buttons,

and then made chalk marks directly on the skirt.

I didn't go too crazy - I wanted to keep it simple.

I started laying out the various-sized vintage MOP buttons to make sure they would fit - and then decided to just wing it.

It seemed easier to do the outline in buttons first, and then fill it in. I discovered this after the first circle!

Even with strategic button planning and placement, there were gaps. I had a remedy for this.

I filled in the spaces with French Knots - fear not the French Knot! Janet has a great tutorial! Then I added a running stitch from the button-clusters to the hem...

It's very simple - and SUCH an easy project! Really, no real sewing skills are required here. You are just putting on buttons. A whole lot of them! I love my new {old} skirt!

The story of the reworked thrifted denim skirt.

I can't remember which I found first, the crochet doily's, or the skirt. But remember, this was my recent thrift trip in San Diego a few weeks ago. I had dropped Scott off at work in Rancho Bernardo, and with my handy printout from The Thrift Shopper, spent the day hitting almost every thrift in Rancho Bernardo, Poway & Escondido.

I found the skirt at The Salvation Army in Poway - it's made by Halogen (a Nordstrom brand) and it only cost $3.50. The doily's were found at another thrift in two batches - one for $1.00 and the other was $1.25.

After a good soak in Retro Clean (and a good wash for the skirt), I decided to sew the doily's onto the skirt in some random pattern. The doily's are in various sizes, and some are white, while some are ecru. This didn't matter to me; in fact, for me, it added to the charm.

I used embroidery floss to sew them onto the skirt, mainly because it was heavy, and also because the color blended in - and knowing the kind of hand sewer I am, I knew this would work.

I only used a hoop on a couple of them because they were a little floppy and wouldn't stay flat. As you can also see, some of them were broken in areas. I just continued the line with embroidery. You can't tell...

unless you look very carefully.

It was a good project for me last week, while I was too worried about the fires to concentrate on anything else. And it was almost fitting that this project originated in the very area that we were all so worried about.

Candy was worried too. Sweet girl.

This was a super easy refashion project, anyone could do it! You don't have to use vintage doily's either - I think Michael's and Joann's both carry bulk doily's of different sizes. How funky cute would this be if I had dyed them up before sewing them on? (oooohhh, another project?!) I think the possibilities are endless.

When I finished the skirt, I brainstormed the entire outfit (because I'm wacked like that). I decided to refashion another boring cardigan, just not as drastically (who has time for these things?!). I took a brown Lands' End cardigan, and just changed out the boring grey buttons to some bright white vintage mother-of-pearl buttons I had. Simple Simon.

And the shoes. Oh, the shoes. I've been lusting after a pair of brown Mary Janes for a couple of months. I originally saw these, and while I loved the style, was not sure about the red. So I went with these. As soon as I saw them in person, I realized what a grave mistake I had made. They were almost as boring as the Lands' End cardigan - pre-refashion. It was this photo that turned me around. I *heart* Zappos. Free overnight delivery soothes the instant gratification soul. {do you see the whipstitch detail????!!!!}

My life is complete.

Happy Halloween! I'm hoping to meet my mister for lunch later! Damn...he has a meeting. :( Oh well - I'm still going out to lunch!

The story of the remixed {and reworked} Land's End cardigan.

One of my new favorite pastimes is perusing the wardrobe remix group on Flickr. I mean, how great is that? So many ideas, so much style, so inspiring. Two of my favorite remixers are Graygoosie (who lives here in Southern California!) and Becktress, who is Green Kitchen's sister. Somehow, through them, I found Lorimarsha, who is the supreme remixer and reworker of all garmentry. Granted, it's what she does for a living, but take a look at her designs, they are amazing!

You can also check out the Wardrobe Refashion blog - lots of inspiration and creative ideas! I just found it and I love it!

And I started to think about some of the items in my wardrobe that I liked elements of, but didn't wear often because there were other elements I didn't like. For instance, this green cardigan I bought a couple of years ago from Land's End. It's one of the fine combed cotton twinset cardy's, it's my favorite color (right now), but I mistakenly bought it a size too big, then washed it in the hopes it would shrink all over. It didn't. It only shrank in the arms. So I started rolling them up. But it was still too long.

Boring, boring, boring! So, I decided to rework it. I figured, I couldn't really ruin it, right?  I started by removing the buttons, and found some lace I had from another project idea that never happened.

I cut and pinned the lace to the front and stitched very close to the lace edge (not easy since there was a tiny scallop), and back up the other side (which also had a scallop - I ended up going straight up about 1/8" in).

It was still too boring.

Then, I thought, 'what if I cropped it?' The only problem would be the unraveling of the yarn (small problem, right?!). I don't have a serger, nor do I know how to operate one (confession number one). BUT, I remembered that Kelley does have a serger, and knows how to use it! So, I ran over there and put her to work (Again. That poor girl. If she's not teaching me how to crochet, she's sewing for me. Ack!). We measured, we cut, we serged (well, she measured, cut and serged). Thanks again Kelley!

Then I sewed a band of grosgrain ribbon along the bottom and sleeves where we had cut and serged.

Pressed it under and slip stitched it (by hand - I never hand sew...hate it.)(still do).

I thought the bottom was a little swingy still, so I did a little 1" pintuck on the outside of the arms, and sewed a vintage button on for a little decoration.

Which gave me another idea; I was going to do something else to the front, which I still thought was too boring. Remember last week I had Kelley teaching me how to crochet flowers? Well, I was going to sew on little crochet flowers, but I wasn't happy with the way they looked, and didn't want a bunch of different colors. I wanted something subdued and simple, but classic, with an artsy twist (I'm a simple girl after all...) Then I remembered that great Adorn Magazine cover, with the buttons sewn on the collar of a sweater! Perfect! I had a bunch of vintage white buttons that I had bought on eBay years ago for another project that never happened...and layed them out on the sweater until I was happy...

Then I couldn't figure out how I was going to mark exactly where they were so I could sew them on. So I took a pin, put it through the button hole, and gently lifted the button. The pin held my place, while I marked in chalk where to sew the button.

My chalk dots were pretty too...

I sewed on the buttons (by hand, have I mentioned how I dislike hand sewing? I still do.) and then added a hook & eye closure to the top. It's finished! My first reworked garment!

I think I have another boring sweater somewhere...