Shorts! Shorts! Shorts!

It’s starting to get very warm out here (high of 90 today), so shorts are becoming a necessity. I decided it was time for me to try to make some from a pattern.

I was inspired by these lovely shorts:

Banana Republic. Love! $55. Ouch.

Now, I’ve never made pants or shorts from scratch before, but I figured you gotta start somewhere, right?

Here is how they turned out!

I like them!

They’re pretty high wasted…

all the way up to the belly button area…not sure how I feel about that

But other than that, they’re super lightweight (linen-type fabric) and adorable!

Hubby told me to show off the back… here you go. the back! 🙂

finished product!

What do you think of the pattern? Too much? Or super cool?

 

Me Made May 2014, Outfit #3

I finished this shirt last week and was waiting for a chance to wear it. 🙂

This top is a new look pattern…I like how it turned out!

New top! I still have to do some trimming apparently…

What would you pair this pattern with?

Also, side note: what do you think of the new hair? 🙂

Me Made May, Outfit #2

I didn’t think I had that much in my closet that was handmade, but I’m finding that I was wrong! It’s kind of exciting, really. My wardrobe is transforming into handmade clothing- a personal challenge that takes a lot of discipline. Each piece of handmade clothing I wear reminds me that living life is not about my status, my clothing or my stuff- life is way more than that! I have all that I need, but there are so many people who do not even have clothing to wear, water to drink, or food to eat. This journey of making my own clothing is a good lesson for me that I hope encourages you to step out and do something that changes the way you look at life.

So here’s the dress that I wore to church today (find the original refashion here).

this dress makes me smile 🙂

The message at church today was so applicable to what Hubby and I are learning. Here is a take home point from our teaching pastor:

Relationships are more important than accomplishments.

As we become more like Christ, the area of our lives that this will make the most impact is through our relationships. What does it mean when we seek Christ? It means that we have freedom in the glory of the new. Through our love for God and the power of the Spirit, we can make less of ourselves, serve the needy with gladness of heart, and genuinely love both our friends and our enemies. This thought reminds me of a saying I found printed on the room service menu on our honeymoon. Here is a picture of the saying:

How do you care for those who come to your door? What can you do to prepare yourself to care for those who have need for food, clothing, shelter, love? Hubby and I just made the decision to give a monthly portion of our income to support an orphan in an impoverished nation. But there is even more that we can do! Join me in taking a step of faith and choosing to live differently to love God and love others.

 

Boyfriend-style Pants

As hubby and I were cleaning out our apartment preparing for a move, I thought I’d try my hand at making some sweet pants out of his old ones. I got my inspiration from these lovely chinos, found at Eddie Bauer:

Cute….but $60

I grabbed his old pair of gray pants and tried ’em on:

Doesn’t quite fit….

Eh, it’ll do.

These pants make me feel like this:

What up, Duckface?

I took a pair of skinny jeans to outline the basic shape that I wanted:

I took it in on both sides- both the inside seam and the outside seam

When I got to the crotch, I just kept sewing:

See my new line?

At this point I was trimming the fabric along my stitch line and accidentally cut my finger with my shears.

Ouch!

Once that healed up, I finished my sewing…

I even stitched it up the pockets and around those grommet things.

I was very satisfied with my final look:

super comfy….and totally free!

I think they fit rather well…

Hubby likes them too 🙂

 

Me Made May, outfit #1

Today is the first day I am wearing something I made in honor of Me-Made-May! It’s actually my very first refashion, the one that got me started on making my own clothing with the hopes that I can inspire creativity, encourage change from the status quo, and help others learn how even the smallest thing they do to make a difference matters. I don’t think I’ve voiced that before, but recently I’ve been challenged to look at life differently. Jesus says in Luke 12:15,

“Watch out and guard yourself from all types of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Making my own clothes has been a reminder for me that I don’t need the newest and latest clothes, furniture, things, etc to truly live my life. What is important is that I am living righteously, giving to those in need, caring for the sick, loving others- even my enemies, and disciplining myself to make less of me and more of Christ. Making my own clothes is my platform for sharing this message and having more to give to those in need.

Okay, off of the soapbox. Here is my first Me Made May outfit!

Back in January, I started with these oversized red pants….

Just meh.

Then I took a pair of skinny jeans and traced the outline onto the inside of my red pants:

Ready to be sewn!

Then I stitched it up both sides, finished the seams, and viola! Red skinny pants.

first refashion EVER

My first EVER before/after shot followed:

 

So that was back in January. Today we took Molly to the dog park and I wore my red pants for my first ever Me Made May!

Molly even posed with me!

ran just a bit too hard at the doggie park…

Silly doggy

How would you pair these red pants?

Hope you were inspired to do something different today! 🙂

Me Made May 2014 Pledge

Alright folks, I have signed up for this awesome opportunity to wear something handmade at least once a week for the month of May. Find out more about this challenge here: http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.com/2014/04/me-made-may14-sign-up-here.html

Here is a copy of my statement!

I, Heather (https://madenew517.wordpress.com), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’14. I endeavour to wear something I have sewn or refashioned at least once a week for the duration of May 2014.

When I choose to wear my item of the week, I’ll be sure to post a picture. Keep me accountable!

What a find! Dress

Sometimes when you go thrift shopping you find a gem. I got this lovely dress for $3:

Oy.

The fabric really called to me when I saw it on the rack. It was definitely quality, although quite a few sizes too big. When I got it home, I noticed this:

PARIS?!

And this:

ITALY?!

Man, this is actually quite the find! Probably European. You could definitely feel the quality. Unfortunately the dress was just hideous. It even had these lovely little…things…on the shoulders and the waist:

What is that called? Whatever it is, it’s hideous.

So I did a little cutting. I pulled out a pattern. I whipped out some different sewing feet, like this one:

This foot makes a rolled hem, pretty nifty!

and here is the final product…..

and again:

and again because I really really like it:

What a find! Hope you like it as much as I do!

great improvement!

Sweet Birthday Treats

I had the privilege of baking some sweet treats for one of my hubby’s wonderful co-workers today! His office rotates who prepares the birthday treats for the birthday celebration and Amanda’s party was our responsibility.  To make this lovely lady’s birthday sweets, I enlisted the help of my hubby.

First, I got to baking some yummy cupcakes whilst hubby prepared apples for an apple pie.

These were from a box- Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge. I definitely recommend!

When I pulled them out of the oven, they looked (and smelled) divine!

cupcakes!!

While they were cooling, I went to my fabric supplies and cut out 13 little diamonds from one of my favorite fabrics.

Can you guess what I’m going to do with these?

Then I pulled out some beads and thread….

pearls, of course

And grabbed some twine and crafted this little number:

I attached it to chopsticks so it would stick in the pie well

Then I followed this recipe to whip up some lovely buttercream frosting.

I have to say, I’m pretty proud of these cupcakes

Once I was done, hubby put his DELICIOUS pie in the oven. If you want the best apple pie recipe, then look no further. Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie is hands down the very best recipe ever. Try it, you’ll become a believer.

The finished product, ready for transportation to the beautiful birthday girl

I had asked hubby to take some pictures at work so I could show the birthday girl’s face on here, but he forgot. So all you get are the lovely pictures of my kitchen.

Hope you enjoy that bit of creativity! 🙂

-Heather

The happiest season of all

Weddings and engagements are upon us! Last weekend, hubs and I were at a dear friends wedding and yesterday we had an engagement party for some other dear friends. Such an exciting time in one’s life, for sure! For both of these events, I was able to be a bit crafty. For the wedding, I wore the dress I made two weeks ago:

 

Isn’t hubby handsome? The beard is gone now though, thankfully. 🙂

And for the engagement party I grabbed some supplies…

See what I’m thinking?

And then I did a bit of stitching

this took a while…

And this is what I gave the happy bride and groom to be!

It’s a homemade wedding date pillow!

Close-up!

This was the first time I’ve stitched something like this. I like it- and can’t wait to make one for hubby and I! 🙂

Spring-y things

I’ve found my creativity again! After a while of busyness and lack of energy, I have finally returned to the land of crafting! I realized that I need to expand my understanding of clothing construction, so the best way to do that was to make something from a pattern. So I started with this easy one:

I especially liked the “easy” printed in the top left corner

I chose dress C (top right dress). I then found this fabric for sale at the local fabric store:

so fun!

It took me a while to line up the pattern pieces with the printed lines, but once I did, I was really happy with how it was shaping up! I cut and sewed away for about 3 hours and here is the final dress:

I love it!

Now that I had such a fancy dress, I had to wear it somewhere to show it off. I wore it to a wonderful baby shower for a gem of a woman. I won’t show her picture on here for privacy reasons, but it was a really special shower. Here’s the gift I made for her:

Each of the eggs are filled with gifts: baby socks, pacifiers, and some cash…easy AND creative!

I wrapped the gift in cellophane and headed off to the lovely shower in my new dress!

Some of the gifts! Mine is the cellophane wrapped one. Can you tell what gender her baby is?

There it is! I just love Springtime!